a Bishop, it had ceased to be the custom in this country (England, in the thirteenth century) for the people to offer bread and wine. 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 corporas, and the chalice 'made,' i. c., after water had been mixed with the wine."

"This we gather from English authorities, but it (i. e., the mingling of water with the wine) was expressly laid down in the rubrics of several French uses, e. g., in that of Evreux. The priest elevated the chalice with the wine and water, the paten upon it, and the bread thereupon, and after the prayer suscipe, he placed the bread upon the corporas, and took the paten for the offerings, and after the offering said over the people, 'Centuplum accipiatis, et vitam eternam possidiatis.'

The offerings, whether of bread and wine or, in later times, of money, were received by the priest and his ministers at the foot of the altar steps or at the entrance of the choir.

"The (following) description given of this ceremony in the eighteenth century (at Rouen) might very well have served for that of an English mediæval church. ‘Aux grandes fêtes le célebrant avec le diacre et le soûdiacre descend au bas l'autel, et donne à baiser la patene. C'est le soûdiacre qui recoit les offerandes, et qui les porte sur l'autel.'"

8

The following are the directions for the solemn reception of the offerings under the use of Paris:'

"When the offerings of the clergy and people are to be made, the Celebrant receives the paten and the purificator from the deacon; and then while the choir sing the Offertory, the Celebrant having made an inclination to the altar, presents the paten to the deacon, sub-deacon and acolytes to be kissed by them. The acolytes carry, one a holy-water vessel and sprinkler, the other the basin or vase in which the offerings are to be received. Then the Celebrant standing erect, between the deacon and sub-deacon, upon the lowest step of the altar, or at the balustrade of the sanctuary, receives the offerings,

7 Simmons Lay Folks Mass Book, pp. 232, 233, note.

Moleon, Voyages Liturgiques, pg. 366, quoted in Simmons Lay Folks Mass Book, pg. 236.

Manuel des Cérémonies selon Le Rite de L'Eglise de Paris, published by D'Adrien Le Clerc et Cie, Paris, A. D. 1846.

and to those who approach he then presents the paten to be kissed. To the priests, deacons and sub-deacons, he presents the concave part; to others he presents the convex; wiping the paten each time with the purificator, and saying, 'Pax tibi.' They who kiss the paten bow and reply, 'Et cum spiritu tuo,' and bow again after kissing the paten. Finally, the Celebrant returns the paten and purificator to the deacon. If there be bread to be blessed (pain à benir), he blesses it, reciting the prayer marked in the Ordinary of the Mass; and having received the sprinkler from the deacon (with the accustomed salutations) he sprinkles the bread thrice with holy water. After the offering the Celebrant returns to the altar with the deacon and sub-deacon."

The use of the paten (upon which the oblation of bread has been made immediately before, at the altar) for the reception of the alms or to be kissed by the people, was repeatedly forbidden, e. g., by Pope Pius V, and again by the Third Provincial Council of Milan (A. D. 1574), but, nevertheless, the practice was continued in various places in France, until the middle of the last century, as the authorities and dates, quoted above, show.

II. OF BENEDICTUS QUI VENIT.

There is a very considerable diversity of opinion, and also of custom, as to the particular time and place, wherein are to be sung the words, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest." By the present Roman use Benedictus qui venit, etc., is commonly sung after the Celebrant has uttered the words of consecration, and while he is saying the last half of the Canon, and not until then, because the words had their fulfilment after the advent of Christ into this world. This usage, although ordered by a rubric in the Ceremonial of Bishops,' in a Solemn Mass at the consecration of a Bishop, is not prescribed in the missal, and, therefore, according to the judgment of P. M. Quarti, "they who sing this (i. e., the Benedictus) before the consecration are not to be condemned." "Benedictus qui venit, etc., non cantatur a choro nisi post consecrationem et elevationem. Quia autem hic ritus non præscribitur in Missali, et

1 Carem. Epis., lib. ii., c. 8.

Cærimoniale loquitur de Missis solemnibus celebrante Episcopo, non sunt damnandi, qui illud canunt ante Consecrationem, absente Episcopo."

The earlier usage undoubtedly was to sing the Benedictus immediately after the Sanctus (of which it is the concluding sentence) and before the consecration, as in anticipation of Christ's coming in the holy mysteries. The custom of prolonging the chant of Sanctus and Benedictus, while the Celebrant was proceeding with the Canon (a custom that began to prevail in the sixteenth century, in spite of the fact that such overlapping of the several parts of the Mass had been forbidden by conciliar authority), in all probability, led to the enactment of the rule that Benedictus qui venit should be sung after, and not before, the consecration and elevation, so that there might be no chant or song while the priest was saying the words of consecration and elevating the Sacrament.

With us, there are three places in the Mass, at any one of which, according to the judgment of the Priest, the Benedictus may be sung, viz.: immediately after the Sanctus; after the Prayer of Humble Access, and before the Prayer of Consecration; and immediately after the Prayer of Consecration.

In our Liturgy the Sanctus ends with the response Amen, which hinders the immediate musical sequence of the hymn Benedictus qui venit, and hence it may seem to be more convenient to sing it after the prayer of "Humble Access," and immediately before the beginning of the Prayer of Consecration; at which time (by the terms of the rubric in that place), there is a little pause or break in the service, to enable the Priest so to order "the bread and wine that he may with the more readiness and decency break the bread before the people, and take the cup into his hands," and when it is customary for the Priest to pause, before going on with the Canon, for momentary recollection and devotion.

On the other hand, there need be no great difficulty in leading on speedily from the chant or song of the Sanctus to that of Benedictus qui venit; and if that be done, then the close relation of the Prayer of Humble Access to the Prayer of Consecration is better preserved, and the Priest's act of sup

plication, begun in the Prayer of Humble Access, is not interrupted by the song of the choir.

Moreover, if the Sanctus and Benedictus are not separated, there is a more explicit setting forth in mystery, of the concurrent praises of the heavenly host and mankind upon earth. For in a Solemn Mass, when the Celebrant and his ministers say the Sanctus and Benedictus in a low voice (inaudible to the people), they mystically represent the angelic host whose voices are inaudible to us, and the choir, who sing the same hymns with loud voices (audible to all and stirring up devotion among the people), manifestly represent the praising of God by His human servants upon earth.

If the song of Benedictus be deferred until after the Prayer of Consecration, it serves as an outburst of joyous greeting to our Blessed Lord, sacramentally present upon the altar.

III. OF ADDITIONAL LIGHTS AT THE ELEVATION. Acolytes hold lighted wax candles "when the Gospel is to be read, or the sacrifice is to be offered," as a sign of joy and to represent symbolically Christ the true Light. The additional lignts that are used at the consecration and elevation of the most Holy Sacrament, are also intended to add dignity to the principal Mass at which the greater number of the people may be expected to assist, and for the purpose of exciting and increasing their devotion.

"Usus luminum ad altare præscribitur ab Ecclesia, non solum in reverentiam Sacramenti, sed etiam ad excitandos fideles ad attentionem et devotionem erga illa mysteria peculiaria quæ in missa repræsentantur. . . . In missa solemni, quæ majori pompa et apparatu celebratur, peculiares et solemniores ritus, præsertim in elevatione, servari decet. . . . Ratio autem hujus ritus manifesta est ex dictis, ut majori pompa quam in missis privatis fiat tunc in elevatio Sanctissimi Sacramenti, et ad majorem devotionem et reverentiam excitentur populi tunc quando eis ostenditur et proponitur adorandum."2

"There were also torches held lit at St. Alban's at the

Cf. Durandus, Rationale, lib. iv., c. 34, et Quarti, Com. in Rub. Mis., pt. ii., tit. vii.

1 Cp. Note, pg. 39.

'P. M. Quarti, Com. in Rub. Mis., pt. ii., tit. viii., 8.

sacring, as in the majority of churches in England. They are met with as an established custom as early as 1287 in Exeter diocese, and even before that in London, and from that time onwards they are general. It was the duty of the undersuffragan (assistant clerk) of St. Nicholas', Bristol, to see that two torches on the Sunday be burning at the High Mass sacring.' . . . In some places only one was lit, in others two, and in some four or even more. . . . At St. Alban's Abbey and Exeter Cathedral they were also held upraised at the sacring or elevation." 3

The modern Roman Ceremonial directs the acolytes who carry torches in festal Masses, to go forth from the sanctuary with their torches, immediately after the elevation, if there be no communion by other than the Celebrant; but if there is to be a communion by the people, the torches are not to be withdrawn until after such communion has taken place. "Clerici vero cum suis intortitiis manent genuflexi donec facta fuerit Communio omnibus."* Yet it is ordered that in Masses for the dead, and in masses on most vigils and on certain other fasting days, the torches shall remain until after the communion of the priest, even though there be no sacramental communion by the people. "In missis vigiliarum et pro Defunctis, etiam si non fit facienda communio, nihilminus teneantur intortitia accensa usque ad sumptionem sacramenti, quæ fit à Celebrante."

Moreover, it is ordered in the Roman ceremonial that the torch-bearers shall remain, holding their lighted torches at the Solemn Mass on Maundy Thursday, until the end of the Mass, and take part in the procession which follows immediately. In the Maundy Thursday Mass, before the general Communion, the host which is consecrated to be reserved until the following day, is placed by the Celebrant in a chalice, which is then covered with paten, pall and veil, by the Deacon, and set down on the mensa in the midst, near the tabernacle. To the Sacrament thus reserved in veiled chalice upon the altar, The Ceremonial Use of Lights, by Cuthbert Atchley; in Some Principles, etc., edited by J. Wickam Legg, London, 1899.

*Merati, Nova Observ., in Gav., Thes. Sac. Rit., pt. ii., tit. ix.,

xxvii.

P. M. Quarti, Com. in Rub. Mis., pt. ii., tit. viii., 8.