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HY DO WE LOVE our liturgical history? Does this love of ours truly make us “partakers of idolatry,” as the founder of the Mundelein Liturgical Institute recently asserted?
I don’t believe so. Our desires are natural and pleasing to God. We wish to pray using the exact same words—on the exact same days—as so many saints did. 1
Many now recognize that the innovations of Bugnini’s Consilium have impoverished the Roman Rite and were not faithful to the decrees of Sacrosanctum Concilium. This is due in large part to the internet, which has made available ancient manuscripts. Catholics can now see with their own eyes the antiquity of our liturgy.
Download 7,055 pages of ancient manuscripts below. They were made available 2 by Heinrich Heine University, and you can obtain high resolution versions by searching. The EF liturgy matches these manuscripts 98% of the time; whereas the OF liturgy sometimes 3 does not match.
Whenever possible, we have an obligation 4 to provide excerpts of ancient manuscripts for our choirs and congregations. Remember, the books below are just the tip of the iceberg!
MS-D-1 • Sacramentary … circa 867AD
506 pages. Click here for a screenshot showing part of a page. That green circular thing is the famous “Vere Dignum Et Justum Est” monogram.
MS-D-3 • Missale … circa 955AD
621 pages. Click here for a screenshot. Notice the drawing of Saint Augustine, as well as the famous monogram featured in the Jogues Lectionary.
MS-D-5 • Missale … circa 1507AD
267 pages. Click here for a screenshot.
MS-D-6 • Cistercian Graduale … circa 1173AD
377 pages. Click here for a screenshot.
MS-D-10A • Graduale … circa 1285AD
436 pages. Click here for a screenshot.
MS-D-10B • Book of Hours … circa 1466AD
285 pages. Click here for a screenshot.
MS-D-11 • Graduale … circa 1372AD
1,397 pages. Click here for a screenshot.
MS-D-12 • Graduale … circa 1424AD
705 pages. Click here for a screenshot.
MS-D-14 • Antiphonale/Graduale (Winter Section) … circa 1573AD
439 pages. Click here for a screenshot.
MS-D-19 • Cistercian Graduale … circa 1491AD
317 pages. Click here for a screenshot.
MS-D-20 • Graduale … circa 1507AD
241 pages. Click here for a screenshot.
MS-D-27 • Graduale (Summer Section) … circa 1481AD
189 pages. Click here for a screenshot.
MS-D-30 • Graduale (Winter Section) … circa 1502AD
427 pages. Click here for a screenshot.
MS-D-32 • Cistercian Graduale (Winter Section) … circa 1552AD
431 pages. Click here for a screenshot.
MS-D-35 • Graduale (Winter Section) … circa 1545AD
417 pages. Click here for a screenshot.
UPDATE • From a reader:
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek has made much available. Go to bsb-muenchen.de and search for e.g. Graduale, limit the search to “online resources” time to before 1600 (or whatever pleases you), and go wild. They have a wonderful policy in that whoever first asks for a digitalization of a particular manuscript pays for it and afterwards they put it online for free. Sample screenshot.
As I mentioned, this is just the tip of the iceberg. The Saint Gall library also has thousands of online images.
NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:
1 Moreover, our hearts and minds are lifted to God by the glorious artwork & melodies of our Catholic heritage.
2 The language and website—based in Düsseldorf—can be intimidating for Americans, so a former student kindly created the Google links you see on this page. Be sure to obey usage regulations posted on the Heinrich Heine website.
3 For instance, the Ordinary Form uses the Gradual antiphons for sung Masses, but uses the Missal antiphons for spoken Masses. The Gradual antiphons are ancient, whereas many of the “spoken” propers were created in 1969.
4 The Jogues Lectionary provides stunning manuscripts for the congregation to enjoy—as does the Campion Hymnal—both in full color. Congregations love seeing these!
