Following the fall of the Roman Empire and the establishment of ‘barbarian’ kingdoms throughout Europe, things changed! Many of the Roman institutions and means of communication broke down. Regarding the liturgy, there was considerable diversity: some of the barbarian peoples were pagan, some were sort of Christian, some became Catholic. Among those who became Catholic, the Francs were especially prominent and would establish an Empire under Charlemagne (end of 8th, beginning of 9th century).
At the time, the liturgy of Rome was only used in Rome and in central Italy where Rome’s influence was strong. North of the Alps, there were different types of liturgy, some of them more influenced by Eastern liturgies than by the Roman liturgy. What struck Charlemagne and his adviser Alcuin was that there was not only great diversity but that many of the liturgical practices were deficient and sometimes quite wrong. (We do not have a lot of evidence of all that!).
Their solution was to ask the Pope for copies of Roman liturgical books to use as models for the reform of the liturgy in their territory. The Pope sent the books but they were incomplete in that they did not cover the whole liturgical year or all the practices that Charlemagne and Alcuin through they should cover. So, what happened in the North was that a mixed liturgy arose which combined Roman liturgy with elements of the pre-existing Northern liturgies. In the course of time, these liturgies would go under the general name of Gallican liturgy.
The irony in all of this is that in the eleventh century – a very low time in the history of the church in Rome – the Empower of the Holy Roman Empire – a sort of successor to Charlemagne – decided that he would impose the Northern liturgy on the city of Rome. He was shocked by what he found going on in Rome and decided that it was his job to do something about it. He also began to encourage (impose) popes in Rome who were of his mind and so would carry out his plans.
As time went on there were adjustments to the liturgy in Rome but there are still elements in our liturgy which originated in the Northern forms of the liturgy.
The emperor was shocked that the creed was not part of the liturgy in Rome as it was in the North, so we still, recite the creed at Mass. Also, many of the more poetic elements of our liturgy go back to the Northern influence, such as the liturgy of light at the Easter Vigil. This cross fertilisation gave new life to several aspects of the liturgy of the time.
19 Brenbeal Street, Balwyn VIC 3103
Telephone: 03 9816 9291
Email: [email protected]
Office Hours:
Tue - Fri 9:00am – 5:00pm
Kerry Bourke says:
It is always interesting and enlightening to learn about the development and spread of the Christian/Catholic religion. Thanks Fr. Frank.