MEMORIALE RITUUM (Parvum caeremoniale, Parvum rituale). - A modern book of the Roman rite, compiled for the use of the smaller parishes of Rome, containing the ceremonies for the blessing of candles on 2 Feb., of ashes at the beginning of Lent, of palms on Palm Sunday, and of the last three days of Holy Week, so that they might be performed by a single priest with the assistance of a small number of acolytes, instead of according to the prescriptions of the Missal.
This booklet was compiled by Benedetto XIII when he was still archbishop of Benevento, owing to the difficulties experienced by small parishes in carrying out ecclesiastical functions with the prescribed solemnity. When elected pope, in 1725 (decree of 4 Dec. 1724) he extended that booklet to the smaller parishes of the Urbs. Subsequently, by decree of the S. Congregazione dei Riti of 31 July 1821, Pio VII permitted its use in any parish church throughout the Catholic world. Sometimes, for convenience, the M. r. was added as an appendix to the Rituale romano, for example in the editions of Rome and Malines of 1870; but it was published separately in 1862 at Ratisbona and in 1885 at Tournai. Benedetto XV ordered its typical edition, with modifications and additions (S. Congregazione dei Riti, 14 Jan. 1920: AAS, 12 [1920], p. 448); the latest edition dates from 1950 (first edition after the typical edition).
