In all there are ten Eucharistic Prayers in the Roman Rite. There are the four standard Eucharistic Prayers, numbered I, II, III and IV. Then there are two Eucharistic Prayers for Reconciliation, three for Use with Children and one which is entitled the Eucharistic Prayer for Various Needs and Occasions. This last prayer takes four different forms each of them thematically different.
The first of the four standard prayers is the prayer that has been used in the Roman Rite since at least the fourth century. It was always known as the Roman Canon. Its first part leading up to the ‘Holy, Holy’ (called the Preface) changes in accord with the feast. There are a great variety of these Prefaces, each of which reflects what is being celebrated at that Mass.
The prayer is very old and venerable but is perhaps the hardest for the congregation to follow. It has an ancient form that seems to go back to both Jewish and Roman sources. It is quite unique in the history of Eucharistic Prayers having a different form to most other prayers.
The Second Eucharistic also has very ancient roots being based on a Eucharistic Prayer which was found in an ancient document called the Apostolic Tradition, whose author was said to be Hippolytus, a well-known second-century Christian. Our Second Eucharistic Prayer is an adaptation of that ancient prayer, but is still clearly indebted to it. The shape of this prayer is modelled on that of the Eastern Eucharistic Prayers. Like the First Eucharistic Prayer, its first part can change with the feast.
The Third Eucharistic Prayer was a new composition created in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. It is based on and uses the terminology and the structures of forms found in ancient documents. The fundamental shape of this prayer is also based on that of Eastern Eucharistic Prayers, with the exception that it also has a changeable Preface.
The Fourth Eucharistic Prayer is another new composition following Vatican II. It is much more scriptural in its inspiration than the others and its language is therefore often much more immediate. It is a long prayer and unlike the others its first part – the Preface – is not intended to change. This prayer is even more indebted to the Eucharistic Prayers of the Eastern Church.
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Denise Mulcahy says:
Thank you Fr Frank. I have enjoyed reading this analysis of the Eucharistic Prayers.