The term Communion
(Communio) is used, not only for the reception of the Holy Eucharist,
but also as a shortened form for the antiphon (Antiphone ad
Communionem) that was originally sung while the people were receiving
the Blessed Sacrament, but which has now been displaced, so as to
follow that moment. In the Ambrosian Rite this antiphon is called the
Transitorium, apparently because the celebrant after Communion goes
over (transit) to the Epistle side of the altar to read it. It is the
fourth and last of the changeable parts of the Mass (Proprium) sung by
the choir (Introit, Gradual, Offertory, Communion), and is at least as
old as the fourth century. In St. Augustine's time (d. 430), together
with the Offertory Antiphon, it had lately been introduced into Africa;
he wrote a treatise (Contra Hilarium) to defend their use (Duchesne,
Origines, 166, 179). But the present Communion is only a fragment of
the older chant. It was originally a psalm, with the Gloria Patri,
preceded and concluded by an antiphon. The First Roman Ordo (about 770)
contains the direction: "As soon as the pontiff begins to give
Communion in the Senatorium [where the most distinguished people stood]
at once thechoir begins the antiphon for the Communion, singing it
alternately with the subdeacons; and they go until all the people have
received Communion. Then the pontiff makes a sign to them to sing the
Gloria Patri; and so, when they have repeated theantiphon [ repetito
versu] they stop" (ed. Atchley, 144). This is the first definite rubric
we have about the Communio. It shows us that it was to be sung while
the celebrant goes around to Communicate the people; and that it
consisted of a psalm, sung alternately with its antiphon, as were, at
that time, also the Introit and Offertory. So also Micrologus (Bernold
of Constance, d. 1100) says that when the people Communicate,
"meanwhile the antiphon is sung which takes its name from the
Communion, to which a psalm must be added with its Gloria Patri if need
be" (ch. xviii in Migne, P.L., CLI, 973 sq.). It was, then, like the
other three parts that make up the Proprium of the choir, a chant to be
sung so as to fill up the time while the clergy were engaged in some
action.
The two changes in its
history are that it has been removed to its place after the Communion
and has been shortened. Its postponement began in the twelfth century.
Abbot Rupert of Deutz (d. 1135) says: "The chant that we call the
Communion, which we sing after the heavenly food, is a thanksgiving"
(De div. off., II, xviii, in Migne, P.L., CLXX, 13 sq.), and Durandus:
"The antiphon, which is called Post-communion by many because it is
sung after the Communion . . ." (Rationale, IV, 56). But he goes on to
describe the final collect as that which "is properly called
Post-communion" (ib., 57) There are other instances of thisantiphon
occasionally being called Post-Communion. The reason of its removal
seems to have been, on the one hand, the place of the Agnus Dei, which
at that time began to be sung during the Communion, and to be repeated
thrice, thus taking up more time (Gihr, Messopfer, 671); on the other
hand, the gradual lessening of the number of communicants at high Mass.
Its shortened form is part of the curtailing of all the prayers of the
Mass that was the result of the multiplication of low Masses. Only in
requiems have we a remnant of the older form. Here after the first
verse (Lux æterna) follows anantiphon (Cum sanctis tuis), then the
"Requiem æternam" -- last vestige of the psalm -- and the antiphon is
repeated. Otherwise the Communion is always one short antiphon, sung by
the choir immediately after the Agnus Dei, and said by the celebrant
after the Communion. It is generally a verse from Holy Scripture,
referring, not to the Holy Eucharist, but rather to the feast which is
celebrated or to the special season (de tempore) or to the purpose (in
votives) for which the Mass is offered. But not seldom it is a text
taken from some other source, or specially composed for this use. It is
always said by the priest at the altar. Since the common use of low
Mass, in which he substitutes the choir's part himself, the rule is
that the priest also says whatever is sung by them. As soon as he has
arranged the chalice and paten in the middle of the altar (at high Mass
the subdeacon does this, and takes them to the credence-table) he goes
with joined hands to the Missal, which has been replaced at the Epistle
side, and there, the hands still joined, reads the Communion from the
Proprium. He then comes back to the middle for the Dominus vobiscum
before the Post-Communion.
Publication information
Written by Adrian Fortescue. Transcribed by Tony de Melo.
The Catholic Encyclopedia,
Volume IV. Published 1908. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Nihil
Obstat. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of
New York
Bibliography
"Rubricæ Generales", XIII,
1; "Ritus cel"., XI, 1; ATCHLEY, "Ordo Romanus Primus" (London, 1905);
BENEDICT XIV, "De SS. Missæ Sacrificio", II, xxiv; GIHR, "Das heilige
Messopfer" (Freiburg im Br., 1897), II, §71,706-708; DUCHESNE,
"Origines du culte chrétien" (2nd ed., Paris, 1898), 166, 179; DE
HERDT, "S. Liturgie Praxis" (9th ed., Louvain, 1894), 389-390, 480-483;
MORAN, "Essays on the Origin, Doctrine" and "Discipline of the Early
Irish Church" (Dublin 1864) 165-66; also "P.L". LXX, 580.
