The Ceremonies of the Mass

thy birth thou didst take our form,' kiss the earth; and also at the Te Deum at this word, "Thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb;' and at the Mass Creed at this word, 'Of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.' The Hereford missal has this rubric: "Et fiet genuflexio dum dicitur, et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine; et homo factus est. Crucifixus etiam pro nobis, et tunc fiet levatio." Genuflecting in

the Creed at Mass, was therefore no unknown custom in England. Indeed, it must have been generally observed by the lay folk, for Bishop Latimer, in a sermon, preached as late as 1552, refers to the practice as one well known to his hearers: "We read a story (take it as you will, though it be not a true story): The devil came once into the Church whilst the Priest was saying Mass; and when he was at these words, et homo factus est, the devil looked about him, and seeing no man kneel down, or bow his knees, he struck one of them in the face, saying, 'What! will you not reverence him for the great benefit which he hath done unto you? I tell you, if he had taken upon him our nature, as he hath taken upon him yours, we would more reverence him than ye do?' This story is prettily devised; for we should reverence him; we should honour him, and shew ourselves thankful for his inestimable benefits he hath shewed upon us miserable sinners, in taking upon him our nature."

The Ancren Riwle; a Treatise on the Rules and Duties of Monastic Life, written in the twelfth century for a Community of Nuns in Dorsetshire. Camden Soc. 1853. p. 21.

Henderson, Missale Herfordensis, 1874. p. 117.

Latimer, Sermons and Remains. Parker Soc. vol. ii. p. 109.

V. OF THE MATTER OF THE EUCHARIST.

The Matter of the Eucharist is wheaten bread and wine of the grape. Bread made from grain other than wheat, if not certainly invalid, is at least doubtful matter, and therefore can never be used under any circumstances.

The Church of England has never changed the ancient law of the West which requires the bread used at the altar to be unleavened, although since the sixteenth century she has permitted the use of leavened bread by a rubric: "It shall suffice that the bread be such as is usual to be eaten." "This form of expression," says Mr. Scudamore, "implies that a kind of bread different from that in common use was either generally employed or had a higher sanction; for it only permits the use of common, as sufficient; does not prescribe it." The unleavened wafers or hosts are made of fine wheaten flour and pure natural water, without the admixture of butter, salt, or any other ingredient. A thin paste having been made of the flour and water it is thoroughly baked between hot irons, and immediately afterwards cut into the proper forms. Irons for the purpose of baking hosts may be very easily procured, or the hosts may be bought at a small cost from several of the Religious houses.

The wine used for the altar must be the pure fermented wine of the grape; and may be either red or white. Wine made from other fruits, and all so-called "unfermented" wines are invalid matter, and render

1 Rubric in English Prayer Book.

2 Notitia, etc., 2d ed., p. 845.

the Sacrament null and void. The greatest care should be taken that the wine bought for the holy sacrifice is not some cheap concoction, and therefore it should be purchased only from well known and responsible dealers.

A very little pure and clean water is mingled with the wine at the Offertory, not because it is necessary to the validity of the Sacrament, but because such has been the practice of the Church of God from the beginning. Care should be taken, however, that the quantity of water used is not such as to weaken sensibly either the colour or taste of the wine, for otherwise, the contents of the chalice could not be said to be truly wine, and therefore would not be valid matter.

VI. OF THE TIME FOR PRESENTING THE Offerings OF THE PEOPLE.

The rubric with regard to the offerings of the people reads: "Whilst these sentences are in reading, the Deacons, Church-Wardens, or other fit persons appointed for that purpose, shall receive the Alms for the Poor, and other Devotions of the People, in a decent basin to be provided by the Parish for that purpose; and reverently bring it to the Priest, who shall humbly present and place it upon the Holy Table." "The word to read (legere)," says the Rev. Mr. Dykes, quoted by Scudamore, "simply denotes recitation from a book, without any reference to the particular mode of recitation." In this rubric, it clearly refers to the

See Resolution of the House of Bishops condemning the use of unfermented wine in the Holy Communion, Journal of General Conv., 1886, p. 102, and Journal of Conv., 1889, p. 19. This resolution was confirmed by a similar resolution of the Lambeth Conference of 1888, The Lambeth Conferences, p. 277.

1 Notitia Eucharistica, zd. ed., p. 203.

reading (i. e., the singing) of the sentences by the choir, and not by the Priest, for the rubric goes on to say that whilst these sentences are in reading, the alms are to be both gathered and presented. It can hardly be supposed that while the Priest is presenting the alms, he is also reading a series of texts of Scripture. The evident meaning is, that one or more of these sentences having been said by the Priest, the choir, when it is present, may take them up and continue singing them whilst the alms are being collected, and whilst the Priest is offering the bread and wine and presenting the offerings of the people.

The next rubric reads, "And the Priest shall then (i. e., 'whilst these sentences are in reading' by the choir, or if it be a Low Mass, immediately after the Priest himself has read 'one or more of these sentences,' and while the alms are being gathered) place upon the Table so much bread and wine as he shall think sufficient." By the time the Priest has made the oblations of bread and wine, the alms will have been gathered; when he will present them, and so proceed without delay with the service.

In the primitive Church the offerings of the people were first presented, and afterward the oblations of bread and wine. But the reason for this order was, because the matter of the Sacrament was taken from these offerings, and they were made by the people with special reference to this object. Now the offerings of the people always consist of money, and are made for the poor and for the support of the church, and so have only a remote relation to the eucharistic oblations. There is no reason, therefore, why the alms should be presented before the bread and wine; and a very unde

sirable delay is avoided by observing the common custom of presenting the bread and wine first. This is the order of the Mozarabic missal,2 and Le Brun tells us, that it was also the order which was directed "in a very great number of missals of divers churches, and in all the manuscript and printed missals of Paris until the seventeenth century. It is still observed at Notre Dame, and throughout almost the whole diocese, although since the year 1654, the missals of Paris appoint the offerings of the people before the oblation of the host and chalice." Le Brun is referring to the French diocesan rites, which have since been suppressed. It was also the order prescribed by the Lyons missal which was in use down to the time of the suppression about 1870. "The rubrics of the Mass of the several English Uses," says Canon Simmons, "are altogether silent on this point, but numerous incidental notices bring the ceremony very distinctly before us. The money offerings of the people were received after the Offertory had been sung, and the bread had been taken from the paten and laid upon the corporal, and the chalice made, that is, after water had been mixed with the wine."

This statement as to the order observed under the old English rites receives corroboration from the fact that the Liber Regalis directed that the offering of gold, which the king made in the Mass at his coronation, should be made after the bread and wine had been presented and offered. This order was continued

2 Missale Mixtum, Migne, col. 528, 529. Explication de la Messe, t. iii, art. iii. The Lay Folks Mass Book, p. 232.

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