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{{westernrite}}The '''Gallican Rite''' refers in the first instance to the liturgy of ancient Gaul (France), and in the second to a family of non-Roman [[Western Rite]]s which comprised the majority use of most of Western Europe for the greater part until being mostly displaced by the Roman rite beginning in the eighth century, but modifying the Roman rite in the process.
Various rites within the greater Gallican family have claimed various specific lineages, such as an origin from the Alexandrine rite of St. [[Apostle Mark|Mark]] for the Churches of Aquilea and Milan, or origins from the Ephesine rite of St. [[Apostle John|John the Divine]] for the Churches of Gaul, Iberia, and Brittania. The little evidence remaining for the rite of Ephesus comes from local councils in Asia Minor. There the Byzantine replaced the Ephesine, which seems to have simply been a local use of the wider Greco-Syriac "Antiochian" liturgy. The Ephesine theory had its major opponents among the Modernist school of the early 20th century, [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06357a.htm as the ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' states], "the Ephesine theory has now been given up by all serious liturgiologists." The development of the rite is such it did not likely originate before the fourth century. However, the origin of the rite remains very much an open question. That it does contain much of Antiochian influence has influenced post-Modernist contemporary liturgical scholars to revisit the Ephesine claim of the ''Cursus Gallorum'', whereby the earliest Gallican liturgy would simply be the liturgy of Syria and Asia Minor, but in the Latin tongue.
Many Gallican texts survive, but the survival of the rite is primarily in the basis of the Toledan rite (also called Mozarabic, Isidorian, Old Spanish riteor Gothic by some liturgical scholars) , and secondarily in its influence upon the present Roman and Anglican rites (called Gallo-Roman), and as a component of the Ambrosian rite of Milan. It is due to the influence of the Gallican liturgy that the Roman Mass included the ''Gloria.'' The longest surviving Gallican rite was the Spanish rite that of Toledo, Spain, which has been limited to a few chapels for the past few centuries. Both the Spanish Toledan and Ambrosian Milanese liturgies were modified by the Roman, accepting the Roman canon at fairly recent times in their development. Following the Second Vatican Council, both the Spanish Liturgy of Toledo Toledan Rite and the Ambrosian Mass of Milan Milanese Rite were altered in a ''Novus Ordo'' style though both have been celebrated in their traditional forms by priests of the Western Rite Orthodox.
Whatever their origin, the Gallican rites were more given to ceremonial than the Roman. The surviving Gallican materials also have recognizable concordances with the Eastern and Oriental rites in the form of certain prayers and ceremonial, while sharing many other similarities with the Roman rite. The known elements of the Gallican liturgy are:
