tes fidelium per hæc visibilia religionis et pietatis signa, ad rerum altissimarum, qua in hoc Sacrificio latent, contemplationem excitarentur. Trid. Sess. 22. c. 5. But the ceremonies, when irreverently and hastily performed, not only do not excite, but destroy the veneration of the faithful for so sacred a Mystery. Peter of Blois says, that the saying of Mass with but little reverence induces the people to make little account of the most Holy Sacrament: Ex inordinatis et indisciplinatis Sacerdotibus hodie datur ostentui nostræ redemptionis venerabile Sacramentum Petr. Bless. epist. ad. Richer. And hence the Council of Turin, in the year 1583, ordained that priests should be well instructed in the ceremonies of the Mass. For what end? Ne populum sibi commissum a devotione potius revocent, quam crorum Mysteriorum venerationem invitent.

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How can priests by saying Mass indevoutly expect to obtain pardon for their sins and favours from God, if while they are offering it up to him they are offending him, and insult him rather than honour him? Cum omne crimen, says Pope Julius, Sacrificiis deleatur, quid pro delictorum expiatione Domino dabitur, quando in ipsa Sacrificii oblatione erratur? Can. Cum omne, de Consecr. Dist. 2. A priest, by not believing in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, would offend God; but he,

who does believe in it, would offend him more, by not treating it with becoming respect; because he would, by so doing, destroy it in others who saw him celebrate with such little reverence. The Jews respected

Jesus Christ at the commencement of his mission; but when they saw him despised by the priests, they lost all reverence for him, and at last unanimously, with the priests, cried out: Tolle, tolle, crucifige eum. And thus the laity, when they see priests celebrate mass with disrespect and negligence, lose all esteem and veneration for it. As it is said above, when mass is said with devotion, it excites devotion; while, on the contrary, when it is disrespectfully celebrated, it extinguishes all devotion in those who assist at it, and almost their faith also. A certain religious of great credit related to me a terrible example on this point, and we find it also recorded by Seraphin Maria Loddi, a Dominican, in his Motivi per celebrare la Messa senza fretta, &c. There was a certain heretic in Rome, who had resolved to abjure his errors, and had promised the Pope (Clement XI.) to do so, but having seen mass celebrated in a certain church in an indevout manner, was so scandalized, that he went to the Pope, and told his holiness that he should not now abjure his errors,

for that he was convinced that neither priests nor the Pope himself believed in the truth of the Catholic Church. But the Pope told him that the indevotion of one priest, or of many negligent priests, could not prejudice the truth of the faith taught by the Church. "Nevertheless," replied the heretic, "if I were Pope, and knew of a priest saying mass so irreverently, I would have him burnt alive: and seeing as I do, that there are priests who celebrate in this manner with impunity, even in Rome, and in the face of the Pope, I am satisfied that the Pope himself does not believe." And so saying, he departed, and obstinately refused to renounce his errors. I may add that a certain layman, (this very morning, while I am writing this little work), as one of the brethren of our congregation tells me, hearing a mass of this kind, said to him: Verily such priests and such masses make one lose one's faith.

Hear how the pious Cardinal Bellarmin laments over the grievous scandals arising from the abuses committed by priests in the celebration of mass, as referred to by Benedict XIV. (in bulla Annus qui, tom. 3. Bullar, §15.) Aliud est etiam lacrymis uberrimis dignum, quod ob nonnullorum Sacerdotum incuriam, aut impietatem, sacrosancta Mysteria tam

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indigne tractentur, ut qui illa tractant, videantur non credere Majestatem Domini esse præsentem. Sic enim aliqui sine spiritu, sine affectu, sine timore, festinatione incredibili Sacrum perficiunt, quasi fide Christum non viderent, aut ab eo se videri non crederent. Woe to such! certain priest dying immediately after having said only his first mass, Father Avila exclaimed, Oh, what an account will he have to give before God only for this, his first mass! And what think you would Father Avila say of priests, who, perhaps for thirty or forty years, have offered up the holy sacrifice in the scandalous manner, which we have seen above?

The following terrible example, on this subject, is narrated in the annals of the Capuchin Fathers, (Tom. 1. ann. 1552.) There was a certain rector of a church, who celebrated mass with much hurry and irreverence. One day, Father Matthew da Basso, the first general of the Capuchins, as soon as this priest returned into the sacristy, after saying mass, hastened to him, and represented to him, how his mass could not edify, but must bring destruction upon the Church; and on this account, besought him either to celebrate mass with more suitable gravity, or to abstain from saying it at all, in order to avoid giving more scandal to the people. The rector was so

indignant at receiving this reproof, that having soon cast off his sacred vestments, he ran after the religious in order to be revenged upon him; but not finding him, retired into his own house, where it so happened, that, in a few minutes, the miserable man was attacked by persons who were his enemies, and was so grievously wounded by them, that within the space of an hour, he unhappily died; on which there arose such a terrific tempest, as to tear up oaks by the roots, and carry herds of cattle into the air. An obsessed person of the neighbourhood being exorcised, declared that all the demons of that country had been engaged together in preventing this priest from being converted before he died; and that having succeeded, in testimony of their triumph, they raised this tempest in the air.

I know not with what conscience ParishPriests and Sacristans can admit Priests, who say Mass in an irreverent manner, to celebrate in their churches. Pasqualigo says, that he knows not how to excuse from grievous sin those who admit such: Prælatos etiam Regulares et Rectores Ecclesiarum, peccare mortaliter, si permittant subditos celebrare cum nimia festinatione; quia ratione muneris tenentur curare ut celebratio congruo modo se habeat. De Sacrf. nov. Leg. 26. And there