So much for the word, which is clearly much later than what it denotes. The history of the Mass itself has its origin in the New Testament in the four accounts of the Last Supper found in Matthew xxvi, 26-28; Mark xiv, 22-24; Luke xxii, 19-20; and Paul, 1 Cor. xi, 23-26. What Christ then did is the foun dation of the Mass. It is because He told the apostles to do, in memory of Him, what He him self on that occasion had done, that the liturgy of the Mass came into being and has continued through the ages. That liturgy, fluid and vari able in detail, but uniform in outline and in many formulas, always the same in essentials, and from constant repetition tending ever to become fixed, is traceable with more or less certainty through the 1st century in different parts of the New Testament, in the (Didache" or "Teaching of the Twelve Apostles' (c. 80-100), in the 'First Epistle of Saint Clement of Rome to the Corinthians" (c. 90-100), in the 'Epistle of (c. 96-98), and in the letters of Saint Ignatius, bishop of Antioch (d. 107). In the 2d century there is very probably an interesting allusion to the Mass from the outside, in a letter written by the pagan, Pliny the Younger (C. Plinius Cwcilius), governor of Bithynia. to the Em peror Trajan about 111-113. The eucharistic service, mentioned by Saint Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna (martyred c. 155), by Athenagoras of Athens (c. 177), and by Theophilus, bishop of Antioch (c. 180), is set out in considerable descriptive detail by Saint Justin Martyr (put to death, c. 165) in his 'First Apology' addressed to Antoninus Pius (138 161), and is also treated of by Saint Irenmus, bishop of Lyons (d. c. 202). In the 3d cen tury we already see traces of those different practices in different countries which led to the different liturgies. For the rite followed in Alexandria and Egypt, we have as spokesmen Clement of Alexandria (d. c. 215), Origen (d. 251), and Dionysius of Alexandria (d. 264); for that of Antioch and Syria we have the fragmentary outline given in the second book of the 'Apostolic Constitutions' (which, how ever, was not written down until the 5th cen tury as the tiara* rani 6ywv itroarawv), as well as the complete text of a liturgy in the eighth book of the same work; for Rome and the West we have vague allusions in the writ ings of Hippolytus (d. 235) and Novatian (c. 250) ; and for the African Church or Church of Carthage we have Tertullian (d. c. 220) and Saint Cyprian, bishop of Carthage (d. 258). The liturgy given in the eighth book of the (Apostolic Constitutions,' as well as being an early form of the rite of Antioch, is also possibly an example of an early type of the rite of the whole Church. When we reach the 4th century we have much fuller liturgical information, at least for the East, not only in the writings of Saint Athanasius (d. 373), Saint Basil (d. 379), Saint Cyril of Jerusalem (d. 386), and Saint John Chrysostom (d. 407), but also in the ei)xoUyia, or service books, which from about the end of this period began to be compiled for Church use. From this time, too, we have the specifically different rites which were already foreshadowed in the 3d century. It is generally accepted that the fairly uniform type of liturgy previously used every where developed into four great parent-rites, from which all others now in use in Christen dom are derived. These four are the liturgies of Antioch, Alexandria, Gaul, and Rome.
I. The rite of Antioch, found pure in the Greek 'Apostolic Constitutions,' was modified at Jerusalem into the Liturgy of Saint James, which itself took the place of the older liturgy at Antioch, and was used throughout the whole patriarchate, embracing all western Syria. This modified liturgy is found in (1) the Greek Saint James, now used only once a year at Zacynthus on 23 October, the feast of that saint, and at Jerusalem on 31 December; (2) the Saint James in Syriac, used by the Syrian Jacobites and Uniates; and (3) the Maronite rite, used in Syriac and also in Karshuni, that is, Arabic written in Syrian characters. The second rite derived from the primitive one of Antioch is the East-Syrian or Chaldean, which is found in two forms, (1) that used, in Syriac, by Nestorians and Chaldean Uniates, and (2) the Malabar rite, which is used, also in Syriac, by Malabar Uniates. The third derivative of
Antioch is the Byzantine rite, used in Greek, Arabic, Old Slavonic, Rumanian, and many other languages, by all the Orthodox and by Melchites and other Byzantine Uniates. Next to the Roman Mass, this is the most wide spread Christian liturgy. The fourth and last rite derived from Antioch is the Armenian, which is used, in classical Armenian, by Arme nians, whether Gregorian (i.e., schismatical) or Uniate. II. The second eastern rite, the Alex andrian, gives us (1) the Greek Liturgy of Saint gark, which is now no longer used; (2) the Saint Mark in Coptic, used by the Copts, both Monophysite and Uniate; and (3) the Ethiopic liturgy, used by the Monophysite Church of Abyssinia. The two great western parent liturgies are the Gallican and the Roman_ III. Gallican rite, in Latin, was used in North Italy, Gaul, Germany, Spain, Britain, and Ireland. It was imported about the 4th cen tury from the East, probably from Antioch. From about the 8th century it began to be grad ually supplanted by the Roman rite, which be came itself considerably Gallicanized in the process. By the 10th or 11th century the Gal lican had entirely given way to the Roman rite, except in one or two places. It still survives under the title Ambrosian at Milan, in Italy, and under the title Mozarabic at Toledo, in Spain. In each case it is greatly Romanized, particularly so at Milan. IV. Finally, we have the liturgy of Rome. The original pure Roman rite is now no longer used, nor is the African rite, which belonged to the same family and had many features in common with the present Roman Mass, not the least being that its lan guage was Latin even at a time when Greek was still employed at Rome and elsewhere. The present Roman rite, by far the most wide spread of all, is used, in Latin, by nearly the whole Roman patriarchate. It occurs, however, in a Slav dialect in parts of Dalmatia sionally in Greek at Rome. In parts of south ern Italy, Sicily, and Corsica, although they be long to the Roman patriarchate, the Byzantine rite is used. There are various mediaeval modi fications of the Roman rite peculiar to the reli gious orders of the Dominicans, Carthusian, and Carmelites. There were also modifications adopted in certain dioceses, and a few of them, Lyons for example, still keep these local forms; but in most cases the local usage has been abolished.
In the early period the liturgical language used at Rome was Greek, for Greek was spoken by the Roman Christians as well as by those of other centres of Christianity, such as Alexan dria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. For example, Pope Clement I (c. 91-104) uses Greek in that famous (First Epistle to the Corinthians,' to which reference has been already made, and the earliest inscriptions in the Roman cata combs are certainly in Greek. As far as is known, the first Christians to use Latin were those of Africa (Carthage). Pope Victor I (190-202), who was born in Africa, is often said to have been the first Roman pontiff to use it; but this has been disputed. The ques tion turns on whether Victor or Saint Cyprian was the author of the treatise Aleatoribus.) The 3d century popes, Cornelius (251-53) and Stephen (254-57), write in Latin. It may per haps be fairly said that from about the 3d cen tury Latin became the customary language spoken by Christians at Rome, and gradually from that time onward the only one. It is difficult to say when Latin replaced Greek for Church use. Some authorities place the change at as early a date as the second half of the 3d century; others are of opinion that Greek re mained the liturgical language until the end of the 4th century. At all events, in Pseudo Ambrose We Sacramentis' (c. 400) and in a letter of Pope Innocent I (401-17) to Decen tius of Eugubium (c. 416) we find that the Mass was then said in Latin. It is probable that there was a transition period, dining which the two languages were employed side by side. We know from the first Roman Ordo (c. 770) that as late as the 8th century lessons were read and psalms were sung in Greek. As a matter of fact, Greek has not, even now, entirely dis (0 Holy God), Agios ischyros (0 Holy Strong One), Agios athanatos, eleison imas (0 Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us), in the Mass of the Presanctified on Good Friday.