This is a new series in which I will post an excerpt from The Lay Folks Mass Book, a verse poem from the 14th/15th century, originally written in Middle English.
Each Sunday I will post a short section, transcribed into modern English for ease of reading, and harmonised from the 4 surviving versions which are in different dialects and with some variations in text.
Notes on the transcription: like German, the letter “e” on the end of words is often pronounced. In general, modern English has dropped all these so in transcribing it I have generally followed modern English which means that in most cases the rhyme and meter work. But occasionally, I have put letters in square brackets where required for the verse, or sometimes separated the endings with a hyphen to indicate that they should be pronounced as a separate syllable.
Most of the words have a modern English equivalent which is very similar, but where that doesn’t happen I have put the meaning in [ ].
One important word: the term for Mass in middle English is Messe. I have generally written it as Mess for the sake of the rhyming.
The text used is the one published by Thomas Frederick Simmons in 1879 and reprinted in 1968.
The worthiest thing, most of goodness,
In all the world, that is the Mess.
In all the books of holy kirk [church]
That holy men, that time, can work,
The Mess is prais-ed many fold:
The virtues might never be told;
For if thousand clerks1 did naught else,
After that the book[e] tells,
But told the virtues of Mess singing,
And the profit of Mess hearing,
Yet should they never tell the fifth part
For all their wit [or craft] and all their art,
Tell the virtues, medes [rewards] and pardon
To them that with devoti-on
In clean and good intent
Do worship to this sacrament.
The final line is key to me - most medieval people did not receive holy communion regularly, but only on main feast days. Yet they were required to go to church every Sunday for worship. This worship was to God in the form of hearing the Mass, praying to God and veneration of the Blessed Sacrament, as they witnessed the consecration. Hearing Mass was, as the verse says, a virtuous act in itself, which brought graces, as long as it is done with true devotion.
Receiving communion regularly was not common practice until very recently in church history - in general the 20th century. We have evidence that even monks and nuns in the medieval period did not expect to receive communion more than around 10 times in a year; in the 7th century Irish church in what is now the UK, new monks were not allowed to receive communion for the first year of their training. Many lay people would only receive communion at Easter and maybe at Christmas - and the Catholic church has the rule that you must attend confession and receive communion at Easter only, though you are required to attend Sunday Mass every week.
One could argue that the modern practice of making Mass largely about communion misses the point that medieval people understood quite well; true worship is about more than receiving the Host personally.
The Blessed Sacrament in the medieval period would normally be reserved in a receptacle called a “pyx” above either the main altar (in a small church) or a side altar. It hung on a chain from the ceiling for people to venerate outside Mass. Later it was placed on a stand, which led gradually to the Monstrance we use today for Adoration.
The picture is of a 13th century French pyx in the shape of a dove. Now in the Walters Museum in Baltimore.
1 Clerks = learned men, often but not always in holy orders
Awesome post! I was captivated by the image of the dove pyx because just 10 min ago I was reading a book with a photograph of a very similar one. Providence brought me here today. Please do more posts like this!
Fascinating and beautiful as expected, both the verse itself (funny how pre-modern people seemed to write practically everything in verse) and your reflection. It makes you wonder which is best: rarely receiving the Eucharist, or treating it more as an entitlement, even if one regularly misses Sunday Mass and never goes to Confession. A middle ground would perhaps be best, as the saints have always recommended.
Looking forward to part two!