Sacramentary - Decline of The Sacramentary

Decline of The Sacramentary

Other books used in the celebration of Mass included the Graduale (texts mainly from the Psalms, with musical notes added), the Evangeliarium or Gospel Book, and the Epistolary with texts from other parts of the New Testament, mainly the Epistles (letters) of Saint Paul.

In late mediaeval times, these books began to be combined, for the use of priests saying Mass without the assistance of a choir and other ministers. This led to the appearance of the Missale plenum ("full or complete Missal") containing all the texts of the Mass (without the music of the choir parts).

Pope Pius V published in 1570 an official version of such a Missal, known as the Roman Missal.

At the behest of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI greatly increased the amount of Sacred Scripture read at Mass and, to a lesser extent, the prayer formulas. This necessitated a return to having the readings in a separate book, known as the Lectionary. A separate Book of the Gospels, with texts extracted from the Lectionary, is recommended, but is not obligatory. The Roman Missal continues to include elaborate rubrics, as well as antiphons etc., which were not in sacramentaries.