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How Rituals Form and Transform: the Scrutiny Rite from Medieval to Modern Times

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How Rituals Form and Transform: the Scrutiny Rite from Medieval to Modern Times THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA How Rituals Form and Transform: The Scrutiny Rite from Medieval to Modern Times A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Theology and Religious Studies Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Philosophy © Copyright All Rights Reserved By Patricia M. Mann Washington D.C. 2011 How Rituals Form and Transform: The Scrutiny Rite from Medieval to Modern Times Patricia M. Mann, Ph.D. Director: Michael Witczak, SLD “Ritual catechesis” is a popular topic among today’s liturgists and catechetical leaders, but this dyad has long been a topic in the Church. The Fathers of the Church knew ritual catechesis and treated it in their preaching. This dissertation explores the scrutiny rite as an important part of the catechumenate process. Scrutinies flourished in the fifth century, faded into disuse in the Middle Ages, and have been restored to regular Lenten Sunday practice since the Second Vatican Council. Our study is methodological: how does the ritual of the scrutinies, as catechesis, form and transform? The study begins with the relationship among liturgy, ritual, and catechesis. Catherine Bell serves as a guide to Ritual Studies. Then, turning to the history of Christian initiation, I explore evidence about the scrutinies from Roman and Frankish liturgical sources, following Antoine Chavasse’s insights. After the collapse of the scrutiny into a single celebration (eighth century), the medieval ritual re-expanded in a process of restoration before and after the Second Vatican Council. The 1988 pastoral adaptation of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults for the United States is a key source for my final reflections. The last chapter integrates the liturgical and theological study of the previous chapters, to reveal the scrutiny as a source of catechesis. The scrutiny emerges as a transformative ritual. It catechizes through gestures and words. The early medieval scrutiny was dramatic, taking place while the elect stood fasting and naked as Satan was adjured to be gone. The present rite, less dramatic, still evokes transformation by its symbols and words. The scrutinies catechize the elect in an active way about Satan, evil, and the victorious power of grace. This catechesis is a formation that combines intellect and emotion, liturgy and teaching, word and act, to touch the hearts and minds of the elect. It affects and effects who they are as members of the Church. The scrutiny forms and transforms a new member of God’s People, a new part of Christ’s body, a new building block in the temple of the Spirit. This dissertation by Patricia M. Mann fulfills the dissertation requirement for the doctoral degree in Religious Education/Catechetics approved by Rev. Michael Witczak, SLD, as Director, and by Margaret Schreiber, OP, STD and Catherine Dooley, OP, Ph.D as readers. __________________________________ Rev. Michael G. Witczak, SLD, Director __________________________________ Margaret Schreiber, OP, STD, Reader _________________________________ Catherine Dooley, OP, Ph.D, Reader ii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my father, Howard M. Novak, who always inspired me to reach for the next horizon. iii CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE: THREE CRUCIAL RELATIONSHIPS 5 Theology and Liturgy 5 Liturgy and Catechesis 9 The Inherent Relationship with Evangelization 9 The Baptismal Catechumenate as a Model 11 The Stages of Catechesis 12 Liturgy and Catechesis in Other Church Documents 14 Biblical Connections and the Catechism of the Catholic Church 15 “First Catechesis” and “Second Catechesis” 16 Ritual and Catechesis 18 Bell’s Theory of Ritual 23 Two General Approaches 24 An Example of the Roman Catholic Mass 28 Ritual as Practice 31 A New View of Ritual and Tradition 33 Two Distinct Processes of Ritual 34 Creative Socialization 37 Some Conclusions in Terms of Catechesis 37 Symbols and Symbolism According to Pastoral Theory 39 The Difference Between Sign and Symbol 39 The Intersection of Ritual and Symbol 41 Secularist Theory of Symbols 43 Catechetical Rituals 45 Conclusions 47 CHAPTER TWO: THE SCRUTINY RITE AS PRESENTED IN FRANKISH AND ROMAN LITURGICAL TEXTS 48 The History of the Medieval Scrutiny Rite 49 Date, Provenance, and Genre of the Gelasian Sacramentary 53 The Genre of the Sacramentary 54 The Structure of the Sacramentary 56 The Ritual Text of the Scrutiny Rite 58 Interpretation of the Ritual 63 The Text of Ordo XI 70 iv The Work of Antoine Chavasse on the Scrutiny Rite in the GeV and Ordo XI 75 Diverse Aspects of the GeV According to Chavasse 77 The Approach of Chavasse 79 The Evolution of the Formularies 82 Further Insights on the Scrutiny 86 Dominic Serra on the Scrutiny Ritual 87 The Ancient Nature of the Ritual Confirmed 87 A New Claim Concerning the Days of the Roman Scrutinies 87 The Passage from Baptism of Adults to Children 94 Some Conclusions 96 CHAPTER THREE: THE RITE OF SCRUTINY IN FOURTH- CENTURY CHRISTIANITY 99 The Role of the Exorcism Vis- a -Vis the Demonology of Patristic Times 100 Sin Demons 101 Three Basic Processes for Dealing with the Devil 103 Demonology in Other Traditions 104 The Role of the Scrutiny According to the Fourth Century Church Fathers 110 Ambrose of Milan 110 Fourth Century Milan 113 The Sermons 115 The Theology of Ambrose 118 Augustine and the Scrutiny Rite 120 The Lenten Disciplines 123 The Ritual 125 Quodvultdeus 133 Life and Background 133 The Homilies 134 The Lenten Process 135 John the Deacon 138 Life and Background of the Letter 138 Scrutinization 141 Summary and Integration 144 v CHAPTER FOUR: THE SCRUTINY RITE IN THE MODERN CATECHUMENATE; 150 The Origins of the Reformed Rite 150 The Ordo Initiationis Christianae Adultorum 153 Historical Background 153 The Structure of the Scrutinies in the Ordo 157 The Scrutiny Rite in the 1988 American Edition of the RCIA 159 The Introduction 159 Differences from the 1972 Latin Text 162 The Ritual Structure and the Text of the Scrutinies in the 1988 Text 164 Commentary on the Scrutinies 166 A Key Catechtical Element: The Homily of the Scrutiny Rite The Perspective of Sin and Satan in the 1988 Rite 182 Sin, Journey and Conversion in the 1988 Edition of the Scrutinies 195 Excursus: For Whom is the Modern Scrutiny Rite Intended? 197 The Scrutiny Rite and Children 217 Summary and Integration 223 CHAPTER FIVE: RITUAL AND CATECHESIS 227 The Ritual Framework 228 Ritualization and Change 229 Ritual as Acting 233 Ritual as Participating in a Greater Reality 237 The Catechetical Nature of Ritual 240 The Role of Observers and Intended Meaning 262 Collective Subjectivity and Ritual 267 CONCLUSION 271 BIBLIOGRAPHY 277 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my committee chair, Father Michael Witczak, who offered patience, encouragement and extensive knowledge of liturgical history without which this project would not have been possible. I am grateful to Dr. Margaret Schreiber for her astute guidance and for taking on the role of reader as one of her first projects at the University. Many thanks go to Sister Kate Dooley for sharing her expertise and support throughout my studies and for being instrumental to me as an advisor and reader. I thank Sister Mary Ann Clarahan for introducing me to the works of Catherine Bell. I thank Father Dominic Serra for inspiring me to study the scrutinies. Sincere gratitude goes to my brother, Robert Novak, who edited this dissertation and inspires me by his example. vii INTRODUCTION “Christians are made not born.” That is the conviction of the prolific early Christian author, Tertullian (ca. 160-220 C.E.).1 Throughout history, people have been made Christian through Baptism. In Tertullian’s day and again in our own, part of the celebration of Baptism includes the period of the catechumenate. This period provides a process that had originated by the third century, flourished in the fifth, became a ritual vestige in the Middle Ages, and has been restored to vigorous church practice since the Second Vatican Council. The period of the catechumenate contains a number of rituals of the church. Among these rituals is one that will form the focus of this study: the scrutinies. The history, celebration, and theology of the scrutinies will form an important part of what follows. The main question to emerge, though, is methodological: how is the ritual of the scrutiny also catechesis? The period of the catechumenate is one of four periods in the newly renewed Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults in the Roman Catholic Church. Each period has one or several ritual components that are essential parts of the process that leads an adult to full membership in the church. “Ritual” can be a vague term. It is both a technical term in the liturgy and a generic term in human behavior. Technically, in the liturgy, it means a specific book or action of the church. One speaks of the “ritual of Baptism” or the “ritual of Ordination.” However, ritual also refers more generically to patterns of human activity that consist of prayers, words, and gestures through which meaning is communicated. 1 Tertullian, Apology 18.4. R. Spectaculis, trans. T. R. Glover (Cambridge, MA.: Loeb Classical Library, 1953). 1 2 The purpose of this dissertation is to study the specific ritual of the period of the catechumenate called the scrutiny. I will explore how ritual, and specifically the scrutiny ritual, is a means of catechesis, the process by which someone enters more deeply into the faith of the church. As we will see, catechesis is a complex form that includes intellectual, liturgical, pastoral, communal, and other dimensions to achieve its goal of allowing someone to “echo” the faith. (“Catechesis” comes from a Greek word that means “to echo.”) The focus will be on how ritual both forms and transforms, two goals of catechesis.
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