Abstract
The Corpus Christianorum of Brepols is a landmark of patristic scholarship (the Corpus is sub-divided into the Series Latina, the Series Graeca, and the Continuatio Mediaevalis). The published volumes of early Christian texts provide specialists with a modern critical text of the work in question together with a scholarly apparatus that can help the specialist when working with the text in question. However, today many even among the specialists working in the fields related to early Christianity no longer have a working knowledge of Greek and Latin (not to mention Syriac, Coptic, and the other languages of the first Christians). In 2010 Brepols launched a new sub-series called the Corpus Christianorum in Translation. Each of these new volumes contains the translation into a modern European language of one of the volumes of the original series. So far about 30 volumes of this new series have been published. In 2005 Brepols published the Missale Gothicum e codice Vaticano Reginensi latino 317 editum as volume 159D of their Corpus Christianorum Series Latina edited by Els Rose. This translation of that volume has also been prepared by Dr Rose.
The Gothic Missal is a very valuable source for the history of the celebration of the Eucharist in the West. It is not a missal in the modern sense of a book that contains all of the texts necessary for the celebration of the Eucharist. The title was given to it by a librarian or scholar in the 15th or 16th century and it has followed this manuscript as it passed into the library of Queen Christina of Sweden to the Vatican library, where it resides today. The manuscript is more properly a Sacramentary, as it only contains the texts of the celebrant. Its date of composition has been narrowed down to the last decade of the seventh or the first decade of the eighth century and it provides our most important witness to the liturgy as celebrated in late antique and Merovingian Gaul. It is also the earliest witness to some of the prayers, such as the Exultet and some of the prayers of the Baptismal rites, that still feature in the Roman Rite.
Although the Gothic Missal is a vital source for our study of the Roman Rite, it is composed in a particular form of Latin that many contemporary scholars find difficult to interpret, leading many to frustration as it does not conform to the various standard forms of Latin as usually studied. Over 100 years ago, the famous English liturgist Edmund Bishop described the language of the ‘Gallican style’ as being unable to ‘bear the test of translation into English’ (quoted on p. 11). Rose’s work is particularly valuable as she is intimately familiar with the Gothic Missal and approaches its language on its own terms. She is successful in her goal to translate the work into contemporary English producing ‘a fluent English text reflecting as far as possible the stylistic and vocabulary opulence of the prayers’ (p. 111).
The resulting translation is useful for those who are not able to consult the Latin original. One of the best pieces of advice given to students of liturgy is to immerse themselves in the actual ritual texts of the liturgy rather than just reading the work of modern experts. This volume allows students to do just that and, as it is a full translation of a complete manuscript of great historical significance, it gives students the opportunity to immerse themselves in a complete text, as opposed to edited excerpts of different works that rarely give readers a true feel of the liturgies of earlier ages.
An additional value of this edition is that it is a sister volume to her 2005 edition of the Latin text itself. As both are prepared by the same author and published by the same house, they have a particularly helpful correspondence and are easy to consult together, so that one can find the same prayer in both volumes with ease. This is particularly significant in the case of the Gothic Missal given than even many specialists can find the Latin challenging.
In addition to the translation of the Missal itself, this edition contains an introduction to the manuscript and the various published editions of the text. Rose’s treatment of the performance of prayer in the Gothic Missal and of the principles of translation and analysis on the language used in the Missal, are in themselves valuable contributions to the study of medieval liturgy. The volume is to be recommended to libraries, but I would also suggest that those who are at the initial stages of their academic study of liturgy or medieval studies immerse themselves in volumes such as these. Works published by Brepols are often singled out by reviewers as being too expensive for the regular reader, but at €50 this volume is a worthwhile investment for anyone interested in receiving a ‘postcard’ from the Merovingian church for only double the price of a forgettable novel purchased in an airport bookstore!