Missal

This is a liturgical book containing all the material necessary for celebrating Mass: the prayers recited by the priest; the readings of the deacon and sub-deacon; and the Proper and Ordinary chants. While these materials originally appeared in three separate books — the Sacramentary (containing the prayers), the Lectionary (containing the readings) and the Gradual (containing the chants) — they were sporadically combined from the 9th century onwards. Sacramentaries might include marginal chant text incipits, with or without notation; the three books might be placed one after another in a single volume. By the late-11th century, it became common to amalgamate the three strands fully, in...