The Mass

The Mass as a liturgical service is perhaps more readily known to today's public than the Divine Office, since it is regularly attended by the laity. It consists of two parts: the first is much like the Divine Office, in that it contains prayers and readings from the Bible (often collected in a lectionary for the mass), such as were customary to the Jewish services from which this "liturgy of the word" derives. The second part contains the consecration of the bread and wine as the Body and Blood of Christ, according to the mandate in the Gospels, "This is my body . . . This is my blood . . . do this as a memorial of me" (Mark 14:22-25; 1 Cor. 11:23-25). The two parts were already fused into a single service by the middle of the second century, as shown by the writings of Justin Martyr, although the core of the second and specifically Christian part of the Mass, called the Canon, only achieved its completed form during the sixth century.

The usual name of this service derives from its closing formula, "Ite, missa est" meaning, "Go, it is the dismissal."

The sacramentary is a book for use by the celebrant at Mass and therefore it contains the common and proper texts and chants that he intoned, read, or sang. Other parts of the Mass can be indicated by their incipit, and frequently no musical notation is provided except for what the priest sang. Later, a missal combines in a single volume what had previously been separate books for the celebration of Mass, including the sacramentary, the gradual, cantatorium, and lectionary or Gospel Book and Epistolary.

 The missal was a book for use by the celebrant at Mass and therefore contained the proper texs and chants that he intoned, read, or sang. Other parts of the Mass can be indicated by their incipit, and frequently no musical notation is provided except for what the priest sang. Many later missals combine what were previously separate books for the celebration of Mass, including the gradual, cantatorium, sacramentary, and lectionary or Gospel Book and Epistolary.

A notated missal from late 11th century France.		Melodies for the Gloria, Ite Missa Est, and Benedicamus Domino in a missal from 15th century Germany.
A missal from 14th century Barcelona in Catalonia:
The temporale beginning at Advent "secundum usum barchinone," according to the use of Barcelona.		The sanctorale beginning with the feast of Stephen Protomartyr (26 December)
A missal from early 15th century Catalonia:
f. 11: Beginning of Advent "secundum usum seu consuetudinem sancte ecclesie terrachone," according to the use of Tarragona.		f. 11: Beginning of Advent "secundum usum seu consuetudinem sancte ecclesie terrachone," according to the use of Tarragona.
A mid-15th century missal for Carthusian use from the monastery of S. Maria del Paular, near Madrid:
Leaf with the exorcism of salt and water. Text leaf. First Sunday in Advent.
A missal from 15th century England.	A missal from 15th century Germany.	A missal from 12th century Italy.	A missal from 15th century Germany. Proper chants intoned by the celebrant on feasts.