he music of the Church.

INTERNAL EVIDENCE.

The oldest Antiphoners that we possess are some two hundred years later
than Gregory I. But they possess two peculiarities which raise a
presumption in favour of an origin at least as old as St. Gregory.

The first peculiarity lies in the version of Scripture from which are
taken the portions to which the music is set. This version is the old
Latin one known as "Itala." Now even if at the time of St. Gregory it had
not entirely given place to the Vulgate, yet from his time onwards the
latter prevailed universally (except for the Psalter, which was retained
at Rome till the time of Pius V., and is still used at St. Peter's), not
only in Rome, but in all the West; so much so, that St. Isidore of
Seville could assert in the first half of the seventh century, that St.
Jerome's version had already been taken into use by all the Churches as
preferable to the ancient one. It is natural to seek the explanation of
preserving an obsolete text of the words in the respect felt for the
melodies to which they were set. It is, therefore, reasonable to conclude
that these melodies existed for the most part before the definite
abandonment of the Itala at Rome, that is to say before the middle of the
seventh century.

The second peculiarity which supports this conclusion is to be found in
the comparison of the Offices, known to have been added since the time of
St. Gregory, with the older portion of the Antiphoner. With very few, and
those very doubtful, exceptions, the materials for these are all taken
from older Offices. Sometimes both words and tunes are transferred
bodily; sometimes new words are set to the old melodies.

There are certain Masses of Saints, the chants for which were taken from
those which later were collected together to form the Common. For the
Feasts of the Annunciation, the Assumption, and the Nativity of the
Virgin, all the chants were taken from older Masses, _e.g._, from the
masses of Advent and of certain Virgins and Martyrs. The Procession of
the Purification, both words and melody, was borrowed from the Greeks by
Pope Sergius. For the Mass of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross all the
chants were taken from elsewhere, with the possible exception of the
Communion. The _Introit_ and the _Gradual_ were taken from Maundy
Thursday, the _Alleluia_ from Friday in Easter week, and the _Offertory_
from Maundy Thursday, or the Second Mass for