| Ecce sacérdos magnus, qui in diébus suis plácuit Deo, et invéntus est justus: et in témpore iracúndiæ factus est reconciliátio. | Behold a great priest, who in his days pleased God, and was found just; and in the time of wrath he was made a reconciliation. |
The reference is to Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 44:16. Here is that passage from the Vulgate, followed by the Douay-Rheims:
| 16 Enoch placuit Deo et translatus est in paradiso ut det gentibus paenitentiam 17 Noe inventus est perfectus iustus et in tempore iracundiae factus est reconciliatio | 16 Henoch pleased God, and was translated into paradise, that he may give repentance to the nations. 17 Noe was found perfect, just, and in the time of wrath he was made a reconciliation. |
Obviously the little chapter isn't literally from scripture. If we go a little further we find the "in diebus suis" in verse 7, and "magnus" in verse 20. Thus all but a couple of words of the text above can be found in this chapter from Ecclus. And replacing the references to the patriarchs Enoch, Noah and Abraham with "Ecce sacerdos" doesn't seem to be too much of a stretch.
All of this piqued my curiosity, and so I went to my oldest Breviary: Editio Princeps, 1568. This is a reprint done by the Vatican, and has all of the earmarks of being a scan of an original copy.Sure enough, I found that it's exactly what we're using today in the 1962 Breviarium Romanum! (The character which looks like an "f" without the crossbar is an "s")
Just a quick question - is the 1568 paperback worth the $80 it goes for on paxbooks.com?
ReplyDeleteThis is also the first sentence of the Epistle of the first Mass of a Bishop-Confessor (there is a typo in their Douay text: "praised" should be "praise"). The Gradual for that Mass is taken from the same reading.
ReplyDeleteThe formula "the great priest...who in his days" appears to come from Ecclus. 50:1.
The Douay renders "sacerdos magnus" nearly everywhere as "high priest".
Interestingly, even "sacerdotium gentis" (priesthood of the people/nation) becomes "sacerdotium magnum" (great or high priesthood) (Ecclus. 45:8).
Of course, bishops have been known as "high priests" from the early days of the Church. Tertullian (On Baptism 17) called the bishop the "summus sacerdos" (see Catholic Encyclopedia). ("Pontifex" is the preferred Latin rendering for "high priest" in the New Testament, for both Caiphas and Christ.)
Whether the eulogy of the reading is meant to apply first to Christ as the fulfillment of the types or directly to the sainted bishop being celebrated, I'm not sure.