Explanation of the Prayers and Ceremonies of Holy Mass, Dom Prosper Guéranger - Last Gospel

The Blessing having been given, the Priest goes to the Gospel side of the Altar, and there reads the beginning of the Gospel according to St. John. Formerly, the Priest having no book in front of him, used to make the sign of the cross on the Altar before signing himself. The cards on which are written the prayers of the Ordinary of the Mass, with the exception of the Canon, and which we nevertheless call altar-canons, are of very recent date. Since their introduction, it has become customary to make thereon, at this moment, the sign of the cross; but the Priest is still allowed to make it on the Altar, which is the figure of Christ who died upon the Cross for us, whose twofold Generation this Gospel recounts.

But why is this reading made? The custom originates from the Middle Ages. At that period, as in earlier times also, the faithful had a great devotion to the having a portion of the Gospel read over them, and the commencement of that of St. John was a special favourite. Demands at last became so multiplied, that the number of Priests was insufficient to satisfy all: to simplify the matter, it was decided to recite it over all those assembled, at the end of the Mass. The devotion of the faithful, therefore, alone originated this addition. When a Saint’s feast is kept on Sunday, or on some Feria having a proper Gospel, the Priest substitutes this Gospel for that of St. John. This too is but a consequence of the custom introduced of reading the Gospel at the end of the Mass, and it dates only from the time of St. Pius V. The Pontifical itself has not accepted this change on the ancient usage and hence a Pontiff recites the Gospel of St. John, whilst coming down from the Altar.

Let us here remark that in this phrase of St. John’s Gospel: Omnia per ipsum facta sunt, the Latin Church, up to the time of St. Pius V, followed a mode of punctuation different from that used by the Greeks. St. Augustine and all the Latin Fathers, as well as St. Thomas read it thus Sine ipso factum est nihil. Quod factum est, in ipso vita erat, et vita erat lux hominum; whereas St. John Chrysostom, and, in general, the Greek Fathers read it: sine ipso factum est nihil quod factum est. In ipso vita erat, et vita erat lux hominum. Manuscripts having neither full stops, nor commas, (the use of which was only introduced much later,) this diversity was produced; and St. Pius V, in his edition of the Missal, kept to the Latin punctuation, for this passage. But shortly after him, the custom of reading it according to the manner of the Greeks, was introduced into the West.

When the Priest comes to these words of the Gospel of St. John: Et verbum caro factum est, he genuflects in honour of the annihilation of the Word made flesh, who emptied Himself, taking the form of a Servant (Philipp. ii. 7).

The Gospel being ended, the Priest comes down from the Altar, after bowing to the Cross; and as he retires, he recites the Canticle Benedicite, together with the other Prayers of Thanksgiving marked in the Missal.