Stowe Missal
STOWE MISSAL
Manuscript; Dublin, Royal Irish Academy D.II.3. This manuscript is dated the end of the 8th century. The Missal is important because of the pre-Gregorian material it contains. It is Roman in style and content but has affinities with the Mozarabic rite. It has preserved a diaconal litany that was said after the sermon, before the Offertory, and some notable early readings in the Canon of the Mass. The Stowe Missal is by no means the oldest extant manuscript of the British Isles. That honor belongs to the so-called Irish palimpsest Sacramentary that dates probably from 640–685. The most interesting aspect of the Irish palimpsest Sacramentary is the primitive non-Roman institution narrative that forms a part of the Mass of Christmas.
See Also: celtic rite.
Bibliography: Critical Editions: The Stowe Missal, 2 v., ed. g. f. warner (London: 1906, 1915). Das Irische Palimpsestsakramentar im CLM 14429 der Staatsbibliotek München, eds. a. dold and l. eizenhÖfer (Beuron 1964). Studies: b. maccarthy, "On the Stowe Missal," Royal Irish Academy Transactions 27 (1886) 135–268. t. f. o'rahilly, "The History of the Stowe Missal," Eriu 10 (1926) 95–109. For overview and further bibliographies, see: c. vogel, Medieval Liturgy: An Introduction to Sources (Washington, D.C. 1986); and e. palazzo, A History of Liturgical Books: From the Beginning to the Thirteenth Century (Collegeville, Minn. 1998).
[h. ashworth/eds.]