Ordines Romani

The Roman Orders (Ordines Romani) are, as the name suggests, liturgical ordering (ordo) documents that have their source in the Roman (papal) liturgy. They describe the course of various liturgical rites (Holy Mass, administration of the Sacraments, coronations) – primarily in ceremonial terms. They functioned as a supplement to books containing liturgical prayers (mainly ancient Sacramentaries).

It is commonly assumed that the oldest Roman Orders were created at the turn of the 7th and 8th centuries. They were created and written down primarily in Italy and Franconia until the 10th century. They disappeared with the creation of the Pontificale Romano-Germanicum, although they were still in use for some time. We can say that they were „absorbed” and „assimilated” by the Roman prototypes of post-Tridentine liturgical books (Pontificale Romanum, Rituale Romanum, Missale Romanum, Caeremoniale Episcoporum), and at the same time they were replaced by increasingly detailed books and collections of texts.

The Ordines Romani are monuments of the medieval Roman liturgy. They are an invaluable source of knowledge for liturgists, historians, and theologians alike, as evidenced by ongoing research and published studies (for example, scholars continue to thoroughly discuss the manuscripts and the impact on the development of the Roman rite of the Ordo Romanus Primus describing the ceremonies of the solemn papal Mass).

The texts of the Roman Orders were first published by Melchior Hittorp (1525-1584) under the name Ordo romanus vulgatus in his work De Divinis Catholicae Ecclesiae Officiis ac Ministeriis, Varii Vetustorum Aliquot Ecclesiae Patrum ac Scriptorum Libri (Cologne 1568). The Benedictine monks Jean Mabillon (1632-1707) and Michel Germain compiled the Ordines Romani systematically for the first time, publishing fifteen of them in the second volume of the famous Museum Italicum (Paris 1678-1689): Musei Italici Tomus II complectens Antiquos Libros Rituales Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cum Commentario Praevio in Ordinem Romanum (their numbering of Ordines was used in later liturgical literature). The next author who drew attention to them was Edmond Martène (1654-1739), known for his study De Antiquis Ecclesiae Ritibus (Rouen 1700-1702).

However, it was the Oratorian Michel Andrieu (1886-1956), inspired by Father Louis Duchesne (1843-1922), who made a critical study of as many as fifty Roman Orders, to which he devoted several decades of his professorial work (the last volume was published after his death). This work still stands today as one of the twentieth-century opus magnum of the history of the Roman liturgy, and is still un ouvrage de référence for scholars around the world.

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In the spirit of open science, we are making available the complete five volumes of Professor Michel Andrieu’s Les Ordines Romani du haut moyen âge. We hope that it will help not only professional scholars, but also amateurs and liturgy enthusiasts study and love the public worship performed by and in the Church. Bonum est diffusivum sui esse! Ut in omnibus Deus glorificetur!

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To facilitate navigation and work, we have prepared a simplified table with a list of all the Ordines Romani according to Michel Andrieu’s numbering, indicated dates and places of their origin (most often approximate), and the rites they describe or indications they contain¹.

No.	Content	Date	Place of origin
I	Solemn Papal Mass	690-700	Rome
II	Appendix to I	690-700	Rome
III	Appendix to I	690-700/750	Rome / Franconia
IV	Review of I	790-800	Franconia
V	Review of I	850-900	Rhineland
VI	Review of I	850-900	Metz (?)
VII	Canon Missae	IXth c.	Franconia
VIII	Pontifical Vestments	850-900	Franconia
IX	Bishop’s Mass	880-900	Franconia
X	Bishop’s Mass	900-950	Mainz (?)
XI	Baptism	VIIth c. (550-600+)	Rome
XII	Officium (Ordo)	700-750	Rome
XIII	Ordo of the Readings of the Office	VII-XIth c.	Franconian countries
XIV	Ordo of Readings in St. Peter’s Basilica	650-700	Rome
XV	Capitulare Ecclesiastici Ordinis	775-800	Franconian countries
XVI	Instructio Ecclesiastici Ordinis	775-780	Franconian countries
XVII	Breviarium Ecclesiastici Ordinis	780-800	Franconian countries
XVIII	Monastic Breviary	775-780	Franconian countries
XIX	Ordo of the Monastic Meal	775-780	Franconian countries
XX	Ordo of the Feast of the Purification	VIIIth c.	Franconian countries
XXI	Litaniae Maiores	VIIIth c.	Franconian countries
XXII	Ordo of Lent	780-800	Franconian countries
XXIII	Holy Thursday and Holy Saturday	700-750	Rome
XXIV	Office of Holy Week (Wed.-Sat.)	750-800	Franconian countries
XXV	Blessing of the Paschal Candle	800-850	Franconian countries
XXVI	Night Office of the Triduum Sacrum	750-775	Rome
XXVII	Appendix to XXVI	700-750 (?)	Franconian countries
XXVIII	Sunday in the Octave of Easter / Easter Vigil	800 / VI-VIIth c..	Franconian countries / Rome
XXIX	Monastic Ordo of Holy Week (from Thu.)	870-890	Franconian countries
XXX	Holy Week Ordo (Thu.-Sat.)	750-800	Franconian countries
XXXI	Ordo of the Office of Sunday in the Octave of Easter	850-900	Franconian countries
XXXII	Triduum Sacrum (Ordo)	880-900	Franconian countries
XXXIII	Triduum Sacrum (Ordo)	Xth c.	Franconian countries
XXXIV	Priestly Ordination	750	Rome
XXXV	Priestly and Episcopal Ordinations	900-1000	Franconian countries / Rome
XXXVI	Degrees of the Roman Hierarchy	880-900	Rome
XXXVII	Priestly Ordination (Ember Days)	800-900 / 825	Franconian countries / Rhineland
XXXVIII	Priestly Ordination (Ember Days)	940	Rhineland
XXXIX	Ordination in the Roman Church	790-800	Rome
XL	Episcopal Ordination	VIth c.	Rome
XLI	Gallican Ordo of Church Dedication	750-775	Franconian countries
XLII	Roman Ordo of the Dedication of the Church and the Deposition of Relics	700-750	Rome
XLIII	Order of Transferring Relics	790-800	Franconian countries
XLIV	Ordo de Diligentia to St. Peter	790	Rome
XLV	Coronation of the Emperor	900	Franconian countries / Rome
XLVI	Coronation of the Emperor	1050	Franconian countries
XLVII	Coronation of the Emperor	1050	Franconian countries
XLVIII	Emperor’s Coronation Mass	1050	Franconian countries
XLIX	Funeral	VIIth c.	Rome
L	Order of the Liturgical Year	950	Germania

1. _{Also based on: Bogusław Nadolski, Wprowadzenie do liturgii, Kraków 2004, p. 335-337.} ↩︎

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RECOMMENDED READINGS

1. Łukasz Żak, Ordo Romanus I – polskie tłumaczenie, „Roczniki Teologiczne Warszawsko-Praskie” 18(2023), p. 137-189.
2. Arthur Robert Westwell, The Dissemination and Reception of the Ordines Romani in the Carolingian Church, c.750-900, doctoral dissertation, University of Cambridge, 2018.
3. Eric Palazzo, Histoire des livres liturgiques, vol. 1. Le Moyen Âge : des origines au XIIIe siècle, Paris 1993 / History of Liturgical Books from the Beginning to the Thirteenth Century, Collegeville 1998.
4. Cyrille Vogel, Introduction aux sources de l’histoire du culte chrétien au Moyen Âge, Spoleto 1975 / Medieval Liturgy. An Introduction to the Sources, Washington 1986.
5. Cyrille Vogel, L’œuvre liturgique de Mgr M. Andrieu. Un bilan provisoire, „Revue des sciences religieuses” 31(1957), p. 7-19.
6. Cyrille Lambot, Les «Ordines Romani» du haut moyen age édités par Mgr Michel Andrieu, „Revue Bénédictine” 62(1952), p. 302-306.