The idea that there was an Old Testament reading in addition to epistle, psalm, and gospel in the Roman rite goes back at least as far as Duchesne, and was the current thinking well into the 70's. It is no longer enjoys widespread belief.
As for the alleluia, it seems to have been a later addition to the epistle-psalm-gospel sequence.
(cf. Preface to the Study of the Alleluia Author(s): James W. McKinnon Source: Early Music History, Vol. 15 (1996), pp. 213-249 Published by: Cambridge University Press)
That's interesting. In every Sunday mass I've ever attended, (but virtually no weekday masses), there has been both an OT reading and an epistle, separated by a psalm, followed by an Alleluia and the Gospel.
The Gradual Psalm was likely the OT reading of ancient times. The Gallican rite may have had 3 readings, but their Gospel chant seems to have followed the Gospel. The Alleluia before the Gospel in the Roman rite is likely of Byzantine origin introduced at a time when Rome was heavily if not majority Greek speaking, in the 8th century. The Tracts seem to be of very ancient origin, perhaps the original Gradual psalms before the Roman schola put together the shorter ones that we are familiar with today, and brought back into service as the alternative to the newly introduced Gospel alleluias during penitential seasons.
To participate in the discussions on Catholic church music, sign in or register as a forum member, The forum is a project of the Church Music Association of America.