HERFORD.

ROM.

His dictis ascendat gradum di- Et inclinatus prosequitur :

cens:

v.

D

tuam.

EUS tu conversus vivificabis nos. R. Et plebs tua lætabitur in te. v. Ostende nobis Domine misericordiam R. Et salutare tuum da nobis.

Sacerdotes tui induantur jus- v. Domine exaudi orationem

titia. Et sancti tui exultent. Ab occultis meis munda me Domine. Et ab alienis parce servo tuo. Sancta Dei genitrix virgo semper Maria. Intercede pro nobis. Domine Deus virtutum converte nos. Et ostende faciem. Domine exaudi orationem meam. Et clamor meus ad te veniat. Dominus vobiscum. Et cum spiritu.

meam. R. Et clamor meus ad te veniat. v. Dominus vobisR. Et cum spiritu tuo.

cum.

there was not an exact agreement as to the giving of the Kiss in the ancient Missals: having sprung from Apostolic usage, it varied totally at last from its original design, and was appointed to be given sometimes at one time, sometimes at another. The Apostolical Constitutions, lib. ii. cap. 61, and S. Justin, Apolog. 2, attach it to the Oblation, which immediately succeeded: so also the 19th Canon of the Council of Laodicea. A.D. 366.

16 (a nobis. Sar.) There seems to be some doubt, say the ritualists, whether this prayer includes the people, as well as the Priest, or whether the assistant Deacon only is intended, who alone with the Priest goes to the Altar. The next prayer, in the Roman Use, concludes in the singular number, "ut indulgere digneris omnia peccata mea."

Le Brun says: "Si sedulo res perpendatur eum pro se tantum orare perspicitur: et multitudinis quidem numero tantum utitur, quod una cum ipso Diaconus quoque ad Altare ascendere debet." Tom. i. p. 68.

17 It was a common practice, as every reader of Ecclesiastical History must know, for the primitive Christians to meet for the Offering and Service of the Communion, not only in any secret place, but especially in those places where martyrs had suffered, or where their remains were buried. Hence, after the persecutions ceased, and leave was given that Churches might openly be frequented, not unnaturally the first Churches were built, in places which they had already been thus accustomed to assemble in or near. And thus, probably arose that superstitious and general custom, that no Church should be consecrated without relics of the Martyrs. Cardinal Bona labours to prove that it is as early as before the Council of Nice, and

Tunc inclinet se ad altare junc- Et extendens ac jungens ma

there can be no doubt that it is very ancient, and soon passed into a law. For not to insist upon passages from S. Ambrose, (Epist. 54 :) from S. Jerome, and S. Augustin, (which are appealed to by most writers upon the subject, and which unquestionably prove how widely the practice was spreading in their respective times,) it was ordered by the 7th Canon of the Second Council of Nice, that no Bishop should consecrate any Church or Altar, on pain of deposition, unless Relics were placed under it: "ut qui Ecclesiasticas traditiones transgressus est."

The Roman Pontifical orders: "Sero ante diem dedicationis, Pontifex parat reliquias, ponens eas in decenti et mundo vasculo, cum tribus granis thuris; sigillans ipsum vasculum diligenter, &c."

In the year 816, the second Canon of the Council of Chalcuith, is "De modo consecrandi ecclesias :" and orders: "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." Wilkins. Concilia. tom. i. p. 169. There is a reference in one of the Canons of a Council at Oxford, A. D. 1222, to a custom

C

which also prevailed: viz. of placing the Corporals under Altars: "Vetera vero corporalia, quæ non fuerint idonea in altaribus, quando consecrantur, loco reliquiarum reponantur, vel in præsentia archidiaconi comburantur.” Wilkins. tom. i. p. 587. Upon this statute Lyndwood says, "Loco reliquiarum. Sine quibus Altaria consecrari non debent." Lib. iii. Tit. 26. But he goes on to say that they are not of the substance of the Consecration. "Unde licet Reliquiæ non sint de substantia Consecrationis Altaris, ubi tamen non habentur Reliquiæ, solent aliqui apponere Corpus Christi." This is according to the old decree above, of the Council of Chalcuith. But Lyndwood cites several authorities why such a practice was not to be allowed. "Non decere corpus Domini recondi in altari." (Lyndwood does not say this, but refers to Hostiensis, in summa, and I suppose it to be the place intended. See also Durant, De rit. lib. i. cap. xxv.) "Alia ratio est, quia Corpus Christi est cibus animæ: item, quia non debet servari, nisi ad opus infirmorum: et non debet poni ad alium usum quam ad eum pro quo institutum est, nam debet comedi.—Quod tamen Corporale vel ejus pars detur in Consecratione altaris loco reliquiarum, non videtur esse absurdum." From this gloss of Lyndwood, if such was required in the case, we might learn how unfounded is the remark which Johnson (Eccles. Laws, vol. i. 816,) makes upon the Canon of Chalcuith; that in it, "the Eucharistic symbols are set on a level with the relics of the Saints, and scarce that neither." He

utterly mistook the object of the Canon: which is to be wondered at in a writer of so great a reputation.

18 (Thurificet. Sar.) The use of incense, in the public services of the Church, is of the most remote antiquity: and it was among the few offerings which were allowed to be made at the Altar, to be there consumed, as appears from the 2nd of the Apostolical Canons. The object of burning incense seems to be well expressed in the prayer which is found in the Liturgy of S. John Chrysostom, according to the translation in Goar's Collection. "Incensum tibi offerimus Christe Deus in odorem suavitatis spiritualis, quem suscipe Domine in sanctum et supercolesté ac intellectuale tuum altare, et repende nobis abundantes tuas miserationes, et illas largire nobis servis tuis." Goar. Rituale Græc. p. 62.

19. In examining the old Uses, the student will find much confusion, if he takes for a guide the modern Roman books, respecting the right and the left corner of the Altar. In the rubric above and in other places of the English Liturgies, the right, means the Epistle side, and the left, the Gospel side. In all the old Roman Orders, such was the custom, up to the end of the XVth Century: taking it to be the right hand and the left of the officiating Priest; as well as of those who were standing by. But in the year 1485 the Roman Pontifical, published at Venice, laid down as a rule, the right hand and the left were to be taken from the Crucifix upon the

that