it, and not to the proper observance of the ceremony. But this interpretation is certainly doubtful.13

The church of Rome has for some ages, whether always must be open to question, restricted the benediction of bells solely to Bishops: the office is not therefore contained in her ritual or manual, but in the pontifical. Matthew Paris speaks in many places of the fact of bells being consecrated by Bishops: and Catalani concludes from those and some other examples, that in England such only was the rule. But independently of the fact of this Office being in the Salisbury manual, it is quite clear from its rubrics, that in this country priests were permitted, and it would also seem without especial license, to consecrate bells. The records of consecrations by Bishops, in Matthew Paris, does not prove anything: he is describing particular great occasions, or of bells belonging to some eminent monastery as of S. Alban, which, he says, was consecrated by the Bishop of S. Asaph. "Benedixit quoque signa ecclesiæ S. Albani tam minora quam majora." And more than this, Andreas du Saussay, a most learned writer, has laid down, that even the fact of offices being contained only in the pontifical, does not of itself prove that they may be performed only by Bishops. His observations are so important, bearing moreover upon a subject which has been already discussed, that I shall extract the passage.

"Verum multa sunt in Pontificali, quæ etsi episcopo tribuantur, ut qui eminentiori jure hæc sibi officia vin

13 Vide Martene, de Ant. Ecc. Rit. Tom. 2. p. 296. Durant, de ritibus Eccles. Lib. 1. Cap. 22. Du Cange. Verb. Campanas

Baptizari. Angelo Rocca. Opera. Tom. 1. p. 163. Bingham. Christian Antiq. Book 8. Cap. 7.

dicare potest, attamen a presbytero æque peragi possunt, quoad ipsum benedictionis effectum: episcopo scilicet permittente, vel saltem non prohibente, nec enim istæ benedictiones, v. g. crucis, campanæ, vasculi pro eucharistia, etc. ita sunt Episcopo propriæ, ut nonnisi ab ipso fieri possint aut debeant.Adde quod istarum rerum benedictiones, seu mysticæ illæ functiones nullatenus presbytero divino jure prohibentur, nec earum pleræque ullo jure positivo, vel sanctione canonica, sed sola tantum consuetudine non ubique solida, nam v. g. benedictio campanæ, quæ in pontificali Romano episcopo ascribitur, in ritualibus localium diœcesewn et signatim in Parisiensi, ordinario more exequenda, si non cuilibet sacerdoti, saltem parocho, seu ejus vicario assignatur."

9914

X. The Order of consecrating Churches opens a subject upon which, with little difficulty, a large volume might be written, and full of interesting details. I do not propose now to do more than extract from the "Concilia" and the "Provinciale" a few a few passages which prove that the church of England has always looked upon this rite as of the highest necessity. From the earliest of our ecclesiastical records, we may conclude this: take, for example, the 47th chapter of the penitential of Archbishop Theodore; speaking of a building in which heathens had been buried, but now proposed for a church, he adds, "si apta videtur ad consecrandum, inde evulsis corporibus- -sanctificabitur, si antea consecrata non fuit."15 In the same chapter

14 Panoplia Sacerdotalis. Pars. 2. p. 607.

15 "Prisci etenim Christi fideles

in ædificiis construendis gentilium imitatores, ad eorum similitudinem sacra templa erigebant, vel

mention is made of that part of the office of consecration, in which it is said: "Locus a Deo iste factus est. The 141 st of the excerpts of Archbishop Egbert, testifies to the careful consideration which was had of these matters. "Si motum fuerit altare, denuo consecretur ecclesia. Si parietes tantum mutantur, et non altare, sale et aqua exorcizetur. Si homicidio vel adulterio fuerit violata, diligentissime expurgetur, et denuo con

In the year 816, there was a famous council held at Chalchuith the second canon of which is "De modo consecrandi ecclesias. Ubi ecclesia ædificatur, a propriæ diœcesis episcopo sanctificetur; aqua per semetipsum benedicatur, spargatur, et ita per ordinem compleatur, sicut in libro ministeriali habetur. Postea eucharistia, quæ ab episcopo per idem ministerium consecratur, cum aliis reliquiis condatur in capsula, ac servetur in eadem basilica. Et si alias reliquias intimare non potest, tamen hoc maxime proficere potest, quia corpus et sanguis est Domini nostri Jesu Christi. Seu etiam præcipimus unicuique episcopo, ut habeat depictum in pariete oratorii, aut in tabula, vel etiam in altaribus, quibus sanctis sint utraque dedicata."1s This

is an important canon, and I have made some observations upon a part of it in another work, to which the reader must be referred.19 Making one more extract from the Concilia, I shall pass on to the legatine constitutions. In the year 1076, a canon of a council at Winchester ordered, "Ut in ecclesiis, nisi ab episcopis consecratis, missæ non celebrentur." 20

The second constitution of Otho, made in the year 1236, is "De consecratione et reformatione status ecclesiæ." The summarium of John de Athon is very important. "Basilicarum seu majorum ecclesiarum consecratio in veteri Testamento instituta, et in Novo studiosius observata, licet in quibusdam partibus Angliæ fuerit neglecta, sic est per diocesanos, aut eorum vicarios episcopos diligenter facienda, ut nulla maneat biennio, postquam parietes ejus perfecti fuerint, consecranda: alioquin solennibus missarum officiis noscatur interdicta, nisi tamen legitime fuerit excusata. Consecratæ vero non diruentur sine maturo diocesani consensu, quæ dirutæ mox reparentur." "1

In the year 1305, a famous statute was passed at a provincial synod, held under Archbishop Winchelsey: and as this sets forth the furniture of churches which, before consecration, parishioners were bound to provide, I shall extract it, from the text of Lyndwood. First observing, that two hundred years before, a canon of the synod of London, under Anselm, had ordered ; 1;

19 Antient Liturgies. 2nd edit. p. 16, note 17.

20 Wilkins. Concilia. Tom. 1. p. 365.

21 This summarium is cited

in a note to a very useful book upon the Consecration of Churches, by Mr. Harrington: who has collected and arranged much information upon the subject. See p.

47.

"Ne ecclesia sacretur, donec provideantur necessaria et presbytero et ecclesiæ." 22

"Ut parochiani ecclesiarum singularum nostræ Cantuariensis provinciæ sint de cætero certiores de defectibus ipsos contingentibus, ne inter rectores et ipsos ambiguitas generetur temporibus successivis, volumus de cætero et præcipimus, quod teneantur invenire omnia inferius annotata, viz: Legendam, Antiphonarium, Gradale, Psalterium, Troperium, Ordinale, Missale, Manuale, Calicem, Vestimentum principale cum Casula, Dalmatica, Tunica, et cum Capa in Choro cum omnibus suis appendiciis, Frontale ad magnum Altare cum tribus Tuellis, tria Superpellicia, unum Rochetum, Crucem processionalem, Crucem pro mortuis, Thuribulum, Lucernam, Tintinnabulum ad deferendum coram corpore Christi in visitatione infirmorum, Pyxidem pro corpore Christi honestam, Velum quadragesimale, Vexilla pro rogationibus, Campanas cum Chordis, Feretrum pro defunctis, Vas pro aqua benedicta, Osculatorium, Candelabrum pro cereo paschali, Fontem cum serura, Imagines in ecclesia, Imaginem principalem in cancello, Clausuram cœmeterii.”23