At parish churches, there were usually a minimum of two daily masses, while at cathedrals and collegiate churches, especially in the Late Middle Ages, there were many times that number.
The first, colloquially known as Morrow Mass, was said after Prime in the summer and after Terce in the winter. Morrow Mass was generally a Missa privata or Low Mass, with only the priest and a secondary, generally said rather than sung, less formal. At Lincoln Cathedral, there were three Morrow Masses every day.
The name Missa privata does not mean “private Mass”, though that is a possible translation; often such Masses were celebrated with a large congregation present. If such a Mass were in a monastic or canonical church, it was also a Missa conventualis; if it were in a secular cathedral or secular collegiate church, it was also a Missa capitula.
Usually at parishes, the Morrow Mass was a Votive Mass, though in the case of a cathedral or collegiate church, that was more often the Mass of a particular chantry. There were votives assigned to masses every day of the week, in order from Sunday to Saturday (in the Use of Sarum), for the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Salvation of the People, the Holy Ghost, the Blessed Sacrament, the Holy Cross, and the Virgin Mary.
In cathedrals and collegiate churches, the votives were usually celebrated at the Chapter Mass, which was followed immediately by Chapter, at which a chapter of the Rules or other spiritual text was read, followed by any daily business that needed to be discussed.
The second Mass was the Mass of the Day, with the daily propers. It was a full Solemn High Mass or Missa solemnis with choral singing, incense, bells, and a full procession which included a verger, an asperger, a crucifer, two cerofers, a thurifer, a boat bearer, a sub-deacon, deacon, the celebrant. Sometimes there were also a clerk (see below) and a salt-bearer.
Without the three ministers of the major orders at the altar (positions taken by members of those orders or all by priests), it is not a Missa solemnis, regardless of singing, chanting, incense, etc., but can be a Missa cantata, or sung Mass.
According to the Regularis Concordia, the Missa solemnis or Solemn High Mass took usually place after Terce during the summer and after Sext during the winter, and during Lent, on Ember Days, and Vigils, after None.
In convents, cathedrals, other collegiate churches, and some parishes, more than one Mass could be celebrated per day, one for a feast, another as a Votive, still another as a Requiem, for example, and in the Late Middle Ages up to dozens of chantry and obit Masses.
The Cathedral at Salisbury and other cathedrals and collegiate churches following the Use of Sarum offered Requiem Mass every day in addition to other Masses of the Day. A Requiem Mass for the dead was celebrated at the first vacant (no feasts or special observance) day of the month in ordinary parishes throughout the Isles.
In the Use of Lichfield, the Morrow Mass was said before Lauds, the Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary after Lauds, and Solemn High Mass after either Sext of None depending on the season of the church year.
At Lincoln Cathedral, including the three Morrow Masses and the Solemn High Mass at ten or eleven o’clock, there were forty-eight Masses every day due to chantries, in addition to a varying number of Masses for obits, and there must have been many, many more at St. Giles’ Collegiate Church in Edinburgh, with forty-six altars, at least fifty-four chantries, plus obits, enough for sixteen canons and seventy-two chaplains to be extremely busy every day just celebrating Mass.
Sacred ministers of Solemn High Mass
Not all these sacred ministers served at every Solemn High Mass, much less every Mass of any kind, but these were their general functions, given here as if all of these were in one party at one Solemn High Mass.
Officiant was the priest (or bishop) as chief minister of the Mass being sung or said. His most signficant part was saying or singing the Canon of the Mass, also known as the Prayer of Consecration or the Anaphora.
Secondary assisted the priest at Low Mass by performing more or less the tasks of the other sacred ministers at Solemn High Mass.
Deacon could either be an actual deacon or a priest acting as one, chiefly reading the Gospel and assisting the celebrant as needed.
Subdeacon could either be an actual subdeacon or a deacon or a priest acting as one, chiefly reading the Epistle and assisting the deacon.
Beadle in small churches was responsible for keeping order among the laity during Mass; his symbol of office was a mace.
In England, the office of beadle evolved into an officer enforcing minor laws, taking charge of the night watch, and punishing misdemeanors, all under the authority of the parish constable, a civil officer.
In Scotland, where the office under the old Scottish Church had served many of the same functions as a verger in England, the beadle became the chief assistant to the minister in services.
Cantor sang the Introit, led the Psalm(s), and had charge over the choir; there were usually two of these, one for the north side of the quire and one for the south side, also known as rulers. In the case of cathedral chapters and secular colleges, the chief cantor was the precentor and the junior was the succentor or subchanter.
Choristers were clerics who processed and sang in the choir but performed no other functions at the Mass
Lector in the case of a Mass calling for one or more Readings from the Old Testament or non-Gospel, non-Epistle book of the New Testament, reads those, and may lead the bidding prayers as well.
Verger was responsible for execution of the proper order of the Mass and for orderliness of the clergy; his symbol was a verge. This office was one that was especially English.
Acolytes
Acolyte was the highest of the minor orders, and also the general collective term for a category sacred ministers at the Mass including the following functions, with many performed by the same persons at a sing service, though theoretically each function could be assigned to unique individuals.
Accensor were the acolytes who light the altar and pavements candles before the Mass and snuffs them out afterwards, usually those who also served as cerofers, though not always.
Asperger was the acolyte who carries the aspersorium and aspergillium.
Boat-bearer is the acolyte who carries the incense boat.
Book-bearer carried the Gospel book and held it for the Deacon.
Cerofers carried the processional torches, candlesticks, or tapers.
Clerk was the chief acolyte in the Mass supervising all others.
Collet was the acolyte also known as the server or altar boy who assisted the Officiant, Deacon, and Subdeacon at the altar and credence table.
Croyser (or crucifer) carried the processional cross or crucifix.
Salt-bearer carried the bowl of salt used in some blessings.
Thurifer carried the thurible and at some points censed congregants or sacred objects other than those censed by the Celebrant.
Sacred vessels
Ampulla is a small cruet usually for holding consecrated wine in the reserved sacrament, though the term is also used for a chrismale.
Bread box is used to hold bread or wafers before Mass.
Chalice is a vessel used for consecrating wine and distributing the sacrament during Mass.
Ciborium contains consecrated wafers used for distribution at Mass and for holding the reserved sacrament.
Cruets hold wine and water to be used for Mass.
Flagons can be used like cruets, but more often are used to hold water to be poured into a font for baptism.
Lunette is two crystal lens joined by a hinge to hold the Blessed Sacrament, a consecrated host.
Monstrance is a device for holding the lunette either to carry in procession or to sit on the altar for adoration.
Paten holds the host for the Eucharist and can also be used for distribution of Holy Communion.
Sacred instruments
Alms basins are round shallow bowls for collecting alms.
Aspergillum is the device for dispersing holy water on things or people to be blessed with it.
Aspersorium is bucket for carrying holy water.
Censer boat holds incense to be blessed and placed in the thurible.
Crewe box is for holding the chrismales or ampullae for oil of the sick (oleum infirmorum; priests could bless), oil of catechumens (oleum catechumenorum; also for ordination of priests), and chrism (oleum chrismatis; baptism, confirmation, and consecration of bishops), marked INF, CAR, and CHR.
Chrismale is a glass or crystal vessels for holy oils.
Chrismatory is a chrismale specifically for chrism, but sometimes also a synonym for crew box.
Emunctorium is the wooden-handled brass stick with a split end holding a taper on one branch and a snuffer on the other.
Lavabo bowl is for catching water poured over the celebrant’s hands to ritually cleanse them immediately before he begins the Canon of the Mass (also known as the anaphora).
Processional cross/crucifix is carried at the head of a church procession; if there are two, one is carried at the head of the procession, the other is carried before the celebrant.
Salt box holds salt for the officiant to use for blessing holy water for baptism and asperges, and in stoups.
Sanctus bell is a set of bells or chimes rung by the collet at the Sanctus and at various points during the Canon of the Mass.
Thurible, also known as a censer or an acerna, is the vessel in which incense burns and smokes.
Sacred vestments
Although to the lay world, vestments is but another term for clothes, in the Church it refers strictly to special garments worn at the celebration of the Mass, particularly by clergy. The garments worn as daily wear are officially called clericals.
Cassock – loose-fitting ankle-length robe worn by clerics in daily use, really a clerical but often worn underneath vestments, sometimes by those in the quire not part of the party celebrating Mass and by acolytes, originally all in black but later in different colors of clerical rank: black for deacons, priests, and lesser clergy; purple or amaranth for bishops; scarlet for cardinals; and white for the Pope, though white is also worn by members of some orders and by regulars in tropical climates
Alb – common garb of all ministers taking direct part in the Mass
Amice – a square white cloth worn over the alb at the back of the neck with long ribbons that crisscross in front, then back, and in front again to be tied
Cincture (Girdle) – a really long woven cord worn about the waist over the alb, tied at one side by acolytes, subdeacons, and deacons and at the center by priests and bishops with the ends to either side
Stole – a long strip of cloth draped over the shoulders, over the left shoulder of the deacon and tied on the right side, over both shoulders of the priest then crossed in front and tucked underneath the cincture, over both shoulders of the bishop to hang straight down then tucked underneath the cincture without being crossed
Chasuble – is the outermost sacramental garb of priests and bishops, worn only for Mass, oblong-shapped with a hole cut in the center and draped over the cleric’s body, usually elaborately decorated. Deacons and subdeacons also wear them for Solemn High Mass in penitential seasons.
Originating from the main garment worn by the lower classes in Rome, in the Early and High Middle Ages, the chasuble was usually white, gold, or silver, but in the Late Middle Ages it came to be more often the color of the season, at least in larger, more affluent churches. Traditionally, in addition to its other decorations, a chasuble had a vertical orphrey in the center front and back which split into three at mid-chest, between the shoulder blades level to the shoulders.
Orphrey – wide, decorative bands, often floral in design
Dalmatic – much the same as the chasuble only with wide sleeves, worn at Mass by the deacon
In later styles, the dalmatic had two narrow orphreys extending down from either shoulder, later often with two apparels joining them together, as well as orphrey at the cuffs of the sleeves
Apparel – in this conxtext, a type of horizontal decorative band about twice as wide as a orphrey
Tunicle – exactly like a dalmatic, originally differing in the sleeves being narrow rather than wide, which was worn by the subdeacon
Later, the tunicle had a single orphrey extending down the center, or else two orphreys like a dalmatic but only linked by a single apparel
Surplice (Cotta) – a long white tunic with wide sleeves worn over a cassock or habit worn by choir members that derives form the religious habit of Augustinian Canons
Cope – a very ornate cape or cloak worn by clergy for processions, outside ceremonies, canonical hours, benedictions, matins, vespers, and for bishops presiding at but not actually celebrating Mass black for ordinary
Maniple – a much smaller version of the stole worn over the left wrist by all ministers at Mass
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