        |
 |
| Musical Musings: Miscellaneous | Page 3 |
| |
|
Kyrie eleison (Part 3)In the Roman RiteIn the Mass, the three groups of invocations are sung by the choir immediately after the Introit. They form the beginnings of the choir's part of the Ordinary. A number of plainsong Masses are provided in the Gradual, each characterized and named after the Kyrie that begins it. Although each Mass is appointed for a certain occasion (eg., for solemn feasts, doubles, Masses of the BVM, etc.) there is no law against using them without regard to this arrangement. Moreover, except on ferias, which keep their very simple chants, the various parts (Kyrie, Gloria, etc.) of different Masses may be combined (see rubric after the fourth Creed in the Vatican Gradual). The new Vatican edition also provides a series of other chants, including eleven Kyries, ad libitum. The Kyrie eleison (as all the Ordinary and proper of the choir) may also be sung to figured music that does not offend against the rules of Pius X's Motu proprio on church music (November 22, 1903). Meanwhile the celebrant, having incensed the altar and read the Introit at the Epistle side, says the Kyrie there with joined hands alternately with the deacon, sub-deacon, and surrounding servers. At low Mass the celebrant after the Introit comes to the middle of the altar and there says the Kyrie alternately with the server (Ritus celebr. in the Missal iv 2,7). The Kyrie is said in this way at every Mass with the exception of Holy Saturday and also of the Mass on Whitsun Eve at which the prophecies and litany are chanted. On these occasions the cantors finish the litany by singing the nine invocations of the Kyrie. After the prayers at the foot of the altar the celebrant goes up, incenses the altar, and then at once intones the Gloria. But he should say the Kyrie in a low voice himself first. Besides in the Mass, the Kyrie occurs repeatedly in other offices of the Roman Rite, always in the form "Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison" (each invocation once only). It begins the preces feriales at Lauds, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers; it begins the preces at Prime and Compline. It is sung after the Responsorium at funerals, said at marriages and on many other occasions for blessings and consecrations. In these cases it generally precedes the Pater Noster. It also begins and ends the Litany of the Saints. As an imitation of this, it is always placed at the beginning of the various other private litanies which are imitations of the official one.In Other RitesIn the first place, the invocation "Christe eleison" is purely Roman. With one exception, obviously a Roman interpolation in the Mozarabic Rite, it does not occur in any other use. Local medieval uses had it, of course; but they are only slight local modifications of the Roman Rite, not really different rites at all. In the Gallican Mass, as described by Germanus of Paris, three boys sing "Kyrie eleison" three times after the Trisagion which follows the Antiphon at the entrance, then follows the Benedictus. These chants represent the beginning of the Mass (Duchesne Origines du Culte pp.182-183). After the Gospel and Homily comes a litany sung by the deacon like the Syrian and Byzantine synaptai. The people answer in Latin: Precamur te Domine, miserere; but at the end come three "Kyrie eleisons." The Milanese rite shows its Gallican origin by its use of the Kyrie. Here, too, the form is always "Kyrie eleison" three times (never "Christe eleison"). It occurs after the Gloria, which has replaced the older Trisagion, after the Gospel, where the Gallican litany was, and after the Post-communion, always said by the celebrant alone. It also occurs throughout the Milanese offices, more or less as at Rome, but always in the form of "Kyrie eleison" three times. The Mozarabic Liturgy does not know the form at all, except in one isolated case. In the Mass for the Dead, after the singing of the chant called Sacrificium (corresponding to the Roman Offertory) the celebrant says "Kyrie eleison," and the choir answers "Christe eleison," "Kyrie eleison" (Missale mixtum in PL, LXXXV, 1014, 1018, 1021, 1024, etc. -- the various Masses for the Dead). This is obviously a Roman interpolation. All the Eastern rites use the form "Kyrie eleison" constantly. It is the usual answer of the people or choir to each clause of the various litanies sung by the deacon throughout the service (varied, however, by paraschou Kyrie and one or two other similar ejaculations). It also occurs many other times, for instance in the Antiochene Rite it is sung twelve times, at Alexandria three times just before Communion. In the Byzantine Rite it comes over and over again, nearly always in a triple form, among the Troparia and other prayers said by various people throughout the Office as well as in the Liturgy. A conspicuous place in this rite is at the dismissal (Brightman, 397). In general it may be said to occur most frequently in the Syrian-Byzantine family of Liturgies. In the Syriac liturgies it is said in Greek, spelled in Syriac letters Kurillison, so also in the Coptic liturgies (in Greek letters, of course -- nearly all the Coptic alphabet is Greek); and in the Abyssinian Rite it is spelled out: Kiralayeson. The Nestorians translate it in Syriac and the Armenians into Armenian. All the versions of the Byzantine Rite used by the various Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches (Old Slavonic, Arabic, Rumanian, etc.) also translate Kyrie eleison. ADRIAN FORTESCUE
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIII |
Back to Part 2: More History