the Priests of the English Church now, as a body, are so reverent in their administration of the Supper of the Lord, as I do believe they really wish to be: I cannot suppose but that much that looks like carelessness is without intention: but how far neglect of the plain rubrics even of the Common Prayer Book can be excused by want of thought, is not for me to decide. -Si sacri Qui non I shall begin therefore, with some extracts from the Penitential of Archbishop Theodore. His 39th Chapter is, "de negligentia eucharistiæ," and to each offence or accident a certain penalty is attached, proportioned to the greatness at which it was then esteemed. "Si quis eucharistiam negligentiæ causa perdiderit. ficium in terra ceciderit, causa negligentiæ. bene custodierit sacrificium. Qui autem perdiderit, et non inventum fuerit.Qui neglexerit sacrificium, ut vermes in eo sint, aut colorem non habet saporemque. Si ceciderit sacrificium de manibus offerentis terra tenus, et non inveniatur, omne quodcunque inventum fuerit in loco quo ceciderit comburatur igni, et cinis ejus sub altare abscondatur. Si vero inventum fuerit sacrificium, locus scopa mundetur, et stramen igni comburatur, cinisque, ut supra dictum est, abscondatur.Si de calice per negligentiam aliquid stillaverit in terra, lingua lambatur, terraque radatur.—- Si super altare stillaverit calix, sorbeat minister stillam, &c.--"47 Other orders, to the same effect, may be found in the same Archbishop's Capitula. 48 In the next Century Archbishop Egbert of York, in his "Confessionale," appoints a penance : "Si Sacerdos calicem effundat postquam missam cantaverit.” 49 In Egbert's Penitential, we find several canons to the same effect. "Si quis ex incuria sua eucharistiam perdiderit. 47 Thorpe. Ancient Laws and Institutes. vol. ii. p. 46. 75. 48 Ibid. p. --Si sacrificium ex incuria in terram ceciderit.--Si quis neglexerit consecratam eucharistiam, ita ut nimis diu servata sordes in ea sit, vel colorem suum non habeat. --Omne sacrificium quod sordidum est, vel vetustate corruptum, comburatur.Qui effuderit calicem suum inter missam suam.-&c." 50 I pass on to the Canons of Elfric. "The priest shall purely and carefully do God's ministries: (Loder penunga) with clean hands and with clean heart; and let him see that his oblations be not old baken, nor ill seen to. Great honours they merit who minister to God with zeal and devotion: and also it is written, that he is accursed, who doth God's ministry with carelessness. We may by this know, that a man who has not his sight should not dare to celebrate mass, when he sees not what he offers to God, whether it be clean or foul." Archbishop Lanfranc in his Statutes, has one chapter, "de negligentia circa Corpus Domini." 52 But, lastly, to come down nearer to the date of the Cautells themselves. In the 13th Century, a Canon of the Constitutions of W. de Kirkham, Bishop of Durham, orders: "ut si per negligentiam aliquid de sanguine Christi stillaverit super terram lambatur lingua; tabula radatur, super quam stillaverit si autem super altare :--si super linteum :' -&c.: 53 and to each of these a penalty is attached, for the carelessness owing to which it must have occurred. It is not possible to say, by whom these "Cautelæ Missa" were drawn up and arranged, from the decrees of Councils and the opinions of Doctors and Canonists: nor by whose authority they were introduced into the Missal. Gavantus says, in his Thesaurus, that the earliest edition of the Roman Use in which he had seen them, was in that printed at Venice, 1557. They have since been always added to the Roman Missal, and are differently arranged from the Cautela, and headed "De defectibus circa Missam occurrentibus." In the Hereford Missal, they are styled "De casibus et periculis quæ possunt evenire circa altare." These differ somewhat from the Sarum: but as well as those in the present Roman Use, have the same object in view, and make very similar arrangements and rules. In the York Missal, 4to, 1517, (which has been followed in the present volume) the "Cautelæ ad missam celebrandam,” are placed at the end of the book, and are exactly the same as those which I am now about to give, from the Salisbury Use. In this last (the Salisbury Missal) they are to be found, in almost all editions after 1500: either in the beginning after the Calendar, or at the end of the book; and, more commonly, either before the Ordinary or after the Canon. I shall take them from an edition by Regnault, Paris, 1529. They will require no remark every reader is probably as well able to judge of them as I can be, and to form his own opinion, as to the necessity, or the reasonableness, or the superstition of them and I need make no apology to more exact enquirers into documents of this kind, who will see that they furnish much valuable matter, bearing not only upon historical and antiquarian, but, which is of far greater consequence, upon theological questions. II. Cautelae Miffae. Sequuntur informationes et cautelæ observando presbytero volenti divina celebrare. RIMA cautela est: ut sacerdos missam celebraturus, conscientiam suam per puram confessionem optime præparet, sacramentum vehementer desideret, et confiteri intendat. Notulam de modo agendi officium memoriter et bene sciat. Gestus valde compositos ac devotos habeat. Cum enim quilibet teneatur Deum diligere ex toto corde, ex tota anima, et ex totis viribus suis. Hic Deum diligere non probatur, qui in mensa altaris ubi Rex regum et Dominus omnium tractatur et sumitur, irreligiosus, indevotus, impudicus, distractus, vagus, aut desidiosus apparuerit. Attendat igitur unusquisque quod ad mensam magnam sedeat. Cogitet qualiter eum præparari oporteat. Sit cautus et circumspectus. Stet erectus, non jacens in altari. Cubitos jungat lateribus. Manus exaltet, ut extremitates digitorum modicum super humeros videantur. Intellectum signis et verbis coaptet, quoniam magna latent in signis, majora in verbis, maxima in intentione. Tres digitos jungat quibus signa faciat, reliquos duos in manu componat. Signa faciat directe non oblique, alte satis ne calicem evertat. Non circulos pro crucibus. Cum vero inclinandum erit, non oblique sed directe ante altare, toto curvatus corpore, se inclinet. Secunda est, ut non putet, sed certo sciat se debitas materias habere, hoc est, panem triticeum, et vinum cum aqua modica. De vino et aqua sic poterit certificari. Exigat a ministro, ut gustet tam vinum quam aquam. Ipse autem presbyter gustare non debet. Guttam fundat in manum, digito terat et odoret, sic erit certior. Non credat ampullæ signatæ, non colori; quoniam sæpius fallunt. Videat calicem ne sit fractus. Consideret vinum; si est corruptum, nullo modo celebret: si acetosum, dissimulet. Si nimis aquosum, abstineat, nisi sciat vinum aquæ prævalere. Et in omni casu si contingat dubitari; vel propter acedinem, vel propter mixturam vel illimpiditatem utrum possit confici, consulimus abstinere : quia in hoc sacramento nihil sub dubio est agendum, ubi certissime est dicendum; Hoc est enim corpus meum, et, Hic est enim calix sanguinis mei. Item oblatas convenientes eligat, et vinum competenter infundat, quia hoc sacramentum debet sensibus deservire ad videndum, tangendum, et gustandum, ut sensus reficiatur ex specie, et intellectus ex re contenta foveatur. Aqua etiam in parvissima quantitate infundatur, ut a vino absorbeatur, et saporem vini recipiat. Non est enim periculum quantumcunque modicum apponatur de aqua, est autem periculum si multum. Apponitur etiam aqua solum ad significandum, sed una gutta tantum significat, quantum mille. Ideo caveat sacerdos ne cum impetu infundat, ne nimis cadat. Tertia est, ut canonem morosius legat quam cætera. Et præcipue ab illo loco: Qui pridie quam pateretur. accepit. Tunc enim respirans attendere debet, et se totum colligere (si prius non potuit) singulis verbis intendens. Et dum dixerit: Accipite et manducate ex hoc omnes; respiret et uno spiritu tractim dicat, Hoc est enim corpus meum: sic non immiscet se alia cogitatio. Non enim videtur esse rationabile discontinuare formam tam brevem, tam arduam, tam efficacem, cujus tota virtus dependet ab ultimo verbo, scilicet, meum, quod in persona Christi dicitur. Unde non debet cuilibet verbo punctus imponi. Cum id nulla ratione valeat ut dicatur: Hoc est enim, corpus meum. Sed totum simul pro |