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Preface and Account of the Manuscript
(This book has neither a Table of Contents nor an Index)

in

Liber Pontificalis of Edmund Lacy, Bishop of Exeter: A manuscript of the fourteenth century

by

Ralph Barnes Esq.

Exeter, William Roberts, 197 High Street (1847) 328pp.

Prepared by Michael Steer

Bishop Edmund Lacy (1420-1455) was the son of Stephen Lacy and Sibilla his wife. He was elected to the see of Hereford between January 21 and February 17, 1417 and consecrated on April 18, 1417. He was translated to the see of Exeter on July 15, 1420. He died on September 18, 1455 with a reputation for sanctity and the working of miracles. The result of this was seen in the fidelity with which Devonshire and Cornwall adhered to the Catholic Faith at the time of the Reformation. An original copy is held at the University of Toronto Library and a complete electronic copy may be accessed at:
https://archive.org/details/liberpontificali00barnuoft
Microsoft (MSN) has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

PREFACE

THE motive which induced me to ask the permission of the Dean and Chapter of Exeter, to print and publish their Manuscript of Bishop Lacy's Pontifical, was simply a desire to make better known the ancient Rituals of the English Church. It is, I believe, the first perfect Pontifical offered to the Public, and may be found a valuable addition to the collections of those who take an interest in tracing out her History. Through the very kind and unremitting assistance of my much esteemed friends, the Rev. George Oliver, D. D., and Pitman Jones, Esq., I have been enabled, amidst pro fessional avocations, to accomplish the task, and I beg each of them to accept this public acknowledgment of my obligations.

RALPH BARNES.

Exeter, January 1st, 1847.

ACCOUNT OF THE MANUSCRIPT

WE may now briefly advert to the Pontifical itself. Properly speaking, the Book, so called, contains the peculiar Church Services assigned to the Episcopal office. Some of these, however, might, by the Bishop s commission, be exercised by a simple Priest ; such as presiding at the summer and autumn Synod, reconciling Churches, and Cemeteries, and Penitents, the excluding of Anchorites, and the imparting of several benedictions. The Volume contains also the ordinary offices for Baptism, Matrimony, and Burial. It is a small folio of 210 pages, on vellum, for the most part fairly written, though not all by the same hand, but has numerous mistakes, which we have endeavoured to rectify, and some manifest omissions of words, which we have deemed it necessary to supply. The orthography, all through, we have thought expedient to retain. Our readers will not fail to observe many variations from the Roman Pontifical, in the length, number, and order of the Prayers, besides several distinct ceremonies and practices ; and we are not to forget what Bede relates in his History, i. lib. c. 27, that Saint Gregory authorised the admission and selection from the Gallican or any other Church of any practice that was pious, religious, and proper, and to bind it up in one body, and deposit it among the Angles for the customary observance of their Church. Thus we remark, in the volume before us, in p.4, a difference in the use of the Maniple and the Mitre both in ordinary use and also at the Pontifical Mass; and, in page 9, the extension of hands towards the Confinnandi, according to the Roman use, is omitted. At the consecration of a Church, instead of commencing with the seven Penitential Psalms, the 85th and 131st Psalms only of the Vulgate are to be recited. In the Ordo ad Synodum, p. 53, our Pontifical enjoins that in the midst of the assembled clergy should be placed the Relics, a Stole and the Plenarium, or complete Copy of the four Holy Gospels, which the Roman does not require in Diocesan Synods. In the Consecration of Bishops, ours refers p. 99, to the custom introduced by Pope Melchiades (about the year 313,) and adopted at Rome, of the Prelate Elect making an offering of two lighted torches, two loaves and two small barrels of wine; but adds, " istas oblationes non observat Ecclesia Anglicana.& quot; But the Ordo ad benedicendum Regem secundumusum Ecclesie Westmonasteriensis, p. 137, will deeply interest the reader. Its substance is chiefly taken from Archbishop Egbert s Pontifical, which, as Dr. Lingard justly remarks, contains the most ancient Form of Consecrating Royal Persons that is known. (Anglo-Saxon Church, vol. ii. p. 28.) The Offerings, the Unctions, the Benedictions vary considerably from the Roman. In several instances, throughout the volume, we can trace much similarity with the prayers in the Jumieges Ritual, and with the practices of the Gallican Church, as set forth by Dom Martene in his learned work " De Antiquis Ecclesise Ritibus." The form and order ad includendum Anachoritani, which he describes in his second vol., p. 177, from the Rule of Grimlaicus, in the 9th century, and from the ancient Ritual of Soissons, is far from being as complete as ours, p. 131. Before the Mass, the clerical candidate for reclusion lay prostrate in the middle of the choir; if a layman, without the door of the choir ; but if a woman, she remained in the west part of the Church ; & quot; ubi mos est feminis orare.& quot; The Mass of Bequiemtanquam pro mortuo is enjoined by the French Ritual on this occasion : ours prescribes the Mass de Spiritu Sancto; and further, that Extreme Unction should be administered to the candidate, and the commendation of the departing soul be recited over him. The Benedictionary Prayers for the Sundays and Festivals throughout the year, nearly two hundred in number, composed by Archbishop Peckham, a learned Franciscan, and Archbishop of Canterbury, from 1278 to 1294, p. 152, we have never met with elsewhere : we suspect they were unknown to Lynwood and Leland : they comprise 36 pages of the M.S., and several of them are characterised by genuine piety and deep spiritual unction. We could indeed have wished that the Primate had rejected the legendary tale of Trajan, p. 183, to mark the efficacy of St. Gregory s prayers. The Benediction of the Cross, p. 123, resembles the form in the Pontifical of the Benedictine Monastery of Lyre, in the Diocese of Evreux, Normandy. In the Baptismal Service, p. 255, the Priest is directed to dip the child three distinct times in the font : should the Bishop be present, the child was to be confirmed, and, if of sufficient age, admitted to the Communion. In the Marriage Ceremony the contract was made, according to the ancient custom of England, publicly, at the Church door ; after which the married couple was led towards the Altar; and at the Sanctus of the Mass four clerks, in surplices, held the nuptial veil over them until the solemn benediction was pronounced by the celebrant. In the ordination Service for Priests we observe a difference in the Rubric for the imposition of hands. In our Pontifical the Bishop places his right hand on the head of each, and the assistant Priests hold their hands raised over the heads of the ordinandi, p. 87. In the Roman, the Bishop lays both his hands on the head, and the assistant Priests do the same; after which, the Bishop and the Priests hold their right hands extended over them. But it is not our design to attempt to point out every peculiarity in the English Ritual; but rather to invite the attention of those who feel an interest in the subject, to the whole Volume now presented to the Public.