Text and Rubrics of The Roman Canon - Post-consecration Epiclesis

Post-consecration Epiclesis

The following prayer is believed to have once been a regular epiclesis, in which the Holy Spirit is invoked upon those who are to receive the Body and Blood of Christ so as to sanctify them. It still ends with a prayer that all who will receive the sacred Body and Blood of Christ will be filled with every heavenly blessing and grace. A phrase of Pope Gelasius I (492-496) has been interpreted as indicating that in his time the Roman Canon still had an express mention of the Holy Spirit, such as there is in all other ancient liturgies. He wrote: "How shall the Heavenly Spirit, when he is invoked to consecrate the divine mystery, come, if the priest who prays him to come is guilty of bad actions?" (Ep., vii; Thiel, Ep. Rom. Pont., I, 486) - "and he" corresponds here to the single word "et" in Latin, which may be a scribal error. It has also been suggested that the angel mentioned here is the Holy Ghost - an attempt to bring the prayer more into line with the proper form of an epiclesis, but the evidence rather tells against this interpretation.

The prayer is: "Supplices te rogamus, omnipotens Deus, iube haec perferri per manus sancti Angeli tui in sublime altare tuum, in conspectu divinae maiestatis tuae; ut quotquot ex hac altaris participatione sacrosanctum Filii tui Corpus et Sanguinem sumpserimus, omni benedictione caelesti et gratia repleamur. (Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen)" (In humble prayer we ask you, almighty God, command that these gifts be borne by the hands of your holy Angel to your altar on high in the sight of your divine majesty, so that all of us, who through this participation at the altar receive the most holy Body and Blood of your Son, may be filled with every grace and heavenly blessing. ).

The rubrics as revised in 1970 direct the priest to bow while saying this prayer and to stand erect and make the sign of the cross on himself when saying the final phrase, "omni … gratia repleamur" (may be filled with every grace and heavenly blessing). In the Tridentine form the priest places his joined hands on the edge of the altar while making the bow, kisses the altar at the words "hac altaris participatione" (this participation at the altar), and makes a sign of the cross over the consecrated host at the word "Corpus" (Body) and over the chalice with the consecrated wine at the word "Sanguinem" (Blood).