The Communion act finishes
the essential Eucharistic service. Justin Martyr (I Apol., lxv-lxvi)
adds nothing after describing the Communion. However, it was natural
that the people should not be dismissed without a final prayer of
thanksgiving and of petition, so every rite ends its liturgy with a
short prayer or two and a blessing before the dismissal. The earliest
complete liturgy extant, that of the "Apostolic Constitutions", VIII,
contains two such prayers, -- a thanksgiving (XV, ii-vi), and a
blessing (XV, vii-ix). A significant resemblance between the Roman Rite
and that of the "Apostolic Constitutions" is that at Rome, too, there
were formerly at every Mass two prayers of the same nature. In the
"Leonine Sacramentary" they have no title; but their character is
obvious. As examples, those for the summer ember days may serve (ed.
Feltoe, p. 51, "In jejunio"), the first Gratias tibi referimus, the
second Oculis tuæ miserationis intende. The Gelasian Sacramentary calls
the first postcommunio, the second ad populum. In both sacramentaries
these two prayers form part of the normal Mass said throughout the
year, though not every Mass has both; the prayers "ad populum" in the
later book are comparatively rare. They also begin to change their
character. The formerly constant terms tuere, protege etc. are rarer;
many are ordinary collects with no pronounced idea of prayers for
blessing and protection. In the "Gregorian Sacramentary" the second
prayer, now called Super populum, occurs almost only from Septuagesima
to Easter; the first, Ad complendum, continues throughout the year, but
both have lost much of their original character. The Ad complendum
prayer (Post-communion) has become a collect formed on the model of the
collect at the beginning of Mass, though generally it keeps some
allusion to the Communion just received. That is still the state of
these prayers after the Communion. The second, Oratio super populum, is
said only in ferial Masses in Lent. This restriction apparently results
from the shortening of the Mass (which explains many omissions and
abbreviations) and the tendency of Lent to keep longer forms. The Mass
was shortened for practical purposes except (in many cases) during
Lent, which keeps the long preces in the Office omitted at other times,
sometimes more than two lessons at Mass, and so on. The medieval
commentators (Amalarius, "De divinis officiis", III, xxvii; Durandus,
"Rationale", VI, xxviii; Honorius of Autun, "Gemma animæ", lix) explain
this mystically; Honorius thinks the prayer to be a substitute for the
Eastern blessed bread (antidopon). The Oratio super populum is now
always the prayer at vespers on the same day. It has been suggested
that its use at Mass in Lent may be a remnant of a custom, now kept
only on Holy Saturday, of singing vespers at the end of Mass (Gihr, op.
cit., 711). There remains the first prayer, called Ad complendum in the
"Gregorian Sacramentary". Its name was uncertain through the Middle
Ages. Durandus (op. cit., IV, lvii) calls it merely Oratio novissima,
using the name Postcommunio for the Communion antiphon. The first
"Roman Ordo" calls the prayer Oratio ad complendum (xxi); Rupert of
Deutz calls it Ad complendum (De divinis officiis, II, xix). But others
give it the name it had already in the Gelasian book, Postcommunio
(Sicardus, "Mitrale", III, viii); so also many medieval missals (e.g.
the Sarum). This is now its official name in the Roman Rite. The
Postcommunion has lost much of its original character as a thanksgiving
prayer and has absorbed the idea of the old Oratio ad populum. It is
now always a petition, though the note of thanksgiving is often
included (e.g. in the Mass Statuit, for a confessor pontiff). It has
been affected by the Collect on which it is modelled, though there is
generally an allusion to the Communion.
Every Postcommunion (and
secret) corresponds to a collect. These are the three fundamental
prayers of any given Proper Mass. The Postcommunion is said or chanted
exactly like the Collect. First comes that of the Mass celebrated;
then, if other Masses are commemorated, their Postcommunions follow in
the same order and with the same final conclusion as the collects.
After the Communion, when the celebrant has arranged the chalice, he
goes to the epistle side and reads the Communion antiphon. He then
comes to the middle and says or sings Dominus Vobiscum (in the early
Middle Ages he did not turn to the people this time -- "Ordo Rom." I,
n.21), goes back to the Epistle side, and says or sings one or more
Postcommunions, exactly as the collects. At ferial Masses in Lent the
Oratio super populum follows the last Postcommunion. The celebrant
sings Oremus; the deacon turning towards the people chants: Humiliate
capita vestra Deo, on do with the cadence la, do, si, si, do for the
last five syllables. Meanwhile everyone, including the celebrant, bows
the head. The deacon turns towards the altar and the celebrant chants
the prayer appointed in the Mass. At low Mass the celebrant himself
says: humiliate capita vestra Deo and does not turn towards the people.
The deacon's exclamation apparently was introduced when this prayer
became a speciality of Lent. Durandus mentions it. (VI, xxviii).
Publication information
Written by Adrian Fortescue. Transcribed by Tony de Melo.
The Catholic Encyclopedia,
Volume XII. Published 1911. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Nihil
Obstat, June 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John
Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Bibliography
GIHR, "Das heilige
Messopfer" (Freiburg im Br., 1897), pp. 708-13; RIETSCHEL, "Lehrbuch
der Liturgik", I (Berlin, 1900) 393-4; LE VAVASSEUR, "Manuel de
Liturgie," (Paris, 1910), I, 313, 473-4; II, 41, 488; ROCK,
"Hierurgia", I, (London, 1900); GIHR, "The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass"
(St. Louis, 1908)
