A) Cathalogus Missalis Romani
1) Catalogue of Manuscript Roman Missals
In 2019, the first comprehensive catalogue of manuscript missals located up to that point was published: Messali manoscritti pretridentini (secc. VIII-XVI), edited by Manlio Sodi and Andrzej Suski. This catalogue places within the researcher’s reach the main characteristics and bibliographical references of the missals used in the West from the eighth century onwards which—whether in complete or fragmentary form—have come down to us. The sorting criterion for the 5,079 listed Missals is based on the geographical location of the libraries where the various copies are currently housed. This undoubtedly facilitates the task of the researcher intending to consult the copies present in a specific library or city, regardless of the type of Missal in question or the period of its writing.
Nevertheless, consultation is less straightforward for those wishing to study the Missals according to the ritual type to which they belong or their chronology. Therefore, our project consists of the preparation of a Catalogue, complementary to the previous one, focused on a very specific object. It will, in effect, be limited to the most important and numerous group of the catalogued missals, that is, the one made up of the missals usually called "Roman". Bearing in mind that under this name are comprised both the Missals of the tradition of the Roman Curia (including those used by the Franciscans and the Augustinians) and those that are "Roman" in a broad sense, as is the case with various local Missals. The list of catalogued copies will be presented in such an order that it can be consulted according to various criteria: date of writing, origin, size, current location of the copy, etc., which we believe may be of use to the researcher of the history of the Roman Missal. Although the reference to the important work mentioned above is fundamental, the data provided therein have been completed, clarified, and in some cases corrected by checking them, where necessary, against the corresponding copies in their respective libraries.
2) Catalogue of Unidentified Manuscript Missals
Among the thousands of missals catalogued in the aforementioned edition, there are copies of the most varied provenances. In addition to the already mentioned Roman ones, there are others which, while sharing a similar structure to the Roman one, differ in several aspects that constitute proper characteristics and which, for this or other reasons, have been attributed a different name. Notable for the quantity of copies that have been preserved are those from dioceses or regions such as Passau, Bratislava, Salzburg, Paris, and Prague.
Others possess a structure that distinguishes them more clearly from all the preceding ones, such as the Ambrosian missals, used in the region of Milan, and those of the rite called Sarum, used across a large part of England. Likewise, there are many missals proper to religious orders, the most numerous being the Benedictine, Carthusian, Carmelite, Cistercian, Dominican, Premonstratensian, etc.
Those whose structure is completely different, given that we do not even find in them the Roman Canon which was present in all the preceding ones, have been excluded from the aforementioned catalogue; we refer to those of the Mozarabic and Gallican rites.
However, there is a very large number of copies of manuscript missals which have not yet been identified. This is not necessarily because it is impossible to recognise their provenance, but because very frequently, at the time of drawing up the list of copies present in a library, no attempt was made to record further details, and they were designated by the simple name "Missale".
Yet under this highly generic name, there must undoubtedly be missals that ought to be classified among those mentioned above; and we may especially suspect that a majority of these deserve the name of "Roman" Missals. We believe, therefore, that it may be useful for the scholar to have access to a chronological list of these "anonymous" missals, with details of their place of origin and the library in which they can be consulted. Although this is only a modest first step in this huge outstanding task, it will at least allow them to be located so that they can be accessed, enabling their systematic study and subsequent classification.
3) Catalogue of Printed Missals
Another aspect of this cataloguing work consists in updating the classic catalogue published in 1886 by William Henry James Weale, Bibliographia liturgica: Catalogus missalium ritus Latini ab anno 1475 impressorum. This work was updated forty years later by Hans Bohatta in his 1928 edition, entitled Catalogus missalium ritus Latini: Ab anno 1474 impressorum. Bohatta patiently verified the data provided by Weale, numbered the registered editions, indicated the copies he was personally able to examine, and added a good number of new copies discovered by himself.
This work, which to this day remains a fundamental reference for the study of the missals of the various Latin traditions, registers (to mention only the Missale Romanum) 485 editions. Although it has recently had two reprints (Anton Hiersemann Verlag, Stuttgart, 1990 and Mansfield Centre, Martino Fine Books, 1999), these photostatically reproduced the 1928 edition, and its content has not been updated.
As is to be expected, the nearly one hundred years that have passed since this second edition—during which a devastating war and various social, cultural, and technical changes affected the whole of Europe—render a verification and updating of the data necessary. Indeed, some of the libraries mentioned therein have ceased to exist and have merged with others; others have become independent from institutions into which they were integrated; whilst in other cases they have been completely transformed. Furthermore, the vast majority have implemented a modernisation of their catalogues, which currently allows for the discovery of copies that had not been taken into account by previous researchers. Finally, one cannot overlook certain data added over the years that were never integrated into the catalogue.
Our project consists, therefore, in:
a) Incorporating into the text of Weale-Bohatta published in 1928 the missals listed by Amiet (Robert Amiet, Missels et bréviaires imprimés: Supplément aux catalogues de Weale et Bohatta; propres des saints (Édition princeps) Paris: Éditions du Centre national de la recherche scientifique, 1990).
b) Doing likewise with the material published in RELICS (Renaissance Liturgical Imprints: A Census), the database of the University of Michigan.
c) Verifying the existence and current location of the various missals thus listed. Verifying with the original copy any cases that present doubts.
d) By collating with the catalogues of the main libraries and verifying copies, incorporating those which could not be taken into account by previous scholars.
e) Adding the text of the title pages and colophons, which are of great importance for understanding what a potential buyer of a missal expected to find in them.
In contrast to the aforementioned works, the primary interest of our edition will not be codicological but liturgical.
The work is divided into two major parts: Diocesan Missals and Missals of Religious Orders.
In this first stage, we are proceeding with the updating of the section corresponding to the Missale Romanum.
B) Synopsis Rituum
1) Synopsis Missalis Romani
Comparative study of the variations of the Missale Romanum from the Middle Ages to the present day.
This work encompasses:
1. The Ritus Servandus in celebratione Missarum:
a) That of the 1570 edition compared with its principal source: the Ordo Missae of Burchard,
b) The edition of Clement VIII of 1604,
c) The edition of Urban VIII of 1634,
d) The modifications introduced from then until the twentieth century,
e) That of the 1962 Missal.
2. The Ordo Missae:
It will be arranged in five columns, corresponding to:
a) Medieval manuscripts,
b) Incunabula and early printed books from the editio princeps of 1474 until 1570,
c) The Tridentine edition,
d) The modifications introduced up to the twentieth century,
e) The 1962 edition.
3. The Calendar:
a) Synopsis of the calendars prior to 1570.
b) Synopsis in five columns allowing for the appreciation of the modifications introduced into the Roman Calendar between 1570 and 1962.
2) Synopsis Rituum Latinorum
The Ordo Missae arranged in comparative columns, corresponding to the Latin rites that possess a structure similar to the Roman one and which remained in use after Trent.