Synopses & Reviews
The liturgy which developed at Rome during the early centuries of the Christian era was to establish the pattern for religious observance in the Latin West from the sixth century to the twentieth. Yet, for a variety of reasons, the origins and early development of this liturgy are far from clear. Evidence must be teased out of the various incidental references to be found in the writings of the early Church Fathers; Hippolytus, Cyprian, Ambrose, Augustine and ultimately Gregory the Great. In this book the late G.G. Willis draws on a lifetime's intimate knowledge of the liturgical evidence for early Roman practice in order to present a refreshingly clear guide to the early Roman liturgy - a subject for which there exists no accessible introduction in English. He provides a new synthesis of the most significant developments in the form of the Roman mass, calendar, episcopal services, rites of baptism and ordination up to the time of Gregory the Great (590-604).
Synopsis
The Henry Bradshaw Society was established in 1890 in commemoration of Henry Bradshaw, University Librarian in Cambridge and a distinguished authority on early medieval manuscripts and liturgies, who died in 1886. The Society was founded for the editing of rare liturgical texts'; its principal focus is on the Western (Latin) Church and its rites, and on the medieval period in particular, from the sixth century to the sixteenth (in effect, from the earliest surviving Christian books until the Reformation). Liturgy was at the heart of Christian worship, and during the medieval period the Christian Church was at the heart of Western society. Study of medieval Christianity in its manifold aspects - historical, ecclesiastical, spiritual, sociological - inevitably involves study of its rites, and for that reason Henry Bradshaw Society publications have become standard source-books for an understanding of all aspects of the middle ages. Moreover, many of the Society's publications have been facsimile editions, and these facsimiles have become cornerstones of the science of palaeography. The society was founded for the editing of rare liturgical texts; its principal focus is on the Western (Latin) Church and its rites, and on the medieval period in particular, from the sixth century to the Reformation. Study of medieval Christianity - at the heart of Western society - inevitably involves study of its rites, and the society's publications are essential to an understanding of all aspects (historical, ecclesiastical, spiritual, sociological) of the middle ages.
Synopsis
The definitive guide to the development of early Roman liturgy by one of the twentieth century's great liturgical scholars.
The liturgy which developed at Rome during the early centuries of the Christian era was to establish the pattern for religious observance in the Latin West from the sixth century to the twentieth. Yet, for a variety of reasons, the origins and early development of this liturgy are far from clear. Evidence must be teased out of the various incidental references to be found in the writings of the early Church Fathers; Hippolytus, Cyprian, Ambrose, Augustineand ultimately Gregory the Great.
In this book the late G.G. Willis draws on a lifetime's intimate knowledge of the liturgical evidence for early Roman practice in order to present a refreshingly clear guide to the early Roman liturgy - a subject for which there exists no accessible introduction in English. He provides a new synthesis of the most significant developments in the form of the Roman mass, calendar, episcopal services, rites of baptism andordination up to the time of Gregory the Great (590-604).
Synopsis
The definitive guide to the development of early Roman liturgy by one of the twentieth century's great liturgical scholars.