UCSB LIBRARY THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS fttbil Gbstat: JOANNES CROFTON, S.J. CENSOR DEPUTATUS. Imprimatur : J. HERBERTUS CARDINALIS VAUGHAN. ARCHIEP. WESTMON. ROEHAMPTON : PRINTED BY JOHN GRIFFIN. AN EXPLANATION OF ITS DOCTRINE RUBRICS AND PRAYERS an Jntroouctorg Chapter BY M. GAVIN, S.J. FIFTH EDITION REVISED, ENLARGED, AND CORRECTED (Seventh Thousand) LONDON: BURNS AND GATES (LIMITED) NEW YORK, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO : BENZIGER BROTHERS AND OF ALL CATHOLIC BOOKSELLERS I9O6 [All rights reserved.] TO THE MEMBERS OF THE SODALITY OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION FARM STREET, LONDON THIS BOOK ON THE HOLY SACRIFICE IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED, IN GRATEFUL MEMORY OF OUR MONTHLY MASS AND COMMUNION DURING TWENTY YEARS. M. GAVIN, SJ. 114, MOUNT STREET, LONDON, W. The Purification, 1903. CONTENTS. page INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER ..... xi PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION . . . . xxvii PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION . ' . . . xxviii CHAPTER THE FIRST. The Doctrine of the Sacrifice of the Mass . . . i Questions ....... 2 CHAPTER THE SECOND. The Essence of the Mass ..... 3 Questions .'.'.'. . . .11 CHAPTER THE THIRD. The Consecration of the Altar . . . . .12 Questions . . . . . .15 CHAPTER THE FOURTH. The Vestments ....... 16 Questions' . . . . . . . 21 CHAPTER THE FIFTH. The Asperges ....... 22 Questions ....... 24 CHAPTER THE SIXTH. The Language of the Mass . . . . .25 Questions ....... 34 CHAPTER THE SEVENTH. The Roman Mass in the Eighth Century . . -35 Questions ....... 49 CONTENTS. CHAPTER THE EIGHTH. page The Ordinary of the Mass. Part the First: From the Beginning to the Offertory . . . .50 Questions ....... 60 CHAPTER THE NINTH. The Introit, " Kyrie," and " Gloria in excelsis " . .61 Questions ....... 69 CHAPTER THE TENTH. The " Dominus vobiscum," Collect, and Epistle . . 70 Questions ....... 75 CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH. The Gradual, Alleluia, Tract, and Sequence . . .76 Questions ....... 79 CHAPTER THE TWELFTH. The Gospel and the Creed ..... 80 Questions ....... 95 CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH. Part the Second : The Offertory to the Canon . . 96 Questions . . . . . . .112 CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH. Part the Third : The Canon of the Mass . . -113 Questions . ' . . . . . 150, 151 CHAPTER THE FIFTEENTH. Part the Fourth: From the "Pater noster " to the end of Mass ....... 152 Questions ....... 183 CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH. The Ceremonies of High Mass ..... 184 Questions ....... 204 CHAPTER THE SEVENTEENTH. Mass for the Dead ...... 205 Questions ....... 214 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. IN April, igoi, I began on the Wednesday evenings in Farm Street Church a series of simple Explanations of Catholic Doctrine for Catholics and non-Catholics. The text-book was the Penny Catechism. The purpose was to explain, supplement, and illustrate that little book which contains so much in a few pages. I began with the Sacraments, and after explaining the Eucharist as a Sacrament, went on to consider the Eucharist as a Sacrifice. To the Mass some twenty-eight Instruc- tions were devoted, and they are now published. The earnest hope is entertained that this explanation of the Mass will help to a deeper appreciation of the greatest act of worship in the Church. It is impossible to have laboured for many years in London without painfully realizing that the Mass is neither known, nor understood, nor attended, nor loved as it deserves. Surely there are many Catholics who might with a little self-denial hear Mass, if not daily, at least some- times in the week. If we inquire the reason from those who find time for other things and not for Mass, we shall probably learn that they do not understand what they lose. Mass is a closed book to them. The love, xii INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. self-sacrifice, and humiliation of a Divine Person lies before them in the Eucharist ; they have eyes and see not. With an intelligent grasp of the doctrine of the Mass they would discover a method of discharging every obligation of the creature to the Creator, and of procuring all they want from His gracious bounty. Let me explain simply the object of the Mass. Mass is the supreme act of worship, in which Christ as the Head of our race, offers His own Body and Blood in acknowledgment of the Creator's dominion over Him and over all mankind. Our Lord is the chief celebrant at every Mass, and at the altar renews His profession of perpetual service. Reason alone proves the obliga- tion of giving God honour and glory. Our best is indeed small, whether we consider the deeds performed or the abject condition of every man, clad in infirmity from head to foot. Our deficiency is supplied in the Mass, which gives infinite honour and glory to God's Supreme Majesty. One Mass, for which we cannot spare half an hour, yields more honour and glory to God than the adoration of the blessed in Heaven and of their Queen. Once more. Thanksgiving is another duty of the creature to the Creator. "Thank you" are almost the first words a mother teaches her child. The duty of thanking God is so obvious that any explanation weakens its claims. The duty is self- evident. We are surrounded by the unmerited blessings of Heaven as a fish by the waters of the sea. Man is the neediest and most helpless and most ungrateful of INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. all creatures, and for him God has done incomparably more than for the angels. The Crib, the Cross, and the Tabernacle are three fountains of mercy and love whence grace floods this earth. Man is powerless to thank God for all His benefits. " The unsearchable riches of Christ " paid the debt of gratitude a thousand- fold in the first Mass in the Supper Room. The Church calls the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ the Eucharist, which means thanksgiving, just as pain means punishment. At the Mass Christ chants His Te Deum in honour of His Father, or rather the Mass is His Te Deum, and the faithful on earth, in Purgatory, and Heaven, join the song of praise. You have received great temporal and spiritual blessings; have Mass offered in thanksgiving, and assist at the Holy Sacrifice for the same intention. And though we may not aim so high, it is useful to remember that the saints recognized mercy even in crushing sorrow. "Although He should kill me I will trust in Him." (Job xiii. 15.) And they thank God at the Mass for sending it to them. Once again : We are sinners. In this all men are akin ; and we need some Being to appease the anger of God, to obtain His forgiveness and to avert or lessen the punishment due to crime. Mass is the great appeasing power of the world, for Mass is Calvary over again. The scene on Calvary is re-presented to us in the drama of the Mass. Death on Calvary was the consummation of the Sacrifice. That death was caused by the separation of the Blood of our Lord INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. from His Body, that separation is, to use the words of the Council of Trent, " re-presented to us," placed again before our eyes in the double consecration of bread and wine. Although Christ exists whole and entire under the appearance of bread as well as under the. appear- ance of wine, nevertheless by the words of Consecration the Body alone is under the appearance of bread, and the Blood alone under the appearance of wine. We have then here that mystical parting of the Body and Blood which makes the re-presentation of the Death upon the Cross. We are anxious for our friends or relatives who are leading bad lives. But through the Mass we may infallibly appease to some extent the anger of God which we and they have justly incurred, and we may infallibly procure them graces, which if accepted, will lead them back into friendship with our Lord. For the soul in the state of grace the Mass infallibly satisfies a part of the punishment due to forgiven sin, wards off the chastisements of God, and obtains graces in every con- juncture of life ; while for the soul in Purgatory the Mass is the surest and the quickest way of paying the debt, and releasing the prisoner from the flame. Devotions come and go in the Church. Some are more popular in one age than in another. Mass is the devotion of every age and people: it is our spiritual centre, like the sun in the heavens, shedding light and warmth over the earth. Mass can never leave us so long as this planet hangs in the firmament, and the last Mass on INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. earth will be the signal for the Archangel's trumpet to summon the dead to Judgment. "God Himself," says St. Alphonsus, " cannot cause any action to be performed which is holier and grander than the Mass." In one word, to obtain the conversion of non-Catholics, the release of souls from Purgatory, to avert the anger of God, to satisfy His justice, to thank Him for count- less favours, to obtain grace in special needs, Mass is the surest and speediest, because the heavenly appointed, means. I have also endeavoured to explain in this book the Rubrics of the Mass. By the Rubrics are meant directions which the Church has laid down for the fitting celebration of the Holy Sacrifice. The word Rubric is taken from the Roman law, in which the titles, maxims, and principal decisions were written in red (ruber). Burchard, the master of ceremonies under Innocent VIII. and Alexander VI., first set out, so says Le Brun, the ceremonies of the Mass in the Roman Pontifical printed at Rome in 1485. The ceremonies were finally arranged more or less in the present form by Pius V. when he revised the Missal in 1570. Various rites, such as the Ambrosian, Mozarabic, Carthusian, Dominican, and others are approved by the Church ; the Rubrics at these Masses are somewhat different from those of the ordinary Roman Mass. The history of the Rubrics is full of interest to any student. The Rubrics, says Le Brun in his famous work on xvi INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. the Mass, are so many signs which express thought more plainly than words. (Vol! I. Preface, p. 16.) Some Rubrics carry us back to the very earliest time : they are speaking records of the past. " Let us all remember this," says the Bishop of Newport in his beautiful work (Our Divine Saviour, p. 282), " there is not a ceremony of the Mass, not a prayer, not a genu- flexion, not a vestment worn which has not been prescribed by ancient saints, if not by the Apostles themselves, and which has not upon it the stamp and sanctity of a hoary and venerable tradition. There is not a symbol of office in the country, not a crown or a flag, a chain or a robe, which is not of yesterday, compared with the stole and chasuble of the priest at the altar.'-' It will interest our readers to know that there is hardly a Rubric ever used which may not yet be found, either whole or in part, in the ceremonies employed in the Church to-day. If we do not find it in High Mass we shall find it in Low, if not in the Mass of a priest, at least in that of a Bishop or perhaps in the Pope's solemn Mass, said three times a year on the feasts of Christmas, Easter, and SS. Peter and Paul. Some- times rites no longer seen in the Roman Mass, still find a place in the rites peculiar to certain Religious Orders or in Votive Masses. Let us illustrate our meaning by examples. To begin with, the derivation of the word Mass reveals tin existence of a rubric which for ages has INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. xvii passed away. Mass comes to us from the Latin Missa. Missa is another form of Missio, meaning dismissal, just as collecta (a collect) is another form of collectio, and repulsa of repulsio in the line from Horace, Virtus vcpuhce nescia sordida, not to quote other examples. Now, in the Liturgy there were two solemn dismissals first, of the catechumens after the Gospel; next, of the faithful at the end of the Service. The word for dismissal came to denote the Service from which there were two "solemn dismissals. If further, it be asked why the catechumens were dismissed after the Gospel, the answer requires a brief explanation of what is called the Discipline of the Secret (Discipline arcani). By the Discipline of the Secret, we mean the custom which prevailed in the early Church, say, from the end of the second to the close of the sixth century, of concealing from heathens and catechumens under instruction for the Church the most sacred doctrines of the Faith. This secrecy was preserved by the early Christians from the natural fear that the knowledge of their doctrines might increase the violence of per- secution, or expose such doctrines to ridicule or pro- fanation. The catechumens were ordered to withdraw after the Gospel and sermon, because at that point the preparation for the Sacrifice begins. Another rubric still in daily use reminds us of the Discipline of the Secret, though some of our readers may be unaware of the connection. Why is the Pater noster said audibly at Mass, and in secret at the Little 6 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. Hours and the various Offices of the Church ? Benedict XIV., a safe authority, gives the reason. He informs us (The Mass, bk. ii. p. 113) that the Creed with the Pater noster were among those prayers never recited in the public Services of the Church at which pagans and catechumens assisted. Both pagans and catechumens had left the church at the Pater noster, hence there was no reason for saying the Pater noster inaudibly; but as pagans and catechumens were allowed to be present at Prime, Vespers, Matins, &c., the Pater noster in their presence was said in secret^ And the custom lives to this day. Let us take a few more instances. The priest's berretta at Mass dates from about the tenth century. Before that time the amice served as a covering for the head. Even at the present time many Religious wear the amice over the head until the beginning of Mass, when they cast it back between the shoulders. Why is it the custom for the priest to vest in the sacristy and the Bishop at the altar? In earlier ages (as now on solemn occasions) the Bishop was received at the church door, a procession was formed, and the Bishop was conducted to a side altar where he vested before the principal Mass, and remained seated to receive the homage and offerings of the congregation. The Bishop then proceeded to the high altar and Mass began. In time the procession ceased, the Bishop's vestments were transferred to the high altar, and he vested as now withio the sanctuary. There was no INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. procession or solemnity before the priest's Mass, and he naturally vested in the sacristy. The Psalm Judica was not generally recited at Mass before the ninth century, its omission at Masses for the Dead and during Passiontide takes us back to the Mass in the earlier ages when the Judica was never said. The maniple originally served the purpose of a hand- kerchief. It was pinned to the priest's arm before he ascended the altar. The custom is now observed at the Bishop's Mass ; he receives the maniple at the Indulgentiain after the Confiteov. The sign of the Cross is made at the Introit because it begins the Mass : the Kyrie at Low Mass is said in the centre of the altar, while the old custom of saying it at the Epistle side is still kept at High Mass. The Gloria in excelsis was said at Mass until the eleventh century by Bishops only on Sundays and feasts, and by priests only at the Mass of Easter Sunday. The Pax vobis said by the Bishop after the Gloria instead of the Dominus vobiscum, is taken, according to some writers, from the Gloria, and is possibly a vestige of the Bishop's privilege. Benedict XIV. gives another and far better explana- tion. Bishops say Pax vobis after the Gloria on festivals. If the Gloria be not said, the Bishop's salutation is the same as the priest's, Dominus vobiscum. The Bishop possesses the fulness of the priesthood, and therefore more closely represents Jesus Christ than a simple priest. And Pax vobis was our Lord's greeting to His disciples in the joy of the Resurrection. These INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. words, then, are fittingly said after the Gloria. In the other salutations at Mass the Bishop says the Dominus vobiscum to show that he is counted in the number of priests. At High Mass, the deacon, before saying the Munda cor meum, places the Missal on the altar. This reminds us of the ancient times when the Gospels, as a mark of honour and respect, lay on the altar upon a stand during Mass. We have now only one Missal on the altar at Mass, in the earlier centuries two or three books were used. Various customs still survive during or after the Offertory, which link the present with the past. Thus, the Oremns, as said immediately before the Offertory, seems meaningless in its present position unless it refers to a prayer formerly inserted before the antiphon which we now call the Offertory. For a thousand years the faithful at the Offertory, as mentioned in this book, made their offering of bread and wine for the altar, and wheat, oil, honey, and other gifts for the support of the clergy. We are reminded of this custom by two very striking Rubrics which occur at the ordination of the priest and the consecration of a Bishop. The Roman Pontifical directs that after the Offertory has been read by the Bishop each of the newly-ordained priests is to offer a lighted candle to the Bishop, while the recently consecrated Bishop is to present to the consecrating Bishop two lighted torches, two loaves, and two barrels of wine. Some of us may have wondered why the subdeacon at % High INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. xxi Mass takes the paten from the deacon, after the oblation of the chalice, and covering it with a long veil holds it at the foot of the altar until the end of the Pater noster. The Church is very conservative, and sooner than part from an old custom she retains it, though its raison d'etre has ceased. The custom can be traced to the time when the faithful offered bread and wine on the paten. As these offerings were large and larger hosts were customary then, the size of the paten was in proportion, and being inconvenient on the altar, it was removed and kept by the subdeacon until needed again by the priest. Let us pass now to another vestige of an ancient Rubric kept in a Votive Mass. The nuptial blessing is given in the Mass for the Bride and Bridegroom after the Pater noster and again after the lie Missa est* Why is the blessing given after the Pater noster ? The blessing is the survival of a ceremony which has long ceased to exist. Bishops in the earlier centuries gave a special blessing after the Pater noster and again before the Communion. The special blessing to the bride and bridegroom in this place reminds us of that blessing given by the Bishop. The second prayer at the end for bride and bridegroom was found in the nuptial Mass before the practice began of a priest blessing the congregation after the lie Missa est. And it naturally keeps its place. Once more. In churches abroad and at home men sometimes occupy one side of the church and INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. women the other. One reason for this separation of the sexes was because of the kiss of peace given after the Agnus Dei. In ancient times the pax or kiss of peace was common to every High Mass (except Solemn Requiem), and at least every male member of the con- gregation received it. Now the pax is given only at High Mass to those who are in the sanctuary. But the separation of the sexes sometimes continues, although one special motive of the separation has disappeared. 1 Finally, let me give one more instance of a rite which is no longer allowed in the Mass of a priest or Bishop, and is found in the solemn Mass of the Pope. Up to the twelfth century Holy Communion was administered to the faithful under both kinds. By the Council of Constance, in 1414, the celebrant only is allowed to receive under both kinds. When the laity communi- cated under both species, other chalices besides that used by the priest were employed; the deacon usually administered the Chalice, and the people drank the Precious Blood through a tube. At this day during the Mass said by the Pope over the tomb of the Apostles at Christmas, Easter, and SS. Peter and Paul, the deacon and subdeacon are privileged to partake of the Precious Blood. A solitary instance of a usage still surviving which was almost universal in the Church for at least eleven hundred years. The reader will find the Rubrics explained in their proper place where the meaning is not self-evident. 1 In the early Church, women were always separated from men, not merely at Mass, but at all public worship. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. And now I pass to the third motive of this volume THE EXPLANATION OF THE PRAYERS IN THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS. On this the greatest possible stress has been laid. The prayers at Mass are the prayers of the Church and their importance cannot be exaggerated. The Church is responsible for these prayers. She watches over every word in the Mass with anxious care and is keenly jealous of the least alteration or addition. In proof of this we may mention that about 1814 the Hoi)' See was petitioned to add the name of St. Joseph to the list of saints in the prayer Communicantes in the Canon. The request was refused. Not all prayers, however holy and beautiful, even written by saints in approved manuals of devotion, can claim to be called the prayers of the Church. Much misunderstanding is abroad on this subject. By the prayers of the Church *re mean pre-eminently the Scriptures (for in a sense Scripture from Genesis to the Apocalypse can be called one long prayer), and such prayers as are prescribed in the Mass and in all liturgical Services, or in those rites, Ambrosian, Mozarabic, Carmelite, Carthusian, Dominican, &c., &c., which the Church has approved. In these she teaches her doctrine and preserves her creed. The well-known theological axiom must not be forgotten, lex supplicandi est lex credendi her prayers are the rule of her belief. It may safely be said that the prayers at Mass are the warmest outpourings xxlv INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. of the Church's loving heart in the sublimest act of worship which earth offers to Heaven. No words can possibly exaggerate the beauty of these prayers or the reverent tenderness they display for the sacred Majesty of God. Every feeling of the heart finds adequate expression in her supplications as she mourns and rejoices, thanks, beseeches and invokes her Spouse. These prayers are recommended by every consideration that excites devotion. As the prayers of the Church they are in matters of faith divinely preserved from error> and they teach us how to pray as no other prayers can. They bear the consecration of age. The Canon, as we read it to-day, is almost unchanged since the beginning of the seventh century, 604, when St. Gregory the Great died. For 1,300 years, then, virgins and martyrs and confessors, the needy and the weary and the heavily laden, the penitent sinner, the innocent child, the monarch in his palace, the prisoner under sentence of death have found all the heart longs for in the very same words which we say to-day in hearing Mass. Why are these prayers so little used by the Catholic laity ? Why is the popular manual preferred to the Missal ? Why are the prayers of a man dearer than the prayers of the Church ? The only answer is that the Ordinary of the Mass is not known and studied, and therefore is not appreciated and loved as it deserves. The prayers of Mass demand and abundantly repay the same study which a diligent student gives to his classical author or to some splendid passage in Shakespeare, Dante, or INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. Milton. Remember that the Mass has the privilege of arousing the warmest love of the saint and the undying hatred of the heretic. Whenever heresy arises, its most bitter persecution is reserved for the Mass, and in no land did that persecution wax more furious than in England. A love of the Mass is an infallible test of a nation's faith ; where devotion to Mass is weak, the faith is certain to wane. If you wish to find a people who have kept the faith through an almost passionate love for the Mass, look at Ireland, where in Dublin alone some 40,000 hear Mass daily. To increase the love for Holy Mass I have endeavoured to explain every word and allusion found in the Ordinary of the Mass which throws light on the doctrine of the Blessed Eucharist, as also those expres- sions and phrases which to many are unintelligible because they may never have been explained. This little book is meant for all classes ; for the educated and the labouring man, for the home, the convent, ecclesiastical seminaries, for boys and girls at school, and especially for converts. Priests may sometimes find in it thoughts of saints and theologians that will make the privilege of ministering at the altar even more highly prized. In conclusion, I have to express my deep indebted- ness to the following works: Rock's Hiemrgia, the Catholic Dictionary (Sixth Edition, 1903), Le Brun's famous treatise on the Mass, Canon Oakeley's Explana- tion of the Ceremonies of the Mass, Benedict XIV. on the INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. Mass, Father Hunter's Outlines of Dogmatic Theology r Father Gerard's Religious Instruction for Catholic Youth; and, above all, to the most valuable compilation in two volumes by Dr. Gihr Le Saint Sacrifice de la Messe, Son explication dogmatique, liturgique et ascetique. His book cannot be too highly praised ; besides its intrinsic merits, the learned author has grouped together passages from great theologians and saints, our safest guides on the Doctrine, Rubrics, and Prayers of Mass. Scripture Manuals are arranged for the Oxford and Cambridge Local Examinations, and were the Ordinary of the Mass the subject for Examination, it is hoped that this book would to some degree help the student to pass in its Doctrine, Rubrics, and Prayers. Instruc- tion is my object ; and on instruction solid piety is founded. For convenience an Index is added at the end. M. GAVIN, S.J. 114, MOUNT STREET, LONDON, W. The Purification, 1903. QUESTIONS ON THE INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 1. What is meant by Rubrics ? Why so called ? To whom are we indebted for the Roman Pontifical ? 2. Give the derivation of the word Mass. 3. What is meant by the Discipline of the Secret ? 4. Why is the Pater noster said audibly at Mass, why secretly in various offices of the Church ? 5. Explain the origin of the Pax vobis said by the Bishop after the Gloria. 6. Why at High Mass is the paten taken from the altar and held by the subdeacon until the Pater noster ? 7. How long was Communion under both kinds given to- the laity ? When and why did it cease ? Is it given at any Mass now ? PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. The Second Edition of this book on the Sacrifice of the Mass has been carefully revised and corrected. By the kindness of friends, errors were pointed out to me which had crept into the text, and they, it is hoped, have been removed. Some additions have been made in the body of the book and an Appendix has been added on the Language of the Mass. Many non-Catholics and some well-meaning Catholics are earnest in their demand for the use of the vernacular in Church Services. There can be no objection to the vernacular in Services which are extra-liturgical ; but we have endeavoured to show that the law which prescribes Latin as the language of the Mass in the Western Church is another proof of the wisdom more than human which guides her counsels. M. GAVIN, S.J. 114, MOUNT STREET, LONDON, W. Whit Sunday, 1903. PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. The Fourth Edition of this little book is now offered to the public. Alterations have been made in the order of the Chapters, with some slight additions here and there in the body of the book. The Language of the Mass, which formed an Appendix to the Second and Third Editions, appears here as Chapter VI. Mass in the Eighth Century is the subject of Chapter VII. Gihr's Holy Sacrifice of the Mass : Christian Worship, its Origin and Evolution, by Mgr. Duchesne, and Ordo Romanus Primus, with Introduction and Notes by Mr. E. G. Cuthbert F. Atchley have helped me considerably in writing the fresh Chapter. But chiefly am I indebted to Father Herbert Lucas, S.J., of Stonyhurst College, for his kindness in revising and correcting the Chapter. May I hope that from the study of these few pages, some laymen and students in Ecclesiastical Seminaries, will be induced to consult the works of great liturgists, living and dead ? Questions are added at the end of the Chapters. M. GAVIN, S.J. 114, MOUNT STREET, LONDON, W. The Purification, 1906. CHAPTER the FIRST. THE DOCTRINE OF THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS. THE Eucharist is both Sacrament and Sacrifice. There are several points of difference between the Eucharist as a Sacrament and as a Sacrifice. The efficacy of the Sacrifice lies in its being offered, and of the Sacrament in its being received. The Eucharist as a Sacrament increases our merit, and gives to the soul all the advantages that food gives to the body. As a Sacrifice the Eucharist is not only a source of merit but also of satisfaction for sin. The Eucharist as a Sacra- ment benefits alone the person who communicates : the graces and blessings obtained through the Sacrament for others are due to the goodness of God. But as a Sacrifice the Eucharist is offered for and benefits the whole Catholic Church, and its satisfactorial power is extended to all faithful Christians living and dead. Lastly, the chief end of the Holy Eucharist as a Sacrament is our own sanctification, while its chief end as a Sacrifice in the Mass is the supreme worship of God. There is consequently a clear difference between the Eucharist as a Sacrament and as a Sacrifice. The Council of Trent (Sess. xxii. can. 22) defines the B THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS. Mass to be a true and proper Sacrifice; and says "it is one and the same Victim and the same Offerer now offer- ing by the ministry of His priests Who then offered Himself on the Cross, only the manner of offering is different." The Council has not defined a Sacrifice. Sacrifice is commonly held to be an offering of a sub- stantial thing made to God by a fitting minister through its destruction, or equivalent destruction. Sacrifice is made to God alone; 1 His supreme dominion over life and death is shown in the destruction of the victim, who is slain instead of the sinner in acknow- ledgment of his guilt to appease the anger of God. The Mass, according to the Penny Catechism, is the Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, really present on the altar under the appearances of bread and wine, and offered to God for the living and the dead. In the Mass there is all that we need for a true Sacrifice: (i) a visible thing, i.c., the Body and Blood of Christ under the appearances of bread and wine ; (2) the offering is made by Christ through His minister; (3) there is the mystical destruction in the separate con- secration of bread and wine; (4) Mass is offered to God alone never to saints or to our Lady ; (5) Mass is offered for the living and dead, "for all faithful Christians living and dead," as the Church says at the Offertory. QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER I 1. State clearly the difference between the Eucharist as a Sacrament and as a Sacrifice. 2. What is meant by a Sacrifice ? 3. Show that in the Mass, as denned by the Council of Trent, there is a true Sacrifice. 1 See Trent, Sess. xxii. cap. 3, where the Council teaches that though the Mass is said in honour and in the memory of the Saints, sacrifice is offered not to them but to God alone who crowned them. CHAPTER the SECOND. THE ESSENCE OF THE MASS. WE have to distinguish between the essence of the Mass and an integral portion of the Mass. By the essence of a thing we mean that by which the thing is what it is ; flour and water are of the essence of a loaf of bread. By the integral portion of a thing we mean something needed to its completeness though not to its existence. The body of a man with an arm cut off is still a human body though not perfect. Nearly all theologians are agreed that the essence of the Mass consists in the consecration of the bread and wine at the Elevation. Most certainly were a priest to say all the prayers at Mass and to omit the Consecration, there would be no Sacrifice. There would then be a bare commemoration of the Sacrifice of Calvary just what the Council of Trent defines the Mass not to be. (Sess. ii. can. 3.) Why are nearly all the theologians agreed that the essence of the Mass consists in the Consecration under two kinds ? Because the Consecration under two kinds represents the mystical death of Jesus Christ. The Council of Trent defines the Mass to be a real Sacrifice also a re-presentation of the death of out THE ESSENCE OF THE MASS. Lord. Mass is a commemoration of the death of the Lord, a showing forth of the death of our Lord. In the consecration of the bread and wine we find all that is needed. For the Sacrifice of the Cross consisted in the death of our Lord, and the death of our Lord was caused by the shedding of His Blood. To be a sacrifice there must either be a real death or a mystical destruction of the victim. A real death there cannot be in the Man Christ, for Christ died once, and dies no more. The mystical destruction (mystical, that is, by sign or symbol, not real), a showing forth of the death of our Lord, is seen in the double Consecration. For in virtue of the words of consecration the Body alone is under the appearance of bread, and the Blood alone is under the appearance of wine. Our Lord's death was due to the separation of His Body and Blood, and as by the force of the words at the consecra- tion there is a separation of the Body and Blood, there is a re-presentation, a re-enactment, a showing forth of the death of the Lord. By these words, " Do this in commemoration of Me," as the Council of Trent (Sess. xxiii. can. 2) has defined, our Lord commands all priests to con- secrate in both kinds, bread and wine, and the consecration in both kinds makes the Sacrifice. If the priest consecrates bread only, or wine only there is no Eucharistic Sacrifice our Lord's command has not been fulfilled. Receiving under both kinds is for the priest a strict obligation because of our Lord's command. The Communion of the priest belongs to the integrity or completeness of the Sacrifice. So strictly does the Church interpret this obligation THE FOUR ENDS OF SACRIFICE. 5 that should a priest faint or die after consecration of the bread, another priest, if one be available, must consecrate the wine and finish the Mass, even though he has broken his fast. The Communion of the priest under both kinds is enjoined, as just stated, by Divine command and required for the completeness of the Sacrifice ; in such a case the law of fasting before Communion yields to the higher law of God to complete the Sacrifice by receiving under the appearance of wine. It may be asked what is the difference between the Mass at the Last Supper and the Mass said to-day by the priest ? In the Mass at the Last Supper (i) Christ celebrated in person, and He now celebrates by the ministry of His priests ; (2) Christ at the Last Supper consecrated a mortal Body, His own, which was to die on the morrow ; the priest now consecrates the immortal Body of Jesus Christ ; (3) Christ at the Last Supper by His Mass merited and satisfied afresh ; in the Mass as said by the priest, there is no new merit or satisfaction. The Mass is only the applica- tion of the merits and satisfactions gained by Jesus Christ on the Cross. THE FOUR ENDS OF SACRIFICE. The four ends of Sacrifice are (i) for God' s honour and glory ; (2) in thanksgiving for all His benefits ; (3) to obtain pardon for our sins ; (4) to obtain all graces and blessings through Jesus Christ. First ; for God's honour and glory. Honour is the outward expression of the inward respect the heart feels ; glory means knowledge and praise. The honour is greater in proportion to the thing offered, to the service rendered ; its value chiefly depends on the position <> THE FOUR ENDS OF SACRIFICE. cf the person who pays the honour. In Mass the thing offered is infinite, namely, Jesus Christ the Victim, and the Offerer is infinite also, the same Jesus Christ. From every point of view then the Sacrifice is of infinite value. Once more. The Mass is Calvary over again. Not by His life but by His death He redeemed our sins on the Cross. In the Mass there is the repetition of the humiliation of the Cross. Christ as a Victim is shown to us under the appearances of bread and wine the double consecration which by force of the words parts the Body from the Blood and the Blood from the Body, is by this, as we have just seen, the " memorial" of the death of Christ, a re-presentation of the shedding of His Blood on the Cross, a showing forth of the death of the Lord. Consiimmatiun est means, amongst other things, that the greatest act of honour and worship has been paid to God. Secondly ; Mass is offered in thanksgiving for all His benefits. The word Eucharist means thanksgiving, and the Church in calling the Blessed Sacrament thanks- giving teaches us one of the ends of Its institution. The Preface is the introduction to the Canon as a preface is the introduction to the book. The introduction often explains the purpose of the book. The words of the Preface, Vere dignum et justum est, aequum et salutare, nos tibi semper et ubique gratias agere " It is truly meet and just, right and salutary, that we should always, and in all places, give thanks to Thee," would be meaningless unless thanks- giving were included in the Sacrifice about to begin. Since everything that we have and all that we are come from God, reason teaches that we are THE FOUR ENDS OF SACRIFICE. bound to thank God for all that He has done for us. Our thanks are unworthy of Him, as we are sinners and He is infinitely holy. Mass supplies our deficiencies, and the offering of the Divine Victim to the Father by Jesus Christ Himself is of infinite value independently of the virtues and vices of the priest who celebrates. The Church again insists on thanksgiving in the Gloria in excelsis, in the familiar words : Gratias agimus tibi, propter magnam gloriam tuam " We give Thee thanks for Thy great glory." This is the very highest form of thanksgiving in which all thought of self is lost in gratitude for the glory which encircles the Godhead. Mass then infallibly, as the work of Christ and offered by Christ, gives glory and thanksgiving to God. Thirdly; Mass is offered to obtain pardon of our sins. Two things are to be considered in sin (i) its guilt; (2) its punishment. Mass as it helps to the forgiveness of sin is propitiatory, in its power of cancelling punishment it is satisfactory. The Council of Trent teaches (Sess.xxii. ch. 2) that this " Sacrifice is truly propitiatory, and that forgiveness of sins and of enormous crimes is obtained by those who with a true heart and right faith, with fear and reverence, contrite and penitent, approach to God." The Mass then obtains the pardon of mortal and venial sins and of the temporal punishment due to sin. The Mass as propitiatory appeases the anger and justice of God. " The Lord, being appeased by the offering of this Sacrifice, granting grace and the gift of repentance, wipes away crimes and even enormous sins." (Council of Trent, Sess. xxii. ch. 2.) A distinctive effect of this Sacrifice is that by it God is appeased, as a man forgives an offence on account of some homage which is paid him. For Mass does not THE FOUR ENDS OF SACRIFICE. forgive sins directly and immediately, like Baptism and Penance. Mass appeases the anger of God, and obtains from Him the grace of repentance. Man can, if he chooses, reject the grace and remain in sin; the free acceptance of this grace enables the creature to tura to God by Faith, Hope, Charity, and Sorrow, and thus to receive worthily those sacraments which of them- selves forgive all his sins. The propitiatory power of the Mass disarms God's justice ; the impetratory power draws down His mercy. Indirectly Mass causes the conversion of sinners as a propitiatory Sacrifice appeasing God's anger, leaving scope for His mercy ; in so far as it is impetratory^ it obtains the grace of repentance, which may be accepted or rejected. The propitiatory power is infallible as Christ's work, that is, the Lord is in some ways appeased, though to what extent cannot at present be known. This depends on the free-will of God and on the dispositions of the creature. The power of the Mass to forgive sins is more clearly understood by selecting a particular case. Let us take a simple illustration. Suppose a mother has a Mass offered for each of her sons, John and James. John is leading a bad life; James is a practical Catholic and is free from mortal sin. What effect on John has the Mass said for him ? It may be altogether barren of result, because John can reject, if he likes, " the grace and gift of repentance," which the Council of Trent speaks of. (Sess. xxii. ch. 2.) We are certain at least of this ; first, that Mass necessarily and infallibly appeases to some extent the anger of God which John has pro- voked by his sins ; secondly, that it obtains from God necessarily and infallibly grace which, though not always f itself sufficient at the moment to cause John's conver- THE FOUR ENDS OF SACRIFICE. sion, goes some way towards it. Many Masses may be needed before John's conversion is secured. If John does what in him lies he will get further grace to stir his heart to repentance, and to seek reconciliation and pardon in the Tribunal of Penance. The Council of Trent, in the passage quoted above, must not be under- stood to teach that Mass of itself forgives " enormous crimes." Mass does not forgive the sins of John. Mass wins for John, supposing he accepts and uses the grace offered, the additional grace to make a good confession, and thus to have his sins forgiven. Let us now turn to James, who is free from grave sin. What benefit does he receive from the Mass said for him ? First, that Mass as the action of Christ, who is the chief Celebrant in every Mass, necessarily and infallibly satisfies for some of the temporal punish- ment due to past sins, the guilt of which has been forgiven ; secondly, as an impetratory Sacrifice it obtains fresh graces for James, strengthening him against temptation or fall, enabling him to lead a holier life and to persevere in God's service. By Mass also (Council of Trent, Sess. xxii. ch. i) we obtain forgiveness of daily small faults through those actual graces which urge us to sorrow and repentance. For no sin great or small is ever forgiven, after we have come to the use of reason, without sorrow and purpose of amendment. Mass remits the punishment of the living due to mortal and venial sins after the guilt has been forgiven in virtue of its being satisfactory. This remission is infallible, relying on the merits of Christ ; but to what extent punishment is remitted remains unknown. St. Thomas says : "Although this offering of the Mass, so far as its quality goes, is sufficient to cancel THE FOUR ENDS OF SACRIFICE. all the pain due to sin on this earth, nevertheless it is satisfactory to those for whom it is offered or to the offerer according to the quality of his devotion, and not for all the punishment due to his sin." (S. Th. 3. q. 79. ^3.) In the case of the dead, Mass infallibly cancels a portion of the punishment in Purgatory, though how much we cannot tell. The Church sanctions a perpetual Mass for the same soul, and thereby admits that she does not know how far the satisfactions of Christ are applied to that soul. Further, it should be remembered that the propitia- tory or appeasing power of the Mass saves the world in general and men in particular from many punishments which otherwise their sins would receive, such as war, famine, plague, sickness, and other temporal misfortunes. Fourthly ; the impetratory power of the Mass obtains all graces and blessings through Jesus Christ. If all prayer be a means of obtaining graces and blessings from God, prayer joined with Sacrifice, as in the Mass, ought to be more powerful still. Are our petitions as made through the Mass infallibly heard? Yes, if they be for our good and in accordance with God's Providence. But the power of the Mass as a means of obtaining a favourable answer to our prayers depends on the dispositions of the person for whom it is offered, and of the person who offers. We have considered the Mass with Jesus Christ as Chief Celebrant, and those graces and advantages which, because of the Chief Offerer, are placed within our reach, if we choose to take them. These graces are obtained ex open operato, by virtue of the act done. Mass for the Dead, or a Black Mass, as we familiarly call it, so far as concerns the essential part of the Sacrifice, THE FOUR ENDS OF SACRIFICE. the offering of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, is the same in value as Mass for the living. But if we con- sider the value of the prayers, that Mass, according to the teaching of St. Thomas, is more profitable to the soul in which there are fixed prayers for the dead and the dead only. The devotion of the priest who says Mass for the dead, or of him who has the Mass offered, or the intercession of the Saint in whose honour the Holy Sacrifice is celebrated, may more than compensate for the loss of those accidental graces which belong to the Requiem Mass. (5. Th. Supplem. q. 72. a. 9. ad 5.) Mass said by a bad priest is of the same value as said by a good one, so far as the essential value of the Mass is concerned. But it is certain that the -better disposed, the holier, the more fervent a priest is, the greater grace and glory he merits with God : he obtains more graces for others and secures for himself a larger share in our Lord's satisfactions. (Sporer, Theol. Sacram. p. it. ch. 5.) QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER II. 1. In what does the essence of the Mass consist ? 2. Show that in the Mass there is a re-presentation and Commemoration of the Death of our Lord. "1 3. If bread or wine alone be consecrated, is there a true Sacrifice ? 4. State the difference between Mass at the Last Supper and Mass as said by a priest now. 5. Explain how Mass obtains the pardon of mortal sins. 6. Explain how Mass obtains the pardon of venial sins. 7. What is meant by the Mass (i) as propitiatory, (2) as satisfactory, (3) as impetratory ? 8. Is there any difference between Mass said by a good and by a bad priest, so far as the faithful are concerned ? g. What is meant by Jesus Christ being the chief offerer in the Mass and what benefits do we derive from that fact ? CHAPTER the THIRD. THE CONSECRATION OF THE ALTAR. FOUR words are inseparably connected : Sacrifice, Priest, Victim, Altar. Sacrifice as we have seen is a supreme act of worship offered to God alone by a lawful minister to show God's supreme dominion and to satisfy for sins. A priest by his ordination has the power of consecrating the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and of absolving from sin. A priest offers Sacrifice. The Victim is the thing offered in sacrifice. The altar is the place where the Sacrifice is offered. 'We call all that," says Bellarmine, "the altar where the Victim is sacrificed that has been made by the hands of the priest." (De Missa, vol. i. ch. xxvii.) The altar is the most important object in the church. The church is erected for the sake of the altar and not the altar for the church. Remove the altar, and the raison d'etre of the church has gone. The altar is for the Blessed Eucharist. " In the Blessed Eucharist," says St. Thomas, " there is con- tained the cause of all sanctity, therefore everything connected with the Blessed Eucharist is consecrated ; Ihe priests, ministers, vestments, the vessels appertain- THE CONSECRATION OF THE ALTAR. 13 ing to the Sacrifice, are consecrated." (S. Th. vi. Dist. q. i. a. 2.) Blessings are divided into two classes : (benedictiones invocativcz] blessings that invoke God's favour and pro- tection merely, and blessings that set things aside to the service of God alone (benedictiones constitutive]. Those things belong to the first class, which after being blessed are still retained for man's use and benefit, v.g., food blessed in the grace before meals. The second refers to the sacred vestments and such-like things, and in a much higher degree to the altar consecrated by chrism and the holy oils. The altar may be of wood or stone. The latter being more durable is preferred. The altar on which our Lord is said to have instituted the Blessed Sacrament preserved in St. John Lateran at Rome, and the altar at which St. Peter is thought to have said Mass still existing in the same church, are of wood. The horizontal slab of wood or stone forming the top of the altar is called the Table, on which the Sacred Body rests given to man as Food ; while the whole altar, partly from its shape and partly from its connec- tion with the Sacrifice, and because it holds the relics, is described as the tomb. We speak of a fixed and of a portable altar, or altar- stone. A fixed altar consists of a single block of stone or wood, or it has a table, as the Pontifical describes, united by cement to the base, so as to be irremovable. In a portable altar the altar stone can be separated from its base without losing its consecration. The portable altar, a square piece of stone let into the altar, is to all intents the altar. It should be large enough to hold on its surface the Chalice and Host. i 4 THE CONSECRATION OF THE ALTAR On the fixed altar, as on the altar-stone, five crosses are engraved, one at each corner and one in the centre. The altar is consecrated by a Bishop or by a priest specially delegated by the Pope. The most essential parts of the rite consist in the anointing with chrism (to indicate according to Gavantus the richness of grace) and the placing of relics in the sepulchre or aperture made in the altar-stone and afterwards filled up. (Catholic Dictionary, p. 23.) The Bishop makes five crosses on the altar-stone with his thumb, which he has dipped in a preparation of water, ashes, salt, and wine specially blessed. An essential part of the consecration is depositing the relics of the martyrs in the altar : per merita sanctorum tuorum quorum religuia hie stint "by the merits of Thy saints whose relics are here" relics properly so called, that is, portions of the bodies of martyrs, not merely the clothes they wore, or things they possessed, must be buried in the altar. Relics of martyrs, not con- fessors, are selected because there is a close connection between the martyr who dies for the faith and the Sacrifice of Calvary, where Christ, the King of Martyrs, shed His Blood for the Gospel which He taught, the faithful whom He redeemed, and the Church which He founded. During the Anglo-Saxon times, instead of the relics of martyrs, the Sacred Host was buried and enclosed in the sepulchre of the altar. The reason of this practice was perhaps the great difficulty of communicating with Rome in those days and in obtain- ing portions of the saints' bodies. (See Father Bridgett's History of the Blessed Eucharist in Great Britain.) THE CONSECRATION OF THE ALTAR. 15 A word as to the Tabernacle. In England, before the sixteenth century, the Blessed Sacrament was suspended in a case from the ceiling over the high altar, and deposited in a pyx, which may have been under lock and key. In France and in the East the vase was in the form of a dove hung from the ceiling the practice never seems to have existed in Italy. In Scotland there are at this day several instances of the Sacrament House, where the Blessed Sacrament was kept in the church. There still exist the survivals at least of the Sacrament House in some parts of Germany. Tabernacles, as we now see them in England, date from some period of the sixteenth century. Altar-cloths are blessed by the Bishop or a priest authorized by the Bishop. They are three in number, or one cloth doubled with the top cloth lying over it. The latter should cover the altar and reach the ground, the under cloths cover the table of the altar. QUESTIONS ox CHAPTER III. 1. What is meant by Priest, Victim, and Altar? 2. What is meant by and what required for the Consecration of an Altar ? 3. Why are the relics of martyrs placed in the Altar P Was the Blessed Sacrament ever enclosed in the sepulchre of the Altar? 4. What is a Tabernacle, and a Sacrament House ? CHAPTER the FOURTH. THE VESTMENTS AT MASS. * l THE Liturgical vestments of the Christian ministry are merely the costume worn by civilians of the Roman empire in the fifth and sixth centuries. In the days of Pope Celestine (423 432), there was at Rome no liturgical costume distinct from that of a lay civilian." (Ordo Romanus Primus, with Introduction and Notes by E. G. Cuthbert F. Atchley, p. 26.) Mr. Atchley goes on to quote a letter to the Bishops of the Provinces of Vienne and Narbonne in which Pope Celestine condemns any departure in liturgical dress from the ordinary costume. Vestments are always blessed by the Bishop or priest before being worn at the altar. The vestments worn during Mass are the amice, alb, girdle, maniple, stole, and chasuble. The amice was originally a covering for the head and shoulders. It now consists of one oblong piece of linen with two strings and with a cross in the centre. Members of many Religious Orders wear the amice over the hood while they advance to the altar for Mass, and in beginning the Mass let down the amice on the shoulders. The amice is their berretta or priest's cap, which is taken off at the beginning of Mass. A berretta is a square cap with three or sometimes four corners. The four-cornered berretta belongs to Doctors of Divinity. " At Rome," says Benedict XIV., " and in most churches, THE VESTMENTS. the berretta was unknown as late as the ninth century. Its ecclesiastical use began when priests gave up the ancient custom of covering their heads with the amice till the actual beginning of the Mass." (Cath. Diet. p. 86.) As the priest puts on the amice he repeats the words : Imponc, Domine, capiti meo galeam salutis ad expug- nandos diabolicos incur sus " Place, O Lord, on my head the helmet of salvation, that so I may resist all the assaults of the devil." After the amice comes the alb, which was undoubt- sdly some sort of tunic or inner garment reaching to the ground. Formerly clerks in minor orders wore a shorter alb ; from this rose the surplice now worn by the priest and the rochet by the Bishop. The priest says : Dealba me, Domine, et munda cor meum, ut in Sanguine Agni dealbatus gaudiis per f mar sempiternis " Make me white, O Lord, and cleanse my heart ; that being made white in the blood of the Lamb, I may deserve eternal reward." The whiteness of the alb signifies the purity of con- science which should belong to a priest. The girdle is required to fasten the alb and to prevent it from trailing along the ground ; it also signifies chastity : Pvcecinge me, Domine, cingulo puritatis et extingue in lumbis meis humorem libidinis, ut maneat in me virtus continentia et castitatis " Gird me, O Lord, with the girdle of purity, and quench in my reins the fire of concupiscence : that the virtue of continence and chastity may abide in me." Next the maniple. Originally it served the purpose of a cloth or handkerchief, but since the ninth century it has become one of the priest's vestments. It is of the same colour as the chasuble and stole. The priest says, while he places the maniple on his c r8 THE VESTMENTS. left arm : Merear, Domine, portave manipulum fletus et doloris, ut cumcxultatione ncipiam mercedem laboris " May I deserve, O Lord, to bear the maniple of tears and sorrow, that with joy I may receive the reward of my labour." The stole is really an abridgment of the orarium. Round the neck was placed an oblong piece of linen, called the orarium, which was by women spread in time of prayer over the head and shoulders, falling round the body like a veil. The orarium worn by ecclesiastics was bordered with streaks of purple, and when in course of time its dimensions were contracted, these ornaments were retained as marks of honour, while the plain linen portions were cut away, so that it was reduced to a band which surrounded the neck and fell down below the knees on both sides of the body. (Rock,Hierurgia, vol. ii, p. 223.) The stole is worn differently by the deacon, priest, and Bishop at Mass. The deacon wears it from the left shoulder under the right, where it is tied ; the priest in the form of a cross across the breast, there it is fixed by the Bishop at ordination ; and as the Bishop has the cross on his breast, the stole drops down at either side in the same way as the priest wears it while preaching. Taking the stole, the priest says: Redde mihi, Domine, stolam immortalitatis, quant perdidi in pvcevavicatione primi parentis, et quamvis indignus accedo ad tuum sacrum mysterium, merear tamen gaudium sempittvnum " Restore me, O Lord, the stole of immortality which I lost in the transgres- sions of our first parent ; and although unworthy to approach Thy Sacred Mysteries, may I deserve to inherit eternal joys." The chasuble is the chief vestment worn by the priest at Mass. Originally its shape was very different from THE VESTMENTS. tg that in use now. It completely covered the body the only aperture was at the top for the head. In the eleventh century the shape was altered and the sides were opened. It then took the form of a Gothic chasuble. This shape was preserved until the sixteenth century. After that time the chasuble was further cut away until it reached its present shape. On the face of the Roman chasuble we have the cross, on the back the column, though sometimes in the Roman vestment there is a cross also on the back. Originally there can be no doubt the chasuble was the garment worn over other clothes, and corresponding to what we call an overcoat. The Romans wore a large outer garment on military service, called the paenula or mantle. In the first half of the sixth century we find the first traces of the paenula as an ecclesiastical garment. Did it at once become distinctive of the priesthood ? The question admits of no certain answer. (Cath. Diet. p. 162.) The priest, while putting on the chasuble, says : D omine qui dixistijugum meum suave est et onus meum leve, fac ut istud portare sic valeam quod consequav tuam gratiam " O Lord, who hast said, My yoke is sweet and My burden is light, grant me so to bear Thy yoke that I may obtain Thy grace." 1 The veil covers the chalice. The burse holds the corporal, and is in shapelike a square envelope. The corporal, so-called from corpus (a body), because on it rests the Body of the Lord after the consecration, is a square piece of linen with a cross in the centre. The pall is a linen covering on the top of the chalice 1 As there is no necessary connection between the various prayers just quoted and the vestments, no attempt has designedly been made to explain the meaning of these prayers. io THE COLOURS OF THE VESTMENTS. to prevent dust or flies from falling into the Precious Blood. Originally the corporal was larger than at present, and acted as a pall, being folded back over the chalice. The purificator is an oblong piece of linen cloth, stretched over the mouth of the chalice, and it is used to wipe the mouth, the chalice, and the paten. Corporal and pall are blessed ; the purificator need not be blessed. The chalice is the cup used in Mass for the wine which is to be consecrated. The rubrics of the Missal require that it should be of gold or silver, or at least have a silver cup gilt inside. The chalice is conse- crated by the Bishop, who anoints the interior of the cup with chrism, using at the same time the prayers prescribed by the Ritual. The paten is a plate used from the earliest times to receive the Host consecrated at Mass. The side on which the Host rests must be gilt. The paten is also consecrated by a Bishop. THE COLOURS OF THE VESTMENTS. THE following directions for the colours of vestments at Mass are translated from the General Rubrics (Rubrics generales) found at the beginning of the Roman Missal (Ratisbon, 1902, p. 20) : " i. The ornaments (pammenta) of the altar, and the vestments of the Celebrant and Ministers should be of the colour agreeing with (convenientis) the Office and Mass of the day, according to the custom of the Roman Church, which uses five colours white, red, green, purple, and black. " 2. White is used from the Vespers of the Vigil of the Nativity until the Octave of the Epiphany, both THE COLOURS OF THE VESTMENTS. 21 days included, except on Feasts of martyrs which occur within the octave ; on the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, on Maundy Thursday, on Holy Saturday at the celebration of Mass, and from that day in the Office of the Season till None on Saturday, the Vigil of Pentecost, except at the Mass when Litanies are sung, and at the Mass on Rogation Days ; on the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity; on the Feast of Corpus Christi ; on the Feast of the Sacred Heart ; on the Feast of our Lord's Transfiguration ; on Feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary, except at the blessing of Candles and at the procession which takes place on the Feast of the Purification ; on Feasts of the Angels ; on the Nativity of St. John the Baptist ; on the principal Feast of St. John the Evangelist, which is celebrated within the Octave of the Nativity ; on both the Feasts of St. Peter's Chair ; on the Feast of St. Peter's Chains ; on the Conversion of St. Paul ; on the Feast of All Saints ; on Feasts of Confessors, whether Bishops or not, and on the Feasts of Doctors ; on Feasts of Holy Virgins not Martyrs, and on Feasts of Holy Women neither Virgins nor Martyrs ; on the Dedication and Consecration of a church or altar, at the Consecration of the Pope, on the Anniversary of the Creation and Coronation of the same, and of the Election and Consecration of a Bishop. White is also used during the octaves of the above-named Feasts which have octaves, when the Mass of the octave is said, and on Sundays occurring within the octave, when on them is said the Mass of the Sunday, except on those Sundays to which purple is assigned. White is also used at Votive Masses of the above-named Feasts, at whatever time they are said ; and at the Mass for Bridegroom and Bride. " 3. Red is used from the Vigil of Pentecost at Mass 2i A THE COLOURS OF THE VESTMENTS. till the end of None and Mass on the following Saturday ; on the Feasts of the Holy Cross and of the Most Precious Blood of our Lord, on the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist; on the Feast of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and on the Feasts of the other Apostles (except on the principal Feast of St. John the Evangelist after the Nativity of our Lord ; on the Feasts of the Conversion of St. Paul, St. Peter's Chair and St. Peter's Chains). Also on the Feast of St. John before the Latin Gate; on the Feast of the Commemoration of St. Paul the Apostle; on the Feasts of Martyrs (except on the Feast of the Holy Innocents, when it falls on a week-day ; should this Feast fall on a Sunday red is used, but on the octave red is always used, on whatever day it occurs) ; on Feasts of Holy Virgins Martyrs, and of Holy Women Martyrs and not Virgins. Also during the octaves of the above-named Feasts which have octaves, when the Office is of the octave ; and on the Sundays falling within those octaves, as has been said above for. white. Also in Votive Masses of the above-named Feasts, and in the Mass for the Election of a Pope. " 4. Green is used from the Octave of the Epiphany to Septuagesima, and from the Octave of Pentecost to Advent, the latter excluded, whenever the Office is of the Season ; but the following are excepted : Trinity Sunday as ordered above, Sundays falling within octaves when the colour of the octaves is retained, and Vigils and Ember Days as hereafter prescribed. " 5. Purple is used from the first Sunday of Advent at first Vespers, until Mass on the Vigil of the Nativity inclusive, and from Septuagesima Sunday till before Mass on Holy Saturday whenever the Office is of the Season ; the following are excepted : Maundy Thursday, THE COLOURS OF THE VESTMENTS. 21 B when white is used, Good Friday, when black is used, as hereafter prescribed, at the blessing of the Candle on Holy Saturday, when the deacon (and the deacon alone), while saying the Preface thereof wears white, (having finished the Preface he wears purple, as before). Purple is also used on the Vigil of Pentecost before Mass from the first prophecy to the blessing of the font inclusively; on Ember Days and Vigils on which there is a fast, except the Vigil and Ember Days of Pentecost ; at the Mass of the Litanies on the Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist, and the Rogation Days, and at the proces- sions which take place on these days. On the Feast of the Holy Innocents when it does not fall on a Sunday ; at the blessing of Candles on the Feast of the Purification of our Blessed Lady, and at the Blessing of Ashes and of Palms, and on Palm Sunday itself; in the processions of these days and generally in all processions, except processions of the Most Holy Sacrament, and those which take place on the greater Feasts, or in thanksgiving. Also in Masses of the Passion of our Lord, in Masses for any necessity, for sins, for the grace of a happy death, for the destruction of schism, against Pagans, in time of War, for Peace, against Pestilence, for Travellers, and for the Sick. " 6. Black is used on Good Friday, and in all the Offices and Masses of the Dead." QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER IV. 1. Give the names of the vestments worn by the Priest at Mass. 2. In what does the present use of the Amice differ from its original purpose ? 3. Distinguish between the Alb, Surplice, and Rochet. 4. What is the Maniple ? and the Stole ? how is the Stole worn by Bishop, Priest, and Deacon ? 5. Give the origin of the Chasuble. 6. What is the Burse, Corporal, Purificator, Paten, Chalice ? 7. Of what colours are the vestments used by the Church at Mass ? CHAPTER the FIFTH. THE ASPERGES. THE Asperges, so called from the opening words of the antiphon, Asperges me, Domine, hyssopo et mundabor : lavabis me et super nivem dealbabor " Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, O Lord, and I shall be cleansed : Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow," is a solemn act of purification by which the Church prepares her altar, temple, and worshippers for the holy mysteries of which the material church is about to be the scene, and the faithful the sharers. At this Service she makes use of holy water, which has been blessed for the use of the faithful. (Oakeley, Ceremonies of the Mass, p. 105.) The antiphon says, " Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed," because in Exodus (xii, 22), by command of Moses, the transom of the door was sprinkled by the bunch of hyssop dipped in the blood of the lamb, to save from the destroying angel and thus to figure our redemption by the Blood of Christ and in Leviticus (xiv. 51), the hyssop is to be left in the blood of the sparrow that is to be immolated and the house is to be sprinkled seven times to cleanse it from leprosy. This antiphon the Church very fittingly uses while the priest sprinkles holy water, imploring mercy and forgiveness. The priest vested in a cope of the colour proper to THE ASPERGES. 23 the day proceeds to the altar, and kneeling, sprinkles the altar three times with holy water. He makes the sign of the Cross with holy water on his own person, and rises, sprinkles the ministers, intones the antiphon Asperges, which the choir takes up, proceeding to sing the following words of the verse, and the first verse of the Psalm Miserere in which they occur, after which the first words (at least) of the antiphon are repeated. The priest, reciting in a low voice the Miserere, walks down the church and sprinkles, the people, and returns to the altar to recite the following verses, responses, and prayer : V. O Lord, show us Thy mercy. R. And grant us Thy salvation. V. O Lord, hear my prayer. R. And let my cry come unto Thee. V. The Lord be with you. R. And with thy spirit- Let us pray. Hear us. Holy Lord, Almighty Father, Eternal God ; and vouchsafe to send from Heaven Thy holy angel to guard, cherish, protect, visit, and defend all who dwell in this habitation ; through Christ our Lord. Amen. The versicle and response will be explained later in the Mass. The appeal to "Thy holy angel" is to the angel whose special duty is either to watch over the church where Jesus Christ is, to be on guard as soldiers say, or to the angel referred to in the prayer in Mass after the Elevation before the Memento for the Dead " We most humbly beseech Thee, Almighty God, com- mand these things to be carried by the hands of Thy holy Angel to Thy altar on high;" meaning, perhaps, by " Thy holy Angel " that Blessed Spirit who assists at the tremendous Sacrifice. THE ASPERGES. From Easter to Whitsuntide inclusively, instead of the foregoing antiphon, the following is sung and Alleluia is added to the V. (Ostende nobis) and also to its response (Et salutare) : Vidi aquam egredientem de templo a latere dextro, Alleluia ; et omnes ad quos pervenit aqua ista salvi facti sunt, et dicent, Alleluia. Confitemini Domino, quo- niam bonus; quoniam in sascu- lum misericordia ejus. (Ps. "70 Gloria, &c. I saw water flowing from the right side of the temple, Alleluia : and all to whom that water came were saved, and they shall say Alleluia. Praise the Lord for He is good : for His mercy endureth for ever. (Ps. 117.) Glory, &c. QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER V. 1. What is the meaning of the ceremony of the Asperges P 2. Explain the allusion in the sprinkling with hyssop, and to the angel in the words " vouchsafe to send from Heaven Thy holy angel." CHAPTER the SIXTH. THE LANGUAGE OF THE MASS. THE Church's services may be classed under two- heads : liturgical and extra-liturgical. By liturgical services I mean here pre-eminently the Holy Mass, and next the Office recited by priests and monks, also all services in the Roman Missal, Breviary, Pontifical, and Ritual. Such services are official. By extra- liturgical services are meant the additional hymns, prayers, and devotions found in popular manuals and approved by the Bishop of the diocese. Liturgical services are prescribed and regulated by the Holy See alone ; they are the same everywhere, at least in the Western Church, and continue through the centuries substantially unchanged. Extra-liturgical services are subject to the revision, direction, and approval of the Ordinary: they differ much at different times and in different countries. The extra-liturgical services are wont to be in the vernacular of the country where they are in use, but the liturgical services are always in Latin in the Churches of the Western rite. We say of the Western rite, for, strictly speaking, the Church has no language distinctively her own. If at this moment she obliges 26 THE LANGUAGE OF THE MASS. all her priests in the Western Church to celebrate Mass in Latin, she likewise requires those clergy of her communion who follow the Oriental rite, to use Greek or Syriac, Coptic or Slavonic. In p. 52 of the Catholic Directory for 1903 for Great Britain, under the general heading of the Oriental rite, we have some twelve rites with six different languages prescribed for the Holy Sacrifice. The Church, then, cannot be said to use any one language to the exclusion of all the rest. But the fact remains, that Latin is the most widely diffused of all ritual languages, and it is of obligation in the liturgical services of the Western Church. Non-Catholics occasionally, and also some ill-instructed Catholics, clamour for the vernacular in Mass. Can the Pope allow Mass to be said in the vernacular of any country ? Most unquestionably he can. He cannot change a single point of doctrine, or any essential point of the discipline which our Lord Himself established. But the choice of a liturgical language falls under neither of these categories. It is a matter of mere ecclesiastical law, and he can make or unmake laws which help or impede the Church's work on earth. With regard to the use of the Latin language, the Council of Trent declares (Sess. xxii. ch. 8, en the Sacrifice of the Mass, Denzinger, 823), that the Fathers thought it inexpedient to have Mass said everywhere in the vernacular ; and in the ninth canon the Council condemns those who maintain that Mass ought only to be celebrated in the vulgar tongue. (Denzinger, 833.) The Church's authoritative teaching then, as declared by the Fathers of Trent, was com- prised in these two points : (i) that it was inexpedient to say Mass everywhere in the vernacular, (2) that it THE LANGUAGE OF THE MASS. 27 was not lawful for a Catholic to hold that Mass should be said only in the vulgar tongue. It is hardly possible for the voice of authority to speak with more studied moderation. For well-nigh two thousand years the Church has been using Latin in that rite which counts far more members than all others together. It remains for us to give the reasons which justify her in adopting and retaining that language. It is not denied that the Apostles not only preached but celebrated the sacred rites in the vernacular. It is not maintained that St. Peter used Latin in the Church services. He may- have done so ; but that is all we can say, for at that time in Rome there was a Greek-speaking community. The New Testament (except perhaps St. Matthew and the Epistle to the Hebrews) was written in Greek, and this fact seems to show that the educated and influential members of the Church were more familiar with Greek than Latin. It is also probable that in the West the first missionaries spoke mainly Greek, which was the language of the educated class throughout Europe. The Greek inscriptions on the tombs of Popes Fabian (251), Lucius (252), and Eutychianus (275), prove that Greek was the official language of the Holy See at that time, as De Rossi, a great authority on the subject, points out. We may perhaps take the conversion of Constantine (325), as about the date when Greek ceased to be the language of the Church in Rome. Survivals of the days when Greek was used in the Liturgy of the Roman Church, may be seen, in the Kyvie Eleison said at all Masses, in the Trisagion. on Good Friday, Agios o Theos, Agios ischvros, Agios athanatos, eleison imas ; and in the singing of the Epistle and Gospel in Latin and Greek during the Pope's- 23 THE LANGUAGE OF THE MASS. Solemn High Mass at St. Peter's. (See Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, by Cheetham and Smith, vol. ii. P. 1016, London, 1875.) When, however, Roman Christianity was first preached, Latin was rapidly becoming the common tongue of a large portion of Western Europe. St. Augustine (353 430) in his City of God, tells us that Rome imposed her language on the subject -races. Latin was commonly spoken in the Roman colony of Africa, and St. Augustine says he learnt Latin in the nursery. Gaul and Spain after their subjugation by Rome adopted Latin, and the upper classes knew something of it even in distant Britain. The Roman officials are said to have spoken Latin throughout the Western Empire. There is no evidence of vernacular services in Britain or in Ireland, where St. Patrick (373 463) and his followers preached the Gospel. It is most natural to suppose that the missionaries would have employed the language familiar to them in the Liturgy of Rome. In a service so sacred as the Mass, where every word is of importance, the missionaries would naturally use the language in which its prayers were learnt by heart. For Mass in those early times was probably said from memory. The Canon was probably not written before the fifth century, and it is admitted that the Liturgies which bore the names of SS. Peter, James, and Mark, were not written by them, (Le Bran, Explication de la Messe, vol. ii. p. 14, Paris, 1726.) That the Latin of the Church's Liturgy was not"under- standed of the people," seems scarcely doubtful. If at this day in Italy the peasantry speak several dialects mutually unintelligible, is it likely that the Latin of Pope Leo I. (440 460), or Gregory the Great (590 604), was understood by the uneducated classes ? What THE LANGUAGE OF THE MASS. 29 was true of Italy was more likely to be true of Africa, Gaul, and Spain ; of England and of Ireland. There was nothing to prevent the missionaries from teaching the people in their own tongue the great truths of the faith, or from instructing them in the august mysteries of the Adorable Sacrifice, while they reserved for the Mass and other Offices the Latin idiom, which with Hebrew and Greek, the three languages used in the inscription upon the Cross of Calvary, must have possessed a sacred character in their eyes. A further question may be asked, Why has Latin been retained all these centuries as,the official language of the Church ? Various reasons may be adduced. Latin amongst other tongues is distinguished by its dignity, gravity, clearness, and precision. The ear is naturally struck by the majesty of its sentences and the harmony of its cadences. Latin has, moreover, the great advantage of being readily pronounced even by those who never studied it. Music is of obligation in many Church services, and Latin lends itself easily to the solemn chants of the Church's liturgy. Even the poor people, as we call them, not merely in Catholic countries but in England, sing many of the Latin hymns by heart. A much higher reason is found in the mission of the Church on earth. She is not limited to country or race. She is not the English Church nor the Russian. She is Catholic or universal. She is for "all nations and every creature." One language in her liturgy is a distinct help to unity of worship. Wherever Catholics go, they kneel before the same altar, and hear the same prayers in a common language. But the strongest reason of all in retaining Latin in a liturgical service is the Church's zeal for teaching 30 THE LANGUAGE OF THE MASS. and preserving the faith. According to a theological maxim her prayer is the rule of her belief. Like her Divine Master of old, she opens her mouth to pray, and in her prayer she teaches the multitude. The Gloria Patri teaches and enforces the mystery of the Trinity ; the Church's exorcisms over catechumens before Baptism imply the doctrine of original sin ; the necessity of grace to make an action supernatural and worthy of eternal reward is inculcated constantly in her public supplications ; her prayers for the dead from earliest ages set forth her teaching on Purgatory. Apart from the Creed, an epitome of Catholic belief said at Mass on Sundays, holidays, and all great festivals, the Church during the Holy Sacrifice proclaims the following doctrines the Unity and Trinity of God ; the Incarnation and Redemption of Christ ; His blessed Passion, Resurrection, and glorious Ascension ; the perpetual virginity of our Lady ; the intercession of angels and saints; the veneration due to relics ; the Sacrament of Holy Orders ; the reality and necessity of sacrifice ; the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist under both kinds ; the efficacy of prayer and Mass for the dead, and the existence of Purgatory. The truths of faith are necessarily expressed in words, and it is important that the language in which they are expressed should always remain the same, both as regards the words, and even more as regards their meaning. A vernacular being essen- tially a living language fluctuates, while an ancient tongue like the Latin is fixed and stable in its character. The latter is much better adapted to the exact expression of the Church's doctrine and rites in these liturgical forms which play so large a part in handing down to successive generations the revelation of God. THE LANGUAGE OF THE MASS. 31 Let us now consider the views of those who assert that the Mass should be conducted in a language "understanded of the people." The objection wherever found, implies an unconscious ignorance of the true nature of the Holy Sacrifice. Mass is not merely a prayer, in which the faithful join, as they take part in a litany. Mass is the public official act of service which is said in the name of the Church for the living and the dead. Mass is offered, not by any one, but by a man on whom a great Sacrament has been conferred to enable him to convert bread and wine into the Body and Blood of our Lord. This official act is always public, because offered in the name of the Church. A private Mass, strictly speaking, does not exist. Mass in a hermit's cell without a server is a magnificent act of public worship offered by the Church to God "for all faithful Christians, living and dead." The people do join in the Mass, but they cannot offer sacrifice in the same manner as the priest. They are bound to be present at Mass on Sundays and holidays. There is, however, no obligation to follow the Mass prayers. The poor man, saying his beads, most certainly fulfils his obligation of hearing Mass. Is it not strange, too, that there should be this cry in favour of the vernacular, when half the Mass, and that the more important, is said in secret, and is inaudible to the congregation ? But an interesting historical incident shows the Church's mind as to the kind of language appropriate for the solemn services of the Mass. Early in the seventeenth century the Jesuit missionaries in China, in view of the difficulty the Chinese found in learning Latin, petitioned for leave from Paul V. to say Mass and Office in Chinese, and to use the same language in administering the Sacraments. Here is the THE LANGUAGE OF THE MASS. answer of the Holy Inquisition on March 26th, 1611, as given in Le Brun. (Vol. ii. p. 241, with addition xiv. Paris, 1726.) In a General Congregation of the Holy Roman and Universal Inquisition held in the Apostolic Palace at St. Peter's in the pres- ence of our most holy Lord Paul V. ... His Holiness like- wise gave leave to the Fathers to translate the holy books of the Bible into the Chinese language, not into the language of the people, but into the learned language distinctive of educated men, and to make use of these books thus translated ; at the same time (Paul V.) commands that in the translation of the Bible the Fathers show every conceivable care and that the translation be most faithful, and he gives leave for the Divine service of the Mass and of the Canonical Hours to be said by the Chinese missionaries in the same Chinese language. Finally, he gave leave for the Sacraments and other Ecclesiastical rites to be administered by Chinese missionaries in the same classical Chinese language. The Holy Office in reply drew a distinction between the popular Chinese (lingiia vulgaris) as now spoken by that people and the Chinese spoken by the learned and literary class. Leave was given to the Jesuit missionaries to translate Bible and liturgy into the latter (eruditam et litteratonim pwpviam), not into the former (non tamen vulgarem). A Chinese scholar explains Feria quinta die 26 Martii, 1611. In generali Congregatione Sanctae Romanse, et universalis Inquisitionis habita in Palatio Apostolico apud Sanctum Pet- rum coram Sanctissimo Domino nostro Paulo V. ... Item per- misit Sanctitas sua iisdem Patribus, ut possint transferre sacra Biblia. in Linguam Sin- arum, non tamen vulgarem, sed eruditam et litteratoram pro- priam, illisque sic translatis uti, et simul mandat ut in transla- tione Bibliorum, adhibeant sum- mam et exquisitam diligentiam, et translatio fidelissima sit, ac in eadem lingua Sinarum possint a Sinis celebrari divina officia Missarum et Horarum Canonica- rum. Denique permisit ut in eadem lingua erudita Sinarum, possint a Sinis Sacramenta minis- trari, et aliae Ecclesise functiones peragi. THE LANGUAGE OF THE MASS. 33 to me the point of this distinction. The Chinese of the people is a fluctuating language, comparable in this respect with the vernacular tongues of European nations. The learned Chinese, or if we may be allowed the expression, the classical Chinese, is a language of ancient origin, going back to the time of Confucius (B.C. 500), stable in its forms and in the meanings attached to them, and bearing the same relation to modern Chinese, as ancient Latin to modern Italian. It has been stated in an earlier part of this article that six different languages are at the present moment in the East sanctioned by the Holy See in the celebra- tion of Mass. Not one of these languages, so I am assured by an Oriental scholar, is the vernacular of the country. To take two familiar instances. In the Russian liturgy the language is not modern Russian but Slavonic of the time of St. Cyril and St. Methodius in the ninth century. Mass in Coptic is less understood than Mass in Latin ; not only has Coptic no affinity with the Arabic spoken by the people, but many of the Coptic priests can hardly read the Coptic Missal. Here is the case of a language unintelligible not only to the people but even to the priests, still kept in the liturgy with the sanction of authority. It can hardly be asserted that the Church favours the vernacular in her liturgy. Lastly : if the Church's liturgy is to be said in the vernacular, where shall we end ? The people may then fairly claim Mass in their local dialects which may be described as their vernacular. We must have at least two liturgies in Italy and France. For the Piedmontese peasant cannot understand the language of an educated Italian, and the rustics in the South of France cannot 34 THE LANGUAGE OF THE MASS. follow the polished French of Paris. High German and Low German are widely apart, Belgium will ask for Mass in French and in Flemish, Ireland will insist on Mass in English and Irish. No thoughtful man can suppose that a multiplication of liturgies can do else than diminish the reverence of the faithful for the adorable Sacrifice of the Altar. QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER VI. 1. What is meant by the word liturgy, and by liturgical and extra-liturgical service ? 2. Can the Pope allow Mass to be said in the vernacular ? What does the Council of Trent say as regards the use of Latin in Mass ? 3. How did Latin become the language of the Western Church ? 4. Give some reasons for having Church services in Latin. 5. What is the meaning of the maxim " the law of prayer is the law of belief"? What doctrines are taught and enforced in the Mass prayers ? 6. What answer did the Holy See give to the petition of the Jesuit missionaries for Mass in Chinese ? CHAPTER the SEVENTH. THE ROMAN MASS IN THE EIGHTH CENTURY. THE first Mass was said by Jesus Christ in person on Maundy Thursday night. At that august Sacrifice the Apostles assisted. So far as is known from the Scripture record that Mass consisted solely in the conversion of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. Our Divine Master would seem to have prefaced the words of consecration with a prayer of thanksgiving briefly indicated in the participle vxapLOT^a-a