Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 2366
Liber ordinum, the ritual in the use of the Church in Iberian Peninsula, probably representing the liturgy from the period between the 7th c. (or even the 6th c.) to 11th c., includes the rite celebrated at the deathbed of a cleric and directly after his death.
XLI. — ORDO IN FINEM HOMINIS DIEI
 
Quum uenerit aliquis ex fratribus ad extremum uite huius, statim dato signo concurrunt fratres uniuersi ubi frater egrotus iacuerit, et si tempus fuerit communicat eum sacerdos, et dant ei omnes osculum pacis. Sicque, expleta ualefactione supreme salutationis, incipiunt congruos recitare psalmos : id est tertium psalmum:
 
Here follows the list of the psalms appropriate for the occasion beginning with Psalm 3.
 
Quod si distulerit aliquantisper mori, recitentur psalmi per ordinem. Continuo uero cum egressa fuerit anima e corpore, salutante presbitero, dicitur hic responsus:
 
Here follows LAUDES starting with the words: Ecce ego uiam uniuerse carnis ingressus sum (Here I follow the way of all flesh...). Then follows the prayer in which the priests ask God to received the soul of the deceased to heaven, then follows the blessing. Finishing words are said by the deacon and afterwards all present sing Kirie eleison and Requiem aeternam. Then follows another shorter prayer for the soul of the deceased.
 
Deinde, si ordine fuit sacerdotali, librum ei manualem ponant in pectore. Si uero diaconus extitit, Euangeliorum librum.
Hoc interdum est obseruandum, ut quislibet sit, ab exitu mortis usque dum ad monumentum ducatur, semper ad caput lectuli sacram habeat crucem.
Quum uero fuerit ex more corpus lauatum, uestitur ueste qualis ordinis hic uiuens extitit. Sicque indutum conponitur in feretro, et adductum ante fores ecclesie, sonantibus signis, clamor personatur a cunctis. Expleto etenim clamore, incensatur a diacono corpus, et salutante presbitero, inponitur hoc responsum:
 
Here follows the responsory, the prayer for the soul of the deceased, the blessing. When these finish, the body of the deceased is carried out of the church while the clerics chant the Preces in the form of the litany with responses Deus miserere and Kirie eleison. Several versions of such litanies and accompanying prayers are given. Afterwards, the clerics carry the deceased to his tomb singing antiphon (two are given in the text but the rubrics allow to also use other which are appropriate for the occasion). This rite is followed by the rite of consecration of the new tomb (Ordo ad consecrandum novum sepulcrum) and the rites of the deposition of the body in the grave (Ordo ad commendendum corpus defuncti).
 
(ed. Férotin 1904: col. 107-117)
XLI. — THE RITE FOR THE LAST DAY OF A MAN
 
When one of the brothers comes to the end of this life, immediately at a given sign all the brothers should gather at the place where the sick brother lies. If it is the time, the priest gives him communion and all give him the kiss of peace. And thus, as this last farewell is done, they start to rectie the suitable psalms, that is Psalm 3
 
Here follows the list of the psalms appropriate for the occasion beginning with Psalm 3.
 
If he does not die for a time [in which the psalms have been recited], the psalms should be recited [again] according to the order.
As soon as the soul leaves the body, after the presbyter's blessing this response is said:
 
Here follows LAUDES starting with the words: Ecce ego uiam uniuerse carnis ingressus sum (Here I follow the way of all flesh...). Then follows the prayer in which the priests ask God to received the soul of the deceased to heaven, then follows the blessing. Finishing words are said by the deacon and afterwards all present sing Kirie eleison and Requiem aeternam. Then follows another shorter prayer for the soul of the deceased.
 
Next, if the deceased was of the priestly rank, they put the liber manualis on his chest, if he was a deacon, the book of the Gospels. But of whatever rank he was, it should always be observed that from the moment of his death up to his deposition in the tomb he always has the holy cross at the head of his bed. After the body is cleansed according to the custom, he is clothed in the vestment of the rank to which he belonged in life. In these vestments he is placed on a bier and carried in front of the door of the church with the bells ringing and all make a loud cry. When the cry is over, the deacon incenses the body and the presbyter gives a blessing. The following response is said:
 
Here follows the responsory, the prayer for the soul of the deceased, the blessing. When these finish, the body of the deceased is carried out of the church while the clerics chant the Preces in the form of the litany with responses Deus miserere and Kirie eleison. Several versions of such litanies and accompanying prayers are given. Afterwards, the clerics carry the deceased to his tomb singing antiphon (two are given in the text but the rubrics allow to also use other which are appropriate for the occasion). This rite is followed by the rite of consecration of the new tomb (Ordo ad consecrandum novum sepulcrum) and the rites of the deposition of the body in the grave (Ordo ad commendendum corpus defuncti).
 
(trans. M. Szada)
 

Discussion:

The rite suggests that there was a custom to carry the dying clerics to the church. It is attested for the bishops in the Lives of the Fathers of Merida: in Book 4, ch. 4, § 8, it is said that Bishop Paul as an old man retreats to the cell near the basilica of Eulalia to die there, while in Book 4, ch. 10, §§ 1-2, 6 Bishop Fidelis, taken seriously ill, orders that he be carried to the basilica where he does penance, gives alms and remits debts. See the summaries in the Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity Database E03293.
 
Liber manualis mentioned in the rubrics was probably the book containing various rites and offices of the presbyterial order, most notably the rite of baptism. Canon 26 of the Fourth Council of Toledo in 633 ordered that presbyters should receive a libellum officiale, a book of rites or a liturgical handbook upon their ordination, see [426]. During the seventh century, it seems, a liturgical codex became an attribute of the presbyterial order.

Place of event:

Region
  • Iberian Peninsula

About the source:

Title: Liber ordinum
Origin: Iberian Peninsula
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
Liber ordinum is the ritual book used in the Old Spanish liturgy consisting of the various prayers and the sacramental rites performed by the priest or the bishop. It was edited in 1904 by Marius Férotin who based his edition on the four manuscripts - three codices from the monastery of Silos (Archivo del Monasterio, ms. 3 and 4), the first one from 1039 (cod. A in the edition of Férotin), the second from 1052 (cod. B), the third, Rituale antiquissimum, from the eleventh century; and the codex from Madrid, the so-called Manuale mozarabicum (cod. 56, formerly F.224, in the library of Real Academia de la Historia), also from the eleventh century. The copyists used different old books of the Old Spanish liturgy, and various texts included in these Libri ordinum might come from different periods. However, according to Férotin, who based his interpretation on internal evidence, most of it was composed in the sixth and seventh centuries. He dated only a few prayers (e.g. the exorcism of oil, no. 1) to the later period.
Edition:
M. Férotin, Le Liber ordinum en usage dans l’église wisigothique et mozarabe d’Espagne du cinquième au onzième siècle, Paris 1904.
Bibliography:
K. Schäferdiek, Die Kirche in den Reichen der Westgoten und Suewen bis zur Errichtung der westgotischen katholischen Staatskirche, Berlin 1967.
M. Szada, "The Debate over the Repetition of Baptism between Homoians and Nicenes at the End of the Fourth Century”, Journal of Early Christian Studies 27 (2019), 635–63.
E.A. Thompson, The Goths in Spain, Oxford 1969.

Categories:

Burial/Funerary inscription
    Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
      Monastic or common life - Clerical community
        Ritual activity - Liturgical vestments
          Ritual activity - Presiding at prayer
            Relation with - Deacon
              Relation with - Lower cleric
                Ritual activity - Chanting
                  Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2366, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2366