The great illumin ated cross. The Girandola. The hour an Auditor of the Rota came to the Pope's throne and said in a loud voice: "Pater sancte, annuntio vobis gaudium magnum, quod est alleluia": "Holy Father, I announce to you a great joy, which is alleluia." On Holy Thursday in S. Peter's was lit the huge brass cross, which had 2 immense centres of light, each containing 314 candles. It remained alight on Thursday and Friday, and was designed on account of the large number of people who came on these days to venerate the relics in the great church. It was 33 palms high, and 17 wide. The beautiful effects produced by the shadows thrown at various points of the Basilica by this illuminated cross, were painted every year by artists and visitors. The lighting of many hundreds of lights at the great feasts and Stations, is of the highest antiquity in Rome.* The Girandola, on Holy Saturday, was a display of fireworks which took place in different places, one year at Castel S. Angelo, or in the Piazza del Popolo, another, on the Janiculum. The display of fireworks on the day of the Statuto in Rome now exactly represents the Girandola, except that some sacred subject was represented in the latter. The Matins of Tenebræ used to begin at about 8 p.m. or at midnight, or later still. The hour is now changed to 2 or 3 hours before Ave Maria. The name Nocturn, a night office, and Tenebræ, or darkness, is still considered applicable, partly because the office terminates with the end of daylight, and with the gradual extinction of all the lights, and partly because it is an office of mourning. Only one function, in recent centuries, was celebrated by night in the Cappella pontificia, the Christmas night Matins and mass; and it is the only night function in Rome at the present day. * See supra p. 275, footnote. CHAPTER VII. CATECHUMENATE AND PENITENTIAL SYSTEM. The disciplinary system of the Church-The Catechumenate-The disciplina arcani - Penitential system - Absolution - Jurisdiction Excommunication and interdict - Pilgrimages — Jubilee — The Cathedra-The title "Catholic." Catechu THE Catechumenate was a noviciate to baptism; it The originated towards the decline of the II. century, and is menate. first mentioned by Justin Martyr, being fully established by the III. century. Tertullian and the Clementines both speak of it, while later descriptions are abundant. The catechumen was a candidate for baptism, who was under instruction, and catechised. He formed part of the ecclesia, for he was a member of the Christian society, a convert preparing for baptism, confirmation, communion, and the Christian life. This noviciate lasted for 2 or 3 years, sometimes for much longer; or the time might be considerably shortened. Several of the iv. century Fathers of the church remained catechumens till they were over 30 years old. Constantine was a catechumen when he convoked and presided at the Council of Nicæa. The catechumenate ceased when the world became Christian, and when infant baptism was the rule. The catechumens' mass has been spoken of in Chapter i. In Rome they retired before the Gospel; at this place the deacon cried out: "Si quis est catechumenus, exeat foras"; or he cried twice: "Catechumens, depart !" There is no Roman account of the instruction of catechumens to parallel that of Cyril Rite of Feria of the Greater Scrutiny in Rome. in Jerusalem, or of Augustine in Africa. The latter however best exemplifies Roman usages. It is addressed ad competentes, the name given to the catechumens the week before their baptism; before this they were called audientes or hearers. The competentes or porcóuevo, illuminated, could assist at the entire liturgy. The chief ceremonies took place in the last week of Lent, and created in great part the solemnity of this season. The names of those to be baptized on Holy Saturday were put down at the beginning of Lent, and through Lent the Scrutinia took place. The rite which admitted a pagan among catechumens initiation. consisted of an exorcism (exsufflatio), the impression of the sign of the cross, and the distinctively Roman rite of the imposition of salt. All these ceremonies were repeated at the various scrutinia, the intervals between which differed in different times and places; in the VII. century 7 took place in Rome. The 3rd of these was there named " the day of the opening of the ears;" but in other places, where the creed only was given, it was called Feria in traditione symboli. It took place on the Wednesday of the 4th week, and the list of candidates for baptism was finally closed this day. The catechumens heard the Gospel read for the first time. Each of 4 deacons, preceded with lights and incense, brought in one of the Gospels, the 4 being then placed at the 4 corners of the altar. The deacons then cried: "Be silent, hear attentively," and read the first verses of each Gospel. Then the catechumens were interrogated: "In what language do these confess our Lord Jesus Christ ?" "In Greek." Then: "Make known to them the Faith they believe"; on which the creed was read aloud in Greek by an acolyte. A woman and a man catechumen were then brought forward; and an acolyte recited the creed before them in Latin. Then the Dominical Prayer was given, the clauses of which were explained to them. The catechumens left after the Gospel of mass, but their sponsors returned, and, at the offertory, gave in the names at the altar. On Holy Saturday, the usual ceremonies being for a Holy last time repeated, the Ephphetha (Mark vii. 32-36) Saturday, took place, followed by the unction of the breast and Scrutiny. shoulders, which is the least ancient of these ante- Dost thou renounce Satan? The answer being Abrenuntio. The Creed was now THE DISCIPLINA ARCANI. the last arcani. The disciplina arcani, or discipline of the secret, was The an institution of the primitive church, devised to keep disciplina from the pagan world around it, and from its own catechumens, the knowledge of the greater mysteries. This discipline lasted for the first v. centuries, and was already operative in the second. It referred chiefly to the Eucharist, the teaching regarding which it was feared would not be understood, while the early Christians also dreaded profanation. Tertulliant in the III. and Augustine in the iv. century refer to the discipline: the latter in the words: "If we ask a catechumen, 'Do you believe in Christ?' he will answer, 'Yes,' and he crosses himself; he bears the cross of Christ on his forehead, and is not ashamed at the cross of his Lord. Behold he has believed in His name. Let us ask him, 'Do you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and do you drink of His blood?' He does not understand what we mean, because Jesus has not trusted Himself to him."s * Cf. pp. 7, 31, 167-169, 264 et seq., 280, 290. The term however is first used by a XVII. century writer. Tertullian: "The profane are excluded from the sight of the most holy mysteries, and those are carefully selected who are permitted to be spectators." § S. Augustine on the passage John ii. 23, 24. Autun in The Ignatian Epistles show that all was not expressed which was believed: and the discipline of the secret affected early preaching. This explains the abrupt and broken sentences in Chrysostom and others: “The initiated know what I mean "; while Epiphanius in the iv. century referring to the words of institution, “This is my body," employs the meaningless circumlocution: "He said 'This is that of mine,' τοῦτό μού ἐστι τόδε. The same reserve is visible in Chrysostom's XL. Homily on i. Corinthians. But the most instructive instance is the description of a scene which took place in the church at Ĉonstantinople written by Palladius in his life of Chrysostom, and by Chrysostom in a private letter to the Pope: the former says: "the symbols" were spilt, symbola effudit; the latter: "The most holy blood of Christ was spilled," sanctissimus Christi sanguis. We know that the catechumens attended the sermons, but so did Jews and pagans; in 427 S. Gaudentius speaks of the practice of pagans going round to take notes of what they saw and heard; and Gregory Nazianzen says he himself saw someone doing this while he was preaching. Sozomen, with others, alludes to the practice. The discipline of the secret was not everywhere and at all times in vigour. Irenæus, and Justin in Rome, both speak openly of the Eucharist. On the other hand Minucius Felix, Tatian, and Athenagoras do not mention it in their apologetic writings. Origen, again, speaks of the sacramenta fidelium, mysteries of the faithful, which those know who are initiated," or quos nosse fas est, which those know to whom the knowledge is lawful. The discovery of the Autun inscription in 1839, edited scription in 1881 by Cardinal Pitra, is a new testimony to the existence of this discipline. Autun, Augustodunum, was a boy's college, the Eton of the iv. century. The inscription is a Greek funeral epitaph written to the memory of a companion. The Eucharist is here |