i84 ANDREW J. SHIPMAN MEMORIAL 



in which the southern dialect of the language was committed 

 to writing. There is a tradition, alluded to by Innocent XI, 

 that they were invented by St. Jerome as early as the fourth 

 century ; Jagic, however, thinks that they were really the origi- 

 nal letters invented by St. Cyril and afterwards abandoned in 

 favor of an imitation of Greek characters by his disciples and 

 successors. This older alphabet, which still survives, is called 

 the Glagolitic (from glagolati, to speak, because the rude 

 tribesmen imagined that the letters spoke to the reader and 

 told him what to say), and was used by the southern Slavic 

 tribes and now exists along the Adriatic highlands. The Sla- 

 vonic which is written in the Glagolitic characters is also the 

 ancient language, but it differs considerably from the Slavonic 

 written in the Cyrillic letters. In fact it may be roughly com- 

 pared to the difference between the Gaelic of Ireland and the 

 Gaelic of Scotland. The Roman Mass was translated into 

 this Slavonic shortly after the Greek liturgy had been trans- 

 lated by Sts. Cyril and Methodius, so that in the course of time 

 among the Slavic peoples the southern Slavonic written in 

 Glagolitic letters became the language of the Roman Rite, 

 while the northern Slavonic written in Cyrillic letters was the 

 language of the Greek Rite. The prevailing use of the Latin 

 language and the adoption of the Roman alphabet by many 

 Slavic nationalities caused the use of the Glagolitic to diminish 

 and Latin to gradually take its place. The northern Slavic 

 peoples, like the Bohemians, Poles and Slovaks, who were con- 

 verted by Latin missionaries, used the Latin in their rite from 

 the very first. At present the Glagolitic is only used in Dal- 

 matia and Croatia. Urban VIII in 163 1 definitively settled 

 the use of the Glagolitic-Slavonic missal and office-books in the 

 Roman Rite, and laid down rules where the clergy of each 

 language came in contact with each other in regard to church 

 services. Leo XIII published two editions of the Glagolitic 

 Missal. 



The liturgy used in the Slavonic language, whether of Greek 

 or Roman Rite, offers no peculiarities differing from the origi- 

 nal Greek or Latin sources. The Ruthenians have introduced 

 an occasional minor modification, but the Orthodox Russians, 

 Bulgarians and Servians substantially follow the Byzantine 

 liturgy and offices in the Slavonic version. The Glagolitic 

 Missal, Breviary, and ritual follow closely the Roman liturgi- 



