Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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SACRAMENTARY

That part of the Roman Missal which contains the prayers and directives for Mass, and a number of sacramental formulas, but does not include the readings of the Mass. In the Western Church, sacramentaries, as distinct from lectionaries, were in use down to the thirteenth century. The Leonine, Gelasian, and Gregorian Sacramentaries, the main sources for the early history of the Mass, are the best known. From the ninth century on, the advantage of having everything in one book led to combining the sacramentary, lectionary, and gradual into one book, which came to be known as the Missal. The sacramentary was restored after the Second Vatican Council.