First and Second Corporals

What we mean by the “First” and “Second” Corporals can be easily explained in this picture. The First Corporal is the cloth upon which the Chalice and Paten sit; the Second Corporal [sometimes called the “Sindon Veil”] is that which cover over them. Sometimes in the much later period [ 16^th and 17^th centuries], the Second Corporal in parts of Europe became a stiff board with a cloth cover [often referred to as a ‘pall’]. The rubrics one sees in later books about the Deacon lifting up the pall off a Chalice, etc., corresponds to the older rubrics in older books about the Deacon uncovering the Chalice [for example, the Second Corporal / Pall is removed at the very end of the Canon of the Mass by the Deacon, in order for the “Per Ipsum”].

However, in the way that the 7^th century Ordo Romanus Primus envisions things, the First and Second Corporal are not separate objects, but, rather, one large piece of cloth, upon which the Chalice and Paten set, and which also is large enough to fold over the Gifts.

Processions with Sacred Images in 10th Century Monastery of Cluny, France

 

The late 10^th century “Liber Tramitis”, describing the liturgical ordo of the great French monastery of Cluny speaks about the carrying of an icon of Our Lady holding Our Lord on the Feast of Purification [Hypapante]. They speak of a ‘tabula’, which is a flat board, on which, in this case, is painted Our Lady holding Our Lord. After the candles have been blessed before Mass, it says: 

The Cantor begins the Antiphon, 'A light for the revelation,' then he proceeds to say others when they gather, namely, "Hail, full of grace,' 'Do Thou adorn Thine Incense,' 'And he received.'  Also they [i.e. the monks] ought to receive the tabula to carry from the oratory, on which is depicted the image of Our Lord and His Mother.  For just as they venerate thus they are to return in order into the cloister, just as we explain thus [there follows an order of procession]..." [page 24] 

Likewise, in describing another processional, it states that on the Feast of the Apostles, the Procession is similar to that of the Nativity, except the special tabulam "wherein is affixed the image of Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Mother" is not carried in procession on the FEasts of the Apostles. [page 87]   

However, on the Feast of the Assumption [Dormition] four senior monks in sacred orders carry minor relics and also they "accept the tabulam with the image of Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Mother." [page 100]  

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Consuetudines_monasticae/mAg9AAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1

There certainly was liturgical usage for sacred images, specifically what we would clearly identify as flat-panel iconography [i.e. 'tabulam' means 'board', on which is depicted the Lord and His Mother], including veneration, in the Pre-Schism West.  Cluny was perhaps the largest and most prominent monastery in all of France, if not Western Europe in the 10th and early 11th centuries. 

 

Usage of Incense as described in the "Lost Work" of Amalarius of Metz

 

Amalarius of Metz, was a Bishop and liturgical commentator on the various Western Orthodoxritual ordines; he lived in the late 700s and mid 800s, reposing around 850. Dumbarton Oaks has published an English translation of his most well-know work in two volumes; however, here we are concerned with the "Lost Work" of Amalarius.

Amalarius is probably most famous [and controversial in his own lifetime] for his heavy allegorical interpretations of all rites and customs. However, for our purposes, it is not the allegorical interpretation that is of interest, but, the fact that he records the actual rites and customs, with good detail.

The Henry Bradshaw Society, most well-known for publishing early Western liturgical texts, has recently published the text, "A Lost Work by Amalarius of Metz: Interpolations in Salisbury, Cathedral Library, MS 154", as Volume 2 of their Subsidia series. It is from this we shall be taken excerpts.