derived from the usual form by which, first the Catechumens and others were dismissed, and secondly the Faithful at the conclusion of the Service: "Ite, Missa est."

cap.

For further information, I shall refer the reader to the following authorities: all of whom treat fully upon the matter, and in fact exhaust it. Baronius. Ann. 34. Bellarmin. de Missa. lib. v. cap. 1. Bona. Opera. tom. i. lib. i. cap. 1. and Sala's additions to his text. Casalius. de Christian. Rit. cap. 9. Cassander. Liturgica. cap. 26. (Opera. p. 55.) Durant. de Ritibus. lib. ii. 1. Van Espen. tom. i. p. 410. Du Cange. Glossarium : and, Gavantus. Thesaurus. tom. i. p. 7. These are works which are more easily to be obtained than are the older Ritualists, Micrologus, Alcuin, Isidore, Hugo Victorinus, &c. who agree with them: and having examined them, as well as those who hold the contrary opinion, I repeat that the question seems to be completely settled, that Missa, is derived "a mittendo," and the "Ite, missa est."

II. The word "Missa," especially in the most ancient writers and ecclesiastical documents, such as Monastic Statutes and decrees of Councils, does not always signify "the Liturgy," or "Office of the Holy Communion." It means sometimes the dismission from any Divine Office: sometimes the portion of the Service at which Catechumens were present, sometimes again that to which only the Faithful were admitted: also, as I have had occasion to remark before, (Note 7. p. 83.) it occasionally means "Collects," or "Lections" or even the "Hora Canonica," and in later ages, the "feast-day," as our own Christ-mas, and Michael-mas. I again refer the student to the authors before named, especially Bona, and Du Cange. There is usually little difficulty in determining whether the term is to be taken in its strict and more usual, or in its improper sense and instances are not very abundant of its use, even in early writers, in other than its true meaning, as applied to the Liturgy.

L

III. As "Missa" is to be understood sometimes as other than "the Liturgy," so the Liturgy had other names than Missa. Such, among the Greeks were Mystagogia, Synaxis, Telete, Anaphora, and Prosphora : and among the Latins: Collecta, Dominicum, Agenda, Communio, and Oblatio.

IV. I pass on to the chief kinds of Masses: and these were (1.) Missa Solemnis: or, that which was celebrated with the full attendance of the Priest and his Ministers, Deacon, Sub-deacon, and Acolytes: with the proper solemnities of Incensing, &c. and in short all the ceremonies which the full rubrics of the particular Church appointed. Under this head were included the Missa Pontificia Episcopalis, and Abbatialis: when a Bishop or mitred Abbot officiated, Pontificaliter.

(2.) Missa Alta: or, as it is now commonly called in England, by the members of the Roman Communion, High Mass. This is the same as the Missa Solemnis : and appears to have been a term chiefly in use in this Country. Gavantus cites only from a Charter in Rymer's Fœdera: "usque summum Altare ad Altam Missam celebrandam accesseram."

Tom. vii. p. 139. But the term (and also Missa magna) occurs not unfrequently in the York and Sarum Missals.

(3.) Missa Publica: at which persons of either sex were permitted to attend and was so called from that circumstance, and not from the place where it was celebrated, "quia olim" says Gavantus, "in cryptis et abditis locis celebrabatur." These were forbidden in Monasteries, for obvious reasons. The Missa Communis seems to have been the same as the Publica.

(4.) Missa Privata, was celebrated by the Priest with only one attendant, and is that which is now commonly called in England, Low-Mass; or Missa Bassa, or Plana: that is, as distinguished from Missa Alta, or Solemnis: but as opposed to the Missa Publica, it means that, at which, whether the people were present, or not,

the Priest alone communicated. The Missa Privata must not be confounded with the Missa Solitaria; which last, although for a time it was not uncommon in Monasteries, was at length altogether forbidden: and was that in which a Priest consecrated and performed the Divine Service, not only privately, but without any attendant Minister.

The following examples will prove how early care was taken in England to prevent this abuse. At a Council of York, A.D. 1195, it was decreed, "Cum inter cætera ecclesiæ sacramenta hostia salutaris præemineat, tanto impensior circa eam debet existere devotio sacerdotum, ut cum humilitate conficiatur, cum timore sumatur, cum reverentia dispensetur:nec sine ministro literato celebretur."2 Some centuries earlier, there are in the Anglo-Saxon Ecclesiastical Institutes, two remarkable decisions upon this point: which would appear to prove that in those days, one minister alone present was not sufficient. "At such times when ye attend the gemot of bishops, have- II priests or III or as many laymen called, that they may reverently celebrate the holy mystery with you." Almost immediately after follows: "Mass-priests shall not, on any account celebrate mass alone, without other men, buran oðrum mannum, that he may know whom he addresses, and who responds to him. He shall address those standing about him, and they shall respond to him. He shall bear in mind the Lord's saying, which he said in his Gospel. He said: "there, where two or three men shall be gathered in my name, there will I be in the midst of them."3

Van Espen, after some remarks for and against the validity of these Solitary Masses, says: "Quidquid sit, hoc certum est Missas has solitarias quæ a solo Sacerdote,

2 Wilkins. Concilia. tom. i. p. 501. Compare also, in the same vol. p. 707. The Constitutions of Walter de Kirkham, Bishop of

Durham, "Ad augendum vero divini, &c."

p.

3 Thorpe. Antient Laws. vol. ii. 405. 407.

nemine præsente aut ministrante, pristinis seculis ignotas fuisse privatas vero olim rariores quam hodie; hasque posterioribus seculis nimium esse multiplicatas."

(5.) Of the same kind as the Missa Privata, were the Missa Familiaris, and Peculiaris: the Specialis, and Singularis.

(6.) The Missa Votiva strictly meant a Mass which the Priest said at his own option; not agreeing with the Office appointed for the day. This, of course, was subject to certain rules. But in a wider sense, those were called Votive Masses, which by a statute of the Church were fixed to be said at certain times; and they were so-called with respect to the Church herself, by whose devotion they had been so prescribed. Such was the "Missa pro defunctis" which was to be said upon the second day of November.

(7.) The Missa Præsanctificatorum, was a species of imperfect Service, in which no Consecration was made, and the Priest communicated of the Oblation which had been consecrated upon a previous day. In the Greek Church during Lent these only are allowed, except upon Saturdays and Sundays, and the Feast of the Annunciation in the Latin Church it was limited to Good Friday.

(8.) With this the Missa Sicca has been often confounded but there is an essential distinction: because this last not only was without consecration, but without communion: a mere repetition and a most objectionable one, of part only of the Service, without consecration and without communion. It was in fact almost a mockery,

4 Jus. Ecc. Universum. Pars. obligent, quo minus valeant CaII. sect. i. tit. 5.

5 There is a Constitution of John Peecham "Sacerdotes caveant universi, ne Missarum peculiarium, seu familiarium se Celebrationi

nonico Officio commissam sibi officiare Ecclesiam, ut tenentur." And see Lyndwood's Gloss. lib. iij. tit. 23. De celeb. Miss. Sacerdotes caveant.

and long before the Reformation was abolished throughout the Christian world. Durand's account of it is: "Potest sacerdos accepta stola Epistolam et Evangelium legere, et dicere orationem Dominicam, et dare benedictionem; quinimo si ex devotione, non ex superstitione velit totum officium missæ sine sacrificio dicere, accipiat omnes vestes sacerdotales, et missam suo ordine celebret, usque ad finem offerendæ, dimittens secreta, quæ ad sacrificium pertinent. Præfationem vero dicere potest, licet in eadem videantur Angeli invocari ad consecrationem Corporis et Sanguinis Christi. De Canone vero nihil dicat, sed orationem Dominicam non prætermittat, et quæ ibi sequuntur sub silentio dicenda non dicat: calicem et hostiam non habeat: nec de his, quæ super calicem seu eucharistiam dicuntur, vel fiunt, aliquid dicat, vel faciat. Potest etiam dicere Pax Domini sit semper etc.' et exinde missæ officium suo ordine

per

There is some doubt after all, although Durand speaks thus decidedly, whether the Missa Sicca was at any time permitted in the Catholic Church. Quarti and Merati think that it was so: but against these are even greater ritualists, among whom are Cardinal Bona, and Benedict XIV. But there is evidence certainly that another, the same in fact, viz. the Missa nautica or navalis was at one time allowed, " tempore navigationis, quando scilicet ob periculum effusionis non licebat celebrare."

I have been the more particular in remarking upon this Missa, because some people ignorantly call the Office, which frequently is used in the Church of England now, consisting of the first part of our Communion Service, and ending either with a Sermon, or after the prayer for the Church Militant, a Missa Sicca: but,

6 Lib. iv. cap. i. 23.