Introit
The
Introit (
Latin:
introitus, "entrance") is part of the opening of the celebration of the Roman Catholic
Mass. Specifically, it refers to the
antiphon that is spoken or sung at the beginning of the celebration. It is part of the
Proper of the Mass; that is, the part that changes over the liturgical year.
The Introit is best known in the
Tridentine Mass; however, it is part of other Catholic Mass liturgies, and even other Christian liturgies. In
Ambrosian chant and
Beneventan chant, the counterpart of the Introit is called the "ingressa." Many
Lutherans also have an introit in their liturgy.
Most Introits are taken from
Psalms, though there exist those from
Proverbs or
Wisdom. Generally they follow the same structure: two to four lines of scripture related to the "theme" of the feastday or celebration. Most often the choice of scripture passage has something in common with the liturgical readings that will be featured later in that Mass.
The Introit can be either sung or spoken, depending on the formality of the Mass as well as the preferences of the
priest and his congregation. Not all Masses have Introits; traditionally the service of
Holy Saturday in the
Roman Catholic rite does not.
In many cases the Introit also serves another purpose: it gives a name to a particular Mass, based on the first word or phrase of the Introit. Since the Introit for a Mass is different for each day of the
Liturgical Calendar (sometimes multiple Masses even exist for a single day, such as
Christmas), and unique Masses exist for special functions, it provides a key for determining which order of the Mass is to be performed. This is why a funeral Mass is called a
Requiem and the second Mass of the
Feast of the Sacred Heart is called the
Exordium, for example. As an unusual example, the first Sunday after
Easter Sunday, though having no official liturgical name, is colloquially labelled "
Quasimodo Sunday" as the first phrase of the Introit is
"Quasi modo geniti infantes...". Even though
Latin is no longer used widely in the celebration of the Mass, the traditional names remain for purposes of organization of the calendar.
The practice evolved from the singing of a
psalm as the priest and ministers approached the altar, sung verses having been part of the celebration of the Mass since earliest times. The
Liber Pontificalis claims that the Introit originated by the request of
Celestine I, but it was in the reign of
Gregory I that the familiar form emerged, and Gregory is popularly believed to have composed many Introits himself; he is in fact not known to have composed any music.
In the musical idiom of
Gregorian chant, Introits normally take the form antiphon-verse-antiphon-
doxology-antiphon. Introits, like
Offertories and
Communions, are believed to have evolved from simpler
reciting tones. Introit melodies show this musical parentage most clearly, and are often anchored around two reciting notes which may be repeated or percussed. The melodies are mostly
neumatic, dominated by
neumes with two or three notes per syllable, although syllabic and
melismatic passages also occur.
The Introits of
Old Roman chant share many similarities with their Gregorian cousins, and often include a repeated extra verse that fell out of use in the Gregorian repertory.
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