bols. If we see them more frequently used in divine worship, it is because, on the one hand, the teachings of religion are most difficult to understand, and, on the other, it is necessary to bring them within the grasp of all. Symbolism is thus the form of teaching which responds most thoroughly to the needs of the people in the religious life. The great traditions of the liturgy begin to revive. For a long time they have been buried in the tomb of disdain or forgetfulness which Protestantism, Jansenism, and philosophy have prepared for them; they have burst their bonds, and the world salutes their glorious triumph with hope. May they contribute to bring back among us the golden age of Christian piety! The fervent generations of past centuries loved to come often into the holy place; in spite of the long hours consecrated to prayer they never wearied in the house of God. To-day the sacred offices are abandoned by a great number; those who still frequent them find them too long, and, for the majority, the sanctification of Sunday is limited to a simple Low Mass. Whence comes this difference? The former understood the beauties of the worship, the mysteries of the liturgy, and the latter, like the idols of which the prophet speaks, "have eyes, but see not, and ears, yet hear not." If he who has written these pages attains his end, Sion shall see her ways less deserted upon her solemn feasts; the sacred offices will be better understood; and then, in the holy place, each look shall become a prayer. CONTENTS. 3. Vestments of the Deacon, Subdeacon, and CHAPTER III.-THE VESSELS, LINENS, BREAD AND 1. The Preparation at the Foot of the Altar..... 26 2. The Introit, or the Incarnation.... 5. The Dominus Vobiscum, or the Effusion of the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost......... 32 6. The Collect, or the Prayer of the Hidden Life. 34 7. The Epistle, or the Mission of the Precursor.. 38 14 The Gospel, or the Preaching of Christ... 6. The Imposition of Hands, or the Crucifixion. 49 7. The Elevation, or Our Lord raised upon the 8. The Memento for the Dead, or the Just raised 9. The Nobis Quoque Peccatoribus, or the Prayer 1. The Pater Noster, or the Prayer of Jesus 2. The Libera Nos, or the Mysteries of the |