Sanctus (1928 BCP)

Sanctus (1928 BCP) is the eucharistic hymn "Holy, Holy, Holy" in the Holy Communion office of the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer. In the 1928 rite it follows the Sursum Corda, the fixed preface, and any appointed Proper Preface; it is then said or sung by priest and people before the Prayer of Humble Access and the Prayer of Consecration. Its language joins the earthly congregation to the heavenly worship of God and frames Communion as praise offered through Christ rather than as private devotion detached from the Church's common prayer.

Text in the 1928 Prayer Book

The 1928 BCP gives the Sanctus as the people's acclamation at the close of the preface:

THEREFORE with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious Name; evermore praising thee, and saying,
HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, Lord God of hosts, Heaven and earth are full of thy glory: Glory be to thee, O Lord Most High. Amen.

The position of the text matters. The 1928 rubric says that a Proper Preface is used when appointed, "or else immediately shall be said or sung by the Priest" the "Therefore with Angels and Archangels" paragraph. Thus the Sanctus is not an isolated hymn but the climax of thanksgiving. It gathers the seasonal preface, the congregation's praise, and the Church's communion with "all the company of heaven" into one act before the central eucharistic prayer.

Biblical Sources

The first and controlling scriptural source is Isaiah's vision of the Lord in the temple. The threefold "Holy" is angelic worship before the divine throne:

And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

Revelation gives a parallel heavenly setting, where unceasing praise surrounds the throne. The 1928 Sanctus therefore places the communicants' worship in continuity with biblical heavenly liturgy:

And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

The 1928 wording is therefore deliberately biblical. "Lord God of hosts" echoes Isaiah's "LORD of hosts," while "Heaven and earth are full of thy glory" expands the praise from the temple vision into the whole creation. In Holy Communion this gives Anglican worship a twofold movement: reverent thanksgiving "at all times, and in all places," and participation in the worship already offered in heaven.

Prayer Book Development

The 1549 English Prayer Book retained the Benedictus qui venit within the Sanctus, though in the spelling and typography of its time:

Therfore with Angels and Archangels, and with all the holy companye of heaven, we laude and magnify thy glorious name, evermore praisyng thee, and saying,
Holy, holy, holy, Lorde God of Hostes: heaven (& earth) are full of thy glory: Osanna, in the highest. Blessed is he that commeth in the name of the Lorde: Glory to thee, O lorde in the highest.

The later classical Anglican form omitted the Benedictus and retained the angelic hymn with "Glory be to thee, O Lord most High." The Church of England's official 1662 text preserves this form:

Therefore with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious Name; evermore praising thee, and saying: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of thy glory: Glory be to thee, O Lord most High. Amen.

The 1928 American book stands in that 1662 line at this point. It keeps the English Prayer Book order in which the Sanctus follows the preface and leads directly toward humble access and consecration. Compared with 1549, the 1928 text is shorter and more restrained; compared with many later Anglican rites, it does not restore the Benedictus as an optional addition. That restraint is part of its classical shape: the congregation praises the Holy One with the angels, but the immediate next movement is penitential and eucharistic preparation.

Liturgical Theology

Percy Dearmer located the Sursum Corda through Sanctus within the old Western liturgical inheritance and emphasized that these elements were not late decorative additions:

From the Sarum Missal is also the part that is sung from Sursum Corda ("Lift up your hearts") to the Sanctus ("Holy, Holy, Holy"), as well as the Gloria in Excelsis ("Glory be to God on High"); but these are found also in all the old Liturgies or Communion Services, both those in Greek and those in Latin, and take us back perhaps to Apostolic times.

Dearmer's point helps explain why the 1928 Sanctus is more than a musical item. It is part of the inherited eucharistic structure: Lift up your hearts, give thanks, join the angels, then proceed to the sacramental prayer. This sequence teaches that praise is not optional ornament around Communion. Praise is one of the ways the Church receives and confesses the mystery of God's holiness before the gifts are consecrated and received.

Michael Ferrebee Sadler, writing for catechetical instruction in the Church of England, likewise treated the Sanctus as one of the constant acts common to historic Communion offices:

The Catholic Church has always used certain prayers (with others, of course), such as the Lord's Prayer, certain hymns found in Scripture, and the entire Psalter, and above all, certain acts of devotion common to all her Communion offices, such as the Sursum Corda, the angelic Hymn (Holy, Holy, Holy), and the repetition of our Lord's words in the prayer of Consecration in the Eucharist.

Sadler also connects the "Angels and Archangels" language to the communion of saints. The worshipper does not adore angels; rather, in the Eucharist the Church joins their praise of God:

More particularly in the Holy Eucharist, where we say, "Therefore with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven . . . Holy, Holy, Holy."

This reading is especially important for a classical Anglican account of the Sanctus. The hymn is catholic in age and breadth, but it is also scriptural in substance and doxological in direction. It does not introduce a separate devotion to created heavenly beings; it teaches the communicants to praise the Lord of hosts with the worship of heaven.

Use in Worship

In parish use, the Sanctus is normally said or sung by priest and people together. Its location after the preface gives it a congregational function: the celebrant has called the people to lift up their hearts and give thanks, and the people now answer by taking up the angelic hymn. When a Proper Preface is appointed, the Sanctus also gathers that season or feast into the same final acclamation of God's holiness.

The text should be read aloud with its clauses intact. "Holy, Holy, Holy" names God's absolute holiness; "Lord God of hosts" identifies him as the Lord of the heavenly armies; "Heaven and earth are full of thy glory" joins visible creation to heavenly worship; and "Glory be to thee, O Lord Most High" turns the biblical vision into direct adoration. In the 1928 order that adoration immediately prepares communicants for humble approach to Christ's table.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
• Sursum Corda (1928 BCP)
• Proper Prefaces (1928 BCP)
• Prayer of Humble Access (1928 BCP)
• Sacraments in the 1928 BCP

External Links

• 1928 Book of Common Prayer standard PDF
• 1928 BCP Holy Communion HTML transcription
• Percy Dearmer, The Prayer Book: What It Is
• M. F. Sadler, The Church Teacher's Manual of Christian Instruction