The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

The Gothic Missal (Missale Gothicum)

MISSA IN NATALE SANCTORVM INFANTVM

46. Deus, qui uniuersam aeclesiam tuam praeciosorum martyrum tuorum uirtutibus uelut quibusdam floribus coronasti ut per triumphos tuorum testium et sollemnitatum gloriam et deotionum exempla susciperes, sicut in hoc die, quo pro domino nostro Iesu Christo infantum innocentiam extollis usque ad merita passionum. Feliciter pro Christo mortui sunt sed felicius cum eodem in aeternitate uicturi qui ad hoc tantum per humanam infirmitatem nati sunt ad erumnam, ut per dei gratiam nasceretur martyres ad coronam. Praesta, omnipotens deus, in hac sollemnitate diei huius, ut sicut illis dedasti palmas uicturiae, ita nobis quoque consortium tribuas sempiternum. Per dominum nostrum Iseum Christum filium tuum, qui tecum uiuit.

47. COLLECTIO SEQVITVR. Deus omnipotens ac benignitatis, deus misericordiae atque pietatis, qui Bethlemiticae plebi ac dominicae ciuitati pro temporalibus aerumnis gaudia aeterna tribuisti, ut Rachiel sancta plorans filios suos, quae praeferebat ex dolore luctum, nollet ex consolatione secura, da cunctis, domine, in hoc loco consistentibus et uniuersae plebi istius loci ut sic habeant ex sanctae uitae conuersatione palmam, sicut habuerunt paruoli ex passione uicturiam. Per dominum nostrum Iesum Christum filium tuum, qui tecum uiuit.

48. COLLECTIO POST NOMINA. Deus, qui id quod per infantiam uidetur exiguum, magnum facis esse per merita, qui primordia aduentus tui triumphis glorificas paruolorum, prius eos passionis martyrio, quam aetatis prouehis incremento - felix mors eorum et beatificanda conditio per quam eis contegit ut saeuitiam crudelissimi Herodis deuicerint triumphando et Christum mererentur in praemio - da huic populo tuo nomini consecrato per consimilis gratiae admirationem meritorum similium dignitatem, ut qui hanc sanctorum infantum festiuitatem pro honorem nominis tui celebrant, ad ipsorum infantum beatitudinem profectu fidei semper ascendant. Quod ipse praestare digneris, qui.

49. IMMOLATIO MISSAE. Dignum et iustum est, uere dignum et iustum est nos tibi semper et ubique gratias agere, sancte pater, omnipotens aeterne deus. Pro his praecipue quorum hodierno die annua festiuitate recolentes memoriam passionis celebramus, quos herodianus satellis lactantum matrum uberibus abstraxit. Qui iure dicuntur martyrum flores, qui in medio frigore infedilitatis exorti uelut primas erumpentes eclesiae gemmas quaedam persecutionis pruina discussit, rutilante fonte in Bethleem ciuitatem. Infantes enim, qui aetate loqui non poterant, laudem domini cum gaudio resonabant. Occisi praedicant quod uiui non poterant. Loquuntur sanguine quod lingua nequiuerunt. Contulit his martyrium laudem quibus abnegauerat lingua sermonem. Praemittit infantes infans Christus ad caelos, transmittit noua exenia patri, primicias exhibet genetori paruulorum prima martyria Herodis scelere perpetrata. Praestat hostis corpori dum nocet, beneficium tribuit dum occidit, moriendo uiuitur, cadendo resurgitur, uicturia per interitum conprobatur. Pro his ergo beneficiis et pro praesenti sollemnitate immensas pietati tuae gratias referentes potius quam rependentes cum sanctis angelis et archangelis, qui unum te deum dominantem, distinctum nec diuisum, trinum nec triplicem, solum nec solitiarium, consona laudamus uoces dicentes: SANCTVS, SANCTVS, SANCTVS.

50. BENEDICTIO POPVLI. Deus, qui tibi consecrasti primitias martyrum ab innocentia paruulorum. AMEN. Et prius tibi coaptasti in confessione infantiam quam lingua solueretur in uerba. AMEN. Concide plebem tuam innocentem per gratiam, et si non sint tempore sanguine fuso martyria. AMEN. Seruetur hic populus purgatus baptismate, qui tibi placitam fecisti innocentiam per cruorem. AMEN. Vt illic suo interuentu grex accedat per lauacrum, ubi felices paruuli perfusi rore sanguinis gloriantur. AMEN. Per dominum nostrum Iesum Christum filium tuum, qui tecum uiuit et regnat.


'Mass for the feast of the Holy Infants

46. God, you who, as with flowers, have crowned your entire Church with the virtues of your precious martyrs, in order to receive through the triumphs of your witnesses both the glory of the solemn celebration and the examples of devotion, as on this day, on which you raise up the innocence of the infants to the merit of their martyrdom for our Lord Jesus Christ. They died happily for Christ, but they will live even more happily with him for eternity; through this end they were born through human weakness to misery, to be born through the grace of God as martyrs to the crown. Grant, almighty God, through the solemn ritual of this day, that, as you have given them the palms of victory, so you will give us eternal fellowship. Through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son, who lives with you [...]

47. Collect follows. Omnipotent and benevolent God, merciful and loving God, who gave to the people of Bethlehem and the town of the Lord eternal joy in place of temporary distress, so that the holy Rachel, who, weeping for her children, preferred the mourning of grief and refused the comfort of consolation (for although she appeared bewildered by the temporary loss of her infants, yet she was happy, and sure of the eternity of the martyrs). Grant to all who are present here, O Lord, and to your entire people of this place, that they too may gain the palm of glory though the conduct of a holy life, as the little ones gained victory through their passion. Through your Lord Jesus Christ your Son, who lives with you [...]

48. Collect after the names. God, you who make large through merit what appears to be small through infancy, you who glorify the beginning of your coming through the triumph of little children, you who raise them through the martyrdom of passion earlier than through the increase of age - happy is their death and blessed is he condition through which they triumphantly defeated the rage of the most cruel Herod and merited Christ as a reward - grant to this people, dedicated to your name, the honour of similar merits through the veneration of similar grace, so that those who celebrate this feast of the holy infants to the honour of your name may continually ascend to the blessedness of those same infants through the progress of faith. May you yourself deign to grant this, who [...]

49. Prayer of sacrifice. It is worthy and just, truly worthy and just that we always and everywhere bring thanks to you, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God. Especially for these [infants] whose annual feast we celebrate again today by commemorating their martyrdom, who were dragged from the breasts of their nursing mothers by a servant of Herod. They are rightly called the flowers among the martyrs, who, born amid the coldness of unbelief, were struck down by a hoar frost of persecution just as they came into bud as the first blossoms of the Church, while the founts of the town of Bethlehem coloured red. For the infants, who in view of their age could not speak, resounded the praise of the Lord with joy. Killed, they proclaim what they could not in life. They tell with their blood what they were unable to do with their tongue. Martyrdom conferred praise on those to whom the tongue had refused the word. The infant Christ sent the infants ahead to heaven, he sent new gifts to the Father, and as a sacrifice of first-fruits he gave the first martyrdoms of young children, perpetrated by the crime of Herod, to the Creator. The enemy enriches the body while he harms it, he gave it a blessing while he ruined it. By dying they live, by falling they rise again, victory is achieved through destruction. Through his past mercies and through the present solemn celebration we praise you - because we can better bring immeasurable thanks for your goodness than require something from you - with the holy angels and archangels with one voice, who rules as one God, distinct but not divided, threefold but not tripartite, alone but not solitary, saying: HOLY, HOLY, HOLY.

50. Blessing of the people. God, who has consecrated to you the first-fruits of the martyrs from the innocence of children. AMEN. And [who] has joined the infants to you, through their confession of faith, before their tongue learned to speak, AMEN. Grant that your people may be innocent through grace, even when in this time there are no more martyrdoms through the shedding of blood. AMEN. [And give,] that his people will be protected, cleansed by Baptism, who through blood has made it in an innocence pleasing to you. AMEN. So that the flock, through their intercession, may through Baptism arrive where the happy children glory in being imbued with the dew of their shared blood. AMEN. Through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son, who lives and reigns with you.


Text: Rose 2005, 368-71.
Translation: Rose 2017, 132-5.

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