ROMAN ORDERS. — I. Concept.
The Roman Orders (Ordines Romani) are “libelli” drawn up between the 8th and 14th centuries, containing descriptions and rules for the performance of the principal sacred ceremonies: Baptism, Mass, ordinations, dedication of churches, the offices of Holy Week and the chief feasts of the liturgical year.
The earliest liturgical books contained only the texts to be read or sung during the rites. Scarcely any mention was made of the ceremonies to be performed. At the beginning, indeed, these must have been extremely simple, spontaneous and dictated by practice and custom. But as the external forms of worship developed and became more complex, especially in the majesty of the Roman basilicas—where, in the Middle Ages, the Lord Apostolic (Domnus apostolicus) usually took part—and as the Roman rite spread throughout the West under the impulse of Charlemagne, the need was felt to codify what had hitherto been regulated by living tradition and usage. Thus, through private initiative, there arose the Roman Orders, manuals of ceremonies written in popular Latin and the jargon of the master of ceremonies, setting out the essential lines of the rite. These booklets, regarded as almost official, were later adopted and adapted for episcopal ceremonies and for use outside Rome. They are of capital importance both for the history of the liturgy and for sacramental theology. It is sufficient to note that they form the basis of the Pontificale Romanum, the Caeremoniale Episcoporum, the Rituale and, in general, the various rubrics of the other liturgical books of the Latin Church.
II. Studies.
The primitive Roman Orders confined themselves to describing the ceremonies (rubrics), excluding the formulae. When rubrics and formulae were combined in the same book, the liturgical books as we now have them came into being, and the Roman Orders ceased to serve their original purpose. They came back to light, however, as objects of study, in the second half of the 16th century, through the work of G. Cassander (Ordo Romanus de officio Missae, Cologne 1561) and M. Hittorp (De divinis catholicae Ecclesiae officiis..., ibid. 1568). A century later, J. Mabillon collected fifteen Roman Orders dating from the 9th to the 15th centuries (cf. Museum Italicum, II, Paris 1689). This is the most important collection, which has remained classic to this day (reprinted in PL 78, 851-1408). It was Mabillon who also gave them the name “Roman Orders,” a term which, though not strictly accurate, has remained in use, since most of the Orders do not originate from Rome. In the first half of the 18th century, F. Bianchini published a Veronese group of Carolingian Orders (cf. Liber Pontificalis Anastasii Bibliothecarii de vitis Romanorum Pontificum, III, Rome 1728, prolegomena). M. Martène and L. A. Muratori reproduced the Mabillonian edition, each adding an old monastic Order. Important new texts found in Switzerland and Austria were published by M. Gerbert in Monumenta veteris liturgiae alamanicae, I-II, St. Blaise 1777-79. In the last century, G. B. de Rossi published a fragment of an Order in Inscriptiones Christianae, II, I, Rome 1888, p. 349, later reproduced by L. Duchesne in an appendix to the Origines du culte chrétien, 5th ed. (Paris 1909), together with two other Orders of the 9th century hitherto unknown. Finally, L. Fischer in 1916 printed in Munich the Ordo Lateranensis of the 12th century, and C. Silva-Tarouca published the Order of John “archicantor” of St. Peter’s in the Memorie della Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia, Rome 1923. Recently, a veritable Corpus of the Roman Orders, in critical edition with extensive introductions, has been undertaken by M. Andrieu (see bibliography). To date, three volumes have appeared: Vol. I contains the list and description of the manuscripts (107, scattered in 36 libraries); Vol. II contains Orders I-XIII, and Vol. III Orders XIV-XXXIV. A fourth volume will follow, containing the remaining Orders and general indices. For the “early Middle Ages,” Andrieu intends the period from the beginning of the 7th to the end of the 10th century. Within these four centuries he has grouped and examined a total of more than forty Orders, some of which exist in two recensions and are therefore numbered I to L; this numbering will henceforth replace Mabillon’s I to XV. Order I remains the Ordo primus of Mabillon, and Order L the Ordo Romanus antiquus of Hittorp, a transitional text between the Orders and the Pontificals. The following concordance shows the relationship between the Mabillonian collection and Andrieu’s Corpus:
| Mabillon | Andrieu |
|-------------|------------|
| Ordo I | §§ 1-21 = I |
| | §§ 22 = II |
| I App. | §§ 27-47 = XXVIII |
| | §§ 48-51 = III |
| Ordo II | V |
| | III = VI |
| | V §§ 1-2 = VIII |
| | § 3 = IX |
| Ordo VI | X |
| | VII = XI |
| | IX §§ 1-6 = XXXVI |
| | X = |
| | XII §§ 88-91 = XLV |
| | XIII = |
Other Orders:
Ordo of St. Amand (Duchesne, Orig., 475) IV
Ordo of John “archicantor” (Silva-Tarouca, 194) XV
Ordo in Purificatione BMV (Duchesne, Orig., 499) XX
Ordo letaniae maioris (Duchesne, Orig., 493) XXI
Ordo of Einsiedeln (De Rossi, Inscr., II, 1, 34) XXIII
Ordo Romanus antiquus (Hittorp’s Ordo vulgatus) L
Andrieu, who does not follow a chronological order but a systematic one, has grouped the Orders as follows:
| Order | I-X = Masses of the Pope or bishops |
|-------|-------------------------------------|
| XI | Baptism |
| XII-XIV | Canticles and readings |
| XV-XIX | Monastic ordinances |
| XX-XXIII | Functions of the liturgical year |
| XXXIV-XL | Ordinations |
| XLI-XLIV | Dedication of churches |
| XLV-XLVII | Coronation of emperors |
| XLIX | In obsequium defunctorum |
| L | Ordo Romanus antiquus |
III. Formation.
Though largely of Roman origin, the Orders found in Gaul an environment favourable to their development. At the beginning of the 9th century, the triumph of the Roman liturgy beyond the Alps was an accomplished fact. The Roman Sacramentaries had replaced the pre-existing Gallican books and, more often than not, had been fused with them. But the Sacramentaries contained only formulae, prayers, blessings and consecrations. To perform solemn functions according to the Roman rite, it was also necessary to have the detailed description of the new ceremonies, which were precisely contained in the Orders—an indispensable complement to the Sacramentaries. Thus the Orders penetrated into Gaul, adapting themselves to the local environment and usages while still retaining evident traces of their Roman origin. By tracing the manuscript tradition, two collections of Orders can be distinguished: 1) Collection A, the oldest (8th century), consisting of purely Roman elements, represented by codex 412 of the Faculty of Medicine in Montpellier; 2) Collection B (9th century), composed of Roman elements “Gallicanized”; it reveals a kind of compromise between Roman usage and indigenous Frankish customs (cf. Andrieu, I, pp. 467-76). The first collection was originally intended as a practical booklet for the church as a guide to the exact performance of the functions. But the booklet was too incomplete and too Roman to be adopted as it stood by a master of ceremonies in Gaul, and it ended up as a library codex. The second collection, on the other hand, was more convenient for Frankish churches, especially thanks to the Ritual of ordinations. It therefore enjoyed wide diffusion: with the addition of some other rites it soon became a veritable manual of episcopal ceremonies. Under the impetus of the Carolingian ecclesiastical reforms, theological and juridical writings were added to Collection B, giving rise to liturgical-theological summae intended for the instruction of the clergy. These intact collections (represented by codex Can. C 102 in Zurich) multiplied everywhere, especially in the German-speaking region of Reichenau-St. Gall. Finally, there are other, more ancient collections of Orders which it is difficult to reconstruct, though their important traces have been preserved in compilations contemporary with the above collections.
With much of this material, as has been noted, of Roman origin, a monk of Mainz, in the second half of the 10th century, composed a hybrid book of ceremonies and text for the use of bishops, now called, after Andrieu, the Romano-German Pontifical. This name well indicates its composite nature, its elements, and their reworking with additions made in Germany. The importance of this compilation lies in the fact that it has preserved for us many elements of Roman liturgy which would otherwise have been lost. Revised several times, it formed the principal nucleus of the Romano-German Pontifical of the 13th century, after the Pontifical of Durandus of Mende (d. 1296), which, lightened and rearranged, became our Roman Pontifical.
IV. CONTENT
The Ordines Romani edited by Mabillon present the following features: Ordo Romanus I: the oldest (beginning of the 8th century) and composed of various strata. The introduction (cols. 1-3), later in date, gives some summary information on the organization of the Roman clergy and the rota chosen for the stational Masses. The first part (nn. 4-21) contains the description of the papal stational Mass; the second (nn. 22-51), which, however, according to Andrieu, has nothing to do with Ordo I, describes the liturgy of Lent and of the last four days of Holy Week. This part is of the 9th century. Ordo I is the most important and the most studied. Mabillon (reproduced in PL, 78) used cod. A (Sangall. 140, 9th-10th century); H. Grisar (Analecta Romana, I, Rome 1889, pp. 217-29) used a very defective codex (ms. S = Sessorianus 52), of the Biblioteca Nazionale of Rome; Riccardo Stapper reproduced ms. W (= Wolfenbüttel 4175, 9th century; cf. Opuscola et textus, Münster in V. 1933). Ordo II is an adaptation of the rites of the pontifical Mass described in Ordo I, for a church outside Rome. The oldest manuscripts date from the 9th century, but reflect the situation of the previous century. Ordo III is likewise a reworking of Ordo I, carried out in Germany in the 10th century. It also contains the papal Mass, as found also in Ordo IV, which is later and a mere fragment, reproducing the Gregorian Canon of the Mass from the Quam oblatiorem to the end. Ordo V, deriving from a codex of Gallus of the 10th century, lists the liturgical vestments of the Roman clergy and describes the episcopal Mass. The list of vestments, according to G. Braun (Die liturgische Gewandung, Freiburg in Br. 1907, p. 6), is older and may be assigned to the 9th century. Ordo VI also contains the description of an episcopal Mass. It was composed in Germany in the middle of the 9th century. Ordo VII, known from several manuscripts of the 9th century, fixes the order of the scrutinies, the rite of Baptism and of Confirmation. Ordo VIII derives from the codex of the Vatican Palat. lat. 487 of the 9th century and reports the ancient Roman ritual of ordinations. Andrieu found a development of this Ordo in a manuscript of the British Museum (Add. 1522; 9th-10th century) with the description of the Minor Orders. The rite of ordinations is found again in Ordo IX; Ordo X, extracted from the Pontifical of the Roman Curia of the 13th century, in the first part contains the ceremonial of the Mass for the use of bishops and a large repertory of blessings: it belongs to the 9th-10th centuries. Ordo Bernhardi cardinalis, also known as Ordo Lateranensis, with the offices and customs of the basilica of the Lateran, compiled by Cardinal Bernardo of Porto (d. 1176) and published in 1916 by L. Fischer. Finally, there remains a series of Ordines edited by J. Kösters relating to the election of cardinals and the consecration of the pope (Studien zu Mabillons römischen Ordines, Münster in V. 1905).With the Ordines Romani should be mentioned the Liber Diurnus (q.v.) of the Roman Pontiffs, which likewise contains very important rites and liturgical formulae concerning the consecration of the pope and the dedication of churches. — See pl. XIII.