PRELIMINARY NOTIFICATIONS
Reproduced by permission of the legal/copyright successors of Bruce Publishing Company.
British / English spelling is used throughout, as in the original hardbound edition.
Accents and diacriticals have been inserted wherever possible, given our font limitations.
Liturgical details are all pre-Vatican II given the publication date of this work (1953).
Footnotes are complete -- as in the original publication. However, bookmarking of footnotes is still in progress at this time and will be completed no later than the Feast of St. Augustine (August 28th).
TEXT:
ST. NORBERT, the founder of the Order, was born at Xanten in Germany about the year 1080, and at an early age was admitted to a canonry in the collegiate church of St. Victor in his native city. In 1115 he felt himself called to lead a more perfect way of life, and Norbert resolved to give himself up to an apostolate of itinerant preaching. He obtained the approbation of Pope Gelasius II (1118-1119) at St. Gilles in 1118, which was confirmed in the following year by his successor Callixtus II (1119-1124) at the council of Rheims. Norbert by this time had gathered a number of disciples, and, through the instrumentality of Bartholomew de Vir, bishop of Laon, a site for the foundation of a religious house was given him in 1120 at Prémontré, twelve miles west of the cathedral city, in a valley between the rivers Oise and Arlette. The name Prémontré (praemonstratus, pratum monstratum) was probably derived from a clearing in the wood, but 'edification' called for a less prosaic interpretation, and alleged that it came rather from locus praemonstratus, 'a place foreshown', as we read in the Life of St. Godfrey, one of St. Norbert's first disciples (1127): Venit ad locum vere juxta nomen suum, a Domino praemonstratum, electum et praedestinatum.[3-1] A similar spirit was at work in ascribing the white habit to an apparition of the Blessed Virgin to the founder, when the Mother of God is reputed to have said: Fili, accipe candidam vestem.[3-2] There seems little reason to doubt that the primitive habit was of unbleached wool, which would have required a number of washings before it became white. The Order may be described as monastico-canonical, being at the same time both contemplative and active, with a rule which was largely that of St. Augustine. 'In its genesis,' says David Knowles, 'the constitution of the White canons was eclectic, reflecting alike Norbert's own bent, his admiration for Clairvaux and the contemporary spirit of simplicity and poverty. To preaching and spiritual ministration were joined a certain amount of manual work and a more severe observance than was customary in the general run of Augustinian houses; the Order was strictly organized from the start on Cistercian lines, with Prémontré as the mother-house.''[3-3] Certain similarities are evident in the liturgies of the White canons and the White monks. In 1142, a fraternal pact of peace and charity was drawn up by the two Orders.[3-4]
The central idea of St. Norbert was, as Anselm of Havelberg (ob. 1158) says, 'the perfection of the apostolic life'.[3-5] This conception, however, came to be substantially modified under Blessed Hugh of Fosses (ob. c. 1164), the successor of St. Norbert at Prémontré, and the active apostolate almost disappeared in favour of the cloistered and contemplative life. Later we find the canons in possession of churches, although this had been forbidden by the early statutes of Prémontré: Non accipiemus altare nisiposset esse abbatia.[3-6] Germany, however, as we shall see, was an exception during the 12th and 13th centuries, but the foundation of St. Norbert in Magdeburg, which became the centre of Premonstratensian influence in middle Europe, depended from the archbishop rather than from Prémontré. The missionary activities of the White canons in Northern Europe were quite outstanding, and 'there is no second example in the long history of the Church during the Middle Ages of any religious order having completed the conversion of a whole country, such as the Premonstratensians did in Wendenland'.[3-7] A similar tendency for active work existed also in south Germany, but here it was less organised and more closely subject to Prémontré.[3-8]
When in the 18th century the ancient Orders felt it necessary to offer some justification for their continued existence, the White canons gave the five following characteristics of their life: Laudes Dei in choro; Cultus eucharisticus; Cultus marialis; Spiritu jugis paenitentiae; Zelus animarum.
The Eucharistic cult received its impetus from the work of St. Norbert in crushing the heresy of Tanchelin[3-9] in Flanders, which he undertook at the request of Burchard, bishop of Cambrai, in 1124.[3-10] A feast (Triumph of St. Norbert), commemorating the success of the undertaking, is celebrated on the day following the solemnity of the Sacred Heart (triple of the second class).[3-11] It was formerly observed on the Third Sunday after Pentecost, but it is not found in the breviaries of 1741 and 1846.
Tradition has ascribed an office to St. Norbert in which the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception[3-12] is expressed, but his authorship is improbable, and the dogma does not appear to have been taught in the Order till the middle of the following century.[3-13]
The original plan of St. Norbert seems to have envisaged double houses - canons and nuns - but the general chapter of 1135 directed that henceforward the two sexes were to be in separate establishments.[3-14] A convent of nuns had been founded in the valley of Prémontré as early as 1122.
Apostolic approbation was given to the Order in 1124, and two years later St. Norbert received a confirmatory bull from Honorius II (1124-30). In the same year also the Saint was appointed archbishop of Magdeburg, where he confided six parishes in the city and fourteen others in the neighbourhood to the care of the White canons.[3-15] St. Norbert remained at Magdeburg till his death on 6 June 1134, but it was not before 1582 that the saintly founder was officially canonised[3-16] by Gregory XIII (1572-85), although we find his name in the calendar of the missal of 1578 under 6 June, the date of the original feast. A principal feast on 11 July was approved by Urban VIII (1623-44) in 1625, which has been raised to the rank of a triple of the first class with a common octave.
The body of St. Norbert was translated from Magdeburg to the abbey of Strahov in Prague in 1627. With his active apostolate, the Saint can hardly be described as abbot of Prémontré, and the first abbot was rather Blessed Hugh of Fosses, who governed the Order till his death on 10 February 1161. The Primarii ordinis patres, holding a position analogous to the four 'first fathers' in the Cistercian Order, were the abbots of St. Martin at Laon, Floreffe and Cuissy: the prior, subprior and circator of the Order respectively.
The success of the White canons was almost as remarkable as that of the White monks, and nearly one hundred abbots attended the first general chapter in 1130. The chapter became an annual event in 1135, when a special section was added to the statutes: De annuo colloquio. Until some time after 1458 it was held on the feast of Sr. Denis (9 October),[3-17] when the date was changed to the Fourth Sunday after Easter. War between France and England created difficulties, and the English kings not only prohibited the payment of subsidies to Prémontré by the houses in their kingdom, but also forbade the attendance of abbots at the general chapter. A national chapter was permitted by the abbot of Prémontré in 1316.[3-18]
A catalogue, compiled by a religious of the abbey of Parc near Louvain, gives a total of seven hundred and thirty houses[3-19] of the Order, but the estimate of Fr. Norbert Backmund - 'nearly six hundred and fifty' - is probably more accurate.[3-20]
If we may believe an American religious of the Order, Soulseat in Galloway (Scotland) was founded as early as 1125,[3-21] but between 1148 and 1153 is nearer the mark.[3-22] Newhouse (Lincs.), the first abbey in England, was established in 1143: a daughter of Licques in the Pas de Calais, and grand-daughter of St. Martin, Laon. The other houses in the country, with the exception of Bradsole and Bayham which were colonised directly from Prémontré, owed their existence either directly or by descent from Newhouse. Talley (Carmarthenshire), the solitary house of the Order in Wales, was founded from St. John, Amiens, between 1193 and 1197. The peak years in England were between 1170 and 1216, but, as in France, the houses never developed a very strong missionary character, and resembled rather those of the Cistercians, although we find the White canons officiating at an early date in parish churches.
In the 13th century two Englishmen occupied the position of abbot of Prémontré: Gervase[3-23], who was nominated bishop of Seez in 1220, and William (1233-36), a former abbot of Stanley Park (Dale) in Derbyshire, who has been described as vir totius prudentiae, but who for all his 'prudence' was forced to resign in 1236.[3-24]
The cathedral priory of Whithorn (Candida Casa) in Galloway was given to the Order in 1177, but, with two exceptions, the bishops were never chosen from among the White canons.[3-25] The constitutions seem to have been modelled on those of Boerglum in Denmark.[3-26] Premonstratensians formed also the chapters at Ratzeburg (Schleswig Holstein) in 1154, Boerglum (Denmark) in 1176, Riga (Livonia) 1212, and Litomysl (Bohemia) in 1343; while no less than thirty-two members of the Order occupied the see of Brandenburg between the years 1130 and 1560, and twenty-five that of Havelberg between 1129 and 1548.[3-27]
The first constitutions of the Order, which were in four parts, appeared about 1128, the work of Hugh of Fosses. The fourth part concerned the general administration and liturgical uniformity, especially in respect to the service books.[3-28] In 1290, as a result of the bulls of Innocent IV (1245) and Alexander IV (1256), the constitutions were revised by the abbot of Prémontré, William de Louvignies.[3-29] A third edition, abrogating all the previous constitutions, was published as an outcome of the bulls of Alexander VI (1502) and Julius II (1503) in 1505.[3-30]
Legislation, however, proved powerless to check decadence and decline, and measures of reform were initiated by John Despruets (1572-96) and continued by his successors. The general chapter of 1630 authorised the constitutions which are observed in substance today.
The decadence in the French houses was encouraged by the 'leprosy of the monastic state', as the rule of commendatory abbots has been called,[3-31] and by 1770 no less than sixty-seven out of the ninety-two abbeys and priories were in commendam.[3-32] Prémontré herself escaped with but three commendatory abbots.[3-33] A reform of the Order was effected in Spain (1570-73), and another through the efforts of Abbot Lairvelz at the beginning of the 17th century. This second reform, which was especially strong in Lorraine, and was followed by about forty abbeys, seems to have been chiefly concerned with abstinence from flesh meat.[3-34] France had ninety-two abbeys and more than six hundred benefices in 1789, but by a stroke of the pen they all disappeared in the following year. John Baptist l'Ecuy, sixty-second and last abbot-general, survived until 1834.[3-35] The Order was revived in France by a national Congregation in 1858, which was united with the rest of the Order in 1896. Today there are four circaries--Brabant, France, Bohemia and Austria-Hungary, with several houses which depend directly on the abbot-general, who resides in Rome.[3-36] New statutes were promulgated by the general chapter of 1947.
A word must be said concerning the term 'circary', which is peculiar to the White canons. The definite division of the Order into circaries dates from the general chapter of 1290, and in 1320, according to an official catalogue compiled by Lepaige, there were no less than thirty such divisions, supervised later by a vicar-general. The term has been defined by Lairvelz: a circumeundo vocatur circaria.[3-37] England in the Middle Ages had three circaries --North England and Scotland with thirteen houses; Middle England with thirteen; and South England with eleven.
Schools existed in some of the houses from the early days of the Order, and we find them in the 12th century at Cappenberg (1122) and Steinfeld (1121 or 1124). Later, higher studies were established, and a Collegium Norbertinum was founded at Paris in 1252. Colleges were attached also to the universities of Louvain (1571), Salamanca (1578), Cologne (1617), Rome (1618), Prague (1628), and Cracow (before 1674).
It has been suggested to the writer that the Premonstratensians in the 13th century and again in the 17th produced a distinctive style of architecture, but it is difficult to substantiate such a claim. In the early days of the Order church architecture borrowed largely from the Cistercians. 'The close connection of Norbert with St. Bernard of Clairvaux and the great influence which the latter exercised over the foundation of Norbert's Order is reflected in certain Cistercian characteristics in Premonstratensian building; in fact all the peculiarities observable in the conventual planning of the younger Order are borrowed from the Cistercians, and are amply sufficient to differentiate the early French houses from the contemporary Benedictine and Cluniac buildings.'[3-38] 'The earliest churches built under St. Norbert', continues Mr.Clapham, 'appear to have been all of a temporary nature and to have been a similar type of structure to those raised at Clairvaux and Pontigny by the first Cistercians':[3-39] Ad morem et mediocritatem aedificandi ecclesiam, quibus utuntur canonici ejusdem (Praemonstretensis) ordinis.[3-40] New churches sprang up everywhere, but little remains today of the 12th-century buildings of the Primarii ordinis patres. The church of Prémontré has disappeared, and what survives of the conventual buildings dates from the 18th century.[3-41] St. Martin at Laon has been more fortunate, and the church, although partially burned in 1944, is a fine transitional building (1144-50), with two 13th-century towers unusually placed at the junction of the nave and transepts. Floreffe, with the exception of a late romanesque transept (1188-1250), was entirely transformed in the 18th century, while Cuissy was rebuilt in 1746. The 12th-century churches were for the most part of the normal Cistercian type, with a square east end, no structural tower, and square-ended chapels in the transepts divided with solid walls,[3-42] which, as in Cistercian houses, gave way in the 13th century to open arches with screens between the chapels. The aisleless nave, common in the English abbeys, was comparatively rare on the continent,[3-43] and it had been abandoned almost everywhere by the White monks, who used the nave as a choir for the conversi. The later churches of the Order showed but little Cistercian influence, and the form of east end had as little uniformity as the contemporary buildings of other Orders. One of the most imposing monuments of the White canons which survives is the abbey of Bellapais (Episcopia) in Cyprus, founded by the royal house of Lusignan in 1267 or 1269. The church, which dates from the 13th century, is now in the hands of the Greek dissidents. The churches of the English houses were of a simple character: often cruciform in plan, with a chapel east of the transept.[3-44] A single aisle was sometimes built on the side opposite to the cloister,[3-45] and the two-aisled nave was a rebuilding of the 14th or 15th century, when a bell-tower was often added.[3-46] The lady chapels, unlike those of the Benedictines and Augustinians, rarely exceeded in size or importance the other chapels. Towers, as in other religious orders, were generally late additions to the original buildings.[3-47] At Floreffe, a tower was built over the south transept in the 16th century, and at Tongerloo, Averbode and Antwerp (St. Michael) it was added to the east of the north transept. Postel was not provided with a tower till the 18th century.[3-48] The earliest addition of a tower to a church of the Order in England seems to have been at Blancheland in Northumberland in the 13th century, where it was added at the end of the north transept.
Most of the churches were dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, but there was no definite ruling, as we find among the Cistercians, and unusual dedications to French saints are found at Newhouse (St. Martial) and Bradsole (St. Radegunde).
The planning of the domestic buildings followed very closely the arrangements of the Austin Canons, and the only distinctive Cistercian feature was the form of the chapter house.
The wars of religion in France and Germany inflicted irreparable damage to the abbeys, but the mania for rebuilding in the á la mode Baroque style proved even more destructive to the mediaeval houses. The mother house of Prémontré was almost entirely remodelled by Claude Honore Lucas de Muin (ob.1740) and his successor, Bruno Bécourt (ob. 1757). Three elegant buildings have survived, forming three sides of a cour d'honneur.[3-49] Good examples of Baroque churches of the Order may be seen at Averbode, Ninove, Bonne Esperance and Parc (Louvain) in Belgium; Strahov (Prague) in Czechoslovakia; and Wilten (Innsbruck) in the Austrian Tyrol. The abbey of Parc outside Louvain has preserved its late 18th century character almost intact, with successive courtyards surrounded by buildings and workshops: each court entered by a monumental gateway. Postel has retained its Romanesque church.
A basilican form of altar, so conducive to the splendour of liturgical worship, is found at Tongerloo, Postel and Leffe.
'The Norbertine life is basically liturgical. The public and choral celebration of the Divine Office is the prominent feature in each day's activities . . . The very first requisite for the opening of a new Norbertine foundation was that it should be supplied with the liturgical books necessary for the choral celebration of the Office and the offering of Holy Mass.'[3-50] There seems little doubt that in the first years of the Order the liturgical customs common to the Canons Regular were followed. A bull of Honorius II (1124-30), addressed Premonstratensis ecclesie canonicis, directed the White canons to celebrate the ecclesiastical offices secundum aliorum regularium fratrum consuetudinem. The community of Prémontré is the only one cited, and there is no reference to an abbot, so that the bull was probably issued after St. Norbert had left for Magdeburg, and before the designation of Hugh de Fosses, that is, in 1126 or 1127. At an early date, however, there seems to have been a fixed type of prayers and ceremonies for all the houses, for which St. Norbert himself appears to have been partly responsible. The compilation met with a certain amount of hostile criticism from other canons, who accused the Saint of introducing 'novelties' in the recitation of the liturgical psalter.
Pontius of St. Rufus at Avignon and Walter, bishop of Maguelonne (1103-29), both complained of these 'novelties'; while Hugh Metel reproached St. Norbert with substituting an undyed woolen tunic for the traditional linen vesture. Bishop Walter, in a letter to the canons regular of the abbey of Chaumouzey,[3-51] commends the piety of Norbert, but at the same time says that he prefers the authority of the ancient fathers: Porro canonici officii mutationem quam nescio per quas antiphonarum et psalmorum varietates, trifaria temporum permutatione praedicat esse sequendum, sacris canonibus et ipsi Augustino obviare testamur.[3-52] The accusations were refuted later by the Augustinian cardinal, James de Vitry (ob. 1240).[3-53] Liturgical uniformity became a practical necessity with the holding of annual chapters at Prémontré, attended, as they were, by abbots from the various countries of Europe. Early legislation had enumerated the choir books, and we find regulations respecting prayers for the dead and the daily office of our Lady. It was to maintain an indissoluble unity between the abbeys that a statute of 1130 insisted upon uniformity in the books of the White canons. The books were said to include missal, gospel-book, epistle-book, collectar, gradual, antiphoner, hymnal, psalter, lectionary and calendar.[3-54] The statute represents a faithful expression of the early us and customs of Prémontré, and seems to have been in the mind of Innocent II (1130-43) in the bull Sacra Vestri,[3-55] which put into relief the Ordinis integritas and the consuetudo Premonstratensis to which the abbots of the Order were bound in conscience. A similar insistence on liturgical uniformity is found in another bull of the same Pope: 'We wish unity to reign in all your churches, according as Norbert, archbishop of Magdeburg, a man of pious memory has established it.'[3-56] The same sentiments were expressed by Lucius II (1144-45) in the bull Ad Uberes (25 May 1144)
It is, however, impossible to determine the content of these early rites, prayers and chants, as no manuscripts of the period have survived. The compilation of the first official ordo has been ascribed, with some degree of probability, to Blessed Hugh of Fosses, the immediate successor of St. Norbert at Prémontré (ob. c. 1164),[3-57] and the alterations in a manuscript of the end of the 12th century point to the existence of an earlier exemplar.[3-58] The ordinarius was certainly completed before 1174, when members of the Order quote from its text, and pontifical bulls, prescribing unity of observance in all houses of canons, explicitly mention iidem quoque libri, qui ad divinum officium pertinent, ab omnibus ejusdem ordinis ecclesiis uniformiter teneantur.[3-59] Liturgical uniformity would not seem to have been universally achieved before the 13th century. We find St. Norbert himself obliged to permit the use of choir books appertaining to the secular churches of the district in monasteries of his own foundation.[3-60] In 1214 an abbot of Frisia made a journey to Prémontré in order to obtain a copy of the ordinarius and the other liturgical books: cum tunc temporis in tota Alemania libri Ordinis non invenirentur. Gervase, abbot of Prémontré, at the same time issued a rescript forbidding changes and silencing those who still claimed the right uti consuetudine vicinarum ecclesiarum. Uniformity of rite was enforced by Pope Gregory IX (1227-41) in 1232.[3-61] A certain measure of unity was established, but autonomy and the lack of cohesion between houses favoured local peculiarities. When, at the invitation of the council of Vienne (1311), the Order added the feast of Corpus Christi to its calendar, it was necessary to take a firm stand against regional interpretations, and to impose by force the text and the rites of the Office as it had been received at Prémontré.
The choir-books of the 15th and 16th centuries show many variations, especially in the texts of the sanctoral, and the customaries of the several abbeys give some idea of the latitude with which they interpreted the liturgical regulations of the Order.
A catechism of the Order, compiled by a member of the Congregation of France, has given the following misleading statement: La Liturgie norbertine était simplement la liturgie de I'Eglise romaine.[3-62] There is a sense in which it may be said to possess an element of truth, as every liturgy in Western Christendom, with the possible exception of the Mozarabic, is a Roman liturgy in one or other of its variants, but apart from remote ancestry and general framework it has little connection with that of the Apostolic see of Rome. Dom Gueranger takes us a step further, more or less accurate as far as it goes, but not very helpful: Les livres liturgiques de I'Ordre de Prémontré sont restes purs et comme l'un des répetoires de l'ancienne liturgie romaine francaise, jusqu' á la fin du XVIIIe siécle.[3-63] The origins of the rite have been studied in detail by Fr. Boniface Luykx, a canon of the abbey of Postel, who says: 'The first statutes of the Order and the ordinarius of Hugh have systematically banished the external pomp of Cluny and the ostentation of Mainz, for the sober, but robust and majestic, framework of the Rhineland rite.'[3-64]
First, we may ask, what is meant by the Rhineland rite? As early as the days of the Merovingians, the Gelasian and Gregorian sacramentaries had crossed the Alps, and under Charlemagne the whole Frankish kingdom was forced to accept the Roman liturgy. By this time, however, liturgical life in Rome was on the decline, and in any case the Roman liturgy as it existed in Rome was too terse and restrained for the Carolingian taste. The liturgy that Charlemagne and his successors sought to introduce was therefore Roman in its essential framework, but considerably altered and enriched to meet the requirements of the Nordic races. In the middle of the 10th century, a monk of the abbey of St. Alban at Mainz, which was the intellectual and cultural centre of the Empire, collated the liturgical manuscripts of Lorraine and produced what has been called by Mgr. Andrieu, the 'Romano-Germanic pontifical'. This Mainz pontifical had an immense influence, and in the region of the axis Mainz-Cologne one can trace the source of Ordo Romanus VI,[3-65] Ordines missae of Martène, Micrologus of Bernold of Constance[3-66] and other documents, up to the time of the missale plenarium and the ordinaries of the 12th century.[3-67]
The Premonstratensian rite, in respect of its framework, was thus taken from the liturgical milieu of Lower Lorraine,[3-68] and, as Fr. Boniface says: 'Our rite constitutes one of the most authentic examples of this Rhineland rite of the 11th century, which, imported to Rome, was adopted there, in an impoverished form, by the reforms of Innocent III and the Franciscans, and finally universalised by Pius V.[3-69] The antiquity of the liturgy of the White canons has been attested by Cardinal Bona (ob. 1674): Nulla post Monachos Religiosarum Congregationum, quae proprios ritus habeat, antiquior est Praemonstratensi.[3-70]
In addition to the framework, the rite shows also a synthesis of elements borrowed from existing monastic usages - Regular Canons, Carthusians, Cluniacs and Cistercians. Of these, the most marked influence appears to be that of the Cistercians, although there has been a tendency to exaggerate it. Fr. Lefèvre says: On sait que la legislation de Prémontré dans le domaine de l'observance comme dans celui de la liturgie depend étroitement des traditions cisterciennes.[3-71] A comparison of the two texts, however, shows that it is superficial and inexact to say that the White canons borrowed the rite of the Mass and almost all their liturgy from Citeaux.[3-72] Cistercian influence seems to have been subsequent to the compilation of the first books of the Order.[3-73]
Some writers have derived the usages of Prémontré from those of the cathedral church of Laon, the diocese in which the Order was founded,[3-74] but a careful comparison of the two uses fails to show any outstanding similarity between them.
Others, again, assert that the feasts and offices of the White canons were drawn principally from the Church of Paris, although there appears to be little confirmatory evidence. The rite of the Holy Sepulchre has been suggested also as the source for much of the Premonstratensian rite: Quand on compare le premier Ordinaire ou cérémonial des Prémontrés avec l'Ordinal du Saint-Sepulchrela resemblance est frappante.[3-75] The offices for Holy Week in the two rites show a marked similarity, and the devotion to the Holy Cross in the liturgy of the White canons may be due to the association of the Order with the Holy Places in Jerusalem.[3-76] The ordinary of Prémontré shows how important a place the Easter triumph of the Saviour occupied in the thoughts of the sons of St. Norbert.[3-77] Finally, it is pointed out how the very names of some of the houses of the Order recall the Holy Land.[3-78] The tracing of origins is at best conjectural, but we are on sure ground when we say that the Premonstratensian rite was derived from various elements current in 12th-century France.[3-79]
The liturgical codification at the end of the 12th century remained the norm throughout the Middle Ages, although additions were made to the calendar, and the granting of pontificalia to abbots necessitated a more elaborate ceremonial.
The use of pontificalia had been refused by Peter I, abbot of Prémontré (1195-1201), out of humility, and a decision of the general chapter in support of this attitude was confirmed by Pope Innocent III (1198-1216). They were accepted, however, from Clement V (1305-14) by Adam de Crecy (ob. 1327), twenty-fifth abbot of Prémontré, together with a faculty to use a portable altar.
A further codification of the ordinarius seems to have taken place in the 13th century, and was possibly the work of the English abbot, Gervase (1209-1220).
The rapid growth of abbeys increased the possibility of local observances, and strict legislation was necessary to maintain the liturgical unity of the Order. A manuscript of the ordinarius, preserved at Munich, dates from the end of the 12th or the beginning of the 13th century, as the feast of St. Laurence (10 August) ranks as a double,[3-80] and the reforms of Innocent III (1198-1216) are ignored.[3-81] It is in agreement with the sanctoral in the Premonstratensian missal of the end of the 12th century and with the martyrology of Ninove (1185-90) in its absence of any reference to the feasts of St. Thomas of Canterbury and St. Bernard, both of which are found in liturgical manuscripts after 1128. The Munich manuscript shows evidence of the decree of Alexander III (1159-81), which limited the number of prefaces to ten.
The missal referred to above, which is in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris,[3-82] is the most ancient in existence. Its provenance is uncertain, but Leroquais suggests the Soissons district or Champagne:[3-83] Boniface Luykx, Prémontré itself.[3-84] Abbot Gervase (1209-20) maintained a lively interest in preserving the liturgical unity of the Order, and in 1214 reminded Emo de Huizinga, abbot of Werum in Frisia, who had himself copied the choir-books at Prémontré, of the importance of uniformity in respect to the liturgical books. Two years later we find him writing to Walter, abbot of Vicoigne[3-85] (1211-29), respecting four Irish canons from Holy Trinity, Tuam,[3-86] who had come to Prémontré to study the rules and observances of the Order, and had at the same time transcribed the Norbertine use.[3-87] Gervase lived at a time when the work of foundation had been completed, but the early tradition was still living. A letter of this great English abbot of Prémontré has been the means, thanks to Fr. Wendelen, subprior of Tongerloo, of restoring the authentic chant of the Order:
Gervasius, Dei potentia Praemonstratensis dictus abbas, venerabilibus in Christo fratribus Ordinis Praemonstratensis abbatibus universis, has litteras inspecturis, salutem et sinceram in Domino caritatem. Non facile debet convelli, quod cum labore conficitur, nec a filiis immutandum, cui patrum auctoritas suffragatus, quin potiuis in sua debet semper integritate persistere quod constat esse et multa diligentia comparatum et provida patrum sanctione statutum, sed et propria insuper honestate subnixum . . .[3-88]
Statutes relating to the liturgy were re-edited about 1236-45.[3-89] A new compilation appeared at Prémontré itself under the title Consuetudines ecclesiae Premonstratensis for the immediate use of the mother house, where the patron saint was St. John Baptist and the dedication of the church occurred in the month of May. Usus I, however, as we shall call the document in order to distinguish it from a second compilation, of the beginning of the 14th century, must have soon had the force of law in the other houses of the Order, especially since it incorporated the decrees of general chapters. Innovations were made of a rubrical character, such as the elevation of certain feasts to the rank of triplex, the censing of the altar at the beginning of Mass on doubles (and upwards), the celebration of private Masses, the weekly Mass of the patron of the church, and the daily Mass of the Blessed Virgin.[3-90] The manuscript in the British Museum probably came originally from the abbey of Parc, as it contains local feasts of the diocese of Liege, in which diocese Parc was situated.[3-91]
Usus II appeared under similar circumstances at the beginning of the 14th century. It contains several of the codified liturgical decisions of the general chapters which figure as additions to the reformed statutory text in 1230, but the decisions respecting the elevation of feasts of apostles and doctors and the introduction of Corpus Christi and the Conception of our Lady, which were made official in 1322, are not included. It was therefore compiled between these two dates.[3-92] The document contains directions as to lights and bells, and describes the Rogation processions minutely. A priest is permitted, under certain reservations, to celebrate the three Christmas Masses. We find, also, observations on the occurrence and concurrence of feasts, as well as regulations for the Sunday and ferial offices. The manuscript of Usus II, which is now in the municipal library at Soissons,[3-93] gives two sections on the observance of Corpus Christi, but they occur at the end of the document and not in their normal place. The calendar shows conclusively that the manuscript was written for the mother house.[3-94] An antiphon and sequence (Ave matris Domini) for the feast of St. Anne have been added in a 15th-century hand. A copy of the Usus, containing the text of the ordinary, was produced at Ninove some time after 1464.[3-95] Its provenance may be gauged from the reference to the common suffrages which are to be omitted in Advent, where we find one of SS. Cornelius and Cyprian, the patron saints of Ninove.[3-96] This later exemplar of Usus II gives the feasts of Corpus Christi and the Conception of the Blessed Virgin in their proper places. It is interesting to note that many of the innovations in both Usus I and II have their significance in the 'reformed' 17th-century liturgy.
A further edition of the ordinarius, which comprises a codex of rubrics containing the method of saying and carrying out the liturgical services,[3-97] appeared in the second half of the 15th century.[3-98]
The splendour of the ceremonial increased considerably, and James de Bachimont, forty-second abbot of Prémontré (ob. 1531), is said to have 'greatly enhanced the magnificence of divine worship and the splendour of the ceremonies in his abbey church'.[3-99]
John Despruets, forty-ninth abbot of Prémontré (1573-96), on the publication of the bull Quo primum (1570), issued a list of the liturgical books proper to the Order, thereby making it clear that he had every intention of maintaining the traditional Premonstratensian rite. A processional was published at Paris in 1574, and the last edition of the old missal in 1578.[3-100] The use of these books was compulsory in all the houses of the Order, including those of the circary of Spain, where of late years the reformed Pian liturgy had found a certain amount of favour.
The ancient tradition rapidly lost ground after the death of Abbot Despruets (ob. 1596). His successor, Francis de Longpré (1596-1613), seemed at first inclined to follow the 'old paths', and in March 1603 he confided to John Lepaige, a religious of Prémontré, the task of re-editing the missal and office books according to the most reliable manuscripts of the Order. Two years later (1605), however, the general chapter expressed the desire to effect a harmony between the old customary and the new Roman books.
A breviary based upon that of Rome was published in Paris in 1608, but the work of compromise satisfied no one. A section of the Order wished to adopt the Roman rite in toto, while there were those who demanded a return to traditional usages. In the general chapter of 1618 the German abbots, especially those of Swabia, attempted to force the introduction of the liturgical books of the Pian reform. The majority of the chapter was averse to anything so drastic, although it was agreed to 'reform' the books on the same principles as those which had guided the Roman reformers. In the breviary: hymns and ferial antiphons were to be taken from the Roman book, and the chant of the Genealogy of our Lord at Christmas and the Epiphany was to be suppressed; while as regards the missal: votive Masses and Masses for the dead were to be altered, in order that they might approximate more closely to the Pian text; while sequences, except those for Christmas and some of the greater feasts, were to be abolished.
Peter Gosset, the abbot-general (1613-35), was directed to see that these measures were carried out. A new breviary appeared in 1621, and a missal in the following year (1622). Few changes were made in the breviary: hymns, antiphons and responsaries were not corrected, but there were alterations in the lectionary, common of saints, choice of psalms at vespers, and in certain of the chapters and prayers.
The work on the missal was more drastic, and the Order accepted the Ordinary of the Mass in its Pian form. The changes in the temporal included no more than the lessons for Advent and the introduction of the Roman arrangement for the concluding Sundays after Pentecost, but in the sanctoral few feasts remained unchanged beyond those for our Lady, the apostles and some of the more important solemnities; while feasts, borrowed from the Roman calendar, were substituted for traditional commemorations. Masses for the dead now conformed to the Roman model, save for some few survivals, and the series of lessons in the Missa quotidiana pro defunctis, distributed for the days of the week, was abandoned. Votive Masses (familiares), including those de Beata, suffered cuts and amendments, and the number of sequences was drastically curtailed. This suppression of sequences was prescribed by the general chapter of 1660, and in the missal, which appeared three years later (1663), Laetabundus for the three Masses of Christmas was the only sequence not to be found in the Pian book.
The reform of the liturgical books became general and definitive about 1650, but the hankering after 'novelties', expressed in the general chapters of 1618, 1622 and 1628, had greatly impoverished the genuine Premonstratensian tradition: chaque romanisation signifie appauvrissement, une 'norbertinisation' (qu'on pardonne ce terme barbare) intelligente et consciente est un enrichissement.[3-101]
The liturgical changes necessitated a revision of the liber ordinarius. The work was confided to John Drusius, abbot of Parc near Louvain, who obtained the assistance of his subprior, John Masius. The ordinarius was completed in 1622, but it was not published before 1628. The revisers seem to have had a praiseworthy respect for Premonstratensian tradition, although it was found necessary to take into account the recent changes in the missal and breviary. Later editions of the ordinarius appeared in 1635,1739 and 1789, but they have not substantially altered the text established in 1628.
The reformed books were imposed on all the houses of the Order, but in certain circaries, notably the German, some of the abbeys continued to use the Roman liturgy, which had been previously tolerated, on the pretext that the new books had not received the approval of the Pope. Elsewhere, lack of books permitted the temporary use of the Pian missal for private Masses, with the proviso that the rubrics proper to the Order should be observed.
The annual chapter of the reform of Lorraine insisted, in 1655, on a strict adherence to the revised ordinarius: ordinarius rite servetur. A similar injunction was issued by the general chapter of the Order in 1660: ordinarius strictissime ad litteram observetur. The mutilation of the traditional liturgy was not accomplished without protest. A spirited defence was made by John Lepaige, a religious of Prémontré, in 1633 for which he was intemperately attacked by the abbot of St. Michael's, Antwerp, John Chrysostom van der Sterre (1629-52), in a letter to Mathias Valentyns, abbot of Averbode (1591-1635). The book (Bibliotheca Praemonstratensis Ordinis) in which the defence appeared had been approved by the royal censors, but it had not been submitted to the authorities of the Order, and contained an attack on the decrees of the general chapter of 1630. Abbot van der Sterre described the work as 'Valde pestilentem et scandalosum ... in quo spiritu omnino factioso et passionate.... Quare merito liber iste condemnari et prohiberi deberet.'[3-102]
Towards the end of the 17th century the general chapter discussed the need for a further edition of the liturgical books. It was proposed to raise certain feasts to the rank of doubles, but the abbot of Prémontré, Michael Colbert, fearful lest the offices of the dead should be thereby curtailed, exclaimed with indignation: Elevatio festorum, oblivio mortuorum.
A missal, augmented by new Roman offices and others proper to the Order, was printed in Paris in 1697; processional in 1666; a ritual in 1676; gradual in 1680; antiphoner in 1680; and breviary in 1697 (Antwerp). The general chapter of 1738, through the initiative of the abbot of Prémontré, Claude Honore Lucas de Muin (ob. 1740), proposed yet another edition of the liturgical books.
The ordinarius or liber caeremoniarum, printed at Verdun in 1733, was divided into three parts: (1) rites in general; (2) proper of the season and the sanctoral; (3) rites outside the liturgy properly so called. It was said of Abbot de Muin by a French member of the Order in the last century: Une de ses preoccupations les plus constantes fut de maintenir partout la liturgie norbertine.[3-103]
The judgement savours of exaggeration, as the ordinarius reveals the faulty liturgical taste of the period, but at the same time a close study of the book shows that much of the ancient ceremonial was retained, and many of the rubrics were adopted from the Usus ecclesiae Premonstrarensis, a 14th-century customary compiled for the use of the mother house. Augustine de Rocquevert, the successor of De Muin, authorised a new edition of the liturgical books of his predecessor.
The breviary, in spite of some unnecessary 'romanising', remained of great traditional value. It was edited at Toul in 1711 and at Verdun in 1725 and 1741.
An unfortunate attempt was made towards the end of the ancien régime to adopt neo-Gallican books modelled on the Parisian liturgy of Charles de Vintimille (1736, 1738). The plan was initiated by the national chapter which met at Prémontré under William Manoury (1769-80) on 15 August 1779. John Baptist 1'Ecuy, his successor and last abbot of Prémontré, endeavoured to force the new books on all the houses of the Order. On 1 January 1786 he wrote to the abbot of Joyenval in the diocese of Chartres insisting that all religious without exception should adopt the new breviary and other liturgical books. The French houses complied with the order, but in other countries the abbeys seem to have continued to use the reformed 17th-century books. No one can fail to deplore the abolition of the last vestiges of the traditional rite, but the grossly exaggerated comment of Fr. Paulin is little short of ludicrous: L'ancienne liturgie de I'Ordre de Prémontré, si pieuse et si touchante, fit place à une liturgie littéraire absolument paganisée.'[3-104] It is hard to say which statement is the more absurd: to call the liturgy of the 18th century the 'ancient liturgy of the Order' or to speak of the neo-Gallican books as 'paganised'. The new books were printed by Hoener at Nancy: the breviary in 1780; antiphoner in 1786; missal, gradual, gospel-book and processional in 1787. A further edition of the breviary, printed at Brussels in 1786, was the work of Remacle Lissoir, abbot of Lavaldieu (Val Dieu) in the diocese of Rheims.[3-105] Many changes were made in the calendar: no feasts were permitted in Lent; the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas was moved from 7 March to 24 July; St. Romuald from 7 February to 20 June, etc. The feast of All Saints of the Order was suppressed and a commemoration of 'All Saints of the Canonical Order' was made on the Octave of St. Augustine (4 September). Many of the Paris sequences were adopted, and the classes of St. Norbert and St. Augustine were replaced by texts considered to be more in harmony with the style of the Office in the breviary: on y trouve intercalées deux longues proses, dans chacune desquelles la poésie profane brille certainement plus que la piété.[3-106] The prayers in the new processional were taken almost exclusively from either the Gregorian sacramentary or the liturgy of the Church of Paris, and in all the liturgical books we find that texts from Holy Scripture were substituted for those of ecclesiastical origin. Thus the Asperges antiphon for Eastertide was changed from Vidi aquam to Effundam super vos aquam mundam. The chant also suffered from an imitation of the 18th-century Church of Paris: Le chant de tous ces livres gallico-prémontrés ne brille plus par la majestueuse simplicité de l'ancien chant de l'Ordre; c'est le chang parisien retouché par un chanoine de l'abbaye de Lavaldieu, Guillaume Hanser, remplissant les fonctions d'organiste dans ce monastère.[3-107]
The use of these neo-Gallican books was happily of short duration, and they disappeared, together with the religious houses, at the French Revolution.
The shortage of books was felt acutely, when in the 19th century a return was made to some of the suppressed houses.
An edition of the breviary was published at Innsbruck in 1846. A separate French Congregation was established in 1858, which adopted the actual Roman rite for the Mass and Office, and the Congregation of Rites (25 April 1861) conceded the Offices of the clergy of the city of Rome -- proprium pro clero romano. In 1875 Edmund Boulbon, the superior of the Congregation, applied for permission to use the Premonstratensian breviary with certain modifications and the addition of a number of offices taken from the Roman breviary and missal, but he was very properly told that a liturgy of the Order was already in existence, and that he should adopt it as a whole, without any additions, suppressions or alterations. Permission, however, was obtained in 1884 (29 May) for the Congregation to celebrate the feasts and beati of the Order. The Congregation of France united with the rest of the Order in 1896.
A breviary appeared from the Cistercian printing-press at Westmalle in 1892, and a missal in 1900.
The statutes published in 1925 make it clear that a distinctive Premonstratensian rite exists, and number 329 of these statutes says that any change in the calendar or liturgy must be referred to the Apostolic See, whereas the editing of liturgical books for the Order is within the competence of the abbot-general.[3-108]
The feast of Christ the King on the last Sunday in October has been adopted, but in a provincial chapter of the circary of Brabant it was decided not to take the common of supreme pontiffs and certain new feasts.
A revised calendar - kalendarium perpetuum in usum ordinis Praemonstratensis was published at Tongerloo in 1924, the first liturgical document of the Order to receive the approbation of the Holy See in conformity with the prescriptions of the new canon law. A number of feasts in the sanctoral were elevated in rank, thus breaking the harmonious equilibrium which had existed from the Middle Ages.[3-109]
A decision to revise the Office according to the old traditions was made in the general chapter, held at Tongerloo in August 1927. A breviary was published at Malines in 1930, and a missal in 1936, both of which were approved by Rome. Some old rubrics, given up in the 17th century, were restored to the breviary, but the missal suffered little change. An edition of the processional appeared in 1932. The book is of extreme interest, as it is largely derived from the Ordines Romani[3-110] and ancient monastic usages.[3-111] The ordinarius, regulating the ceremonies of the liturgical functions, was until recently the exemplar of 1739 (Verdun). So long ago as 1902 the general chapter at Averbode had decided that a new edition was overdue, but the work of revision was delayed by two world wars. In 1943 the Belgian abbots in consultation at Tongerloo agreed that the new ordinarius should be in the nature of a via media. It was felt that melius quia antiquitus was a sophism, and that the restoration of many of the details in the primitive book was impracticable. On the other hand, the commission had a sincere feeling of respect for the traditional rite, and a desire to bring back some of the ancient ceremonies which had fallen into desuetude. The intentions of the revisers were expressed by the chairman of the commission, Hugh Lamy, abbot of Leffe: In proposita redactione nonnulae inveniuntur mutationes allatae ad textum ultimi Ordinarii, anno 1739 editi, quas ex veteribus codicibus desumpsimus. Non tamen opportunum visum est omnes antiquos ritus iterum assumere, qui sapienti discretione derelicti vel mutasti fuerunt.
The ordinarius appeared finally in 1939, and has on the whole respected the tradition of the Order, although one may be permitted to regret some of the lacunae, as, for example, the absence of a rubric directing the celebrant to extend his arms in the form of a cross after the consecration.
Uniformity of chant, no less than uniformity of rite and ceremonial, was prescribed throughout the Order, and there are frequent injunctions in the visitation reports of the English houses that the chant must be secundum formam nostre religionis.[3-112] Usus I of the Consuetudines ecclesie Premonstratensis, a compilation written for the mother house of Prémontré towards the middle of the 13th century, enumerates the chants of the ordinary of the Mass for conventual and matutinal Masses.[3-113] The chants, however, do not always correspond with those given in the ordo, still less with the kyriale printed in the gradual in 1910. The following regulations are given in usus I in respect to the psalmody: Psalmodia viva voce cantatur, sed non cum protractione dictionum. Ad nostrum talis fit pausatio ut sufficienter possit spiritus resumi; ante metrum nulla fit pausatio, sed nec post metrum usque ad finem versus, nisi quandoque fieri oporteat pro necessitate.[3-114] A reform of the chant was approved by the general chapter of 1660, at which the abbot-general, Augustine Le Scellier (1645-60) presided. Some of the printed books[3-115] included the official melodies of the prefaces and a certain number of passages from the Office, but the greater part of the chants of the Mass and Office, noted in the gradual and antiphoner, were still in manuscript, often inexact and with local variations. Thus in the first quarter of the 17th century, when an inquiry was set on foot to determine the traditional melodies, one of the Belgian abbots ingenuously replied: quid sit cantus Premonstratensis nescimus, adding: canitur nota nostra consueta. The general chapter of 1660 appointed a commission of experts from Prémontré, Dommartin and the circary of Brabant to prepare an official edition of the chant-books. Three years later the general chapter approved the printing of the processional, together with the ordo sepeliendi and the cantatorium. The work appeared in 1666. The task of preparing the gradual and antiphoner was confided to two members of the Belgian circary in 1670. The authentic manuscripts of Prémontré were consulted, and assistance was given by the master of the chapel of the king of France. The two books were published in 1680. The period, however, was not favourable to tradition, and the chant lost something of its former beauty.
In accordance with the wishes of Saint Pius X (1903-14), the general chapter of 1903 appointed a commission to revise the chant in the light of traditional readings. The gradual, for which many ancient codices were consulted,[3-116] appeared in 1903; the processional in 1932; and the antiphoner in 1934.
The liturgical year presents many variations from the Roman (Pian) rite, especially in Lent and the Triduum Sacrum of Holy Week.
A prophetic lesson from Isaias is recited on the Vigil and at the three Masses of Christmas Day.[3-117] Christmas also has the proper prose Laetabundus, the only one not in the Pian missal to survive the 'reform'. A different prose was sung at each of the three Masses in the traditional rite. The deacon sings the Genealogy of our Lord before the Te Deum at the night office.[3-118]
Folded chasubles are worn by the ministers on the three Sundays preceding Lent.[3-119]
The ashes are blessed after the recitation of the penitential psalms and the prayers for the reconciliation of penitents. The customary of Prémontré (usus I) directs the psalms to be sung in procession, after which, during the litanies, the religious were to retire and remove their shoes.[3-120] The officiant at the liturgy has alb, maniple and stole:[3-121] the assistant ministers wear albs. A single prayer is said for the blessing of the ashes: Deus qui non mortem. A second prayer is recited after the imposition: Concede nobis, Domine, praesidia militiae Christianae, followed by the litanies in procession.[3-122] The ancient ordinarius directs the ashes to be blessed twice on the same day: before prime for the conversi, and for the rest of the community after sext and before the conventual Mass.[3-123]
On the first Sunday in Lent, the cross is carried unveiled, also when it is taken to the sick and to the sepulchre.[3-124] It is veiled after the procession on the first Sunday:[3-125] a custom unknown among the usages described by Dom Martene[3-126] The veiling of statues is not prescribed in the old ordinarius, but in that of 1622 we have the following direction: Sabbatho ante Dominicam primam Quadragesimae a meridie operientur omnes tabulae altarium et imagines sanctorum velis violaceis. The rubric is repeated in the editions of 1628[3-127] and 1739[3-128]; while that of 1949 says: si mos est.[3-129]
Two lenten veils were customary in the Middle Ages: at the entrance to the choir, and at the entrance to the sanctuary. They were removed on feasts of nine lessons.[3-130] The reformed ordinarius retained one of the veils, which, on Wednesday in Holy Week, was to be taken down or rolled back by acolytes at the words et velum templi scissum est in the Passion, and removed altogether after vespers.[3-131] The mediaeval ordinarius directed the sanctuary veil to be let down and the choir veil to be drawn apart at the recitation of these Words.[3-132] In spite, however, of the rubric in the ordinarius of 1739, many of the houses had abandoned the use of the veil.[3-133] The ordinarius of 1949 again prescribes the Lenten veil, ubi locorum dispositio sinit, in almost the same words as in the 18th-century book[3-134], and it is to be removed during the Passion on Wednesday in Holy Week.[3-135]
The ceremony of the blessing of palms begins with a gospel, followed by two prayers: Deus cujus Filium and Deus qui Filium tuum. The prayers are in the mediaeval ordinarius[3-136] and also in the missal of 1578, but the neo-Gallican processional (1787) gives the first prayer only. The missal of 1900 has a prayer before the procession: Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui Dominum nostrum. When the hymn Gloria laus et honor has been sung in the procession, and the doors of the church have been opened, the abbot intones the antiphon Ave Rex noster. This is repeated three times and all genuflect (three times), while the cross is uncovered.[3-137] After the procession the ministers change from dalmatic or tunicle to folded chasubles. There is no reference to this change of vesture in the ordinaries of 1622 and 1628, but the ordinarius of 1739 Says: . . . Abbas solito more paratus cum diacono et subdiacono indutis dalmaticis violaceis, quarum loco ad missam . . . assumant planetas plicatas.[3-138] The Passion is customarily sung by a single deacon. The prostration by the choir at the passage relating to the death of our Lord has been prescribed since the second half of the 13th century.
Triduum Sacrum,
The arrangement of the Triduum sacrum, which is given in Ordo romanus antiquus, has been preserved almost intact in the Premonstratensian ordinarius. The conclusion of the night office (tenebrae) on these three last days of Holy Week, with its litanic chant, trope and antiphon, alternated by groups of singers, dates from about the 10th century. Similar, but not exact texts, existed at Citeaux, Laon, Senlis, Rheims, St. Denis, and St. Cornelius at Compiegne.[3-139]
The liturgy, as on Ash Wednesday, begins with penitential psalms and prayers, a survival of the ancient rite of the reconciliation of penitents. The officiant and his assistants prostrate before the altar: the abbot in tunicle and dalmatic; the deacon and subdeacon in girded albs. The customary vestments are worn at Mass, but the processional of 1787 directs that they should be red in colour.[3-140] There is no Gloria in excelsis on this day,and a hand-bell is rung during the Kyrie.[3-141] The omission follows the Ordines Romani, where it is noted that the Gloria is sung only at a Mass in which the holy oils are blessed.[3-142] A similar absence of the Gloria is found in John of Avranches (ob. 1079) and in the Monastic Constitutions of Lanfranc.[3-143]
The abbot goes to the throne when he has said the communio, and vespers with its five psalms follow, but the altar is not censed at the Magnificat. At the conclusion of the canticle, the celebrant returns to the altar for the postcommunion. A solemn procession of the Blessed Sacrament to the altar of repose was prescribed in the 17th century. The mediaeval ordinarius directed only that the Eucharist should be reserved in a suitable place, with a light burning before it.[3-144]
On the return of the procession, the high altar is washed, and commemorations are made in honour of our Lady, St, Norbert, etc.
It was formerly the custom to receive Holy Communion on each of the days of the Triduum sacrum: His tribus diebus sacerdotes et ceteri qui voluerint communicant.[3-145] The missal of 1578 permits the practice on Good Friday: Fratres qui potuerint, cum Praelato communicent, sed non discalceati. Communion on this day was very general at one time[3-146] but it is no longer given, either in the Order or elsewhere.
During the singing of the Passion two of the brethren were directed by the old ordinarius to 'tear off' the two altar cloths in modum furentis at the words partiti sunt vestimenta mea.[3-147] A similar custom existed in some of the Benedictine monasteries, and at Lund (1514) we read that two acolytes vested in chasubles removed the cloths in modum furantis rapte, and hid them under their vestments.[3-148] The deacon, not the subdeacon, says Levate in the solemn prayers, and before the final ending of the prayer. There is no Levate in the Lund missal (1514), and the faithful kneel throughout the prayers.[3-149]
The veneration of the Cross[3-150] is begun behind the altar on the epistle side, and concluded at the step (ante gradus) before the altar. The reproaches (improperia) are shorter than those in the Roman rite, and the responsary Dum fabricator is sung. All genuflect at the Sanctus in the trisagion. The celebrant and the subdeacon do not remove their chasubles for the veneration.
The missal of 1578 does not prescribe any prayers in the Mass of the Presanctified before the Pater noster, but directs the priest to raise the Host and chalice (sublevans corpus Domini cum calice), as he says: Oremus. Praeceptis salutaribus, etc.[3-151] In the actual rite, the Host is elevated before the prayer, and the embolism is said silently. The mediaeval ordinarius says that the wine is sanctified by the holy bread, but not consecrated, when the particle is put in the chalice,[3-152] whereas the missal of 1578 has the rubric: 'Here the wine is consecrated by the body of the Lord.[3-153]
The liturgy has many variations from the Roman rite. The new fire is blessed at the step of the altar,[3-154] with the priest in a violet cope, deacon in a white dalmatic, and subdeacon in a violet tunicle. The 13th-century customary of Prémontré prescribed silk copes for the cantors.[3-155] A single prayer was provided for the blessing of the fire in the missal of 1578: Domine Deus, Pater omnipotens, lumen indeficiens, but the actual missal gives also: Domine sancte, Pater, omnipotents aeterne Deus. Veniat quaesumus, omnipotens Deus is said at the blessing of the grains of incense. Lumen Christi is not said, and there is no incense. The deacon is directed in the customary of Prémontré (usus I) to make a cross with his hand at the words in honore nomine tui consecratur in the Exultet.[3-156] The paschal light is lit from a candle held by a cantor in a violet cope.[3-157] A chart is attached to the paschal candle, inscribed with the names of the Supreme Pontiff, bishop, abbot and king. The dates of the moveable feasts for the current year were at one time included, as we find in the Cistercian rite.[3-158] The candle remains alight until after vespers on Easter day. It is lit also for the offices during Eastertide on celebers (semi-double) and feasts of higher rank, and it burns continuously from first vespers of the Ascension until after compline on the following day. The altar lights and those of the acolytes are lighted from the new fire during the Exultet.
The four lessons, read by religious in copes, are the same as in the Sacramentary of Hadrian -- ln principio, Vigilia matutina, Apprehenderunt, Haec est hereditas.[3-159]
If there is a baptismal font, the litany is begun on the way to the baptistery, and concluded on the way back to the altar.[3-160] The customary of Prémontré, compiled in the 14th century, directs the litanies to be sung by two priests in silk copes, after the tract Sicut cervus and the collect Concede quesumus.[3-161] The arrangement of the litanies is given also in the reformed ordinaries of 1622, 1628,[3-162] 1739[3-163] and 1949.[3-164] The processional of 1787 provides a shortened form of litany, omitting the invocations to the saints, for use in churches where there is no font. The Gloria in excelsis in the Mass is preintoned to the celebrant by a cantor in a cope,[3-165] and the 12th-century ordinarius prescribes bells to be rung for the duration of the chant.[3-166] The Offertorium and Agnus Dei are omitted, and a rubric in the ordinarius of 1739 forbids the organ to be played in their stead.[3-167] The 14th-century customary directs the prior, subprior and hebdomadary to cense the choir,[3-168] as soon as the Pater noster is begun. The missal of 1578 says that the reception of Holy Communion on this day is not of precept, but that it may be given to those who wish for it.[3-169]
The prose for Easter Day in the mediaeval ordinarius was Fulgens preclara,[3-170] but it was changed to Victime Pascali in 1622. The Premonstratensian text with its extra verse (Credendum est magis soli) represents the original text. Two alleluias are said after Ite missa est in the octave of Easter, and one during the remaining days of Eastertide. A description of vespers does not lie within the scope of this book, but second vespers of Easter and of the days within the Octave include a procession to the baptistery to which some reference should be made.[3-171] The office begins with a ninefold Kyrie, three psalms and a gradual, after which a procession is made to the baptistry or nave of the church.[3-172] The rubric says: Deinde procedendo ad navim Ecclesiae. A fourth psalm is sung in the baptistry (nave, and a fifth before the entrance to the choir under the 'triumphal cross'. The form of office has special reference to the newly baptised. If the church has no font or the baptistry is too small, the two final psalms are sung before the entrance to the choir. The religious, since the 17th century, have worn copes for these last two psalms.[3-173] The provincial chapter, held at Grantham in 1492 had directed silk copes to be worn by the religious for the procession into the nave of the church during vespers of Easter, as previously there had been a diversity of usages in the English houses: some had worn albs and others copes.[3-174] The procession to the baptistry follows an ancient Roman tradition, which seems to have been introduced north of the Alps in the time of Charlemagne. It became popular in the churches of France and Germany, notably at Strasburg.[3-175]
During Eastertide, the conventual Mass (summa) of Sunday is always that of Easter, and the matutinal Mass that of the Sunday occurring. All the Masses, even those of the Saints, have a double alleluia: the first of the feast, and the second of the Resurrection. The customary (usus I) directed the cantors on the first three days of Easter week to wear silk copes for the singing of the gradual and alleluia.[3-176] The litanies on the feast of St. Mark and the rogation Days are recited after Mass.
Four lessons are sung on Saturday, and a private Mass may not be of the Vigil, but of one of the Sundays after Easter. The 14th-century customary (usus II), imitating the practice on Holy Saturday, prescribed bells to be rung at the conventual Mass for the duration of the Gloria in excelsis.[3-177]
The feast of the Holy Trinity has been observed since the end of the 12th century, but the Octave, which ended on the Saturday following was suppressed in the 17th century. The summa on the Friday and Saturday of the Octave was of the Holy Cross and the Blessed Virgin respectively. In 1432 the provincial chapter at Grantham ordered the feast to be celebrated as a triplex of the first order. There are twenty-five Sundays post octaves Pentecostes.
The general chapter of 1322 prescribed the observance of the feast of Corpus Christi as a duplex precipuus, with a procession before Mass, and a solemn octave admitting no other feast below the rank of a double. In 1479 the provincial chapter at Leicester issued instructions as to the ceremonial, etc., to be observed in the English houses.[3-178] The practice of giving Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament several times at the Mass and vespers of the feast seems to have originated in the 17th century. It was given at Ecce panis, Pange lingua and at the end of Mass: also before and after vespers. The processional of 1787 prescribed Benediction at each of the stations in the procession, on the return to the church, and after Mass;[3-179] while on the days within the octave there might be exposition at the conventual Mass, with Benediction afterwards, if it was customary.[3-180]
A similarity exists between the Premonstratensian and Dominican calendars, but it is uncertain whether this was due to their mutual approximation to the Gregorian books or whether the Black friars made use of the list of the White canons by way of comparison.
Feasts are divided into five classes -- triples, doubles, celebers (semi-doubles), nine lessons and three lessons. Triples of the first, second and third class originated with the reform in the 17th century. The further division of third-class triples and doubles into 'majors' and 'minors' was suppressed by the general chapter in 1347. At the end of the 12th century the greater feasts numbered twenty-eight, rising to fifty-six by the end of the 16th century: with fifty-nine today.
Purification of our Lady (Candlemas):2 February
The usus compiled at the beginning of the 14th century directed that if the feast should fall on either Sexagesima or Quinquagesima, the conventual and matutinal Masses should be of the feast, with one collect, but if it was Septuagesima, the matutinal Mass was to be of Sunday, with three collects.[3-181]
Three short prayers are said today at the blessing of the candles: (I) Omnipotens sempiterne Deus qui hodierna die; (2) Domine Jesu Christe, lux vera; (3) Domine Jesu Christe, qui hodierna die. They are found in the missal of 1578, but only the first two prayers occur in the mediaeval ordinarius. Exaudi, quaesumus Domine, plebem tuam is said before the procession.
Usus I (mid-13th century) directed the sacred ministers to hold their candles at the gospel, the deacon also at Ite missa est, the subdeacon at the epistle, and the cantors whenever they were required to intone anything. All carried them on the return to the sacristy.[3-182] The custom of holding candles was extended to the choir in the 17th century.
Annunciation of our Lady: 25 March
Usus II (early 14th century) directed that if the feast of the Annunciation should fall on Palm Sunday or any day up to Easter, it was to be anticipated on the Saturday before Palm Sunday.[3-183]
Visitation of of our Lady: 2 July
The feast was prescribed as of triple rite with a solemn octave by the provincial chapter held at Lincoln in 1476.[3-184]
Assumption of our Lady: 15 August
An alternative collect was provided by both the 12th-century ordinarius[3-185] and the missal of 1578: Famulorum or Veneranda.
Conception of our Lady: 8 December
The sermons on the Nativity of Mary by Adam, abbot of Dryburgh and later a Carthusian of Witham (ob. 1213-14), make no mention of the Immaculate Conception,[3-186] and the doctrine is formally denied by Philip of Harvengt, abbot of Bonne Espérence (ob. 1183): 'The Virgin like everyone else was by nature the child of wrath . . . Because according to nature she had been conceived in sin. ...'[3-187] It is only at the end of the 13th century, about 1269, that the doctrine is clearly taught in the sermons of Robert de Wimy: 'The Virgin has been preserved from all original and actual sin.'[3-188] The feast was introduced in 1322 with the same Mass (change of title) as on the feast of the Nativity of our Lady (8 September).
The missal of 1578 gives two votive Masses of the Holy Tears[3-189] and two of the Compassion of our Lady.[3-190]
A separate epistle and gospel for a Mass for the dead are given in the missal of 1578 for each of the days of the week.
The mediaeval sanctoral was similar to that in many of the calendars of the time. It included St. Vaast, bishop of Arras (6 February) ; St. Clotilde, queen of France (3 June); St. Claude, archbishop of Besancon (6 June); St. Medard, bishop of Noyon (8 June); SS. Crispin and Crispinian (25 October); and St. Eloi, bistlop of Noyon (1 December). The reception of relics was sometimes the reason for the insertion of a name in the calendar: e.g. St. Ursula and companions[3-191] (21 October) and St. Gereon (10 October), whose relics were given to St. Norbert in 1121.[3-192]
The heart of St. Roger de Bileghe, bishop of London (1229-41), who was canonised in 1249, was translated to Beeleigh (Maldon) in Essex, but there is no evidence for the observance of his feast there.
St. John Baptist (24 June), patron of Prémontré, had three Masses in the 12th century: Vigil (Ne Timeas); matutinal Mass (Justus ut palma), which was given up in the 17th century; and conventual Mass (De ventre) with a proper prose (sequence).
St. Peter and St. Paul (29 June) was even richer in Masses: Vigil (Dixit Dominus); Mass of the feast (Nune scio); Mass for the days in the Octave (Mihi autem); and Mass of the Octave day (Sapientiam sanctorum).
St. Laurence (10 August) had a Vigil Mass (Dispersit); matutinal Mass (Probasti), which since the end of the 12th century has been reserved for the Octave day; and a Mass of the feast (Confessio).
All Saints (1 November) has had a solemn octave since the 13th century. A procession in albs before the Mass probably originated at the end of the 12th century. There was a proper sequence and the preface of the Trinity.
All Souls (2 November), if it fell on a Sunday, was commemorated on that day until the reform in the 17th century.
Dedication of the Church. The feast was observed with a procession in albs before Mass, a proper sequence and the preface of the Trinity. From the 13th century it was customary to have the asperges before the procession, with the Eastertide antiphon Vidi aquam.
It is interesting to note that some of the prayers in the common of saints in the traditional missal were found also in the missal of the Gilbertine rite.[3-193]
The following Saints are included today in the calendar: St. Gerlac, confessor (14 January); Blessed Godfrey (16 January); Blessed Hugh, abbot (10 February); St. Evermode, bishop and confessor (17 February); Blessed Frederick, abbot (3 March); St. Ludolf, bishop and martyr (29 March); Conversion of St. Augustine (5 May); Translation of St. Norbert (7 May); Blessed Hermann Joseph, conf. (8 May); Translation of St. Nicholas (9 May); Triumph of St. Norbert (Sat. after Oct. of Corpus Christi); Commemoration of Death of St. Norbert (6 June); St. Isfrid, bishop and confessor (15 June); SS. Adrian Beckan, James Lacops and Companions, martyrs of Gorcum (9 July); Solemnity of St. Norbert (11 July); Blessed Hroznata, martyr (19 July); Blessed Gertrude of Altenberg, abbess (13 August); Death of St. Augustine (28 August); Blessed Bronislava of Poland, virgin (30 August); St. Ewald, martyr (1 October); Translation of St. Augustine (11 October); St. Gilbert, abbot (26 October); All SS. of the Order (13 November); Relics in Churches of the Order (14 November); St. Siard (17 November). The Solemnity of St. Norbert was approved by Gregory XIII for 6 June in 1578, but as the day was liable to clash with the octaves of Ascension, Pentecost or Corpus Christi, it was assigned by Urban VIII to 11 July in 1625.
Blessed Gertrude of Altenberg, whose feast is kept in the Order and in the diocese of Trier on 13 August, was one of the first to introduce the solemnity of Corpus Christi into Germany, and obtained permission for its observance in 1270. Her feast was granted to Altenberg[3-194] by Pope Clement VI (1342-52).
The celebration of three daily Masses, all of which, if possible, should be sung solemnly is prescribed by the statutes in 1290: Missa de Beata early in the morning; Missa Matutinalis between prime and the chapter of faults; and Missa summa major after terce. The three Masses were approved by Pope Clement VI (1342--52), and confirmed by Gregory XV (1621-3), and their celebration is of obligation in all houses where there are at least seven priests. Missa de Beata is offered for abbots and superiors; Missa Matitunalis for deceased brethren, sisters and benefactors; and Missa summa major for the abbey and the Order.
The Mass of our Lady does not appear in the first manuscripts of the ordinarius, and seems to have been introduced in the 13th century. It was celebrated in some houses with a certain degree of solemnity, and bequests for its maintenance appear in the cartulary of Mondaye.[3-195] Several missals provide sequences for this Mass, and at St. Martin's Laon it was customary to sing Monstra te esse matrem.[3-196] The statutes of 1290 direct novices to leave the choir in order to assist at the Missa de Beata, which, by reason of studies or some other work, is permitted to be said and not sung. The concession was repeated in the statutes of 1630 and 1770. The provincial chapter, held at Lincoln in 1489, directed that the Mass was not to be omitted on Christmas Day, Easter or Pentecost, and that it was to be said daily throughout the octaves.[3-197] The present practice is to omit the Mass de Beata on triples of the first and second class.
The Missa Matutinalis was established in the 12th century as a Mass for the dead, but on celeber, double and nine lesson feasts, it is customary to have a low Mass of requiem, with the sung Mass either of the feast or of Sunday.
The ceremonial of this Mass is normally reduced to its simplest form: one assistant in a surplice suffices, as he is not required to carry either a torch or censer; a single candle is lighted on the altar; if there are sacred ministers, they are to be vested in albs without dalmatic or tunicle; while, even on great feasts, there is no prose (sequence).[3-198] If, however, the celebrant is a person of consequence, or it is either a solemn anniversary or the first day after the death of a member of the community, two lights on the altar are permitted, with a further two carried by acolytes, and incense may be used.[3-199] The 13th-century customary of the mother house directed that the Mass at Christmas, Easter and Pentecost, when the lay brothers normally received Holy Communion, should be celebrated by the prior or subprior. Incense might be used both at the gospel and the sacrificium (offertory), and those receiving Communion were censed.[3-200]
The Missa summa major or conventual Mass may be, if it is not a feast, either a votive Mass or the Mass of the preceding Sunday.
The three Masses respond logically to the three offices recited in choir.[3-201]
The Little Office of our Lady was established by John II de Rocquigny, nineteenth abbot of Prémontré (ob. 1269). It is still, as with the Reformed Cistercians, recited in choir, but the Office of the dead has been suppressed.
St. Norbert, like St. Bernard, was accustomed to offer the holy Sacrifice every day: quottidie sacrificia medullata offerens. The practice, however, was by no means general in the early days of the Order, and at Prémontré, where the community numbered nearly five hundred, there were no more than nine altars; while at St. Martin's Laon, with a similar number of religious, we find seven. The proportion of lay brothers was certainly large, but, even so, it would have been impossible for all the priests to say Mass every day.[3-202] Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, however, was evident from the title of the first chapter of the statutes of 1230: De tremendo altaris sacramento.
The celebration of Mass in granges[3-203] (curiae), which at first had been forbidden to the Cistercians, was permitted to the White canons, and layfolk were allowed to receive the sacraments. Churches formed part of the original endowment of all the English houses,[3-204] although, as we have seen, they had been forbidden in the first statutes of the Order, unless they could be transformed into abbey churches (c. 1140). Pope Clement III (1187-91) had permitted three or four priests to be sent into a perish, and in England, at least, we find canons as 'perpetual vicars' in a number of churches appropriated to Premonstratensian abbeys.[3-205]
The first chapter of the ordinarius, which has the title De reverentia circa altare, directs the altar to be adorned with clean accessories, which may be changed on festivals for more precious ornaments.[3-206] The general chapter of 1630 says: altaria debita niteant puritate.
The ordinarius permitted five lamps in the church: three before the altar, one in the choir, and one for the conversi. There should always be one, at least, alight.[3-207] Usus I (mid-13th century) prescribed seven lamps on doubles, five on celebers, and three on feasts of nine lessons.[3-208] In respect to candles, the ordinarius required two on the altar for Mass on feasts, with a further two behind the altar: Qui duo etiam ad missam ardebunt, cum aliis duobus tantum retro altare.[3-209] Two acolytes carried portable lights. On ordinary days there was a single candle on the altar, and, at the conventual Mass, a second one was carried by an assistant: unus ministrorum, accensa una candela super altare, aliam candelam candelabro superpositam accendat.[3-210] Usus I prescribed three candles in the middle of the presbytery on triple feasts, with two on doubles.[3-211] Two candles were required on the altar for Mass on the highest rank of feast, with an additional two above the altar: two only were prescribed on doubles.[3-212] Individual abbots were permitted on triple feasts to add to the number of candles.[3-213] A single portable candle was enjoined on days below the rank of double, but two were prescribed by the ordinaries of 1622, 1739 and 1949 for nine lesson feasts, celebers, days within the octaves of triples of the first class and on festivals of the Blessed Virgin (not in 1622), as well as for votive Masses, with the exception of those of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Cross, 'otherwise', says the ordinarius (1949), 'one (acolyte) ministers with a candle, and the other with the thurible'.[3-214]
The high altar now has the customary six candles, with two, four or six lighted at the conventual Mass according to the day. The candles of the acolytes may be one or two, and a standard candle, at the epistle side of the altar, is lighted at the beginning of the canon and extinguished at the communio.
A general admonition regarding the sacred vessels, vestments and coverings for the altar is given in the ordinarius: Vasa, vestimenta, linteamina ad Altaris ornatum vel ministerium parata nulli alii usui cedant, sed omnia munda ad quod facta sunt, debent conservari.[3-215]
Vestments, in the early days of the Order, were of the simplest character, although there does not seem to have been the same austerity as with the Cistercians. The Munich manuscript of the ordinarius, dating from the end of the 12th or the beginning of the 13th century, says: Cappe autem serice et casule unius coloris erunt, et palle altaris sine imaginibus. In capellis autem, que in grangiis nostris sunt, nulla cappa serica habebitur, nec etiam casula, nisi ubi sorores habitant, una tantum et unius coloris.[3-216] The introduction of a colour sequence (1228-36) produced more elaborate vestments, and we find the 12th-century prohibition of silk embroidery on albs relaxed a century later, although there was never a display of magnificence, such as existed in many of the larger Benedictine abbeys.
Following the Rhineland tradition, the primitive statutes speak of the 'fanon',[3-217] whereas the statutes of 1290 and 1503 revert to the more general term of 'maniple'.
It was customary on great solemnities in the 17th century for the religious to wear silk copes for the procession, but in the following century the number of such days was reduced to two. On feasts, the canons in choir had surplices,[3-218] and on Holy Thursday they received Holy Communion in albs and stoles.[3-219] The acolytes wear either albs or surplices. With the passing of the centuries, the ceremonial became more elaborate, and we read that the provincial chapter at Lincoln in 1489 was attended by prelates with festal copes and croziers 'for the greater honour and service of God'.[3-220]
The use of the mitre by abbots of the Order was by no means general in the Middle Ages, and there is no evidence that it was ever worn in Great Britain, Ireland or Scandinavia. A solitary exception appears to have been the prior of the cathedral priory of St. Martin and St. Ninian at Whithorn in Galloway (Scotland), who was granted the use of a white mitre without precious stones (albam mitram nongemmatam) in 1450.[3-221] The canons of Whithorn wore a surplice and violet cope from Easter Eve till All Saints, when they changed their attire to an open black cope and a sleeveless rochet.[3-222] In 1673 the general chapter conceded the 'title, mitre and rights of the abbots of Soulseat' (Scotland) to the abbots of Hamborn in the Rhineland,[3-223] but the chapter nas apparently unaware of the fact that there never had been a mitred abbot of Soulseat!
The first recorded concession of the use of a mitre to a Premonstratensian abbot in middle Europe seems to have been made to Gottschalk I, abbot of Knechtsteden in the Rhineland (1216-26), and about the same time also to Wichmann, provost (praepositus) of Magdeburg (1210-28). It would appear to have been the intention of St. Norbert to have a provost rather than an abbot as the superior of a house, and the title was very general in the countries of Eastern Europe. Later, the majority of houses replaced the provost by an abbot, but Saxony retained the title of praepositus, and regarded the old name as a mark of distinction and honour. Many of the provosts in the early days carried a T-shaped staff in place of a crozier. Some houses, however, were granted the use of pontificalia before they had abbots, while others were conceded the mitre, etc., on the change of title.
It is possible that a mitre was included in the pontificalia which King Hugh III (1267-84) obtained for the abbot of Bellapais in Cyprus. The king was a great benefactor of the Order, and had granted the abbot permission to wear a sword and golden spurs.[3-224] On the other hand, a mitre and ring were expressly omitted from the insignia of the 12th-century abbot of St. Samuel near Jerusalem, who was one of the six 'suffragan' abbots of the Latin patriarch, although he appears to have had the use of a crozier: qui porte croce (? crosse) et non mitre ne anel.[3-225]
By the 16th century the majority of abbots in Germany, France, Belgium, Bohemia, Poland, Hungary, Italy and Spain were already mitred, although we find exceptions even here, and it was not before 1717 that Matthias Widmann, abbot of Neustift (1692-1721) in Upper Bavaria, was granted the use of a mitre.[3-226] In 1657 the 'title and mitre' of the abbots of Ildfeld in the Harz mountains were given to the abbots of Leffe in the Ardennes, since the German abbey had been appropriated by the Lutherans in 1546.[3-227] Abbesses, especially in the German and Polish houses, adopted the use of a crozier and pectoral cross.
In the 15th century some of the English houses discarded the white habit for the black vesture of the Austin canons, but they were reproved in the chapter held at Northampton in 1454.[3-228] The statute, however, seems to have been disregarded, and a later provincial chapter (? 1485) forbade the use of black, except for hats (pileis) and shoes (galeris).[3-229] Again in 1500 the visitation report at Titchfield found it necessary to condemn the wearing of a black habit ornamented with black tassels (liripipiis).[3-230] Similar trouble was experienced in Scotland, where Edward, abbot of Soulseat, is said to have been ordered by King James IV to restore the correct dress of the White canons.[3-231] Certain sartorial concessions, however, were granted to the English houses, and in 1400 Pope Boniface IX (1383--1404) permitted the religious of Easby in Yorkshire to have linen rochets under their copes or capuces and black birettas, like the Austin canons.[3-232] The provincial chapter, held at Northampton in 1454, sanctioned the use of rochets in church, and allowed prelates to wear black skullcaps.[3-233] The headgear approved in a statute of 1505 took the form of a simple round hat, although depending for its use on the permission of the abbot.
The Spanish reform (1570-73) changed both the shape and the colour of the habit, but the canons were directed by Pope Clement XI (1700--21) to conform to normal Premonstratensian practice.[3-234]
The White canons of Magdeburg wore the distinctive dress of canons regular--rochet and black cope--but for the recitation of the Office they followed the use of the cathedral church. A similar privilege was conceded for the Office at Gottesgnaden (Gratia Dei) in the same diocese.[3-235] The provost of Magdeburg, who was also archdeacon, was permitted the use of gloves (chirothecae) in 1191, and full pontificalia in 1227.[3-236] In 1403 propter coelum asperum, the canons of Boerglum in Denmark were allowed to wear a black habit.[3-237]
The choir habit of the Order consists of surplice, almuce, and biretta in summer: rochet, cappa and hood in winter. The almuce of white fur, which is so distinctive of the canonical habit, is not mentioned in either the primitive ordinarius or in the statutes of 1290. Its use is enjoined at the provincial chapter held at Lincoln in 1476,[3-238] and in the visitation at Barlings (Lincs.) in 1478 the