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Ambrosian Rite



 
 
Ambrosian Rite, also called the Milanese Rite, is a Catholic
Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
 liturgical
Liturgy

A liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to their particular traditions. The word may refer to an elaborate formal ritual such as the Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy and Mass , or a daily activity such as the Muslim salat and Jewish Jewish services....
 Western Rite
Catholic Liturgical Rites

The Roman Catholic Church celebrates a number of different Liturgical Rites, a term that refers to a particular form of Christian liturgy .They are not to be confused with the Particular Church#Autonomous particular Churches or Rites in the sense of sui iuris particular Churches, of which there are 22 Eastern and one Western....
. The rite is named after Saint Ambrose
Ambrose

Saint Ambrose was a Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milan who became one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the fourth century. He is counted as one of the four original doctors of the Church....
, a bishop
Bishop (Catholic Church)

In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an Holy Orders Minister who holds the fullness of the Sacrament of Holy Orders and is responsible for teaching the faith and ruling the church....
 of Milan
Milan

Milan is the second largest city of Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. It is the capital in the Province of Milan, as well as the Regions of Italy capital of Lombardy....
 in the fourth century. The Ambrosian Rite, which differs from the Roman Rite
Roman Rite

The liturgy of the Catholic Church of Rome is called the Roman Rite. The quite distinct term Latin Rite usually refers not to a liturgical rite but to the particular Church within the Roman Catholic Church that was sometimes referred to also as the Patriarchate of the West....
, is practiced among some five million Catholics in the greater part of the Archdiocese of Milan
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milan

The Archdiocese of Milan is a metropolitan see of the Catholic Church in Italy. It has long maintained its own rite: the Ambrosian rite. It is led by the Archbishop of Milan who serves as metropolitan bishop to the dioceses of Diocese of Bergamo, Diocese of Brescia, Diocese of Como, Diocese of Crema, Diocese of Cremona, Diocese of Lodi, Ro...
, Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 (excluding, notably, the areas of Monza
Monza

Monza is a city on the river Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, in the Lombardy region of Italy some 15km north-northeast of Milan. It is best known for its Grand Prix motor racing circuit, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza....
, of Treviglio
Treviglio

Treviglio is a town in the province of Bergamo, in Lombardy, northern Italy. Lying south of the capital city, in the lower territory marked by the Adda River and the Serio River rivers....
, of Trezzo sull'Adda
Trezzo sull'Adda

Trezzo sull'Adda is a comune in the Province of Milan in the Italy region Lombardy, located about 30 km northeast of Milan on the Adda River....
 and a few other parishes), in some parishes of the Diocese of Como, Bergamo
Roman Catholic Diocese of Bergamo

The Diocese of Bergamo is a Episcopal see of the Catholic Church in Italy, and is suffragan of the Archdiocese of Milan. It was founded in the fourth century Common Era, and its first bishop was Saint Narno....
, Novara, Lodi and in about fifty parishes of the Diocese of Lugano, in the Canton Ticino, Switzerland
Switzerland

Switzerland is a landlocked Swiss Alps country of roughly 7.7 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km?. Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called Cantons of Switzerland....
.

Although at various points in its history the distinctive Ambrosian Rite has risked suppression, it survived, and was reformed, after the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council

The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II, was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It opened under Pope John XXIII in 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI in 1965....
 partly because the then Pope, Paul VI
Pope Paul VI

Pope Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and monarch of Vatican City from 1963 to 1978....
 was sympathetic, having been the Archbishop of Milan.






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Ambrosian Rite, also called the Milanese Rite, is a Catholic
Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
 liturgical
Liturgy

A liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to their particular traditions. The word may refer to an elaborate formal ritual such as the Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy and Mass , or a daily activity such as the Muslim salat and Jewish Jewish services....
 Western Rite
Catholic Liturgical Rites

The Roman Catholic Church celebrates a number of different Liturgical Rites, a term that refers to a particular form of Christian liturgy .They are not to be confused with the Particular Church#Autonomous particular Churches or Rites in the sense of sui iuris particular Churches, of which there are 22 Eastern and one Western....
. The rite is named after Saint Ambrose
Ambrose

Saint Ambrose was a Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milan who became one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the fourth century. He is counted as one of the four original doctors of the Church....
, a bishop
Bishop (Catholic Church)

In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an Holy Orders Minister who holds the fullness of the Sacrament of Holy Orders and is responsible for teaching the faith and ruling the church....
 of Milan
Milan

Milan is the second largest city of Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. It is the capital in the Province of Milan, as well as the Regions of Italy capital of Lombardy....
 in the fourth century. The Ambrosian Rite, which differs from the Roman Rite
Roman Rite

The liturgy of the Catholic Church of Rome is called the Roman Rite. The quite distinct term Latin Rite usually refers not to a liturgical rite but to the particular Church within the Roman Catholic Church that was sometimes referred to also as the Patriarchate of the West....
, is practiced among some five million Catholics in the greater part of the Archdiocese of Milan
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milan

The Archdiocese of Milan is a metropolitan see of the Catholic Church in Italy. It has long maintained its own rite: the Ambrosian rite. It is led by the Archbishop of Milan who serves as metropolitan bishop to the dioceses of Diocese of Bergamo, Diocese of Brescia, Diocese of Como, Diocese of Crema, Diocese of Cremona, Diocese of Lodi, Ro...
, Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 (excluding, notably, the areas of Monza
Monza

Monza is a city on the river Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, in the Lombardy region of Italy some 15km north-northeast of Milan. It is best known for its Grand Prix motor racing circuit, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza....
, of Treviglio
Treviglio

Treviglio is a town in the province of Bergamo, in Lombardy, northern Italy. Lying south of the capital city, in the lower territory marked by the Adda River and the Serio River rivers....
, of Trezzo sull'Adda
Trezzo sull'Adda

Trezzo sull'Adda is a comune in the Province of Milan in the Italy region Lombardy, located about 30 km northeast of Milan on the Adda River....
 and a few other parishes), in some parishes of the Diocese of Como, Bergamo
Roman Catholic Diocese of Bergamo

The Diocese of Bergamo is a Episcopal see of the Catholic Church in Italy, and is suffragan of the Archdiocese of Milan. It was founded in the fourth century Common Era, and its first bishop was Saint Narno....
, Novara, Lodi and in about fifty parishes of the Diocese of Lugano, in the Canton Ticino, Switzerland
Switzerland

Switzerland is a landlocked Swiss Alps country of roughly 7.7 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km?. Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called Cantons of Switzerland....
.

Although at various points in its history the distinctive Ambrosian Rite has risked suppression, it survived, and was reformed, after the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council

The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II, was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It opened under Pope John XXIII in 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI in 1965....
 partly because the then Pope, Paul VI
Pope Paul VI

Pope Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and monarch of Vatican City from 1963 to 1978....
 was sympathetic, having been the Archbishop of Milan. In the 20th century it also gained prominence and prestige from the attentions of two other scholarly Archbishops of Milan: Achille Ratti, later Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI

Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, reigned as Pope from February 6, 1922, and as sovereignty of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on February 11, 1929 until his death on February 10, 1939....
, and the Blessed Ildefonso Schuster, both of whom had been involved in studies and publications on the rite before their appointment.

History

There is no direct evidence that the rite was in any way the composition of St. Ambrose, but his name has been associated with it since the eighth century at least. It is probable that in his day it took a form which included the principal characteristics distinguishing it from other rites but has since been subject to various revisions from time to time. St. Ambrose succeeded the Arian
Arianism

Arianism is the theological teaching of Arius , a Christian priest, who was first ruled a heresy at the First Council of Nicea, later exonerated and then pronounced a heretic again after his death....
 bishop Auxentius of Milan
Auxentius of Milan

Auxentius of Milan , by tradition a Scythian of Cappadocia, was an Arianism theologian of some eminence who held the bishop of Milan. Ambrose praised him for his skills in rhetoric, though he considered him "worse than a Jew"....
, during whose long episcopate (355 to 374) it would seem probable but unverified that Arian modifications may have been introduced into a rite the period of whose original composition is unknown. It would be sufficient cause to attach St. Ambrose's name to the rite if St. Ambrose expunged these hypothetical unorthodoxies and issued corrected service books.

According to St. Augustine (Confessones, IX, vii) and Paulinus the Deacon
Paulinus the Deacon

Paulinus the Deacon was the notary of Ambrose of Milan, and his biographer. His work is the only life of Ambrose based on a contemporary account, and was written at the request of Augustine of Hippo; it is dated to 422....
 (Vita S. Ambrosii, § 13), St. Ambrose introduced innovations, not indeed into the Mass, but into what would seem to be the Divine Office
Liturgy of the hours

The Liturgy of the Hours or Divine Office is the official set of daily prayers prescribed by the Roman Catholic Church to be recited at the canonical hours by the Clergy#Christian_clergy, Christian monasticism, and laity....
, at the time of his contest with the Empress Justina
Empress Justina

Justina was the second wife of the Roman Emperor Valentinian I and the mother of Valentinian II , Galla , Grata and Justa....
 for the Portian Basilica (on the site of San Vittore al Corpo), which she claimed for the Arians. St. Ambrose filled the church with Catholics and kept them there night and day until the peril was past. And he arranged Psalms and hymns for them to sing, as St. Augustine says, "secundum morem orientalium partium ne populus mĉroris tĉdio contabesceret" (after the manner of the Orientals, lest the people should languish in cheerless monotony); and of this Paulinus the Deacon says: "Hoc in tempore primum antiphonĉ, hymni. et vigiliĉ in ecclesiâ Mediolanensi celebrari cœperunt, Cujus celebritatis devotio usque in hodiernum diem non solum in eadem ecclesia verum per omnes pĉne Occidentis provincias manet" (Now for the first time antiphons, hymns, and vigils began to be part of the observance of the Church in Milan, which devout observance lasts to our day not only in that church but in nearly every province of the West).

From the time of St. Ambrose, whose hymns are well-known and whose liturgical allusions may certainly be explained as referring to a rite which possessed the characteristics of that which is called by his name, until the period of Charlemagne
Charlemagne

Charlemagne was List of Frankish kings from 768 to his death. He expanded the Franks kingdoms into a Carolingian Empire that incorporated much of Western Europe and Central Europe....
 (circ AD 800), there is a gap in the history of the Milanese Rite. However, St. Simplician, the successor of St. Ambrose, added much to the Rite and St. Lazarus (438-451) introduced the three days of the Litanies. (Cantù, Milano e il suo territorio, I, 116) The Church of Milan underwent various vicissitudes and for a period of some eighty years (570-649), during the Lombard
Lombards

The Lombards were a Germanic peoples originally from Northern Europe who settled in the valley of the Danube and from there invaded Byzantine Italian peninsula in 568 under the leadership of Alboin....
 conquests, the See
Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, commonly known as the Pope, and is the preeminent episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church....
 was moved to Genoa
Genoa

Genoa is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. The city has a population of about 610,000 and the urban area has a population of about 900,000....
 in Liguria.

In the eighth-century, manuscript evidence begins. In a short treatise on the various cursus
Liturgy of the hours

The Liturgy of the Hours or Divine Office is the official set of daily prayers prescribed by the Roman Catholic Church to be recited at the canonical hours by the Clergy#Christian_clergy, Christian monasticism, and laity....
 entitled "Ratio de Cursus qui fuerunt ex auctores" (sic in Cott. Manuscripts, Nero A. II, in the British Museum), written about the middle of the eighth century, probably by an Irish monk in France, is found perhaps the earliest attribution of the Milan use to St. Ambrose, though it quotes the authority of St. Augustine, probably alluding to the passage already mentioned: "Est et alius cursus quem refert beatus augustinus episcopus quod beatus ambrosius propter hereticorum ordinem dissimilem composuit quem in italia antea de cantabatur" (There is yet another Cursus which the blessed Bishop Augustine says that the blessed Ambrose composed because of the existence of a different use of the heretics, which previously used to be sung in Italy).

According to a narrative of Landulphus Senior, the eleventh-century chronicler of Milan, Charlemagne attempted to abolish the Ambrosian Rite, as he or his father, Pepin the Short, had abolished the Gallican Rite
Gallican rite

The Gallican Rite is a historical sub-grouping of the Roman Catholic liturgy in western Europe; it is not a single rite but actually a family of rites within the Catholic Church#Structure which comprised the majority use of most of Western Christianity in western Europe for the greater part of the 1st millennium AD....
 in France, in favour of a Gallicanized Roman Rite. He sent to Milan and caused to be destroyed or sent beyond the mountain, quasi in exilium (as if into exile), all the Ambrosian books which could be found. Eugenius the Bishop, (transmontane bishop, as Landulf calls him), begged him to reconsider his decision. After the manner of the time, an ordeal, which reminds one of the celebrated trials by fire and by battle in the case of Alfonso VI
Alfonso VI of Castile

Alfonso VI , nicknamed the Brave or the Valiant, was King of Le?n from 1065 to 1109 and King of Castile from 1072 following the death of his brother Sancho II of Castile....
 and the Mozarabic Rite
Mozarabic Rite

The Mozarabic, Visigothic, or Hispanic Rite is a form of Catholicism worship within the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, and in the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church ....
, was determined on. Two books, Ambrosian and Roman, were laid closed upon the altar of St. Peter's Church in Rome and left for three days, and the one which was found open was to win. They were both found open, and it was resolved that as God had shown that one was as acceptable as the other, the Ambrosian Rite should continue. But the destruction had been so far effective that no Ambrosian books could be found, save one missal which a faithful priest had hidden for six weeks in a cave in the mountains. Therefore the Manual
Manual

Manual may mean:* Instructions** Instruction manual ** Online help** Unix manual - known as "man pages"** User guide or owner's manual.* Manual - a keyboard, as for an organ...
e was written out from memory by certain priests and clerks (Landulph, Chron., 10-13). Walafridus Strabo, who died Abbot of Reichenau in 849, and must therefore have been nearly, if not quite, contemporary with this incident, says nothing about it, but (De Rebus Ecclesiasticis, xxii), speaking of various forms of the Mass, says: "Ambrosius quoque Mediolanensis episcopus tam missĉ quam cĉterorum dispositionem officiorum suĉ ecclesiĉ et aliis Liguribus ordinavit, quĉ et usque hodie in Mediolanensi tenentur ecclesia" (Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, also arranged a ceremonial for the Mass and other offices for his own church and for other parts of Liguria, which is still observed in the Milanese Church).

In the eleventh century Pope Nicholas II
Pope Nicholas II

Nicholas II , born G?rard de Bourgogne, Pope from 1059 to July 1061, was at the time of his election the Bishop of Florence....
, who in 1060 had tried to abolish the Mozarabic Rite, wished also to attack the Ambrosian, and was aided by St. Peter Damian, but he was unsuccessful, and pope Alexander II
Pope Alexander II

Alexander II , born Anselmo da Baggio, was Pope from 1061 to 1073.He was born in Milan. As bishop of Lucca he had been an energetic coadjutor with Pope Gregory VII in endeavouring to suppress simony, and to enforce the clerical celibacy....
, his successor, himself a Milanese, reversed his policy in this respect. St. Gregory VII made another attempt, and Le Brun (Explication de la Messe, III, art. I, § 8) conjectures that Landulf's miraculous narrative was written with a purpose about that time. Having weathered these storms, the Ambrosian Rite had peace for some three centuries and a half.

In the first half of the fifteenth century Cardinal Branda da Castiglione, who died in 1448, was legate
Papal legate

A Papal Legate ? from the Latin, authentic Roman title Legatus ? is a personal representative of the Pope to Foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic Church....
 in Milan. As part of his plan for reconciling Philip Mary Visconti, Duke of Milan, and the Holy See, he endeavoured to substitute the Roman Rite for the Ambrosian. The result was a serious riot, and the Cardinal's legateship came to an abrupt end. After that the Ambrosian Rite was safe until the Council of Trent
Council of Trent

The Council of Trent was the 16th century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. Considered one of the Church's most important councils, it convened in Trento between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods....
. The Rule of that Council, that local uses which could show a prescription of two centuries might be retained, saved Milan, not without a struggle, from the toss of its Rite, and St. Charles Borromeo though he made some alterations in a Roman direction, was most careful not to destroy its characteristics. A small attempt made against it by a Governor of Milan who had obtained a permission from the Pope to have the Roman Mass said in any church which he might happen to attend, was defeated by St. Charles, and his own revisions were intended to do little more than was inevitable in a living rite.

Since his time the temper of the Milan Church has been most conservative, and the only alterations in subsequent editions seem to have been slight improvements in the wording of rubrics and in the arrangement of the books. The district in which the Ambrosian Rite is used is nominally the old archiepiscopal province of Milan before the changes of 1515 and 1819, but actually it is not exclusively used even in the city of Milan itself. In parts of the Swiss Canton of Ticino
Ticino

Canton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost cantons of Switzerland of Switzerland. The written language is Italian language in almost the entire cantons of Switzerland ....
 it is used; in other parts the Roman Rite is so much preferred that it is said that when Cardinal Gaisruck tried to force the Ambrosian upon them the inhabitants declared that they would be either Roman or Lutheran. There are traces also of the use of the Ambrosian Rite beyond the limits of the Province of Milan. In 1132-34, two Augustinian canons of Ratisbon, Paul, said by Bäumer to be Paul of Bernried, and Gebehard, held a correspondence (printed by Mabillon in his "Musĉum Italicum" from the originals in the Cathedral Library at Milan) with Anselm, Archbishop of Milan, and Martin, treasurer of St. Ambrose, with a view of obtaining copies of the books of the Ambrosian Rite, so that they might introduce it into their church. In the fourteenth century the Emperor Charles IV introduced the Rite into the Church of St. Ambrose at Prague
Prague

Prague is the Capital and World's largest cities of the Czech Republic. Its official name is Hlavn? mesto Praha, meaning Prague, the Capital City....
. Traces of it, mixed with the Roman, are said by Hoeyinck (Geschichte der kirchl. Liturgie des Bisthums Augsburg) to have remained in the diocese of Augsburg down to its last breviary of 1584, and according to Catena (Cantù, Milano e il suo territorio, 118) the use of Capua
Capua

Capua is a city in the province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy, situated 25 km north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain....
 in the time of St. Charles Borromeo had some resemblance to that of Milan.

Recent history

Important editions of the Ambrosian Missal
Missal

A missal is a liturgical book containing all instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the year....
 were issued in 1475, 1594, 1609, 1902 and 1954. The last of these was the final edition in the form of the Ambrosian Rite that preceded the Second Vatican Council
Traditional Ambrosian Rite

Traditional Ambrosian Rite is the form of the Ambrosian Rite used before the changes that followed the Second Vatican Council and the Liturgical Movement....
, and is now used mainly in the church of San Rocco al Gentilino in Milan
Milan

Milan is the second largest city of Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. It is the capital in the Province of Milan, as well as the Regions of Italy capital of Lombardy....
).

Following the guidelines of the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council

The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II, was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It opened under Pope John XXIII in 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI in 1965....
 and the preliminary revisions of the Ordinary of the Mass of the Roman Rite, a new bilingual (Latin and Italian) edition of the Ambrosian Missal was issued in 1966, simplifying the 1955 Missal, mainly in the prayers the priest said inaudibly and in the genuflection
Genuflection

Genuflection , bending at least one knee to the ground, was from early times a gesture of deep respect for a superior. In 328 BC, Alexander the Great introduced into his court etiquette some form of genuflection already in use in Persia....
s, and adding the Prayer of the Faithful
General Intercessions

The General Intercessions or Universal Prayer or Prayers of the Faithful are a series of prayers which form part of the Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church....
. The Eucharistic Prayer continued to be said in Latin until 1967. The altar
Altar

An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices and votive offerings are made for religion, or some other sacred place where ceremonies take place....
s were moved to face the people.

When the Mass of Paul VI
Mass of Paul VI

The Mass of Pope Paul VI is the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church Mass of the Roman Rite Promulgation by Paul VI in 1969, after the Second Vatican Council ....
 was issued in 1969, most Ambrosian-Rite priests began to use the new Roman Missal (only omitting the Agnus Dei
Agnus Dei

Agnus Dei is a Latin language term meaning Lamb of God, and was originally used to refer to Jesus Christ in his role of the perfect sacrificial lamb that atonement for the sins of humanity in Christian theology, harkening back to ancient Jewish Temple sacrifices....
), the Roman
Roman Rite

The liturgy of the Catholic Church of Rome is called the Roman Rite. The quite distinct term Latin Rite usually refers not to a liturgical rite but to the particular Church within the Roman Catholic Church that was sometimes referred to also as the Patriarchate of the West....
 Lectionary
Lectionary

A Lectionary is a book or listing that contains a collection of scripture readings appointed for Christianity or Judaic worship on a given day or occasion....
, and the Roman Calendar
Roman Catholic calendar of saints

The General Roman Calendar indicates the days of the year to which are assigned the liturgical celebrations of Saint and of the mysteries of the Jesus Christ that are to be observed wherever the Roman Rite is used....
 (with its four-week Advent
Advent

Advent is a Liturgical year of the Christianity, the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus; in other words, the period immediately before Christmas....
). The Ambrosian form of administering the other sacraments
Sacraments of the Catholic Church

The Sacraments of the Catholic Church are, the Church teaches, "efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us....
 was for the most part already identical with the Roman. This made it uncertain whether the Ambrosian Rite would survive. But in promulgating the documents of the 46th diocesan synod (1966-1973), Cardinal Archbishop Giovanni Colombo, supported by Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI

Pope Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and monarch of Vatican City from 1963 to 1978....
 (a former Archbishop of Milan), finally decreed that the Ambrosian Rite, brought into line with the directives of the Second Vatican Council, should be preserved.

Work, still in progress, began on all the Ambrosian liturgical texts. On 11 April 1976 Cardinal Colombo published the new Ambrosian Missal
Missal

A missal is a liturgical book containing all instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the year....
, covering the whole liturgical year. Later in the same year an experimental Lectionary
Lectionary

A Lectionary is a book or listing that contains a collection of scripture readings appointed for Christianity or Judaic worship on a given day or occasion....
 appeared, covering only some liturgical seasons, and still following the Roman-Rite Lectionary for the rest. Minor modifications of the Ambrosian Missal were implemented in 1978, restoring for example the place of the Creed
Creed

A creed is a statement of belief ? usually religious belief ? or faith often recited as part of a religious service. The word derives from the for I believe and credimus for we believe. It is sometimes called symbol , signifying a "token" by which persons of like beliefs might recognize each other....
 in the Mass, and the new Ambrosian rite for funerals
Catholic Funeral

A Catholic Funeral refers to the funeral rites specifically in use in the Roman Catholic Church. Within the church, they may also be referred to as Ecclesiastical Funerals....
 was issued.

The Ambrosian Missal also restored two early-medieval Ambrosian Eucharistic Prayers, remarkable for placing the epiclesis
Epiclesis

In most Christian churches, the epiclesis is that part of the anaphora, or Eucharistic prayer, by which the priest invokes the Holy Spirit . Some Eastern Orthodox theologians hold that the epiclesis is essential to the Eucharist, since the entire Sacred Mysteries is based on the action of the Holy Spirit....
 after the Words of Institution
Words of Institution

The Words of Institution are those used, inserted into a narrative of the Last Supper, in Christian Eucharistic liturgies to recall those used by Jesus on that occasion....
, in line with Oriental use.

In 1984-1985 the new Ambrosian Liturgy of the Hours was published, and in 2006 the new Ambrosian rite of marriage
Catholic marriage

Catholic marriage, also called Marriage, is an "indissoluble bond between a man and a woman, created by human contract and ratified by divine grace." It is one of the seven sacraments....
. On 20 March 2008 the new Ambrosian Lectionary, superseding the 1976 experimental edition, and covering the whole liturgical year, was promulgated, coming into effect from the First Sunday of Advent 2008 (16 November 2008). It is based on the ancient Ambrosian liturgical tradition, and contains in particular, a special rite of light ("lucernarium") and proclamation of the resurrection of Jesus, for use before the Saturday-evening celebration of the Mass of the Sunday, seen as the weekly Easter.

Origin

The origin of the Ambrosian Rite is still under discussion, and at least two conflicting theories are held by leading liturgiologists. The decision is not made easier by the absence of any direct evidence as to the nature of the Rite before about the ninth century. There are, it is true, allusions to various services of the Milanese Church in the writings of St. Augustine and St. Ambrose, and in the anonymous treatise "De Sacramentis", which used to be attributed to the latter, but is not his; but these allusions are naturally enough insufficient for more than vague conjecture, and have been used with perhaps equal justification in support of either side of the controversy. Even if the rather improbable story of Landulf is not to be believed, the existing manuscripts, which only take us back at the earliest to the period of Charlemagne, leave the question of his influence open.

This much we may confidently affirm, that though both the Missal
Missal

A missal is a liturgical book containing all instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the year....
 and the Breviary
Breviary

A breviary is a liturgical book of the Latin liturgical rites of the Catholic Church containing the public or canonical prayers, hymns, the Psalms, readings, and notations for everyday use, especially by, bishops, priests, and deacons in the Divine Office ....
 have been subjected from time to time to various modifications, often, as might be expected, in a Roman direction, the changes are singularly few and unimportant, and the Ambrosian Rite of to-day is substantially the same as that represented in the early Manuscripts. Indeed, since some of these documents come from places in the Alpine valleys, such as Biasca
Biasca

Biasca is a town of the district of Riviera in the Cantons of Switzerland of Ticino in Switzerland....
, Lodrino
Lodrino, Switzerland

Lodrino is a Municipalities of Switzerland in the district of Riviera in the Cantons of Switzerland of Ticino in Switzerland....
, Venegono
Venegono Inferiore

Venegono Inferiore is a comune in the Province of Varese in the Italy region Lombardy, located about 35 km northwest of Milan and about 11 km southeast of Varese....
 and elsewhere, while the modern rite is that of the metropolitan cathedral and the churches of the city of Milan, some proportion of the differences may well turn out to be local rather than chronological developments. The arguments of the two principal theories are necessarily derived in a great measure from the internal evidence of the books themselves, and at present the end of the controversy is not in sight.

The question resolves itself into this: Is the Ambrosian Rite archaic Roman, or a much Romanized form of the Gallican Rite
Gallican rite

The Gallican Rite is a historical sub-grouping of the Roman Catholic liturgy in western Europe; it is not a single rite but actually a family of rites within the Catholic Church#Structure which comprised the majority use of most of Western Christianity in western Europe for the greater part of the 1st millennium AD....
? And this question is mixed with that of the provenance of the Gallican Rite itself. Some liturgiologists of a past generation, notably Dr. J. M. Neale and others of the Anglican School, referred the Hispano-Gallican and Celtic
Celtic Rite

The term "Celtic Rite" is generally, but rather indefinitely, applied to the various rites used in Great Britain, Ireland, perhaps in Brittany, and sporadically in Northern Iberian Peninsula, and in the Monastery which resulted from the Irish missions of St....
 family of liturgies to an original imported into Provence
Provence

Provence is a region of southeastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative regions of France of Provence-Alpes-C?te d'Azur....
 from Ephesus
Ephesus

Ephesus was an ancient Greek city on the west coast of Anatolia, in the region known as Ionia during the period known as Classical Greece. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League....
 in Asia Minor by St. Irenĉus, who had received it through St. Polycarp from St. John the Divine. The name Ephesine was applied to this liturgy, and it was sometimes called the Liturgy of St. John. The idea was not modern. Colman, at the Synod of Whitby
Synod of Whitby

The Synod of Whitby was a seventh century Northumbriansynod where King Oswiu of Northumbria ruled that his kingdom would calculate Easter and observe the monastic tonsure according to the customs of Rome, rather than the customs practiced by Iona and its satellite institutions....
 in 664, attributed the Celtic rule of Easter to St. John, and in the curious little eighth-century treatise already mentioned (in Cott. Manuscript Nero A. II) one finds: "Johannes Evangelista primum cursus gallorum decantavit. Inde postea beatus policarpus discipulus sci iohannis. Inde postea hiereneus qui fuit eps Lugdunensis Gallei. Tertius ipse ipsum cursum decantauerunt [sic] in galleis." The author is not speaking of the Liturgy, but of the Divine Office, but that does not affect the question, and the theory, which had its obvious controversial value, was at one time very popular with Anglicans. Neale considered that the Ambrosian Rite was a Romanized form of this Hispano-Gallican - or Ephesine Rite; he never brought much evidence for this view, being generally contented with stating it and giving a certain number of not very convincing comparisons with the Mozarabic Rite (Essays on Liturgiology, ed. 1867, 171-197). But Neale greatly exaggerated the Romanizing effected by St. Charles Borromeo, and his essay on the Ambrosian Liturgy is somewhat out of date, though much of it is of great value as an analysis of the existing Rite. W. C. Bishop, in his article on the Ambrosian Breviary (Church Q., Oct., 1886), takes up the same line as Neale in claiming a Gallican origin for the Ambrosian Divine Office.

But Louis Duchesne
Louis Duchesne

Abb? Louis Marie Olivier Duchesne was a France priest, philology, teacher and a critical historian of Christianity and Roman Catholic liturgy and institutions....
 in his "Origines du culte chrétien" put forward a theory of origin which works out very clearly, though it is almost all founded on conjecture and a priori reasoning. He rejects entirely the Ephesine supposition, and considers that the Orientalism
Orientalism

Orientalism refers to the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, and can also refer to a sympathetic stance towards the region by a writer or other person....
s which he recognizes in the Hispano-Gallican Rite are of much later origin than the period of St. Irenĉus, and that it was from Milan as a centre that a rite, imported or modified from the East, perhaps by the Cappadocian Arian Bishop Auxentius (355-374), the predecessor of St. Ambrose, gradually spread to Gaul, Spain, and Britain. He lays great stress on the important position of Milan as a northern metropolis, and on the intercourse with the East by way of Aquileia
Aquileia

Aquileia is an ancient history Roman Republic city in what is now Italy, at the head of the Adriatic Sea at the edge of the lagoons, about 10 km from the sea, on the river Natiso , the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times....
 and Illyria
Illyria

'Illyria' was in Classical antiquity a region in the western part of today's Balkan Peninsula, inhabited by tribes of Illyrians, an ancient people who spoke the Illyrian languages....
, as well as on the eastern nationality of many of the Bishops of Milan. In his analysis of the Gallican Mass, Duchesne assumes that the seventh-century Bobbia Sacramentary (Bibl. Nat., 13,246), though not actually Milanese, is to be counted as a guide to early Ambrosian usages, and makes use of it in the reconstruction of the primitive Rite before, according to his theory, it was so extensively Romanized as it appears in the earliest undeniably Ambrosian documents. He also appears to assume that the usages mentioned in the Letter of St. Innocent I to Decentius of Eugubium as differing from those of Rome were necessarily common to Milan and Gubbio. Paul Lejay has adopted this theory in his article in the "Revue d'histoire et littérature religeuses" (II, 173) and in Dom Cabrol's Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie" [s. v. Ambrosien (Rit)].

The other theory, of which Antonio Maria Ceriani
Antonio Maria Ceriani

Antonio Maria Ceriani was an Italian prelate and scholar.Ceriani was born at Uboldo, in Lombardy. He was ordination a priest for his home diocese of Milan in 1852 and the same year was appointed keeper of the catalogue of the Ambrosian Library at Milan....
 and Magistretti are the most distinguished exponents, maintains that the Ambrosian Rite has preserved the pre-Gelasian and pre-Gregorian form of the Roman Rite. Ceriani (Notitia Liturgiĉ Ambrosianĉ) supports his contention by many references to early writers and by comparisons of early forms of the Roman Ordinary with the Ambrosian. Both sides admit the self-evident fact that the Canon in the present Ambrosian Mass is a variety of the Roman Canon. Neither has explained satisfactorily how and when it got there. The borrowings from the Greek service books have been ably discussed by Cagin (Paléographie musicale, V), but there are Greek loans in the Roman books also, though, if Duchesne's theory of origin is correct, some of them may have travelled by way of the Milanese-Gallican Rite at the time of the Charlemagne revision. There are evident Gallicanisms in the Ambrosian Rite, but so there are in the present Roman, and the main outlines of the process by which they arrived in the latter are sufficiently certain, though the dates are not. The presence of a very definite Post-Sanctus of undoubted Hispano-Gallican form in the Ambrosian Mass of Easter Eve requires more explanation than it has received, and the whole question of provenance is further complicated by a theory, into which Ceriani does not enter, of a Roman origin of all the Latin liturgies, Gallican, Celtic, Mozarabic, and Ambrosian alike. There are indications in his liturgical note to the "Book of Cerne" and in "The Genius of the Roman Rite" that Mr. Edmund Bishop, who, as far as he has spoken at all, prefers the conclusions, though not so much the arguments, of Ceriani to either the arguments or conclusions of Duchesne, may eventually have something to say which will put the subject on a more solid basis.

Differences from the Roman Rite

Some features of the Ambrosian Rite distinguish it from the Roman Rite
Roman Rite

The liturgy of the Catholic Church of Rome is called the Roman Rite. The quite distinct term Latin Rite usually refers not to a liturgical rite but to the particular Church within the Roman Catholic Church that was sometimes referred to also as the Patriarchate of the West....
 liturgy
Liturgy

A liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to their particular traditions. The word may refer to an elaborate formal ritual such as the Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy and Mass , or a daily activity such as the Muslim salat and Jewish Jewish services....
.

Mass

The main differences in the Mass
Mass (liturgy)

The Mass is the Eucharistic celebration in the Latin liturgical rites of the Roman Catholic Church. The term is used also of similar celebrations in Old Catholic Churches, in the Anglo-Catholic tradition of Anglicanism, and in some largely High Church Lutheranism Lutheranism regions, including the Scandinavian and Baltic states countries....
 are:
  • The chief celebrant blesses all the readers, not only the deacon.
  • The Gospel is followed by a short antiphon
    Antiphon

    An antiphon is a response, usually sung in Gregorian chant, to a psalm or some other part of a religious service, such as at Vespers or at a mass ....
    .
  • The General Intercession
    Intercession

    Intercession, in both Christianity and Islam, is a prayer to God on behalf of another person. The nature of intercession in Judaism is Jewish_principles_of_faith#To_God_alone_may_one_offer_prayer....
    s or "Prayers of the Faithful" follow immediately the homily
    Homily

    A homily is a commentary that follows a reading of scripture. In the Catholic Churches, the Anglican Communion, and in the Eastern Orthodox Church, a homily is usually given during Mass at the end of the Liturgy of the Word....
  • The Rite of Peace
    Holy kiss

    The holy kiss is a traditional Christianity greeting. The term comes from the New Testament, where it appears five times.It is mentioned in:...
     comes at the beginning of the Liturgy of the Eucharist, before the Offertory
    Offertory

    Offertory , the alms of a congregation collected in Church service, or at any Religion service.Offertory has also a special sense in the services of both the Anglicanism and Roman Catholic Church churches....
     (Presentation of the Gifts)
  • The Creed
    Creed

    A creed is a statement of belief ? usually religious belief ? or faith often recited as part of a religious service. The word derives from the for I believe and credimus for we believe. It is sometimes called symbol , signifying a "token" by which persons of like beliefs might recognize each other....
     follows the Offertory
    Offertory

    Offertory , the alms of a congregation collected in Church service, or at any Religion service.Offertory has also a special sense in the services of both the Anglicanism and Roman Catholic Church churches....
    , before the Prayer over the Gifts
  • There are some differences between the First Eucharistic Prayer
    Anaphora (liturgy)

    The Anaphora is the most solemn part of the Divine liturgy, Mass , or other Christian Eucharist rite where the offerings of bread and wine are consecrated as the body and blood of Jesus....
     of the Ambrosian Missal and the Roman Canon, the first in the Roman Missal
    Roman Missal

    The Roman Missal is the Liturgical books of the Roman rite that contains the texts and rubric s for the celebration of the Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church....
    ; but its Eucharistic Prayers II, III, and IV are the same as in the Roman Rite
    Roman Rite

    The liturgy of the Catholic Church of Rome is called the Roman Rite. The quite distinct term Latin Rite usually refers not to a liturgical rite but to the particular Church within the Roman Catholic Church that was sometimes referred to also as the Patriarchate of the West....
    . In addition, the Ambrosian Rite has two proper Eucharistic Prayers, used mainly on Easter
    Easter

    Easter is the most important religious feast in the Christianity liturgical year.Christians believe that Jesus was Resurrection of Jesus from the dead three days after his Crucifixion of Jesus, and celebrate this resurrection on Easter Day or Easter Sunday , two days after Good Friday....
     and Holy Thursday.
  • The priest breaks the Host and places a piece in the main chalice
    Chalice (cup)

    A chalice is a goblet intended to hold a drink. In general religious terms, it is intended for quaffing during a ceremony....
     before the Lord's Prayer
    Lord's Prayer

    The Lord's Prayer, also known as the Our Father or Pater noster, is probably the best-known prayer in Christianity. On Easter Sunday 2007 it was estimated that 2 billion Catholic, Protestant and Eastern Orthodox Christians read, recited, or sang the short prayer in hundreds of languages in houses of worship of all shapes and size...
    , while an antiphon
    Antiphon

    An antiphon is a response, usually sung in Gregorian chant, to a psalm or some other part of a religious service, such as at Vespers or at a mass ....
     is sung or recited.
  • The Agnus Dei
    Lamb of God

    Lamb of God is one of the titles given to Jesus in the New Testament and consequently in the Christian tradition. It refers to Jesus' role as a sacrificial lamb atoning for the sins of man in Christian theology, harkening back to ancient Temple in Jerusalem sacrifices in which a domestic sheep was slain during the passover , the blood was s...
     is not said.
  • Before the final blessing, the people say three times Kyrie, eleison (Lord have mercy)
  • The Ambrosian Rite has its own cycle of readings at Mass
  • Many of the prayers said by the priest
    Priesthood (Catholic Church)

    The ministerial orders of the Catholic Church includes both the orders of Bishop and Presbyterium, which in Latin language is sacerdos. The Holy Orders priesthood and common priesthood are different in function and essence....
     during Mass are peculiar to the Ambrosian Rite, which has a particularly rich variety of prefaces
    Preface (liturgy)

    In liturgical use the term Preface is applied to that portion of the Eucharistic Prayer that immediately precedes the Canon_of_the_Mass or central portion of the Eucharist ....
    .


Liturgical year

The main differences in the liturgical year
Liturgical year

The liturgical year, also known as the Christian year, consists of the cycle of liturgy seasons in Christianity churches which determines when Calendar of saints, Memorial s, Commemoration s, and Solemnity are to be observed and which portions of Scripture are to be read....
 are:
  • Advent
    Advent

    Advent is a Liturgical year of the Christianity, the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus; in other words, the period immediately before Christmas....
     has six weeks, not four.
  • Lent
    Lent

    Lent, in Christianity, is the period of the liturgical year leading up to Easter. Conventionally it is described as being forty days long, though different Christian denominations calculate the forty days differently....
     starts four days later than in the Roman Rite, so that there is no Ash Wednesday
    Ash Wednesday

    In the Western Christianity calendar, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and occurs forty-six days before Easter. It falls on a different date each year, because it is dependent on the Computus; it can occur as early as February 4 or as late as March 10....
    , and Carnival
    Carnival

    Carnival is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during January and February. Carnival typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus , masque and public street party....
     continues until "sabato grasso" ("Fat Saturday" in Italian
    Italian language

    Italian is a Romance languages spoken by about 63 million people as a first language, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four Linguistic geography of Switzerlands....
    ), corresponding to Shrove Tuesday
    Shrove Tuesday

    Shrove Tuesday is a term used in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia for the day preceding the first day of the Christian season of fasting and prayer called Lent....
     (called "mardi gras
    Mardi Gras

    The terms "Mardi Gras" and "Mardi Gras season", in English language, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, ending on the day before Ash Wednesday....
    ", i.e. "Fat Tuesday", in French
    French language

    French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
    ) in areas where the Roman Rite
    Roman Rite

    The liturgy of the Catholic Church of Rome is called the Roman Rite. The quite distinct term Latin Rite usually refers not to a liturgical rite but to the particular Church within the Roman Catholic Church that was sometimes referred to also as the Patriarchate of the West....
     is used.
  • On Fridays in Lent, Mass is not celebrated and, with a few exceptions, Communion
    Eucharist (Catholic Church)

    Eucharist in the Catholic Church refers to both the celebration of the Mass, that is the Eucharistic Christian liturgy, and the consecrated bread and wine which according to the faith become the body and blood of Christ....
     is not distributed.
  • Red, not the Roman-Rite green, is the standard colour of vestments from Pentecost
    Pentecost

    Pentecost is one of the prominent feasts in the Christianity liturgical year, celebrated the 49th day after Easter Sunday?or the 50th day, inclusively, whence its name is derived from the Greek....
     to the third Sunday of October, and there are other differences in liturgical colours
    Liturgical colours

    Liturgical colours are those specific colours which are used for vestments and Antependium within the context of Christianity liturgy. The symbolism of violet , white, green, red, gold , black, Rose , and other colours may serve to underline moods appropriate to a season of the liturgical year or may highlight a special occasion....
     throughout the year.


Other

Other differences are:
  • The Liturgy of the Hours
    Liturgy of the hours

    The Liturgy of the Hours or Divine Office is the official set of daily prayers prescribed by the Roman Catholic Church to be recited at the canonical hours by the Clergy#Christian_clergy, Christian monasticism, and laity....
     (Divine Office or Breviary) is different in structure and in various features.
  • The liturgical rites of the Holy Week
    Holy Week

    Holy Week in Christianity is the last week of Lent and the week before Easter. It includes the religious holidays of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, and lasts from Palm Sunday until but not including Easter Sunday, as Easter Sunday is the first day of the new season of Pentecostarion....
     are quite different.
  • The rite of funerals
    Catholic Funeral

    A Catholic Funeral refers to the funeral rites specifically in use in the Roman Catholic Church. Within the church, they may also be referred to as Ecclesiastical Funerals....
     is different.
  • Baptism
    Baptism

    In Christianity, baptism is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which one is admitted as a full member of the Christian Church and, in the view of some, as a member of the particular Church in which the baptism is administered....
     of infants is done by triple immersion of the head.
  • The thurible
    Thurible

    A thurible is a metal censer suspended from chains, in which incense is burned during worship services. It is used in the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Anglicanism/Episcopal_Church_, Old Catholic, and some Lutheran churches, as well as in Christian and non-Christian Gnostic Churches and in the practice of magick....
     has no top cover, and is swung clockwise before the censing of a person or object.
  • Ambrosian deacons
    Deacon

    Deacon is a role in the Christianity that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions....
     wear the stole
    Stole

    The stole is a liturgy vestment of various Christianity religious denomination. It consists of a band of colored cloth, formerly usually of silk, about seven and a half to nine feet long and three to four inches wide, whose ends may be straight or may broaden out....
     over the Dalmatic
    Dalmatic

    The dalmatic is a long wide-sleeved tunic, which serves as a liturgical vestment in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and United Methodist Churches, sometimes worn by a deacon at the service of worship or Mass and, although infrequently, by bishops as an undergarment above the alb....
     and not under it.
  • The Ambrosian cassock
    Cassock

    The cassock, an item of clerical clothing, is a long, close-fitting, ankle-length robe worn by clerics of the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Church, and some clerics of the Reformed, and Lutheran churches....
    , buttoned with only five buttons below the neck, is held with a fascia
    Fascia (vestment)

    The fascia is a sash worn by clerics and seminarians with the cassock in the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Church....
     at the waist, and is worn with a round white collar.
  • Ambrosian chant
    Ambrosian chant

    Ambrosian chant is the liturgical plainsong repertory of the Ambrosian rite of the Roman Catholic Church, related to but distinct from Gregorian chant....
     is distinct from Gregorian chant
    Gregorian chant

    Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, a form of monophony liturgy chant in Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services....
    .


Early manuscripts

The early manuscripts of the Ambrosian Rite are generally found in the following forms:

  • The "Sacramentary" contains the Orationes super Populum, Prophecies, Epistles, Gospels, Orationes super Sindonem, and Orationes super Oblata, the Preface
    Preface

    A preface is an introduction to a book written by the author of the book. An introductory essay written by a different person is a foreword and precedes an author's preface....
    s and Post-Communions throughout the year, with the variable forms of the Communicantes and Hanc igitur, when they occur, and the solitary Post Sanctus of Easter Eve, besides the ceremonies of Holy Week, etc., and the Ordinary and Canon of the Mass. There are often also occasional offices usually found in a modern ritual, such as Baptism
    Baptism

    In Christianity, baptism is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which one is admitted as a full member of the Christian Church and, in the view of some, as a member of the particular Church in which the baptism is administered....
    , the Visitation and Unction of the Sick
    Anointing of the Sick (Catholic Church)

    Anointing of the Sick is the ritual anointing of a sick person and is a Sacraments of the Catholic Church. It is also described, using the more archaic synonym "unction" in place of "anointing", as Unction of the Sick or Extreme Unction....
    , the Burial of the Dead, and various benedictions. It is essentially a priest's book, like the Euchologion
    Euchologion

    The Euchologion is one of the chief liturgical books of the Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches, containing the portions of the services which are said by the bishop, priest, or deacon ....
     of the Greeks.


  • The "Psalter
    Psalter

    A Psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms and which often contains other devotional material. Various schemes for the arrangement of the Psalms are described in Latin Psalters....
    " contains the Psalms
    Psalms

    Psalms is a book of the Hebrew Bible , included in the collected works known as the "Writings" or Ketuvim....
     and Canticles. It is sometimes included with the "Manual".


  • The "Manual
    Manual

    Manual may mean:* Instructions** Instruction manual ** Online help** Unix manual - known as "man pages"** User guide or owner's manual.* Manual - a keyboard, as for an organ...
    " is nearly the complement of the "Sacramentary" and the "Psalter" as regards both the Mass and the Divine Office. It contains: For the Divine Office; the Lucernaria, Antiphons, Responsoria, Psallenda, Completoria, Capitula, Hymns, and other changeable parts, except the Lessons, which are found separately. For the Mass: the Ingressœ, Psalmellœ, Versus, Cantus, Antiphonœ ante and post Evangelium, Offertoria, Confractoria, and Transitoria. The "Manual" often also contains occasional services such as are now usually found in a Ritual.


  • The "Antiphoner" is a Manual noted.


  • The "Rituale" and "Pontificale" have contents similar to those of Roman books of the same name, though of course the early Manuscripts are less ample.


The following are some of the most noted Manuscripts of the rite.

Sacramentaries and missals

  • The "Biasca Sacramentary"; Bibl. Ambros., A. 24, bis inf., late ninth or early tenth century. Described by Delisle, "Anc. Sacr.", LXXI, edited by Ceriani in his "Monumenta Sacra et Profana", VIII, the Ordinary is analyzed and the Canon given in full in Ceriani's "Notitia Lit. Ambr".
  • The "Lodrino Sacramentary"; Bibl. Ambr., A. 24, inf., eleventh century. Delisle, "Anc. Sacr.", LXXII.
  • The "Sacramentary of San Satiro", Milan; treasury of Milan Cathedral; eleventh century. Delisle, "Anc. Sacr.", LXXIII.
  • Sacramentary; treasury of Milan Cathedral; eleventh century. Delisle, "Anc. Sacr.", LXXIV.
  • The "Sacramentary of Armio", near the Lago Maggiore; treasury of Milan Cathedral; eleventh century. Delisle, 'Anc. Sacr.", LXXV.
  • Sacramentary belonging to the Marchese Trotti; eleventh century. Delisle, "Anc. Sacr.", LXXVI.
  • Sacramentary; Bibl. Ambros., CXX, sup., eleventh century. Delisle, "Anc. Sacr.", LXXVII.
  • The "Bergamo Sacramentary"; library of Sant' Alessandro in Colonna, Bergamo; tenth or eleventh century. Published by the Benedictines of Solesmes, "Auctarium Solesmense" (to Migne's Patrologia), "Series Liturgica", I.
  • Sacramentary; treasury of Monza Cathedral; tenth century. Delisle, "Anc. Sacr.", LXV.
  • "Sacramentary of San Michele di Venegono inferiore" (near Varese); treasury of Monza Cathedral; eleventh century. Delisle, "Anc. Sacr.", LXVIII. These two of Monza Cathedral are more fully described in Frisi's "Memorie storiche di Monza", III,75-77, 82-84.
  • "Missale Ambrosianum", of Bedero (near Luino); Bibl. Ambr., D., 87 inf.; twelfth century. Noted by Magistretti in "Della nuova edizione tipica del messale Ambrosiano".


Antiphoner

  • Antiphoner: "Antiphonarium Ambrosianum"; British Museum, Add. Manuscripts, 34,209; twelfth century; published by the Benedictines of Solesmes, with a complete facsimile and 200 pages of introduction by Dom Paul Cagin, in "Paléographie musicale", V ,VI.


Manuals

  • "Manual of Lodrino;" Bibl. Ambr., SH. IV, 44; tenth or eleventh century. Imperfect. Described by Magistretti, "Mon. Vet. Lit. Amb.", II, 18.
  • "Manuale Ambrosianum" belonging to the Marchese Trotti; tenth or eleventh century. Imperfect. Magistretti, "Mon. Vet. Lit. Amb.", II, 19.
  • "Manuale Ambrosianum"; Bibl. Ambr., CIII, sup.; tenth or eleventh century. Imperfect. Magistretti, "Mon. Vet. Lit. Amb.", II, 20.
  • "Manuale Ambrosianum"; from the Church of Cernusco (between Monza and Lecco); Bibl. Ambr., I, 55, sup.; eleventh century. Magistretti, "Mon. Vet. Lit. Amb.", II, 28.
  • "Manuale Ambrosianum"; from the Church of San Vittore al Teatro, Milan; Bibl. Ambr., A, 1, inf.; twelfth century. Magistretti, "Mon. Vet. Lit. Amb.", II, 22.
  • "Manuale Ambrosianum"; from the Church of Brivio (near the Lecco end of the Lake of Como); Bibl. Ambr., I, 27, sup.; twelfth century. Magistretti, "Mon. Vet. Lit. Amb.", II, 30.


Rituals

  • "Liber Monachorum S. Ambrosii"; Bibl. Ambr., XCVI, sup.; eleventh century. Magistretti, "Mon. Vet. Lit. Amb.", II, 33, 79-93.
  • "Rituale Ambrosianum", from the Church of S. Laurentiolus in Porta Vercellina, Milan; Sacrar. Metrop., H. 62; thirteenth century. Magistretti, "Mon. Vet. Lit. Amb.", II, 37, 143-171.
  • Beroldus Novus"; Chapter Library, Milan; thirteenth century. Magistretti, "Mon. Vet. Lit. Amb.", 17, 94-142.
  • "Asti Ritual"; Bibl, Mazarine, 525; tenth century. Described by Gastoué in "Rassegna Gregoriana", 1903. This, though from the old province of Milan, is not Ambrosian, but has bearings on the subject.
  • Ceremonial: "Calendarium et Ordines Ecclesiĉ Ambrosianĉ"; Beroldus; Bibl, Ambr., I, 158, inf. twelfth century. Published by Magistretti, 1894.


Pontificals

  • "Pontificale Mediolanensis Ecclesiĉ"; Chapter Library, Milan; ninth century. Printed by Magistretti, "Mon. Vet. Lit. Amb.", I
  • "Pontificale Mediolanensis Ecclesiĉ"; Chapter Library, Milan; eleventh century. Magistretti, "Mon. Vet. Lit. Amb.", 1, 27.
  • "Ordo Ambrosianus ad Consecrandam Ecclesiam et Altare;" Chapter Library, Lucca; eleventh century. Printed by Mercati, "Studi e testi" (of the Vatican Library), 7.


Ambrosian service-books

Some editions of the printed Ambrosian service-books:
  • Missals: (Pre-Borromean) 1475, 1482, 1486, 1488, 1494, 1499, 1505, 1515, 1522, 1548, 1560; (St. Charles Borromeo) 1594; (F. Borromeo) 1609-18; (Monti) 1640; (Litta) 1669; (Fed. Visconti) 1692; (Archinti) 1712; (Pozzobonelli) 1751, 1768; (Fil. Visconti) 1795; (Gaisruck) 1831; (Ferrari) 1902.
  • Breviaries: (Pre-Borromean) 1475, 1487, 1490, 1492, 1507, 1513, 1522, and many others; (St. Charles Borromeo), 1582, 1588; (Pozzobonelli) 1760; (Galsruck) 1841; (Romilli) 1857; (Ferrari) 1896, 1902. Rituals: n. d. circ., 1475 (a copy in Bodlwian), 1645, 1736, 1885.
  • Psalters: 1486, 1555.
  • Ceremonials: 1619, 1831.
  • Lectionary: 1660?
  • Litanies: 1494, 1546, 1667.


The editions of the Missals, 1475, 1751, and 1902; Breviaries, 1582 and 1902; Ritual, 1645; both Psalters, both Ceremonials, the Lectionary, and Litanies are in the British Museum.

See also

  • Ambrosian chant
    Ambrosian chant

    Ambrosian chant is the liturgical plainsong repertory of the Ambrosian rite of the Roman Catholic Church, related to but distinct from Gregorian chant....
  • Ambrosians
    Ambrosians

    Ambrosians is a term that might be applied either to members of one of the religious brotherhoods which at various times since the 14th century have sprung up in and around Milan or, exceptionally to a 16th century sect of Anabaptist Ambrosians....
  • Latin liturgical rites
    Latin liturgical rites

    Latin liturgical rites used within that area of the Roman Catholic Church where the Latin language once dominated were for many centuries no less numerous than the liturgical rites of the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches autonomous particular Churches....
  • Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milan
    Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milan

    The Archdiocese of Milan is a metropolitan see of the Catholic Church in Italy. It has long maintained its own rite: the Ambrosian rite. It is led by the Archbishop of Milan who serves as metropolitan bishop to the dioceses of Diocese of Bergamo, Diocese of Brescia, Diocese of Como, Diocese of Crema, Diocese of Cremona, Diocese of Lodi, Ro...
  • St. Ambrose


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