"The Sarum Use" is the name applied to the particular rendering of divine worship in the English Church that was developed at Salisbury, in Wiltshire, from the early thirteenth century and then gradually spread to become at least by the fourteenth century the finest local expression of the Western or Roman Rite in England up to the Reformation. "Sarum" is the abbreviation for Sarisburium, the Latin word for Salisbury, which was and is both a city and a diocese in south central England. The Use of Sarum, then, was a rather exuberant, elaborate, beautiful, and especially well arranged adaptation of the Western or Roman Rite that was gradually adopted by most of the rest of England as well as much of Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and even some places on the continent. Indeed, the first Sarum Missal to be printed was at Paris in 1487, then Basle 1489, Rouen 1492, Venice 1494, etc., and not at London until 1498. (GTS has two Sarum Missals, one printed at Paris in 1555 and one at Rouen in 1508).

Origins: The Norman Conquest (1066) ushered in not only a widespread building and rebuilding of cathedrals and churches on a larger scale and in Romanesque architecture but also continental influences tending towards the centralization of both liturgy and monastic customs. Even earlier this could be seen in the Regularis Concordia of c. 970, and after the Conquest in the Monastic Constitutions of Archbishop Lanfranc. Parallel and subsequent to these developments there seems to have been a need felt for a certain clarity and fixity in liturgical matters at the secular (non-monastic) cathedrals.

There has been much discussion and debate over who was actually instrumental in the development of the Sarum Use. Nineteenth-century scholars generally attributed its origins to St. Osmund, the second bishop of the diocese (1077-1099), a Norman nobleman who came to England with William the Conqueror; but this has been seriously questioned since no ascription of any liturgical regulations or innovations on his part can be traced before the fourteenth century. The opinion now prevailing is that Richard le Poore, dean of Salisbury from 1198 to 1215 and bishop of the diocese from 1217 to 1228, was the person most instrumental in the development of the Sarum Use. It would appear that under St. Osmund, during whose episcopate the new cathedral of Old Sarum was completed in 1092, a constitution was drawn up for the governance of the cathedral and the regulation of its chapter. Then under Richard le Poore, during whose episcopate the see was transferred from Old Sarum (which cathedral was partially destroyed by lightning shortly after its consecration) to new Sarum in the early thirteenth century, the clarifying, codifying, amplifying, and systematizing of liturgical practices was completed. (The foundation stone of the (present) cathedral of new Sarum was laid in 1220, and it was completed by 1266.) Anything like the earliest definitive statement of the Sarum Use comes from the Consuetudinary of Bishop Richard le Poore, which is dated before 1220 because it contains the feast of the Martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket but not the feast of his Translation which was set in 1220. (It is also known that a Sarum "Ordinal" existed in Poore's time, but it has not survived, the earliest such book extant dating c. 1270.)

Subsequent History: No good history of the fortunes and misfortunes, development and peculiarities, of the Sarum Use has been written, partly because so few of its books survive and partly because the evidence is so scattered and chronologically disparate. Its central importance, however, may be surmised from the observation of William Lyndwood, the leading English canon lawyer of the early fifteenth century, writing in his Provinciale c. 1430, that although according to Gratian's Decretum in every province of the western church the liturgical usage of the metropolitan cathedral was to be the norm for the province, in England "by long custom" the Use of Salisbury was to be followed. The relative importance of Sarum may also be seen, over against the other uses of York, Hereford, Bangor, and Lincoln that prevailed in the English later Middle Ages, by comparing the numbers of printed editions of the various Sarum liturgical books that appeared before the first English Prayer Book of 1549 with the numbers of the same books printed for the use of its nearest rival, York. As regards the Missal, there were 51 printings of the Sarum as compared with York 5; of the Sarum Breviary 42, the York Breviary 5; of the Sarum Manuale, 13 editions but of York 2; the Sarum Processional saw 11 printings and that of York 1; of the Ordinal 4 at Sarum and 1 at York; and of the Sarum Primer 184 (!!) compared with only 5 editions of the Primer from York. All told, more sources survive for the Use of Sarum than for all other medieval English rites put together.

Even upon the eve of the Reformation itself, the Sarum Use, or at least the Divine Office according to it, was enjoined by the Convocation of Canterbury in 1534 or 1542 (sources differ) to be followed exclusively throughout the southern province, although it is doubtful that this injunction was ever fully enforced. Finally, with the Reformation, Edward VI's injunction of 14 February 1549 commanded all service books according to the uses of Salisbury, Hereford, York, Bangor, and Lincoln to be defaced and destroyed, under episcopal supervision. Queen Mary restored the Sarum Use throughout her reign from 1553 to 1558; one GTS Sarum Missal dates from this period (1555), and the last Sarum Missal was printed in 1557. The Use finally met its demise in England with the accession of Elizabeth I by royal injunctions of 1559 that reiterated the Edwardian decree that the Sarum books should be "utterly abolished, extinguished, and forbidden." In English Roman Catholic seminaries abroad, however, it continued until the Roman Breviary of 1568 and Roman Missal of 1570. A proposal to revive the Sarum Use at the foundation of Westminster Cathedral (London) in 1903 was rejected by the Cardinal at that time.

The Major Books: The evidence for the Sarum Use comes to us from several different types of books, each of which in turn comes from a different date. The types of books can be classified according to usage or function, although the dating (of the manuscripts) is more difficult. It is helpful, first, to think of three foci in the cathedral's life 1) its constitution, or regulations for governance as regards the relationships between the bishop, dean, officers, canons, vicars, etc. 2) the liturgical formulae for the texts of the services, and 3) the ceremonial regulations as to the method of performance of the services. For the first area, that of constitution or governance, little survives from St. Osmund's time, and the subject itself is not directly of liturgical importance; further, however, see the excellent book by Kathleen Edwards, The English Secular Cathedrals in the Middle Ages. The second area, that of liturgical formulae for the texts of the services, can be investigated in five categories of service books, according to their use:

1) Books for the Mass: the Missal, as well as Epistolary, Evangeliary or Gospel-Book, and for the musical interludes that surrounded them: the Gradual, Troper, and Sequencer. A 12th century Sarum Gradual is the oldest complete Sarum chant book surviving.
2) Books for the Divine Office or canonical hours: the Breviary (Portiforium), as well as Homiliary, Hymnary or Hymnal, Psalter, Antiphoner, Collectar, Legendary, Martyrology, Passional, and Diurnal;
3) Books for the Pastoral Offices: the Manuale or Rituale or Sacerdotale;
4) Books for Episcopal Services: the Pontifical, as well as the Benedictional, and
5) Books for Processions: the Processional.

The third area, that of ceremonial regulations, can be found in two books: 1) the Consuetudinary (the earliest being that of Poore, before 1220), which presented the ceremonial directions and assigned to the various ministers their actions and movements; and 2) the Ordinal or Directorium, which showed how the various parts of the service fitted together and provided the yearly calendar.

Often bound in with the Ordinal, especially in the later Middle Ages, was the Pica or Pie, a rule-book for determining which office or Mass was to be observed on which day of the calendar. In addition, for the popular appropriation of all these services as well as for private devotions, there were for lay people the Prymer, Books of Hours, and Lay Folks' Mass Book.

What, then, was particular or distinctive about the Use of Sarum?

This is a very hard question to answer, because the various books that survive (cf. above) come from a great many different places and dates. There was not, therefore, one "Use of Sarum," and even when a particular source describes something as being "according to the use of Sarum" (secundum usum Sarum) it only means Sarum Use as it was understood at a particular time and place and not as it was set down for all eternity in some one single source book to which every medieval English liturgical specialist had access. A composite "Sarum Use," therefore, must be pieced together from a great many different books and manuscripts coming from different places and periods, and in doing so one intelligent guess is as good as another. With these strict reservations, then, the following reconstructed generalizations are offered, in full knowledge that the Sarum Use of any single place and time would probably not have included all of the following particular and distinctive features:

Kalendar: Feasts were classified as either "double" (for days when the antiphons at certain choir offices were to be doubled-i.e. sung entire both before as well as after the canticle) or "simple" (for days when the antiphons were not so doubled). The order and choice of the collects, epistles, and gospels differed somewhat from the Roman. A large number of particular English saints and events were commemorated. On the three days after Christmas: the feast of St. Stephen (Dec. 26) was known as the feast of deacons, the feast of St. John the Evangelist (Dec. 27) as the feast of priests, and the feast of the Holy Innocents (Dec. 28) as the feast of children. From Septuagesima to Easter, "Alleluia" was suppressed in the Liturgy (cf. PECUSA, 1982 Hymnal, no. 122/3), and this was dramatized by a chorister called the "Alleluia" who was symbolically whipped while being driven from the church. Images in the church were veiled through the whole of Lent until Easter morning (usually in white, not purple). Also during Lent the High Altar was concealed from view by the LENTEN ARRAY, a great silk veil suspended between the choir and altar from a beam with pulleys; it was raised during Lent only at the reading of the Gospel in Mass, and on Wednesday of Holy Week during the reading of the Gospel from Luke 23:45 when it was dropped at the words "and the veil of the Temple was rent in twain" and not raised again until Easter. On Palm Sunday there was a procession of the Blessed Sacrament or of relics, and the crucifixes of the rood and high altar were uncovered. The hearse for Tenebrae during Holy Week held 24 candles and not 15. The Host of Maundy Thursday and the cross venerated on Good Friday were both reserved in an Easter Sepulchre until Easter morning. To reserve the Host in this way was especially a peculiarity of Sarum; only the cross had been buried in the Regularis Concordia, and it was not until the l3th century that both cross and Host were buried, but then only in England and Normandy. On Lady Day, March 25, the statue of Our Lady was temporarily uncovered. The Sarum Kalendar was also rich in Marian feasts, which were removed under Archbishop Cranmer in 1549 but then temporarily restored under Queen Mary. There was a Sarum Feast of Relics kept generally on September 15 until the early 14th century when it was moved to the Sunday after the Translation of St. Thomas Becket (7 July). Also, Sarum Use counted Sundays after Trinity, not after Pentecost.

Related to the Kalendar and prominent at Sarum but also popular elsewhere was the custom of the Boy Bishop, who took office on the feast of St. Nicholas (Dec. 6) and whose authority lasted until Holy Innocents Day on December 28, allowance of course being made for major occasions that needed the participation of ordained clergy. The custom was forbidden under King Henry VIII (22 July 1542) but restored temporarily during the reign of Queen Mary. The purpose of the custom was both to give the youth a greater part in church life and also to impress upon them the high calling of Sacred Ordination. A memorial to the Boy Bishop at Salisbury, a diminutive effigy in stone dressed in full episcopal regalia, has been found and placed in the north aisle of the nave.

Color Sequence: This was not clearly specified, and scholars do not agree. Also, some places that followed Sarum Use in some respects are known not to have followed what they thought the Sarum colors were. Generally, for the principal feasts, it appears that the best vestments were worn, whatever their color was. Many churches owned only two sets of vestments: red or white or cloth-of-gold for all festivals and some non-penitential days, and green or blue or brown or grey for ferias and/or penitential use. Larger churches had more variety, which can be confusing, for example: The general and ordinary ferial color was GREEN, but BROWN or GREY or BLUE were also used for this purpose. BLUE was apparently not used for feasts of Our Lady. RED was used for all Sundays of the year outside of Lent and Paschaltide, for the blessing of ashes on Ash Wednesday, for all of Passiontide including Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, and for all feasts of apostles, martyrs, and evangelists. WHITE was used for all of Paschaltide, from Easter Day through Pentecost, for feasts of Our Lady and their octaves, for the feast of St. John the Evangelist in Christmas week, for both feasts of St. Michael, and for the Dedication of a Church. YELLOW was used for all feasts of confessors. BLACK was used in the office and Mass of the dead. UNBLEACHED CLOTH (OFF-WHITE) or BROWN or GREEN or sometimes VIOLET was used for Lent, from Quadragesima to the Saturday before Passion Sunday, and also apparently in Advent.

Vestments: The word "Vestment" (vestimentum) in the singular was used collectively in the Middle Ages to describe what we today would call a set of vestments. England was known throughout medieval Europe as producing the finest embroidered vestments available in the period from the mid-13th to the late 14th or early 15th centuries, and this "English Work" or Opus Anglicanum as it was called found its way into the leading churches and cathedrals of the continent. The Vatican inventory of vestments that has survived for 1293, for example. records no less than 113 specimens of Opus Anglicanum on hand there. In fact, more English Work has survived on the continent than in England itself, due to the wholesale destruction of vestments there in the 16th century. An outstanding example of it that can be seen at the Cloisters Museum in New York is the Chichester-Constable chasuble. Medieval English vestments were often embellished with pearls and precious stones, and the basic cloth patterns included Ely crown, Tudor rose, and Agnus Dei. The alb and amice, often appareled, were not always white, and the alb might be of silk, velvet, or cloth-of-gold. The girdle was sometimes wide like a sash, set with pearls, precious gems, and even occasionally relics, and fastened in front with a clasp or buckle or short strings. Fringe or little bells were sometimes attached to the edges of the stole and maniple. The stole was narrow and very long, reaching almost to the feet and often embroidered with patronal coats of arms. During Advent, and from Septuagesima through Maundy Thursday, except on saints' days, the Deacon and Subdeacon wore folded chasubles at Mass rather than dalmatic and tunicle. On Good Friday, Ember Days, and vigils, only alb and amice were worn by the clergy.

Vessels: Chalices and Patens were generally the same as elsewhere. Normally the Blessed Sacrament was reserved either in a dove-shaped pyx veiled and suspended over the altar or in an aumbry in the north wall of the sanctuary, and not in a tabernacle or sacrament-house as on the continent. The Pax or Pax-Brede or Osculatorium Pacis, a small tablet of metal or wood or ivory with a handle, or sometimes an elaborate Gospel-Book, was kissed by the celebrant just before communion and then carried by a clerk among the faithful to be kissed by them (the clerk wiping it with a napkin).

Music: The Sarum Hymnal continued to evolve throughout the later Middle Ages, and contained well over 100 hymns. All those that can possibly be used with English 1549 red and black letter days are included in The English Hymnal together with their Sarum tunes. The English Hymnal also contains important selections from the Sarum Processional, with stations and appropriate prayers arranged for use, as well as a selection of Sarum sequences (to be sung before the Gospel).

Recent restorations of the Sarum Use: At least three may be noted. 1) On 23 March 1970, Prof. J. Robert Wright with several students from the General Theological Seminary celebrated a Solemn Votive Mass of St. Thomas Becket according to the Use of Sarum in the Fuentidueña chapel at the Cloisters, at the invitation of the museum authorities in connection with the "Year 1200" Exhibition there. 2) In 1984 a proper funeral service according to the Use of Sarum was given to the bodies of the crew of several hundred sailors from the English Tudor warship Mary Rose, which had sunk in the Solent, the channel that separates the Isle of Wight from the English mainland, back in 1545, after the point when King Henry VIII had broken with the Pope but before the appearance of new burial rites in the first English Prayer Book of 1549. There was much discussion of what to do after the sailors were raised from the deep in 1982, and they were finally given solemn burial in 1984 with both Anglican and Roman Catholic clergy participating in the service at Portsmouth Cathedral according to the old Sarum rites of Requiem that they would have expected in 1545. The ordinary of the Mass was in Latin with the lessons, bidding prayer, Lord's Prayer, and committal in English, and the music was of that era, by John Taverner, Christopher Tye, and Thomas Tallis. 3) A nondenominational choral group at Columbia University, under the leadership of Professor Ian Bent has been singing the Sarum evening office of Compline in St. Paul's Chapel there on Sunday evenings, according to the words and music of the ancient Sarum books.

The Sarum Eucharistic Liturgy
(conflated from many different sources and periods, including both low Mass and solemn).

Ceremonial: Exuberant and rather more elaborate than the Roman, at least at Salisbury itself. At the Cathedral itself, there were two daily High Masses as well as the daily singing of the entire Divine Office in addition to the daily offices of the Blessed Virgin and of the Dead. On major feasts there would be three, five, or even seven deacons and subdeacons, two or more thurifers, and three crucifers, with two or four priests in copes acting as cantors ruling the choir. Most of the altars were censed during the Solemn Mass, and even during the lessons at Mattins the High Altar was censed. Processions were frequent, and those before High Mass on Sundays were especially magnificent. The High Altar itself was a stone rectangular parallelogram, frequently vested in purple cloth embroidered with gold and precious gems. On the altar there were rarely more than two candles, but on feasts there were many others either standing on the pavement or suspended from the roof on circular (and even concentric) coronae. A flabellum, or liturgical fan made of rich material. was often waved over the elements by a deacon during the canon. And at the elevation a black or velvet curtain was sometimes spread behind the Host on the east so that the faithful could see it more clearly from afar.

Preparation: In some Sarum Missals the following warning is given: "Presbyter in Christi mensa quid agis bene pensa: aut tibi vita datur aut mors aeterna paratur." ("Presbyter think carefully what you are doing at Christ's table, for there either life will be given to you or eternal death prepared for you.") The priest is directed to recite the Veni Creator Spiritus while vesting; probably written by Rabanus Maurus in the 9th century, this has been the office hymn for Terce on Whitsunday since the late 10th century and had been used at ordinations since the 11th century (there are several translations in the Hymnal of 1982). A few Sarum missals also give individual prayers to be said with each vestment. After the Veni Creator there followed the "Collect for Purity" customarily found still at the beginning of Anglican Prayer Book rites, the usage of which in England can be traced back at least as far as the Regularis Concordia of 970 and before that to Alcuin. [Archbishop Cranmer, in order to emphasize that we are justified by faith in the infinite merit of Christ and not by earned merit of our own, altered its ending in the First Prayer Book of 1549 to read "that we may perfectly love thee and worthily magnify thy holy name" from the old medieval ending "that we may merit to love you perfectly and praise you worthily" (ut te perfecte deligere et digne laudare mereamur)]. Then followed the "I will go unto the altar of God" antiphon and the "Give sentence with me O God" psalm, and then the Kyries, Our Father, and Hail Mary. Then, at the altar steps, there was a shortened confession and absolution with more versicles and responses. After this, in high or solemn mass, the kiss of peace was given by the celebrant to the deacon and subdeacon before ascending the steps. (The kiss will also be given again in the classical western position later, after the prayer of peace preceding holy communion). The celebrant recites Psalm 42 on the way to the altar.

Liturgy of the Word: The celebrant ascends to the altar and kisses it; in the accompanying prayer no mention is made of the relics or Host which most Sarum altars had consecrated within them. Next the altar was censed in the middle and at both corners, and the priest by the deacon The introit (called "Office," or Officium) is then begun, and the Kyries are repeated followed by the Gloria at proper seasons. Before the salutation for the collect the celebrant signs himself with the cross, and the sacred ministers turn towards the people for the salutation. No more than seven (!) collects were permitted for any one Mass. If the Office, Kyries, and Gloria were to be sung by the choir, the celebrant was to say silently the prayer ascribed to St. Augustine, Summe sacerdos et vere Pontifex, Jesu Christe, during that time. After the subdeacon has finished singing the epistle he washes his hands and prepares the Gifts during the singing of the gradual and alleluia verse, the water being blessed by the celebrant at the sedilia. Before the Gospel the deacon censed the altar in the middle but not the Gospel-book, the opposite being the Roman use. The Gospel-book was called the "Text" (Textus). The Nicene Creed followed on proper days.

Offertory: Note that the gifts have already been prepared by the subdeacon during the Gradual between the Epistle and the Gospel. The prayers at the offering are shorter than the corresponding prayers of the Roman rite. The bread and wine are offered together with a single prayer, rather than separately The chalice was covered with two folded corporals (one to serve as the pall), and still another, larger corporal, already spread under the vessels, was then folded up over the Paten. At the offertory the celebrant would cense the gifts, then the deacon would cense the celebrant and proceed to cense the altar. At the washing of the celebrant's hands, he would say a short prayer rather than the psalm "I will wash my hands in innocency." Next, at the prayer Veni sancte spiritus, the celebrant would sign himself rather than the sacred gifts. A bidding prayer, called the Bidding of the Bedes, in various vernacular forms, followed the Offertory on Sundays in parish churches. The rest of the Offertory was generally like that of the Roman rite, except that the "Pray brethren" (Orate fratres) had the addition of "and sisters."

Consecration: The Canon of the Mass is basically the Roman canon, commemorating (as was the case in most countries) the King by name after the names of the Pope and the diocesan Bishop. There are no significant differences in wording, but there are some differences in ceremonial. The celebrant is to bow before the words of institution over each element, i.e. just before each "when he had given thanks." Some early Sarum missals require the celebrant to actually break the Host (?perhaps only partially?) at the word "broke"; others, especially the later ones, require only that he touch it at this point. In some (but not all) Sarum Missals a bow is also specified after the words "This is My Body" and before the Host is elevated, but apparently none of them call for any such gesture after the words over the chalice. (It should also be noted that neither the Sarum Use nor any other medieval English use specified genuflection, in spite of the fact that the earliest written evidence for the practice of genuflecting after the elevation of the Host comes from the years 1200-06 in the writings of the great theologian Stephen Langton who would soon thereafter become archbishop of Canterbury.) The Sarum missals do direct that the Host is to be elevated so that it may be seen by all; the chalice was at first to be raised only chest-high, but later printed Sarum missals direct that it be raised over the head. After the words of institution, at the Unde et memores ("Wherefore, O Lord..."), the celebrant stretches out his arms cross-wise (with thumbs and forefingers joined) until it is time to make the signs of the cross over the consecrated elements. Later, at the words Supplices te rogamus ("And here we offer and present unto Thee..."), the celebrant bows low with hands crossed. There is no elevation at all at the end of the canon. For later medieval English lay devotions to the Host at the time of the elevation, see McGarry pp. 215-234; typical would be: "Welcome, Lord, in the form of bread. Thou art the Hope of the Living and the Dead." Vernacular names for the consecrated Host were "Housel" (from Anglo Saxon Husel meaning "sacrifice") and "Obley" (from French oublee from Latin oblata also meaning "sacrifice" or "that which has been offered." The Housling Cloth, thus, was a long strip of white linen held under the chins of the laity as they received the Host. Detailed instructions for the laity are found in the late 13th century Lay Folks' Mass Book.

Fraction: The subdeacon, who has been holding up the paten under a veil since the Sursum Corda, at the beginning of the Lord's Prayer gives it to the deacon, who then holds it up uncovered above his head until the words "give peace in our days" in the embolism prayer Libera nos ("Deliver us, we beseech Thee, O Lord"); this was later explained as a sign that the communion was near. The paten was then given to the celebrant, who kissed it and placed it first on his right eye, then on his left, and then signed the cross with it. Also, still during the Libera nos, the celebrant broke the Host into three particles. In pontifical Masses, immediately after the fraction there followed an elaborate episcopal blessing that varied with the season; it was prefaced by a diaconal bidding. Next was the Agnus Dei, and then the commixture (not the other way round, as in the Roman use). After the commixture there followed the (second) Kiss Of Peace, the celebrant kissing the right side of the corporal, then the top of the chalice bowl, and then embracing the deacon. He would then kiss the Pax-Brede (small tablet of wood or ivory or precious metal with a handle on the back and usually with the image of the Lord on the front, or sometimes an elaborate Gospel-book), which was then kissed by the deacon and carried by him to the subdeacon and choir in order of rank, and then by the clerk to the people.

Communion: There was no "Lord I am not worthy." The celebrant would cross himself with the Host before receiving it and with the chalice before receiving it. The private prayers of the celebrant before and after receiving communion were different from those of the Roman rite, the Ave in aeternum before each kind being especially beautiful and peculiar to Sarum: "Hail for evermore, most holy Flesh of Christ, to me before all things and above all things the greatest sweetness. May the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ be unto me a sinner the way and the Life." "Hail for evermore, heavenly Drink, to me before all things and above all things the greatest sweetness. May the Body and the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ be profitable to me a sinner for an eternal remedy unto everlasting life. Amen." In Latin, these two prayers were: "Ave in aeternum, sanctissima caro Christi, mihi ante omnia et super omnia summa dulcedo. Corpus domini nostri Jesu Christi sit mihi peccatori via et vita." "Ave in aeternum, caelestis potus, mihi ante omnia et super omnia summa dulcedo. Corpus et sanguis domini nostri Jesu Christi prosint mihi peccatori ad remedium sempiternum in vitam aeternam. Amen." As the laity received, the Housling cloth was held underneath their chins to catch any crumbs that might fall. It is interesting and significant that the Lay Folks' Mass Book gives no directions for the lay reception of communion. For the ablutions, the first was of wine and water, the second of wine only, and the third of water only, with prayers to accompany each. Then followed the communion verse and the post-communion prayer(s). Next the celebrant would sign himself with the cross, the deacon would dismiss the people, and the celebrant would bow to say the private prayer Placeat Tibi. Finally, instead of a blessing over the people, the celebrant would kiss the altar, sign himself, and say "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." The celebrant would then recite the Last Gospel from John, "In the beginning was the Word," on the way back to the sacristy. After the conclusion of the Solemn Parish Mass on Sundays, Blessed Bread (also called "Kirk-Loaf" or "Eulogia"), provided by the churchwardens, was blessed and distributed to the parishioners; this custom was not, however, unique to Sarum but was common in most countries of later medieval Europe.

DEFINITION
Salisbury rather than Canterbury, from early 13th century, more elaborate & spectacular

ORIGINS
Richard le Poore, Dean of Salisbury 1198-1215, Bishop 1217-1228.

SUBSEQUENT HISTORY
Provinciale of William Lyndwood, c. 1430.

MAJOR BOOKS
Liturgical texts for the Mass: Missal, Epistolary, Evangeliary, Gradual, Troper, Sequencer.
Liturgical texts for the Divine Office: Breviary, Psalter, Antiphoner, Collectar, Legendary, Martyrology, Passional, Diurnal.
Liturgical Books for the Pastoral Offices: Manuale, Rituale, Sacerdotale.
Liturgical Books for Episcopal Services: Pontifical, Benedictional.
Liturgical Books for Processions: Processionale.
Books of ceremonial regulations: Consuetudinary, Ordinal or Directorium, Pie.
Books for Lay Devotions: Primer, Books of Hours, Lay Folks' Mass Book.
Problem of any distinct identity, given diversity of books, dates, & places.

KALENDAR
Feasts were classified as "double" (when antiphons were doubled, ie sung entire both before and after the canticle) or "simple" (when sung entire only after).
Many saints and events and doctrines particular to England.
Dec. 26, 27, 28: feasts of deacons (Stephen), priests (John the Evangelist), & children (Holy Innocents).
Alleluia suppressed from Septuagesima to Easter (cf. 1982 Hymnal # 122/3).
Images in Lent veiled in white. Also the "Lenten Array" (veil behind altar).
Palm Sunday procession of Blessed Sacrament or of relics.
Easter Sepulchre for Host from Maundy Thursday and Cross from Good Friday.
Feast of Relics on Sept 15 or Sunday after 7 July.
Sundays counted after Trinity, not after Pentecost.
"Boy Bishop" on St. Nicholas Day.

COLOR SEQUENCE

Not uniform.
In general: best vestments of whatever color worn for most important feasts.
Many churches owned only two sets of vestments: white or gold or red for all festivals, and green or brown or grey for ferial/penitential use.
Blue was sometimes used for ferial days, but NOT for BVM.
White for Paschaltide, BVM, and a few other days.
Red for most Sundays, Ash Wednesday, and Passiontide.
Yellow for feasts of confessors.
Black for requiems. (But red on Good Friday).
Unbleached cloth (off-white) or brown or sometimes violet for Lent.

VESTMENTS

"A Vestment" meant "a set of vestments."
Opus Anglicanum = "English Work." The best in Europe. V&A Museum.
Pearls, precious stones, even bells.
Ely Crown, Tudor Rose, Agnus Dei.
Apparelled albs & amices, wide sash-like girdles.
Stoles very long, often embroidered with coats of arms.
Folded chasubles for D and SD in Advent & Lent.
Only alb & amice & stole on Good Friday and Ember Days.
Veni Creator Spiritus & Collect for Purity recited by celebrant while vesting.

VESSELS

Chalices & Patens generally the same as elsewhere.
Blessed Sacrament reserved either in a dove-shaped pyx veiled & suspended over altar or in aumbry in north wall of sanctuary, not in tabernacle or sacrament-house.
Pax-board or osculatorium pacis was used for the Peace.
Flabellum used during the canon.

MUSIC

Over 100 hymns & tunes from the Sarum Hymnal for contemporary use are included into The English Hymnal, often with stations and prayers from the Sarum Processional.

SOME DETAILS OF THE SARUM EUCHARISTIC LITURGY

Ceremonial (elaborate)
Preparation (Veni Creator; "Collect for Purity" with merit)
Liturgy of the Word
Offertory (Three Corporals; Bidding of the Bedes)
Consecration (Low bow; Housel, Obley)
Fraction (Second Kiss of Peace; Pax-Brede)
Communion (No blessing; Blessed Bread)
"Hail for evermore, most holy Flesh of Christ, to me before all things and above all things the greatest sweetness. May the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ be unto me a sinner the way and the Life."