The eucharistic prayer in usage from weekdays just before christmas in the west

Abstract

The study tries to describe the eucharistic formulae for the Advent season, specially those related to the nearest days before Christmas in present Western liturgies. The essay is divided into five parts: firstly, it starts with a study on Advent in the Roman tradition through some research on its roots in ancient Roman liturgical books. Secondly, the Advent in the Hispanic liturgy is described noting that it does not contain any particular formula for days nearing Christmas; thirdly, it overlooks particular formulae for Advent in the Ambrosian liturgy. This liturgy was influenced by Rome and it also had some formulae for weekdays before Christmas. The fourth and last part of the study draws a survey of some few sources still incorporated in other Western liturgies, now disappeared, in order to define if there is still some weekdays eucharistic formula in its sources hinting at some kind of preparation to the feast of the Nativity of our Lord. Finally, a synthesis appears.