WEDNESDAY

OF THE FOURTH WEEK OF LENT.

THIS day is called the Feria of the Great Scrutiny, because in the Church of Rome, after the necessary inquiries and examinations, the list of the Catechumens, who were to receive Baptism, was closed. The Station was held in the Basilica of St. Paul outside the walls, both because of the size of the building, and also in order to honour the Apostle of the Gentiles by offering him these new recruits, which the Church was about to make from Paganism. The reader will be interested and edified by a description of this ceremony.

The Faithful and the Aspirants to Baptism being assembled in the Basilica, about the hour of noon, the names of these latter were written down, and an Acolyte arranged them in order before the people, placing the men on the right, and the women on the left. A Priest then recited over each of them the prayer which made them Catechumens, for it is by anticipation that we have been hitherto giving them this name. He signed their foreheads with the sign of the cross and imposed his hand upon their heads. He then blessed the salt, (which signifies Wisdom,) and each of them tasted it.

After these preliminary ceremonies, they were made to go out of the Church, and remained under the exterior portico, until such time as they were

called back. As soon as they had left, (the assembly of the Faithful remaining in the Church,) the Introit was begun. It is taken from the words of the Prophet Ezechiel, wherein God tells us that he will gather his elect from all nations, and pour upon them a clean water, that shall cleanse them from their sins. The Acolyte then read out the names of the Catechumens, and they were brought into the Church by the Porter. They were arranged as before, and the Sponsors stood near them. The Pontiff ✩ then sang the Collect; after which, at the intimation given by the Deacon; each Sponsor made the sign of the cross on the forehead of the Catechumen, for whom he or she was responsible. Acolytes followed, and pronounced the exorcisms over each of the elect, beginning with the men.

A Lector next read the Lesson from the Prophet Ezechiel, which we give in its proper place. It was followed by a Gradual, composed of these words of David:

"Come, Children, hearken to me; I will teach you "the fear of the Lord. Come ye to him, and be en"lightened; and your face shall not be confounded."

In the Collect, which followed this Lesson, the Church prayed that the Faithful might receive the fruits of their Lenten Fast; and immediately, a second Lesson was read, from the Prophet Isaias, in which is foretold the remission of sins to be granted to those who shall be cleansed in the mysterious laver of Baptism.

A second Gradual gave these words from the Royal Psalmist :

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; "the people whom he hath chosen for his inheritance."

During the reading of these two Lessons, and the chanting of the two Graduals, the mysterious ceremony of the Opening the Ears was being gone

through. Priests went to each Catechumen, and touching his ears, said: Ephpheta, that is, Be thou opened. This rite, (which was in imitation of what our Saviour did to the deaf and dumb man mentioned in the Gospel,1) was intended to prepare the Catechumens to receive the revelation of the mysteries, which, up to that time, had only been shown them under the veil of allegory. The first initiation made to them was regarding the holy Gospels.

As soon as the second Gradual was finished, there were seen coming from the Secretarium, preceded by lights and incense, four Deacons, each of them carrying one of the four Gospels. They advanced towards the Sanctuary, and placed the sacred volumes on the Altar, one on each corner. The Bishop, or, if he wished it, a Priest, addressed to the Catechumens the following allocution, which we find still in the Gelasian Sacramentary:

Being about to open to you the Gospels, that is, the history of the acts of God, it firstly behoves us, dearly beloved children, to tell you what the Gospels are, whence they come, whose words they contain, why they are four in number, and who wrote them; in fine, who are the four men who were announced by the Holy Spirit, and foretold by the Prophet. Unless we were to explain to you these several particulars, we should leave your minds confused; and whereas you have come to-day that your ears may be opened, it would be unseemly in us to begin by bewildering your minds. Gospel literally means good tidings, because it tells us of Jesus Christ, our Lord. The Gospel came from him, in order to proclaim and show that he, who spoke by the Prophets, is now come in the flesh, as it is written: I myself that spoke, lo, I am here. Having briefly to explain to you what the Gospel is, and who are the four men foretold by the Prophet, we now give you their names, following the order of the figures, under which they are designated. The Prophet Ezechiel says: And as for the likeness of their faces, there was the face of a Man and the face of a Lion on the right side of all the four: and the face of an Ox on the left side of all the four: and the face of an Eagle over all th

1 St. Mark, vii. 32.

four. These four figures are, as we know, those of the Evangelists, whose names are: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

After this discourse, a Deacon, ascending the Ambo, thus addressed the Catechumens:

Then, opening the Gospel of St. Matthew, which he had previously taken from the Altar, he read the beginning, as far as the twenty-first verse.

These verses having been read, a Priest spoke as follows:

Dearly beloved children, we wish to hold you no longer in suspense; therefore, we expound to you the figure of each Evangelist. Matthew has the figure of a Man, because, at the commencement of his book, he gives the genealogy of the Saviour; for he begins with these words: The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. You see, then, that it is not without reason, that to Matthew has been assigned the figure of the Man, since he begins with the human birth of the Saviour.

Again the Deacon from the Ambo:

Be silent hear attentively!

He then read the beginning of St. Mark's Gospel, as far as the eighth verse. After which, the Priest spoke as follows:

The Evangelist Mark has the figure of the Lion, because he begins with the Desert, saying: A voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord; or again, because the Saviour now reigns, and is invincible. This type of the Lion is frequently mentioned in the Scriptures, and is the application of those words: Juda is a Lion's whelp: to the prey, my son, thou art gone up; resting, thou hast couched as a Lion, and as a Lioness: who shall rouse him?

The Deacon, having repeated his injunction, next read the beginning of the Gospel according to St. Luke, as far as the seventeenth verse; after which the Priest said:

The Evangelist Luke has the figure of the Ox, which reminds us that the Saviour was offered in sacrifice. This Evangelist begins by speaking of Zachary and Elizabeth. from whom, in their old age, was born John the Baptist.

The Deacon having announced, in the same solemn manner, the Gospel of St. John, of which he read the first fourteen verses, the Priest thus continued his instruction:

John has the figure of the Eagle, because he soars aloft in the high places. It is he that says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. David also, speaking of the person of Christ, thus expresses himself: Thy youth shall be renewed like the Eagle's; because our Lord Jesus Christ, having risen from the dead, ascended into heaven. Thus, dearly beloved Children, the Church that has begotten you, and still bears you in her womb, exults at the thought of the new increase to be given to the Christian law, when, on the venerable day of Easter, you are to be born again in the waters of baptism, and receive, as all the Saints, from Christ our Lord, the gift of the childhood of faith.

The manifestation of the four Evangelists was followed by the ceremony called the Giving the Symbol (Traditio Symboli). It consisted in the giving to the Catechumens the Apostles' Creed (or Symbol), and in subsequent ages, that of Nicæa, or, as we call it, the Nicene Creed. The following allocution was first made by a Priest:

Being now admitted to receive the Sacrament of Baptism, and become new creatures in the Holy Ghost, it behoves you, dearly beloved Children, to conceive at once in your hearts the faith whereby you are to be justified: it behoves you, having your minds henceforth changed by the habit of truth, to draw nigh to God, who is the light of your souls. Receive, therefore, the secret of the evangelical Symbol, which was inspired by the Lord, and drawn up by the Apostles. Its words are few, but great are the mysteries it contains for the Holy Ghost, who dictated this formula to the first masters of the Church, has here expressed the faith, that saves us, with great precision of words, in order that