As it seems that the current pontificate is drawing to its close, it may not be long before the Votive Mass Pro Eligendo Summo Pontifice (EF) is again celebrated for the first time in over a decade.
The proper chants of this Mass seem quite unusual, being unique to this Mass (except for the 2nd Alleluia verse in Eastertide) and not taken from the Psalms (except for the Tract) - however, I have been unable to establish if they are contrafacta.
Does anyone know their origins? They do not occur in the Graduale Triplex (apart from the 2nd Alleluia verse in Eastertide), which seems to imply they are later compositions.
Here are their texts - note that the Gradual's base text changes from Leviticus to Hebrews, not as indicated at the Verse, but at the last phrase preceding the Verse, beginning "debuit":
Introitus 1 Reg. 2, 35 Suscitabo mihi sacerdotem fidelem, qui juxta cor meum et animam meam faciet: et ædificabo ei domum fidelem, et ambulabit coram Christo meo cunctis diebus. (T. P. Alleluja, alleluja.) Ps. 131, 1 Memento, Domine, David: et omnis mansuetudinis ejus. V. Gloria Patri.
Graduale Levit. 21, 10 Pontifex sacerdos magnus inter fratres suos, super cujus caput fusum est unctionis oleum, et cujus manus in sacerdotio consecratæ sunt, vestitusque est sanctis vestibus: debuit per omnia fratribus similari. V. Hebr. 2, 17 Ut misericors fieret, et fidelis pontifex ad Deum: ut repropitiaret delicta populi.
Alleluja, alleluja. V. Levit. 21, 8 Sacerdos sit sanctus, sicut et ego sanctus sum, Dominus, qui sanctifico vos. Alleluja.
Tractus Ps. 131, 8-10 Surge, Domine, in requiem tuam: tu et arca sanctificationis tuæ. V. Sacerdotes tui induantur justitiam, et sancti tui exsultent. V. Propter David servum tuum, non avertas faciem Christi tui.
Alleluja, alleluja. V. Levit. 21, 8 Sacerdos sit sanctus, sicut et ego sanctus sum, Dominus, qui sanctifico vos. Alleluja. V. Joann. 10, 14 Ego sum pastor bonus: et cognosco oves meas, et cognoscunt me meæ. Alleluja.
Offertorium 3 Esdræ 5, 40 Non participentur sancta, donec exsurgat pontifex in ostensionem et veritatem. (T. P. Alleluja.)
Communio Exodi 29, 29. 30 Veste sancta utetur pontifex, qui fuerit constitutus, et ingredietur tabernaculum testimonii, ut ministret in sanctuario. (T. P. Alleluja.)
The 'Pontifex maximus' was the chief pagan priest of Rome before the Empire, and Roman Emperors used the title. As far as I can see the appellation 'pontifex' which occurs in four of these antiphons was never applied to the Pope except as an insult, before the 16th century, so these antiphons must be late compositions.
I have done some further investigation using Google books... the version of this Mass in the 1572 Missale Romanum is the same as in the 1962, except that the Gospel pericope was shorter by two verses, consisting of John 14:15-19, which it remained until at least 1600; by 1604, it had been lengthened by the addition of two verses, to John 14:15-21, which remained the standard through to 1962.
The pre-Tridentine 1563 Missale Romanum calls this Mass "Officium missæ apostolica sede vacante", which is almost identical to the Tridentine form (including the shorter Gospel), but for two interesting differences:
(a) the Introit verse is not from the Psalms, but instead runs as follows:
Ps. [sic; lege 1 Reg. 2, 8] Ut sedeat cum principibus et gloriæ solium teneat: Domini enim sunt cardines terræ, et posuit super eos orbem.
(The traditional Dominican Rite maintains this interesting mediæval usage of providing Introit verses not from the Psalms but from other parts of the Bible, matching the Scriptural passage from which the Introit antiphon is taken.)
(b) the Tract is different:
Tractus. Jer. 30, 20. 21-22 Erunt filii Jacob sicut a principio, et cœtus ejus coram me permanebit. V. Et erit dux ejus ex eo, et princeps de medio ejus producetur. V. Et applicabo eum, et accedet ad me. V. Quis enim iste est, qui applicet cor suum, et appropinquet ad me, accedens. V. Et eritis mihi in populum, et ego vobis in Deum.
It turns out that this Mass was composed between the 28th of September and the 31st of October 1362 by the Cardinals who had just elected the future Urban V:
“In 1362, at the death of Innocent VI... Remarkably, during the same interregnum they [the Cardinals] also took the offensive on the liturgical front by creating a new Mass. The 1362 conclave duly elected a successor to Innocent VI, the future Urban V, while he was away on his legation in Naples. Waiting for his acquiescence the cardinals composed a Mass “pro sede vacante” whose introit “suscitabo mihi sacerdotem fidelem” (I will raise up a faithful priest for myself) employed scripture to accord the cardinals a certain liturgical distinction. [footnote] 34”
“[footnote] 34[.] 1 Samuel 2:35. Pope Pius V entered the mass in the Roman missal in 1570 under a new title “missa pro eligendo summo pontifice sed vacante”; see Dykmans, le cérémonial papal, 42-43, and Jean Michel Hanssens, “De missa pro eligendo summa [sic; lege: summo] pontifice,” periodico de re morali, canonica, liturgica 28 (1939): 135-159.”
— Joëlle Rollo-Koster, “Castrum Doloris: Rites of Vacant See and the Living Dead Pope in Schismatic Avignon”, in Medieval and Early Modern Ritual: Formalized Behavior in Europe, China and Japan, ed. Joëlle Rollo-Koster (Leiden: Brill, 2002), pp. 255-256.
The records of that conclave are somewhat contradictory; Guillaume Grimoard, the apostolic nuncio in Italy, was not at the conclave, but was elected Pope on the 28th of September. He did not return to Avignon, where the conclave was held, from Italy, until the 31st of October, five weeks later, on which day he accepted his election (which had been kept secret even from him) and took the name Urban V, whereupon he was consecrated a bishop and crowned Pope on the 6th of November.
The employment of "scripture to accord the cardinals a certain liturgical distinction" refers to the original non-psalmic Introit verse from 1 Kings (Samuel) 2:8, which says "Domini enim sunt cardines terræ, et posuit super eos orbem" – a punning reference to the Cardinals themselves.
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