Embolism
Embolism
(Greek: embolismos, from the verb, emballein, “to throw in”)
Embolism is an insertion, addition, interpretation. The word has two specific uses in the language of the Church:
I. IN THE PRAYER
The prayer which, in the Mass, is inserted between the Our Father and the Fraction of the Bread: “Libera nos, quæsumus, Domine, ab omnibus malis”, etc. It is an interpretation of the last petition. The embolism may date back to the first centuries, since, under various forms, it is found in all the Occidental and in a great many Oriental, particularly Syrian, Liturgies. The Greek Liturgies of St. Basil and St. John Chrysostom, however, do not contain it. In the Mozarabic Rite this prayer is very beautiful and is recited not only in the Mass, but also after the Our Father at Lauds and Vespers. The Roman Church connects with it a petition for peace in which she inserts the names of the Mother of God, Sts. Peter and Paul, and St. Andrew. The name of St. Andrew is found in the Gelasian Sacramentary, so that its insertion in the Embolismus would seem to have been anterior to the time of St. Gregory. During the Middle Ages the provincial churches and religious orders added the names of other saints, their founders, patrons, etc., according to the discretion of the celebrant (see MICROLOGUS)
II. IN THE CALENDAR
In the calendar this term signifies the difference of days between the lunar year of only 354 days and the solar year of 365.2922 days. In the Alexandrian lunar cycle of 19 years, therefore, seven months were added, one each in the second, fifth, eighth, eleventh, thirteenth, sixteenth, and nineteenth (the embolistic) years. Each embolistic year had 13 lunar months, or 384 days. The lunar calendar was called Dionysian, because Dionysius Exiguus, in the sixth century, recommended the introduction of the Alexandrian Easter cycle of 19 years and computed it for 95 years in advance.
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LERCH, Einleitung in die Chronologie (Freiburg, 1899), II, 26 sqq.; GROTEFEND, Zeitrechnung (Leipzig, 1898); Liturgia Mozarabica (Paris, 1862); EBNER, Quellen und Forschungen zum Missale Romanum (Freiburg, 1896), 425 sqq.; MASKELL, The Ancient Liturgy of the Church of England (Oxford, 1882).
F.G. HOLWECK. Transcribed by Douglas J. Potter Dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VCopyright © 1909 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, May 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, CensorImprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Embolism
(also Embolis and Embolun).
(1) An inserted prayer; the name given to the prayer which in almost all ancient liturgies follows the Lord’s prayer, founded on one or both of the two last petitions. It is so called because it is interposed there, and what had been already asked in the Lord’s prayer is expanded, and it is more clearly expressed what evils we seek to be delivered from, viz. past, present, and future. There are also added the names of the saints by whose intercession we strengthen our prayers, viz. the Virgin Mary, Peter, Paul, and Andrew. The embolism was usually repeated by the priest in a low voice, symbolizing the silence during the period that our Lord lay in the grave; but in the Ambrosian rite it was always pronounced aloud. This practice, which has left very faint traces in the Western Church, holds a more important place in Oriental liturgies. The embolism is not, however, found in the liturgies of Chrysostom and Basil, but appears in those of James, Mark, and Theodore the Interpreter, as well as in the Armenian, Mozarabic, and Coptic Basil. As examples of the shorter embolism we give that of the Church of Jerusalem:
“And lead us not into temptation, O Lord, the Lord of Hosts, who knowest our infirmity; but deliver us from the Evil One, and his works, and every assault and will of his, for the sake of Thy Holy name which is called upon our lowliness;”
and the Syriac Liturgy of St. James:
“O Lord our God, lead us not into temptation, which we devoid of strength are not able to bear, but also with the temptation make a way of escape, that we may be able to bear it, and deliver us from evil, through Jesus Christ,” etc.
(2) Embolism also designates the excess of the solar year over twelve lunar months, commonly called the Epact.