such as a sign of the cross, genuflection, inelination, &c., cannot be excused of venial sin. And this is declared by Benedict XIII. in the Roman Council, (Tit. 15. cap. 1.) which says, that in the celebration of Mass, Ritus in minimis etiam, sine peccato negligi, vel mutari haud possunt. St. Teresa said: I would lay down my life for only one of the ceremonies of the Church; and shall a Priest slight them? La Croix says the same, lib. 2. num. 422. with Pasqualigo, if the said ceremonies are performed in too hurried a manner, or carelessly, as says F. Concina also very properly, pag. 409. num. 2., speaking of those who in saying Mass do not touch the ground with one knee when they genuflect, or who, when they should kiss the altar, only make an appearance of kissing it, or who do not properly form the crosses at the benedictions as prescribed in the rubrics; because, as Gavant (p. 3. in Rubr Miss. tit. 2.) says with Ledesma, it is the same thing as to omit the ceremonies prescribed, to perform them improperly; according to the axiom of jurists: Paria sunt non facere, et male facere.

Moreover, the learned in general, Wigandt, tract. 15, num. 75, Roncaglia, de Sacr. Miss. cap. 3. quæst. 4, Concina and La Croix in the places already cited, say, that if any one

omits a notable part of the ceremonies of the Mass, although not of the most important, he cannot be excused from grievous sin. Such omissions, when repeated in the same Mass, amount to something grievous; and therefore are grievously irreverent to the Holy Sacrifice. We know that even in the old law, the Lord threatened with many maledictions those Priests who were careless of the ceremonies of their sacrifices, which were but figures of ours: Quod si audire nolueris vocem Domini Dei tui, ut custodias et facias cæremonias ......venient super te omnes maledictiones istæ: Maledictus eris in civitate, maledictus in agro ...Maledictus eris ingrediens, etc. Deut. xxviii. 15, 16, 19.

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Hence, seeing the greater part of Priests say Mass with so much hurry and carelessness in the performance of the ceremonies, one ought to weep even with tears of blood. Well might be applied to such the reproach of Clement of Alexandria to the Gentile Priests, that they made heaven a theatrical scene, and God the subject of a comedy: 0 impietatem! Scenam cœlum fecistis, et Deus factus est actus. Clem. Alex. de Sac. Gentil. But why should I say a comedy? Oh, what attention would not such pay, if they had to recite a part in a comedy! And in saying Mass what attention do they pay? Words

mutilated, genuflections half made, acts of mockery rather than of reverence: crosses formed so as that it would be impossible to know what they meant: such movements about the altar, and turnings, as even to excite ridicule and laughter: handling the consecrated host and the consecrated chalice as though they were a piece of bread and a glass of wine: confounding the words-and ceremonies together, placing the one before or after the other, contrary to the order prescribed by the rubrics; the whole Mass, in a word, from beginning to end, nothing but a tissue of carelessness, confusion, and irrever

ence.

And whence comes all this? It arises partly from ignorance of the rubrics, which they neither know nor endeavour to know; and partly from anxiety to finish Mass in as short a time as possible. They seem to be saying Mass as though the Church were going to fall, or the Turks were coming, and they should not have time to fly away. Such priests, before saying Mass, will sometimes be engaged for hours in worldly affairs, or in useless conversation in a shop, or in the sacristy, and then hasten to begin Mass, and attend to nothing but to get through it as quickly as possible. There should be always some one at hand to say to such, as Father

Avila, approaching the altar, once said to a Priest who was celebrating in this manner: Age decenter cum hoc puero, nam optimos habet parentes. God admonished the Priests of the old law to tremble with awe when they approached the Sanctuary: Pavete ad sanctuarium meum. Lev. xxvi. 2. And shall the Priests of the new law celebrating at the altar, in the presence of Jesus Christ really there, taking him into their hands, offering him in sacrifice, and even feeding upon him, dare to behave with irreverence?

A Priest at the altar, as St. Cyprian says, and most truly, represents the person of Jesus Christ himself: Sacerdos vice Christi vere fungitur. Epist. 63. ad Caecilium. And in the person of Jesus Christ he says: Hoc est corpus meum. Hic est calix sanguinis mei. But, Oh God! seeing the irreverent manner in which so many Priests now celebrate Mass, who could say whether they were the representatives of Jesus Christ, or mountebanks earning their livelihood by tricks of slight-of-hand? as it is written in the synod of Spalatto: Plerique celebrantes conantur, non ut Missam celebrent, sed ut absolvent; non ut devotionis exercitium, sed ut victus sustentationem habeant; ita ut Missa celebratio, non tanquam Religionis Mysteria, sed ut lucrandi ars quædam exerceatur. (Apud Genett. de S.

Euchar.) And what is still more to be wondered at, or rather, to be lamented, is to see even Religious, and some even of reformed orders, say Mass with so much haste, and with such mutilated ceremonies as would scandalize even idolaters, and scandalize them more than if such Religious had been the most lax secular Priests.

Hence, let priests who celebrate in this unworthy manner, remember that they not only sin by the irreverence which they commit against the Holy Sacrifice, but also by the great scandal which they give to those who assist at it. In proportion as a devout Mass excites great devotion and reverence towards the sacred mysteries, (St. Peter of Alcantara relates that the Mass which he said devoutly, produced more fruit than all the sermons of the preachers of the province in which he then was); so does an indevout Mass destroy all devotion and reverence due to so great a Sacrifice. The council of Trent says that the ceremonies of the Mass have been ordained by the Church for no other purpose but to instil into the faithful the reverence which is due to the Sacrifice of the altar, and to the sublime mysteries which it embraces: Cæremonias, says the Council, item adhibuit (Ecclesia) ut.......... majestas tanti Sacrificii commendaretur, et men