This is the first volume of the series, Liturgiam Aestimare: Appreciating the Liturgy. The series is part of the project, Documenta Rerum Ecclesiasticarum Instaurata, whose aims include the publication of detailed studies of the Latin texts of the Modern Roman Rite, and whose directors are Leachman and McCarthy.
As the editors explain in their Preface, this collective work employs the methodology favoured by the Pontifical Liturgical Institute in San Anselmo, Rome. The methodology uses eight keys, arranged in four ‘dimensions’ (anamnesis, epiclesis, doxology, koinonia) and four ‘foundations’ (theandric, christological-pneumatological, ecclesial, symbolic). The editors have found a ninth key: Christian maturation.
Chapter 1: ‘History of Collect Studies’, by James G. Leachman, is a survey which includes references to research tools. It ends with a list of twelve ‘perennial difficulties’ encountered in the study of liturgical texts. Chapter 2: ‘Collectarum latinitas’, by Reginaldus Thomas Foster with Daniel McCarthy, is a master class given by a great Latinist. It works its way through the tenses of the Latin verb, the principles of the subjunctive mood, the sequence of tenses, and the many ways of expressing purpose. It draws attention to the decisions which have to be made by translators, and warns against a number of pitfalls. Chapter 3: ‘How to Interpret a Collect’, by Renato De Zan, translated from the Italian by James Leachman and Ephrem Carr, begins with a brief survey of some of the authors who furthered a scientific study of the collects. It then explains the method used in the Pontifical Liturgical Institute. It considers the role of textual criticism, philology, semantics, historical analysis, literary criticism, and pragmatic analysis. It ends with the hope that out of the wealth of tradition new formulas will emerge, expressing in new ways the Church's faith in Jesus Christ. This chapter is De Zan's re-writing of his contribution to the handbook edited by Chupungco. It is curious that De Zan does not list the eight keys which are mentioned in both the Preface and Chapter I, that is, the four dimensions and four foundations of a celebration, although he does mention them, with due acknowledgment of Lodi's work, in his contribution to Chupungco. Chapter 4: ‘The Collect in Context’, by Patrick Regan, expertly and easily guides the reader through the history of the prayer which concluded the entrance rite of the Roman Mass, variously called oratio, collectio, and collecta. It deals with the traditional explanation of the collect as the presidential prayer which collects the prayers of the assembled people. It then comments critically on the Modern Roman Rite, where the collect ends a series of introductory rites, of which the entrance rite is only the first.
The next five chapters contain studies of particular collects. Chapter 5: ‘The Collect for the Easter Vigil’, by James G. Leachman, applies the full force of the proposed methodology to one collect. It shows how the method can bring out the richness of a text. It is longer than the other articles, and might have been pruned of some interesting but distracting paragraphs, e.g., the excursion into what The Apostolic Tradition says about candidates for baptism. Perhaps it remains too close to its origin in a colloquium. Leachman's interpretation of the collect contains some surprising ideas. He argues that the opening words evoke not only Easter night but also Christmas night, resurrection and incarnation. Without doubt it is possible to make this connection, but does the prayer itself really invite us to do this? The contention that the prayer evokes God's self-emptying raises a similar question. Chapters 6–9 are fine examples of how to interpret collects. They are: ‘An Anglican Experiment in Appreciating the Liturgy: The Easter Day Collect (First Holy Communion) in The First Prayer Book of Edward VI’, by Bridget Nichols; ‘The Opening Prayer for Epiphany: A Linguistic and Literary Analysis’, by Anthony O. Igbekele; ‘The Vocabulary of the Collects: Retrieving a Biblical Heritage’, by Gerard Moore; and ‘Between Memories and Hopes: Anamnesis and Eschatology in Selected Collects’, by Daniel P. McCarthy. Nichols includes reflections on the modifications which occurred in the transition from Sarum to Prayer Book. Igbekele includes the intriguing suggestion that stella duce evokes ‘a natural process of revelation’. Moore shows how the careful reading of a collect can discover biblical references; he also questions Mohrmann's idea that the high style of a collect would have made it inaccessible to the original congregations. McCarthy, well known to readers of The Tablet, is accurate and readable.
Chapter 10, ‘Concluding Synthesis’, by Ephrem Carr, mildly regrets that not all the chapters make full use of the methodology. But perhaps it is a good thing that authors adopt a fairly flexible approach.
The book's focus on the collects does not prevent it from including a wide range of material and reflections, and, like McCarthy's writings in The Tablet, it should appeal to readers who are not professional liturgists or Latinists. Future volumes in the series will be more user friendly if they give English translations of all quotations in foreign languages, including Latin. The present volume does this sometimes, but not always.
The close reading of any liturgical text inevitably raises questions about the relationship between the text as a written text and its use in celebration. De Zan, in drawing attention to the need for pragmatic analysis (what does the text do in the celebration?) shows he is aware of this question. Indeed he mentions the way in which Enrico Mazza focuses not on the text of the collect as text but on the role of the prayer in celebration. Regan too is attentive to this question. The texts as such are part of the heritage of Latin euchology. They deserve careful study, and should be translated as accurately as possible. New collects should be composed in such a way that they stand up to detailed study. But of course it is possible, even normal, for people to join fully in the Church's liturgy without accounting for every clause in every liturgical text.
