Kształtowanie się obrzędów święceń prezbiterów w liturgii rzymskiej w świetle Pontyfikału Rzymsko - germańskiego z X wieku

Abstract

According to the principle lex orandi lex credendi, the liturgy of the Roman Church expresses faith of the whole catholic community. In its essential form, as well as in particular prayers and texts, it corresponds to the deposit of faith (depositum fidei) conveyed over the centuries within the Tradition. It also applies, to a great extent, to rites by which the sacrament of holy orders is administered. This paper tries to demonstrate the evolution of liturgical books and rites connected with the rite of ordination in the Roman Church. Rite of ordination in the ancient Roman Rite was very simple – its most important element was the prayer of consecration and laying on of hands by the bishop. Romano-German Pontifical contains a lot of German and Gallic elements which were merged with the traditional Roman liturgy. This Pontifical includes, among other things, the rites of ordination to the priesthood {Ordo qualiter in romana ecclesia presbiteri, diaconi vel subdiaconi eligendi sunt). The most important liturgical activities within the Roman liturgy lost their primary meaning in the Roman-Gallic liturgy. At the same time, new elements were introduced. The final form of the ordination rite in Roman-Gallic liturgy is included in the Roman Pontifical, published in 1596, which had remained obligatory in the Latin Church until the reform carried out at the behest of the Vatican Council II. The reformed rite of ordination for bishops, priests and deacons was the first postconciliar liturgical book published during the liturgical renewal after the Vatican Council II. Despite the radical reform of the ordo, many of the rites from Romano-German Pontifical survived, e.g. promise of obedience, anointing of the hands of the newly ordained and handing over of liturgical vessels and vestments. The Author describes how different rites have been taking shape through a dialogue with particular culture and under the influence of customs that have prevailed in a given epoch as well as in a specific milieu. Historical and cultural context provides sometimes the key to understanding genesis and meaning of specific rites and prayers within the liturgy. The effort to analyse documents and liturgical testimonies from X century requires carefulness to avoid jumping to conclusions. Very limited number of sources survived from the early Middle Ages and this is the reason why some explanations are only hypothetical. Liturgy of the Holy Mass and liturgies of particular sacraments were developing simultaneously with formation and creation of new liturgical books that had not existed before. This process began in the Church in VIII century and originated from the need of consolidation of liturgical life and, as a consequence, community life of the faithful of the Church.