The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

The Gothic Missal (Missale Gothicum)

MISSA IN CONVERSIONE SANCTI PAVLI

143. Deus, qui beati Pauli apostuli dignitatem ubique facis gloriosam, praesta, quaesomus, ut et doctrina semper ipsius foueamur et meritis. Per.

144. COLLECTIO SEQVITVR. Sanctorum deus, remunerator iustorum, deu, qui super omnes et per omnia et in omnibus nobis es, cui sacrificium est cor intercessionem beatissimi Pauli apostuli sanctificationem cordis, feruorem spriitus, corporis puritatem ut mortificatis terrenis uitiis inmaculatus spiritu et corpore nostro tibi semper laudes hostias referamus. Quod ipse praestare.

145. <COLLECTIO POST NOMINA.> Deus, qui apostulum tuum Paulum, insolentem contra christiani nominis pietatem, caelesti uoce cum terrore perculsum hodierna die uocationis eius mentem cum nomine commutasti, et quem prius persequutorem metuebat eclesia, nunc caelestium mandatorum laetatur se habere doctorem quemque ideo foris caecasti, ut introrsos uidentem faceres, cuique post tenebras crudelitatis ablatas, ad euocandas gentes diuinae legis scientiam contulisti, sed et tertio naufragantem pro fidem, quam expuganuerat, iam deuotum in elmento liquido fecisti uita discrimen, sic nobis, quaesomus, eius et mutationem et fidem colentibus, post caecitatem peccatorum fac te uidere in caelis qui inluminasti Paulum in terris. Et munera praesentia libens accipe, quae apostuli tui praecibus tibi fiant accepta.

146. COLLECTIO AD PACEM. Deus, qui iustitiae legis in cordibus credentium digito tuo scribes quique in Paulum hodierna die uocationis eius de caelis non atramento, sed spiritu tuo uiuo caritatis tuae feruorem ita scribes, ut proprium quassandum corpus pro eclesiae tuae tradat membris, qui ipsius eclasiae olim contriuerat membra, sic nobis ipsius interuentu doctoris et fidelis magistri fraternae caritatis sincere consortium dona, et de tuae dilectionis, quam ille habuit, multiplice flammam uel unam scintillam dignare largire ut sequamur per dilectionem feruentem magistrum, cuius flagrantiam in caritate frequentamus praecepta.

147. IMMOLATIO MISSAE. Dignum et iustum est, uere aequum et iustum est nos tibi gratias agire, domine, sancte pater, omnipotens aeterne deus, qui ut ostenderis te omnium cupire indulgere peccatis, persequutorem eclesiae tuae ad unum uerbum tuae uocationis lugratus es et statim fecisti nobis ex persequutore doctorem. Nam qui alienas epistulas ad destrictionem eclesiarum acceperat, cepit suas ad restaurationem earum scribere, et ut seipsum Paulum factum ex Saulo monstraret, repente architectus sapiens fundamentum posuit, ut sancta eclesia tua catholica eo aedificante gauderet, a quo fuerat ante uastata, et tatus eius defensor existeret, ut omnia supplicia corporis et ipsam caedem corporis non timeret. Nam factus est caput eclesiae qui membra eclesiae conquassauerat, caput terreni corporis tradisit, ut Christum caput in suis omnibus membris acciperet, per quod etiam uas electionis esse meruit, qui eundem dominum nostrum Iesum Christum filium tuum in sui pectoris habitationem suscepit. Per quem maiestatem tuam laudant.


'Mass for the Conversion of Saint Paul

143. God, who everywhere spreads the fame of the honour of the blessed apostle Paul, grant, so we pray, that we are always cherished by his teaching and merit. Through [...]

144. Collect follows. Splendour of the saints, Remunerator of the righteous, God, who is above all and through all and in us all (Eph. 4, 6), for whom a contrite heart is a sacrifice (Ps. 51, 17) and a prayer a pure burnt offering (Ps. 141, 2), grant us, through the intercession of the most blessed apostle Paul, sanctification of the heart, ardour of the spirit and purity of the body, so that when mortal sin has been put to death we always bring you offerings of praise with our spirit and body undefiled. May you deign to give [...]

145. [Collect after the names.] God, on this day of his calling you have changed the heart and name of your apostle Paul, insolent towards the piety of Christ's name, and struck [down] by a heavenly voice and by fear. First the Church dreaded him as a persecutor, now she rejoices in having him as the teacher of the heavenly commandments. You have therefore struck him with outer blindness to make him see within, and you removed for him the darkness of cruelty and conferred on him knowledge of divine law in order to summon the gentiles. But you also rescued him from the peril of death at sea when he was shipwrecked for the third time (cf. II Cor. 11, 25) for the faith he had fought against (cf. Gal. 1, 23), when he was already a devoted man: grant, so we pray, that we too, who revere his conversion and faith, after the blindness of sin may behold you in heaven, who illuminated Paul on earth. And may you willingly accept the gifts present here, that they may be acceptable to you through the prayers of the apostle.

146. Collect at the kiss of peace. God, who writes with your finger the laws of righteousness in the hearts of the faithful (cf. II Cor. 3, 3), and who, on the present day of his calling, so writes in Paul from heaven the fervour of your charity, not with ink but with your living spirit (II. Cor. 3, 3), that he surrendered his body to be broken for the members of your Church who once had crushed the members of the same Church: grant us fellowship in sincere brotherly charity through the mediation of this instructor and teacher of the faith, and deign to grant [us] just one spark from the multiple flame of your love, which he possessed, so that through fervent love we follow the teacher, whose passionate ardour we continue to celebrate through the precept of charity.

147. Prayer of sacrifice. It is worthy and just, truly fair and just, that we bring thanks to you, Lord, holy Father, almighty and Everlasting God, who in order to show that you wish to forgive the sins of all, converted the persecutor of your Church on one word of your calling, and at once made for us a teacher out of the persecutor. For he who has accepted letters from others for the destruction of the churches, began to write his own [letters] for the restoration of those same churches, and to show that from a Saul he had become a Paul, as a wise architect he hastily laid the foundation (I Cor. 3, 10), so that your holy catholic Church rejoices in him as builder by whom she was previously destroyed, and that he became such a great defender of her that he did not fear all the punishments of the body or even the death of the body. For he has become the head of the Church who had shattered the members of the Church, he surrendered the head of his mortal body to receive Christ as head of all his members. For which he was considered worthy to be a chosen instrument (Act. 9, 15), who has received the same our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the dwelling of his heart. Through whom [the angels] praise your majesty [...]'


Text: Rose 2005, 408-10.
Translation: Rose 2017, 178-80.

Service for the saint
Eucharist associated with cult
Liturgical invocation
Chant and religious singing
Other liturgical acts and ceremonies

Saint’s feast
Commemoration of miracle

Prayer/supplication/invocation
Transmission, copying and reading saint-related texts

Miracles causing conversion
Miracles experienced by the saint

Source

Discussion

Bibliography