Readers and Hearers of the Word

The Cantillation of Scripture in the Middle Ages

By (author) Joseph Dyer

Book cover: Readers and Hearers of the Word

Extent: 268, 268 pages

Publisher: Brepols Publishers

Subjects: Medieval Studies, Religious Studies

Series: Ritus et Artes

Series volume number: 10

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(October 2022)

ISBN: 9782503592879

Price: $107.00

In stock

A broad, multi-disciplinary treatment of the chanting (with elaborate ceremonial) of the Scriptures at Mass in the Middle Ages.


Readers and Hearers is a broad, multi-disciplinary treatment of the chanting of the Scriptures (epistle and gospel) at Mass in the Middle Ages. This form of chanting followed a procedure that continued to be used in the western Latin liturgy until the mid-twentieth century and in the traditional Latin Mass today. The readings were not simply spoken, but chanted to formulae that stood halfway between heightened speech and song (cantillation). Specific clerics (lectors, subdeacons, deacons), distinctively vested, were commissioned to chant the Scriptures, employing a ritual that came to be surrounded by an elaborate ceremonial. For the gospel this involved acolytes, processional movement, and the employment of ecclesiastical ‘furniture’ (pulpit, ambo, and choir screen). While the laity attending Mass could generally see all of the ritual actions, what did they understand of the Latin text they were hearing? In areas where Latin was spoken in Antiquity the ability to comprehend Latin passively as it morphed into the Romance vernaculars survived longer than generally assumed. Naturally, in Germanic lands, christianized in the early Middle Ages, that capability never existed. Several manuals were created to guide layfolk to engage in devotions suitable to the various parts of the Mass. How all of these elements – ceremony and devotional aids – united ‘readers’ with ‘hearers’ at Mass is the theme of the present volume, which also covers Martin Luther’s guidelines for the chanting of the Scriptures in German.

  • By (author) Joseph Dyer