to-day on every feria of Lent, from Ash Wednesday to the Wednesday of Holy Week inclusively. The words are said after the last Post-Communion prayer, and the short oratio super populum follows. In Lent this oratio is the same as the prayer said at Vespers. Among the Jews the Eulogies were one part of Jewish use prayer; the Rabbis distinguishing two elements in of the prayer, namely the Eulogies or adoration, and the Eulogies. Tephillah or intercession: these 2 elements are emphasised in the Lord's Prayer, and are recognised in the central sacred act of Christendom, the Liturgy. THE VIATICUM. word When the Eucharist is taken to the sick by way Viaticum. of Viaticum, that is "for the journey," it may be taken either privately or publicly, the latter in countries where this is permitted.† When carried publicly, How either the baldacchinum, or the umbraculum, little shade, carried. is used, a bell is rung before it always, and incense and lights are always carried. The use of the bell dates from A.D. 1199. It is removed in this way, also, that is with the umbraculum and lights, from one part of the church to the other. When carried privately, the host is suspended from the priest's neck. Priests only, at the present day, may carry the Who Eucharist to the sick; and in the West the Pope only carries it. may carry it on his person when on a journey. Pius VII. and Pius IX. both carried it suspended from the neck when they fled from Rome.‡ * The Eulogy pronounced at the distribution of the bread at the Passover very closely resembles that given in the Adaxý for the bread and wine of the Eucharist. (Kep. 0'. 2. Kep. i'. 2.) It has not been permitted in Rome to carry the Host with fiocchi, i.e., publicly with candles and procession, since 1870. It was however so carried by a parish priest in Trastevere in 1894; and on this occasion even the soldiers on guard saluted. When carried publicly in the street the people follow from the church to the house, carrying lighted candles, and wait outside during the priest's visit. Pius IX. used the same receptacle worn by his predecessor the day of his flight. Ancient Eusebius tells us that the Eucharist used to be practice. taken to the sick and the confessors by lay people as well as by clerics. Leo IV., about 850, prohibits lay people carrying it. A council held A.D. 990 confines the ministration of the Viaticum to priests. But deacons and others still continued to give it, and a Council of Westminster as late as 1138 says it is to be given "By a priest or deacon, or in urgent necessity, by anyone;" per sacerdotem aut diaconum aut necessitate instante per quemlibet. It is related of Mary Queen of Scots that she communicated herself the morning of her death. Paschal munion. In the East however, the Armenians apparently allow the Eucharist to be carried even by merchants on caravan expeditions. The curious custom of burying the eucharist with the dead, was forbidden in A.D. 393 by the third council of Carthage. The discipline as we see has changed considerably, in order to ensure decency of procedure among a vastly greater Christian society; but it is discipline not spirit which has changed. Tertullian, De corona Cap. iii., speaks of the anxious care taken by Christians not to spill a drop of the chalice or let fall any particle of the bread: Calicis aut panis etiam nostri aliquid decuti in terram anxie patimur; and Origen in the 13th Homily on Exodus says the same. Pope Innocent I. 402-416, says the eucharist carried to the tituli may not be carried to suburban churches, as the sacraments are not to be carried far: 'Quia non longe portanda sunt sacramenta." 66 This year (1897) the custom of carrying the Eucharist under the baldacchinum, accompanied by a procession of clergy and people carrying lights and of children scattering flowers, and with chanting of eucharistic hymns, has been revived in Rome at Easter tide. In this way the Paschal Communion is brought to the sick from their parish church. CHAPTER V. FEASTS OF THE CHURCH. Feasts of the Church-Earliest feast days-The great festivals in Rome Octaves-The Sunday-The Saturday-The Vigil-The Station -The Feria--Ember-days-Fasts-Rogations-Advent-Christmas- -Epiphany-its Octave-Lent-Easter day-Ascension-Pentecost-Corpus Domini-January 1-The feasts of the MadonnaFeasts of S. Peter-The First of August-Early feasts of SaintsAll Saints--All Souls-Feasts of angels-Feast of a Dedication. THE first feasts kept in the Christian Church, except the Christian festivals of Easter and Pentecost, were those of the martyrs; it is only later that feast days are assigned to other saints—to founders of Churches, first Bishops, and others. The martyrs commemorated were the local martyrs of each place. Natalis, in Italian Natale, is the earliest name for a Natalis. feast day, it is the word used by the early church for the feasts of the martyrs. Later any feast day was called Natalis. Hence in Polemio Silvio's calendar under March 20 we read Natalis Calicis, the feast in honour of the institution of the Eucharist. Only 3 actual natalitia or birthdays are kept in the Church: the Nativity of Christ, of the Blessed Virgin, and of S. John Baptist.† The law reserving the institution of new feasts to the Holy See did not exist till after A.D. 1020, when * See Part I., p. 411. The feast of the conception is only observed in the case of our Lord, March 25, and of Mary, December 8. "Double" "Semi feasts. such a rule was found to be necessary as it was in the case of beatifying and canonising. Feasts may be of different degrees of dignity: and nearly all the feasts of the year are described as double" officium or festum duplex, or semi-duplex. The principal feasts are Doubles (duplex) of the First Class,' on these days no commemoration of any other day or feast occurring is ever made. Epiphany, December 8, and all the days of obligation' (see infra) are of this class, except Sunday and 4 lesser feasts. The feast of the dedication of a church, and of its titular or patron saint, are of this class also. Doubles of the Second Class are feasts of the second degree of dignity; these are: Circumcision; Name of Jesus; Trinity; the Precious Blood; the Nativity, Annunciation, Visitation, and Purification of the B.V.M.; the Dedication of S. Michael; the feasts of the 12 Apostles, and of the 4 Evangelists; of SS. Stephen; Laurence; Anna; Joachim; the Innocents; the Invention of the Cross; the Patronage of S. Joseph. The 3rd degree of dignity is the double major; double major feasts are to be preferred to other double feasts which occur on the same day; they are the 19 following: Transfiguration, Exaltation of the Cross, Sacred Heart; these feasts of the Madonna: the Holy Name, Presentation, Ad nives, Mount Carmel, Rosary, 2 feasts of the 7 Dolours, and the feast of Mercy. The apparition of S. Michael, Decollation of S. John Baptist, S. Peter ad Vincula, Conversion of S. Paul, S. John before the Latin Gate, S. Barnabas; and feasts of lesser Patrons. All other double feasts are called double minor. To these 4 classes are added Semi - doubles, and festum simplex or simple feasts. All doubles and semidoubles have 2 vespers, but simple feasts have only first vespers of the day before and end with nones on the following day. All doubles and semi-doubles are preferred to these feasts, which are never in this case transferred to another day. All doubles may be transferred. feasts. The two greatest feasts of the year are Easter and The Christmas; but Easter exceeds all others in the mul- greatest tiplicity of its rites and the solemnity of its preparation. In Rome the feast of S. Peter is one of the greatest In Rome. of the year; and the Purification, February 2, is here a day of obligation. The favourite Roman saints are the two early Roman martyrs Cecilia, November 22, and Agnes, January 21, and the Roman XIV. century saint Francesca Romana, March 9. The feast day of Pius V. (1572) on May 5, when his relics are visited in S. Maria Maggiore by a crowd of poor people all day, is another very Roman sight. On all great and all titular festivals, basilicas and churches are hung with the disfiguring but historical red drapery. And equally Roman is the sight and smell of the box leaves, called familiarly mortella, which are strewn at the entrance and up the nave and aisles of the Roman churches on festas and Stations.† The holidays of obligation are days on which there is an obligation of hearing mass; in the Roman diocese they are as follows: Easter day. Ascension. Nativity of S. John Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, June 29. All Saints, November 1. Circumcision, January 1. ruary 2. S. Joseph, March 19. And all the Sundays of the year. All these days are to be kept as Sundays.§ † Not in Basilicas. *See Part I., § Benedict XIV. Clement XIV. and Pius VI. at the represen |