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Why we sing the Gloria after receiving the Sacrament

Below, a footnote in a Torrance Kirby article on Peter Vermigli's Epistle to the Princess Elizabeth, on her accession.  Kirby here powerfully emphasises how the repositioning of the Gloria in 1552/1559/1662 (a position retained in PECUSA 1928, the Scottish Communion Office 1929, and Canada 1962) embodies the rich Reformed eucharistic theology.  Our hearts lifted up, receiving the outward and visible signs, we partake of the Crucified and Risen Lord ("the internal substance of the sacrament is conjoined with the visible signs"- Calvin).  Thus having communion with "Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of heaven", who gaze "upon a Lamb as it had been slain" (Revelation 5:6), we then join in their hymn:

Important theological significance is attached to the re-positioning of this hymn in the revised liturgies of 1552 and 1559. It is arguable that this liturgical alteration reflects Vermigli’s own substantive contribution to the revised theology of a Sacramentarian “real presence” based upon his celebrated disputation on the Eucharist held at Oxford in 1549. According to Vermigli’s theology of “instrumental realism” participants in the eucharist would be enabled to “sing the song of the angels” only after they had “participated” the body and blood of Christ, hence the liturgical repositioning of the Gloria.

It is interesting that Vermigli's understanding is echoed in Sparrow:

And if ever we be fit to sing this Angels song, it is then, when we draw nearest to the estate of Angels, namely, at the receiving of the Sacrament.

Rather, then, than being an odd, eccentric liturgical practice, rather randomly chosen by Cranmer as a convenient place to squeeze in the Gloria, its positioning in the Prayer Book tradition is a deeply theological statement, indicating the reality of our participation, through the sacrament, in the Crucified, Risen and Ascended Lord.

Comments

  1. Anonymous3 May 2019 at 19:21

    I have read that the Gloria was originally only sung at the Easter Vigil or at Christmas - in the Easter Vigil its placement has a very different "feel" compared to its placement in the Ordinary of the Roman Mass. As it comes after the prophecies, Litany & baptismal liturgy, it really feels like it is beginning Easter proper, bells ringing, all lights burning... followed by the Epistle - Colossians, "ye are risen with Christ". Whereas I have always found its usual position odd, as one goes straight from Kyrie to Gloria without any steps between to pass from penitence to exaltation. The BCP positioning feels more intuitive & its relatively late addition to every Sunday/feast in parish Masses (11th C?) means that it was not such a stark innovation to change its placement.

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    Replies
    1. laudable Practice22 May 2019 at 13:49

      Timothy, many thanks for your comment (and apologies for the delay in responding). I entirely agree that the BCP placing of the Gloria "feels more intuitive" - and this is significant. The placing in contemporary rites, following a shortened act of penitence, is indeed odd.

      Brian.

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