9.

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ND we earnestly desire thy fatherly goodness, mercifully to accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving; most humbly beseeching thee to grant, that by the merits and death of thy Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in his blood, we, and all thy whole Church may obtain remission of our sins, and all other benefits of his passion.

A

10.

ND here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable holy, and living sacrifice unto thee; humbly beseeching thee, that we, and all others who shall be partakers of this Holy Communion, may worthily receive the most precious (He makes the sign of the cross once over the paten, and once over the chalice, saying:) Body and Blood1s of thy Son Jesus Christ, (Here he places the left hand a little below the breast, in such a way that the palm will be turned directly up, SO that the joined thumb and forefinger may not touch the chasuble, and with the right hand he makes the sign of the cross from the forehead to the breast, saying:) be filled with thy grace and heavenly benediction,1 (Extending his hands, he continues:) and made one body with him, that he may dwell in us and we in him.

Then, pausing, he says privately, with hands extended:

13 "Ut quotquot ex

hac altaris participatione sacrosanctum Filii tui corpus et sanguinem sumpserimus." (Canon Missæ.)

14 "Seipsum signat, Omni benedictione coelesti et gratia repleamur." (Ibid.)

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II. Commemoration of the Dead.

EMEMBER also, O Lord, thy servants and handmaids, N and N, who have gone before us with the sign of faith and now rest in the sleep of peace. (Here he joins his hands and for a short space prays for the dead whom he has in mind; then extending his hands, he proceeds:) To these, O Lord, and to all who rest in Christ, we beseech thee to grant a place of refreshment, of light, and of peace.15

12. Then placing the left hand upon the corporal, and holding his head erect, he strikes his breast with the extremities of the last three fingers of the right hand, saying:

A

ND although we are unworthy, through our manifold sins, to offer unto thee any sacrifice; (Extending his hands before the breast, he continues:) yet we beseech thee to accept this our bounden duty and service; not weighing our merits, but pardoning our offences, (He joins his hands, and bows his head profoundly, saying:) through Jesus Christ our Lord;

13. Placing the extremities of the last three fingers of the left hand upon the foot of the chalice, he takes the pall between the fore and middle fingers of the right hand, and removes it from the chalice, placing it upon the altar in the place directed above. Then placing both hands upon the corporal, he genuflects and rises. He reverently presses down the edge of the host with the forefinger of the left hand, and then

15 In the Latin Canon, the commemoration of the dead is placed after the Supplices te rogamus, which corresponds to our, "And here we offer and present,' etc., and immediately before the Nobis quoque peccatoribus which holds the place of our, "And although we are unworthy," etc.; hence the direction above to make the private commemoration of the dead in this place.

slips the forefinger of the right hand beneath at the opposite part, and so takes the host between the thumb and forefinger of the right hand. Then he takes the knop of the chalice between the forefinger and the last three fingers of the left hand, still keeping the thumb joined to the forefinger; and holding the host upright, with it he makes the sign of the cross twice over the mouth of the chalice (which he holds upon the altar) from lip to lip, taking care that the host does not touch the chalice, and saying at the same time:

BY H

unity of the Holy

thee, O Father

Y whom, and with whom, (In like manner, he makes the sign of the cross twice with the host between the chalice and his breast, saying:) in the Ghost, all honour and glory be unto Almighty,16 (Then holding the host upright with his right hand over the chalice, which he holds on the altar with his left hand, he elevates the chalice with the host as high as his breast, saying:) World without end. Amen.17

18 "Per ipsum, et cum ipso, et in ipso, est tibi Deo Patri omnipotenti, in unitate Spiritus Sancti." (Canon Missa.) The words "in whom" (in ipso) are wanting in our Canon.

17 By the present rubrics of the Roman missal, the Priest concluding the Canon with the words, Per quem, etc., makes (a) the signs of the cross with the host (b), elevates the host and chalice a little as he says, omnis honor et gloria (c), genuflects, and then (d) standing up, says, Per omnia sæcula sæculorum. The arrangement of the words in the corresponding clause of our Canon precludes this order of ceremonies, but it lends itself perfectly to the older and better order which was (a) the making of the signs of the cross (b), the little elevation at the words, Per omnia sæcula sæculorum; R. Amen, and then (c) the genuflection at the end of the Canon. Le Brun tells us that the elevation at the words, "World without end. R. Amen," continued to be observed down to the revision of Pius V., and is still the practice of the Carthusians, who are tenacious of ancient customs. And he expresses his regret that any change was made, and at the interruption of the sequence of the words by the genuflection, and finally says of the earlier arrangement: "It is most desirable that this usage should again be re-established. The faithful would then easily perceive that the 'world without end' and the 'Amen' are the conclusion and confirmation of the whole Canon, that is of the prayer which begins with Te igitur; and they would be the better able to distinguish this part of the Mass, which contains the prayer of consecration, from the part following which

He at once places the host upon the paten, and the chalice upon the corporal behind the paten, detaches any fragments from his thumbs and forefingers over the chalice, joins the thumb and forefinger of each hand as before, and placing the left hand upon the foot of the chalice, takes the pall between the fore and middle finger of the right hand, and covers the chalice. Then placing both hands upon the corporal, he genuflects and rises.

¶ Here may be sung a Hymn.

CHAPTER VI.

THE COMMUNION.1

1. (Then shall the Priest first receive the Communion in both kinds himself, and for due preparation thereto, he shall say what follows. Joining his hands before the breast, and bowing his head profoundly to the Sacrament, he says privately: "Let us pray." Straightway raising his head, but keeping his eyes fixed upon the Sacrament, and his hands joined before the breast, he continues:

Præceptis salutaribus.

OMMANDED by his saving precepts, and guided

COM

by his divine instruction, we are bold to say: Then extending his hands, he immediately adds privately:

begins with the Lord's Prayer and is the preparation for the Communion" (Explication, i., 544). Fortunately, this is the order of ceremonies, as we have said, which is best adapted to our arrangement of words, and therefore it is the one which we have adopted above in the text.

1 "The part of the Mass which begins with the Our Father is the preparation for the Communion." (Le Brun.)

UR Father who art in heaven; hallowed be thy

Ου

name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.2

2. With hands still extended, and his eyes fixed upon the Sacrament, he says:3

D

Libera nos.

ELIVER us, we beseech thee, O Lord, from all evils past, present, and to come: and inasmuch as there is interceding for us the blessed, glorious, and Ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of God, together with thy blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, Andrew and all thy Saints, (Placing the left hand a little below the breast, in such a way that the palm will be turned up, he makes the sign of the cross from the forehead to the breast with his right hand, saying:) favourably grant peace in our time, that we being holpen by thy mercy, may ever be kept free from sin, and safe from all disquietude; (Then placing the left hand upon the

The Lord's Prayer is found after the consecration in every ancient liturgy except the Clementine. By the English and Roman missals the last petition of the Lord's Prayer was made as a response by the people, the Priest adding "Amen." But in the Sacramentaries of Gelasius and Gregory no such direction appears. And Saint Gregory contrasting the custom of the Latins with the Greeks who said the Lord's Prayer with the Priest, makes no reference to this practice, but simply says: "with us it is said by the Priest alone."

3 The prayer Libera nos (the Embolismus) is found as early as the Sacramentaries of Gelasius and Gregory, and in all the various Uses of the Roman liturgy.

By all the old Uses of England, and also by the Roman missal, the Priest signed himself with the empty paten and then kissed it, but by our present order the Sacrament is consecrated on the paten, and, therefore, the making of the sign of the cross with the paten and the kiss are both precluded. Hence the direction given above only to make the sign of the cross with the hand, which is also the direc tion of the Ambrosian missal.