HOME | Mass of the Faithful I | Liturgies-Key | Cheroubicon | Offertory | Lavabo | Prayer of the Veil | Diptychs | Collectio Post Nomina | top
Let us who mystically represent the Cherubim,
and sing the hymn of the thrice-holy to the life-giving Trinity,
put off all worldly cares,
as receiving the King of all things
with his invisible escort of angelic Hosts.
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.
This form (A) of the Cheroubicon is found in Chrys, Mk, and Arm.
It was already used in Alexandria in Cod.
Ross (13th cent.) and was formerly used
in Antioch in the eleventh century, but it was afterwards replaced by the form now found in Bas for Easter Eve.
The Ross and Barb MSS. give both (13th and 16th cent.).
The second form (B) is freely translated by G. Moultrie in Eng. Hymnal, No. 318, 'Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and in
fear and trembling stand'.
Bas has two
other forms,
one for Maundy Thursday (C): ' Son of God, receive me this day as partaker of the mystic feast.'
This is in Mk (Ross and Vat) and Peter.
The other is for the Presanctified (D), 'Now the powers of heaven invisibly worship with us, for the King of Glory enters', which
is found in Chronicon paschale (an. 645).
Jas has (B) and the prayer used in Bas at the Prothesis, 'O God our God'.
Arm uses the form (A) in some churches and on the great
festivals, but usually a variable Hagiology is sung incorporating the Angelic Song,'Holy, Holy, Holy Lord', farced with
passages from the Psalms; and the Offertory is made here.
Byz-Greg has Psalm li before the Cheroubicon.
Eutychius (c. 580) objected to the singing of a hymn here, which calls the unconsecrated elements the 'King of Glory', and treating them as though they were consecrated [De pasch. et ss. euch. 7.]. The words βασιλεὺς δόξης are, however, only in the form used for the Presanctified (D), which may thus have been at that time the usual form. It speaks of the 'powers of heaven' instead of 'Cherubim'. Greek writers defend the use of the language objected to on the ground that the species have already been dedicated to God, and are types of the Body and Blood. Arcudius in the seventeenth century denounced it as idolatry, but the Uniats use it as well as the Orthodox. [De concordiaEccles. accident, el orient, iii, 19, cited D.A.C.L. iii. 1284.]
A similar anthem is in Amb while the Oblations are brought processionally to the altar, the Anthem after the Gospel (it is really after the Sermon); Gall called it Sonus, and Moz Laudes (see p. 183). Nothing is known of the Sonus, but the Laudes are variable. It may be that Ps.cl with its 'Laudate eum in sono tubae' was originally the invariable chant. It is followed in Gall by what is there called Laudes, equivalent to the Moz Sacrificium. Like the Cheroubicon both these chants have Alleluias, but the Amb Anthem has not. This last is given here:
Anthem after the Gospel:
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea,
behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, saying:
Where is he that is born King of the Jews?
For we have seen his star,
and are come to worship him.
(Mt.ii.1-2.)
During the singing of the Cheroubicon, which has long-drawn-out music, the priest says the following prayer for himself. It comes from Bas, for which, and not for Chrys, it appears in Barb, but it is now given in Chrys, and is used in Arm.
No one among those that are bound by fleshly passions
and lusts is worthy to approach thy table,
or to draw near to thee or serve thee, O King of glory.
For to serve thee is a great and fearful thing even to the heavenly hosts.
Yet through thine ineffable and measureless love
without changing thy nature thou didst become man,
and didst appear as our High-priest,
and didst commit to us the ministry of this bloodless sacrifice....
Make me sufficient by the power of thy Holy Spirit,
endowing me with the grace of thy priesthood to stand at this holy altar,
and administer thy holy body and precious blood, &c.
Byz, Arm, Pet, Jas (MS. Par. 476 only; Par. 2509 has the same prayer as Byz at the Prothesis).
Jas and Mk have prayers with the same motive, but differing in form.
There is a prayer of incense here in Mk;
in Jas it precedes the Cheroubicon, and refers to Abel, Noah,
Aaron, and Samuel.
Jas (Mess, Ross, Par. 476, but
not Par. 2509) also has a prayer beginning τὸ
φρικτόν σου Κύριε
μεταλαβόντες δάπεδον
θαμβούμεθα τῷ προσώπῳ, which is attributed to Dionysius the
Areopagite.
St. Chrysostom says that after the dismissals of those not allowed to participate, there must be another prayer, and
at the same time all prostrate themselves (ἐπ? ἐδάφους κείμεθα); this may be the same prayer. [In 2 Cor. xviii.3.]
The deacon and priest now repeat the Cheroubicon in a low voice, and the priest censes the altar, the sanctuary, the icons, and the people. They go to the Prothesis, saying silently some Troparia, and cense the Oblations; the deacon receives the paten, and the priest carries the chalice, and they go out through the north door, preceded by lights, and go round the church, saying:
Remember us all, O Lord,
when thou comest in thy kingdom,
now and ever.
Before entering the holy doors the priest prays for the deacon:
May the Lord remember thy ministry in his kingdom for ever.
Other similar petitions are added, making this 'commemoration' a 'Prayer for
the whole Church'.
Originally the priest did not accompany the deacon, nor does he now in Arm;
in Byz the higher ecclesiastics stay in the Sanctuary and await them.
As the priest places each of the elements on the
altar he says:
The noble Joseph took thine immaculate body from the Cross,
and wrapped it in fine linen with spices,
and laid it in a new sepulchre with fitting ceremony,
adding the words used when censing in the Prothesis:
In the grave according to the body, &c.,
and censes the holy gifts.
The priest and deacon then exchange invocations of
the Holy Spirit to assist one another's ministrations.
Syr-Jac has a Sedro ' of the Entrance ' with incense. Copt and Eth have nothing to
correspond to the Entrance.
The gifts are also censed in Arm.
In the Byz liturgy this is part of the Great Entrance, preceding the Kiss of Peace and the Creed. Ap-Const has before the Offertory a caution by the deacon:
Let none of the catechumens,
none of the hearers,
none of the unbelieving,
none of the heterodox (remain).
Ye who pray the first prayer approach.
Let the mothers take their children.
Let none have anything against anyone.
let none be in hypocrisy.
Let us stand upright with fear and trembling to offer to the Lord.
In Jas. before the Offertory prayers there are three blessings of the ministration and the Gloria in excelsis, beginning an act of praise which ends in a reply:
The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee,
and the power of the Lord shall overshadow thee.
This is referred to in St. Chrysostom. [De sacerdot. 6.]
The Litany has found its way into this as into other places, and while it is being recited the priest says the Offertory Prayer:
O Lord God Almighty,
who alone art Holy,
who acceptest the sacrifice of praise
from them that call upon thee with their whole heart,
receive also the supplications of us sinners,
and grant that they may reach thine holy altar,
and enable us to present to thee gifts and spiritual sacrifices
for our sins and for the transgressions of thy people.
And mercifully grant that we may obtain grace in thy sight,
that the offering may be acceptable unto thee,
and that the excellent spirit of thy grace may rest upon us
and upon these gifts now presented to thee and upon all thy people.
Through the mercies of thine only-begotten Son, &c.
This is Chrys. Bas is longer, but of the same type;
it
refers to the acceptance of the gifts of Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses and Aaron, and Samuel.
The ecphonesis is the same.
In Jas there are three, as well as the Prayer of the Veil, and a
litany.
In Syr-Jac, Copt, and Eth, the Offertory is made at the Prothesis.
The
Alexandrian writers make many references to the Offertory, and this seems to be the proper place for it.
After the Creed Mk has a prayer τῆς προθέσεως, but in the Intercession
there is a prayer for those who offer, which was probably originally an Offertory.
Nest has a prayer in which the priest says 'these glorious and holy,
life-giving and divine mysteries are placed and ordered on the altar of propitiation'.
Arm has a ' Prayer of Athanasius' after the Lavabo and before the Kiss,
containing the words:
Do thou, O Lord, to whom we offer this sacrifice,
accept from us this presentation,
and consummate it into the mysteries of thy body and blood.
The language used in the Eastern Church, in which the consecration of the elements is anticipated, has caused much criticism from Western theologians, though it is found in a less degree in the Latin Mass.
In Rome the priest offers the Host, saying:
Receive, holy Father, almighty eternal God, this immaculate victim,
which I, thine unworthy servant, offer to thee, my living and true God,
for my innumerable sins, offences and negligences,
and for all who are here,
but also for all faithful Christians, living or departed;
that it may help me to everlasting salvation.
This is found in the Prayer Book of Charles the Bald (9th cent.), but was not in Rome till the fourteenth century (Ordo XIV).
On mixing the water and wine in the chalice he says:
Ο God, who hast wonderfully established the dignity of human nature,
and still more wonderfully reformed it,
grant to us by the mystery of this water and wine to be sharers of his divinity,
who deigned to become partaker of our humanity,
even Jesus Christ, &c.
This goes back to Leon, where it is a Christmas prayer, but does not become an Offertory
prayer till about the eleventh century.
At Hereford there was a blessing of the water,
The Lord.
Mayest thou be blessed by him, from whose side came out blood and water.
In the name, &c.
When he offers the chalice he says:
We offer thee, Ο Lord, the cup of salvation,
beseeching thy clemency
that it may ascend before thy divine majesty
for our salvation and that of the whole world.
Amen.
This is Moz in origin, and finds its way into the Missal in the eleventh century.
Then
In the spirit of humility and in a contrite mind
may we be accepted by thee, Ο Lord,
and may this sacrifice be so made in thy sight to-day
that it may please thee, Ο Lord God.
(Cf. Dan. iii. 39-40 in the Vulgate Version.)
This first appears in the eleventh century, but is not general till much later.
Come, Almighty Sanctifier, eternal God,
and bless this sacrifice prepared for thy holy name.
It is in Stowe sung three times, and is Gall, originally addressed to the Holy Spirit.
All these Roman prayers, except 'Deus qui humanae', which is found in Leon, are of later date than Greg. Micrologus (nth cent.) says there is no prayer in the Roman order after the offering and before the Secret [Microl. xi.], but the 'Veni Sanctificator' was already in common use, being from Gall. They express the same ideas as the Greek Prothesis. It is possible that Te igitur and Hanc igitur were originally Offertory prayers.
Amb, after the Prayer
of the Veil, has
(1) the Offertorium (originally Offerenda),
(2) Prayer at the offering of each element: 'Receive, O most merciful Father,
this holy bread (chalice of wine mixed with water) that it may become the body (blood) of thine Only-begotten One, in the name,
&c.'
(3) Between these the mixture is blessed, 'From the side of Christ there flowed blood, and water likewise, in the name, &c.'
(4) Four prayers of offering, the last three to the Holy Trinity, the middle one of which is, with the names of the Saints
omitted, 'Suscipe sancta Trinitas' (see below).
(5) A Blessing on the offerings.
(6) Prayer of censing.
Incense is offered here in many liturgies.
In Chrys the deacon says: 'Do honour, sir', and the priest, 'Then shall they offer young bullocks upon thy altar'. Mk (at the Kiss) and Syr-Jac have incense prayers of the usual type.
Nest, during the Litany: ' This paten is blessed like the paten of the blessed
apostles in the Upper Room, O creator of sweet herbs and pleasant spices, in the name, &c.'
Rome's form is late, the only original censing being at the beginning and the
Gospel, both processional.
It seems to have come from the Gall Great Entry, where the gifts were censed on being placed on the altar.
It is now the chief censing of the Mass.
By the intercession of the blessed archangel Michael,
standing on the right hand of the altar of incense,
and of all his chosen band,
may the Lord deign to bless this incense
and accept it for a sweet-smelling savour,
through, &c.
As he censes the oblates he says:
May this incense blessed by thee ascend before thee,
O Lord, and may thy mercy descend upon us.
He censes the altar, saying Ps.cxli.2-4: 'Let my prayer be set forth, &c.'; when he returns the thurible to the deacon he says:
May the Lord kindle in us the fire of his love
and the flame of eternal charity.
Amb is the same as Rome, except that instead of the last sentence it has 'Behold the smell of the saints of God is as the smell of a fruitful field which the Lord hath blessed'.
The Eastern Churches generally, having the Offertory at the Great Entrance, do not need any other chant than the Cheroubicon and its alternatives, but Nest has an Anthem, with a memorial of the Saint, or of the departed. The Western Churches have here what was originally a Psalm, known as the Offertorium. Its introduction in Carthage was recent in the time of St. Augustine, for it occasioned some opposition there [Retract, ii. 11.]. Apparently the Introit was later. A 'vir tribunitius' objected to it, and Augustine defended' the custom which had then begun in Carthage, that hymns should be sung from the book of Psalms either before the oblation or while that which had been offered was being distributed to the people (the Communio)'. In Ordo I it had been reduced to an Antiphon and one or two verses, but later the verses disappeared, and now it consists of Antiphon only. This Antiphon, unlike the Introit, which rarely uses unscriptural words, has in many cases adopted a new character. Sometimes it is non-scriptural (e.g. 14th Sept.: 'Protect, O Lord, thy people by the sign of thy holy Cross'); sometimes the music is very ornate with repetitions of both words and music. It is the most modern of the chants musically.
In Moz it is called Sacrificium; it is there an anthem on a text, scriptural or otherwise.
The Gall Laudes began and ended with Alleluia. It seems to
have been invariable. Amb calls it Offertorium: it is sometimes non-scriptural. The following is that for the Epiphany:
In his days shall righteousness flourish:
and abundance of peace,
so long as the moon be exalted.R. He shall have dominion also from the sea unto the sea:
and from the river unto the ends of the earth.
And abundance of peace so long as the moon be exalted.
The priest washes his hands at the Offertory in many rites.
It was originally no doubt
necessary after handling the loaves,' in order that he who is to receive the heavenly food may by washing cleanse his hands from
the earthly food which he has just received from the laymen' [Mabillon, Ordo VI (D.A.C.L. i. 105).]. But already in Ap-Const it was symbolic, for it is given before the Offertory by the sub-deacon to all the priests and is said to be 'a
symbol of the purity of souls resting with God'. There is no mention of it in Jas,
Mk, Byz (where a washing precedes the Prothesis). It is especially Syr and Rom; in Cyril of Jerusalem at the beginning of Missa fidelium the deacon brings water to the bishop and
presbyters before the Kiss. 'Ye have seen the deacon give τὸ νίψασθαι - to nipsasthai the bishop and the priests around
the altar of God. It is a symbol of the need we have of cleansing ourselves from all sins and transgressions [Catech. v. 2.].' It is also in use in Copt, Eth, Nest, and Arm. In Nest, Rom, and Moz it is after
the Offertory, but the place varied in Rome from
time to time; elsewhere it is before.
There is a prayer in Syr-Jac and an admonition in Eth.
The
latter is given here, being of special interest as quoting Pontius Pilate (who is said to have been canonized there, and who has
just been mentioned in the Creed)
If there be any who is pure,
let him receive of the host,
and whoso is not pure,
let him not receive,
that he be not consumed in the fire of the Godhead;
whosoever hath revenge in his heart,
and who hath an alien mind by reason of unchastity.
'I am pure from the blood of you all'
and from your sacrilege
against the body and blood of Christ, &c.
Rom, Peter, and Arm say Ps.xxvi.6-7, 'I will wash my hands in innocency, &c.', which is referred to in Cyril of Jerusalem Rom has verses 6-12; York also has this, Sar and Hereford other forms. Copt,' Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow, &c.' Chrys uses this Psalm (li) at the washing at the Prothesis; Moz before vesting. Amb has a Lavabo without words before the Qui fridie. Peter adds to the Psalm: 'The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee' (Luke i. 35), which occurs in the Great Entrance of Chrys. In Nest there is no prayer, but long preparatory and penitential prayers, and a bidding for the departed follow the Lavatory, probably in anticipation of the Diptychs following. In Arm it is at the Offertory and before the Kiss of Peace.
This is another Syrian feature, but it is also found in Copt, where it is called ' a Prayer of our holy Father, John of Bostra, for the Veil, to the Father'. That of Jas has the heading εὐχὴ τοῦ καταπετάσματος - euche tou katapetasmatos. It is a prayer of the Entry, though it is long after the Entry, for there is no ' Greater Entry' in this rite, and comes immediately before the Sursum corda, as does that of Syr-Jac, which is merely a prayer for worthiness.
We thank thee, ΟLord our God,
because thou hast given us 'boldness
to enter into the holiest by a new and living way
through the veil and the flesh' of Christ.
Having been permitted therefore
to enter into 'the place where thine honour dwelleth',
and to be within the Veil and to behold the holy of holies,
we cast ourselves upon thy goodness:
ΟLord have mercy upon us,
for in fear and trembling
we are about to stand before thine altar, &c.
So Jas.
The Copt prayer is also a prayer of Entrance, or
approach to the altar, and is a rather late addition.
It begins the Mass of the Faithful.
Bute says it was to be said inaudibly by
the priest standing before the door of the Sanctuary, immediately before entering it the last time, and that it is never said now.
The purpose of these prayers at this point is a little obscure, but they are probably an introduction to the Anaphora.
Gall also has an Oratio
super sindonem, and so has Amb.
The latter
was formerly preceded by the Kiss of Peace, after which was 'Erigite vos ad orationem' and the response 'Ad te, Domine'. Moz has a salutation, and the prayer is preceded by an address, Praefatio
Missae, and is itself simply called 'Oratio'. Between the two the priest says 'Oremus', and the choir sings, 'Ajus,
Ajus, Ajus, Domine Deus Rex aeterne, tibi laudes et gratias'. Another short exhortation follows with the response, ' Praesta
aeterne omnipotens Deus', and the prayer. The Praefatio Missae or simply Missa is the 'prima oratio' of St. Isidore;
the 'oratio' is the 'secunda'.
This is perhaps the best place for the Roman 'Secret', a variable prayer which is introduced by the
words,' Pray, brethren, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable with God the Father Almighty', and the response, 'May the
Lord receive the sacrifice at thy hands, &c.' York's response was Ps.xx.1-3, 'The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble'. Before this came the prayer, 'Suscipe sancta
Trinitas', which is Gallican and appears to belong to theDiptychs; allusions to the departed were dropped from it before it was
imported into Rome. Amb has taken the Secret from
Rome under the name 'Oratio super oblatum', which practically doubles the Super sindonem.
The following are these two prayers from Amb for
the Epiphany:
Prayer over the Sindon:
Grant, we beseech thee, almighty God,
that, as all nations come with gladness to worship Christ,
born King and Lord;
so also this glorious light may ever dwell in us ;
through, &c.
Prayer over the Offerings:
We offer unto thee, O Lord, the sacrifice of praise,
for the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and for the beginnings of our calling;
renewing the sacrament of thy tenderness on this day's festival;
and we beseech thee favourably to accept it:
through, &c.
At an early date it became customary both in
the East and in the West for the names of notable persons to be read out during the liturgy in order that the faithful might pray
for them or commemorate them.
The history of the development of this practice is very difficult to disentangle, for the evidence
is confusing.
There are three classes of names to be considered:
(a) departed Christians of such sanctity that their intercessions were asked for;
(b) the departed for whose souls the Church was asked to pray;
(c) the living.
There is also the problem of the point in the liturgy where the Diptychs were read.
As the matter arises again during the Great
Intercession, it will be sufficient to explain here what the Diptychs were, and to discuss their position.
The word 'Diptych' was a Greek adjective,
which meant 'folding in two'; in late Greek it was used as a noun for 'tablets', such as the δελτίον δίπτυχον used by Demaratus to smuggle a secret message to the Lacedaemonians [Herodotus, vii. 239.]. These were a kind of notebook of two covers, hinged
together, with the insides coated with wax, on which the writing was inscribed with a stylus. Those that were required to
be permanent would be ornamented on the outside, and be made not only of wood, but of metal, ivory, silver, or gold.
It is on such
tablets that the names of those to be mentioned at the altar were entered.
The present position of the Diptychs of the Departed, in almost all liturgies which preserve them, is in the Great Intercession, where prayers are offered for the whole Church, and the names of those living persons who need specially to be mentioned are read; the names of the departed usually follow. But in past times, in various parts of both East and West, the Diptychs of the Departed were closely associated with the Kiss of Peace and the Offertory. Nest still keeps them in this place.
The first mention of the Diptychs in this place is by the Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (6th cent.), written in east Syria. They were after the Kiss of Peace. St.Maximus (c. 650), commenting on this writer, says that this was the Diptychs of the Dead only, and that this was the position in the East (i.e. in contrast with Byz) [Schol. in E.H. iii. 3. Brightm. Lit. E. & W. 538, n. 13.]; but his language does not show whether in Byz they were before (not after as in east Syria) the Kiss of Peace, as Brightman thought them, or at a later place, i.e. in the Anaphora. Somewhere about the same time Narsai, of the Nestorian School at Nisibis, wrote his liturgical commentaries, in which he first refers to a command by the deacon, after the Creed, to pray for the departed; and then, but a little later, says that, while the Peace is being given, the book containing the two sets of names, the living and the dead, is read [Connolly, Texts and Studies, viii. No. I, pp. 6, 10.]. The Canons of the Council of Constantinople sub Menna, 538,say:
The doors having been shut, and the holy Creed having been read as usual, at the time of the diptychs after a long silence the whole crowd assembled round the altar to hear the deacons read the names of the Fathers of the Synods, and especially Euphemius, Macedonius, and Leo. They cried, 'Glory be to thee, O Lord', and then the Liturgy was finished.
This seems to mean that the Diptychs were before the Anaphora, but it is inconsistent with Brightman's interpretation of Maximus given above, for the Kiss of Peace preceded the Creed. All the evidence from Asia and Jerusalem is in favour of the later position, in the Intercession, and it dates back as far as Cyril of Jerusalem. Byz and Egypt are doubtful, but the Gall use suggests that one of these had the Diptychs before the Anaphora. The fact that St. Maximus in his own account of the Mass of the Faithful three times mentions the Great Entrance, the Kiss of Peace, and the Creed in that order, and does not mention the Diptychs, strongly supports the opinion that with him they were later.
In the West the Gall and Moz had the Diptychs after the Offertory and before the Kiss of Peace; Amb also after the Offertory. Rome is doubtful. Dom Cagin believes that originally the Diptychs were before the Sursum corda there also, and the reasons he gives are weighty [Paleogr. musicale, v.]. There is in the West much to show that, when the people brought their offerings, a practice that continued till the tenth century, their names were read out. Jerome objected to this because of the ostentation of those who gave large sums; there is not any information as to which Church used the custom, but he doubtless had Rome in mind [Comm. in Jerem. proph, ii. 11.]. The Council of Elvira (c. 305) forbids the recital of the names of penitents (qui non communicant) and energumens 'ad altare cum oblatione' [Canons 28, 29.]. The evidence of Innocent has been discussed in the Introduction (p. 58). It seems to me to be in favour of the Diptychs having been before the Canon in his time. This is supported by the absence of Memento etiam from Gel (Vat. and St. Gall) and many other manuscripts. This portion of the Canon almost exactly reproduces a Collectio post nomina of the Miss Gall, and looks as if it had been transferred there from an earlier position.
E. Bishop will not allow that the Diptychs
were ever here.
His theory is that,
In the fourth century there was a ' Prayer for all sorts and conditions of men' at the beginning of Mass.
The names of certain deceased persons were introduced by ' that great centre of liturgical novelty, the Church of Jerusalem'.
About the middle of the fourth century it was transferred to the Eucharistic prayer.
The new arrangement spread and appears in Sarapion, but was not taken up in Egypt.
Byz welcomed and developed it.
Gaul adopted it, but not in the Canon.
Rome instituted the practice of mentioning 'offerers' by name at the point in the Canon where the offerings were mentioned, but may have left the names of the departed in the old place, as in Moz and Gall.
Then the Prayer of the Faithful disappeared; and in Moz and Gall the Post nomina was substituted.
In Rome commemoration of the departed was then made in special Masses.
The Gallican Memento including 'our dear ones' was inserted into the Roman Mass in use in Gaul.
This was eventually adopted in Rome.
It would appear, then, that the evidence for Byz and Rome is inconclusive.
It is certain that in the Far East and in the Far West the Diptychs were before the Anaphora, and that eventually, except for Nest, they came
into the Intercession within the Anaphora. The first step was no doubt a duplication, such as we see in Theodore of
Mopsuestia, who has the Diptychs, just before the Anaphora, and also mention of the departed in the Intercession. [Mingana, Woodbrooke Studies, vi. 84, 105.]
A prayer followed the saying of the
Diptychs, which is the tertia oratio of St. Isidore.
The following is an example:
Accept, O most gracious God,
the prayers of thy suppliant people,
and inscribe in the book of eternal life
the names which thou seest to be placed before thine altar.
Have mercy also on unworthy me,
and all for whom I make my supplications;
grant perpetual rest to those thy servants or other faithful departed,
that resting in the bosom of Abraham,
they may both escape the penalties of Hell,
and in the time of the resurrection
be joined to the company of the angels.
In the Roman Mass, after the Lavabo of the Offertory the prayer 'Suscipe Sancta Trinitas' offers the oblation in memory of the passion, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord, and in honour of the Saints. It was not inserted there until the eleventh century at earliest. But in the Sacramentary of Bergamo it appears in a different form headed 'Item offersiones quando presbyter offert'. It is evidently a prayer in connexion with the Diptychs:
Holy Trinity, receive this oblation, which we offer to thee
for the government and protection and unity of the Catholic faith,
for the veneration of all thy Saints together,
for the safety and security of thy servants and handmaids,
for all those for whom we have promised to ask thy mercy,
and from whom we have received alms,
and all faithful Christians, that by thy mercy
they may be found worthy to receive remission of all their sins,
and the eternal rewards of happiness
by persevering in thy praises and the honour of thy name,
O most merciful God, Creator of the world.
And receive this oblation for my cleansing,
and cleanse and purify me from all spots of sin,
that I may worthily serve thee.
Other forms of a similar nature are to be found in Gallican missals.