Alii ad officium presbyterii, diaconii, vel subdiaconii, quidam vero ad cæteros ecclesiasticos gradus. Proinde admonemus et postulamus, tam vos clericos quam cæterum populum, ut pro nobis et pro illis, puro corde et sincera mente apud divinam clementiam intercedere dignemini, quatenus nos dignos faciat pro illis exaudiri: et eos unumquemque in suo ordine eligere, et consecrare per manus nostras dignetur. Siquis autem habet aliquid contra hos viros, pro Deo et propter Deum, cum fiducia exeat et dicat, verumtamen memor sit communionis suæ.8 "Deinde pontifex et qui ab eo consecrandi sunt prosternantur super pavimentum : et sic agatur litania; et inter cætera dicatur: "Ut fratres istos, ad sacrum ordinem electos, in vera religione conservare digneris: te rogamus, audi nos. "His ita expletis, exeant omnes. Deinde postquam episcopus finierit primam orationem missæ, finita quoque prima lectione et gradali, iterum introducantur qui ordinandi sunt ostiarii, vocati ex nomine. Et tunc fiat sermo ab episcopo ad eos, hoc modo: "Ostiarius fieri dignatus est Christus, quando conclusit et aperuit archam Noe: vel cum portas inferni aperuit, et electos suos inde abstulit, reprobos autem reliquit. Unde modo ostiarii dicuntur, eo quod præsint ostiis ecclesiæ, ut sciant recipere fideles, et infideles respuere. Psalmistæ VOL. III. vocantur a psalmis canendis: ipsi enim canunt ut excitent ad compunctionem mentes audientium. "Tunc episcopus postquam ab eis requisierit, sub testimonio ecclesiæ, si talem ordinem subire, et in eo Deo humiliter servire voluerint, tradat eis claves ecclesia: scilicet potestatem claudendi et aperiendi ostia ecclesiæ. Ita dicens: "Sic agite, etc." Pontif. Winton. With these, and the succeeding exhortations, which will be cited in the notes, compare, S. Isidore Hisp. Originum. Lib. vij. The reader has already seen, note 1, that the Bangor MS. has no general exhortation, &c., for all who were to be ordained to whatever order, but commences at once with the "ostiarii.” In the Exeter pontifical, the notice "Auxiliante," is followed by, "Tunc fiat sermo, si est dicendus. Sermone dicto fiat pro M Tunc dicat archidiaconus: Accedant qui ordinandi sunt ostiarii. Tunc accedant immediate antequam lectio legatur, vel gradale, ad consecrandum. Episcopus sedens cum mitra eos instruendo dicat, sine nota: Ostiarium oportet percutere cymbalum, aperire ecclesiam, et sacrarium, et librum tenere ei qui prædicat. Et cum ordinantur, surgens tradat eis episcopus claves ecclesiæ, et ipsi eas ambabus manibus recipiant, et dicat eis plane episcopus, stando et sine nota. Et si sint multi, stent in circuitu, et episcopus circueat eos, sæpius idem repetendo. hibitio, ne aliquis recipiat or. dines nisi examinatus et admissus per examinatores legitime deputatos: etc. Quibus præmissis, exeant omnes ordinandi, quibus egressis dicat archidiaconus: "Accedant qui ordinandi sunt ostiarii. "Tunc accedant. etc." • Besides the larger and more general admonitions which were addressed according to the judgment of the bishop, to each order of the candidates, previously to the commencement of the service itself, it has always been the practice from the earliest ages, of which any rituals remain, to admonish also in some set form before the actual conferring of each Order. Thus it was the subject of the 3rd canon of the 3rd council of Carthage. A.D. 390: "Item placuit, ut ordinan dis episcopis, vel clericis, prius ab ordinatoribus suis decreta conciliorum auribus eorum inculcentur, ne se aliquid contra statuta concilii fecisse asserant." Concil. edit. Mansi. Tom. 3. col. 880. And again, a few years after, in the famous 4th Council of Carthage, which forms a basis upon which succeeding Ordinals have been framed, the ixth canon has especial reference to this point, as concerned the "ostiarii," the lowest order ordained by a bishop: "Ostiarius cum ordinatur, postquam ab archidiacono instructus fuerit, qualiter in domo Dei debeat conversari, ad suggestionem archidiaconi, tradat ei episcopus claves ecclesiæ de altario, dicens: Sic age, quasi redditurus Deo rationem pro his rebus, quæ his clavibus recluduntur." Ibid. Col. 951. Sic agite, quasi reddituri Deo rationem pro iis rebus,1o quæ istis clavibus recluduntur. Tunc ducat eos11 archidiaconus ad ostium ecclesiæ, 10 66 rebus, quæ ecclesiæ vobis commissæ clavibus includuntur." Pontif. Winton. 11" Deinde archidiaconus ducat eos ad ostium ecclesiæ: et faciat eos claudere et aperire. Postquam iterum ante domnum præsulem fuerint introducti, dicat episcopus hanc orationem : Deum Patrem, etc." Pontif. Pontif. Winton. "Et archidiaconus ducat eos ad ostium ecclesiæ, quod claudant et aperiant, et revertentes stent ante gradus sicut prius. Cum autem redierint, episcopus stans juxta cornu altaris, versus austrum, extendens manum supra ordinandos, dicat orationem : Deum Patrem, etc." Pontif. Exon. 12 This ceremony was of later introduction than the delivery of the keys: although of such antiquity that it was introduced into the ordinal of the Western Church, before the conversion of the Saxons by S. Augustine. Hence there is no pontifical extant, of English use, in which it does not occur. Neither the Carthaginian Council, just cited, nor the Gelasian sacramentary, mentions it: but it is found in the Gregorian sacramentary, and in some very ancient MSS., still extant. 12 A MS. pontifical, cited by Martene, (de Ant. Ecc. rit. Tom. 2. p. 18.) directed the bishop not to deliver the keys to the candidates, but only to shew them to them. I need scarcely perhaps remind the reader, that these keys were not the keys which were afterwards to be used, in the particular churches, to which the ostiarii were to be ordained, but any keys: and of any material: provided only, say the canonists, that in shape and form they were keys, apt and able to open some lock. The modern Roman pontifical has introduced another ceremony in this place, one which is allowed to be modern, and for which no authority can be found in the earlier rituals. "Tradit etiam eis funem campanarum, faciens eos campanas pulsare." It was, doubtless, the duty of the ostiarii to ring the bells of the church, but not in the earliest ages: for then it was part of the office of the priest as Amalarius says: "Ne despiciat presbyter hoc opus agere, ut in isto sit imitator filiorum Aaron." De ecc. off. Lib. 3. Cap. 1. And in Charlemagne's Capitular is an express order; "Ut sacerdotes signa tangant horis canonicis." Lib. vj. et tradat eis ostium præfero ostiario, quibus reversis, dicat episcopus cum nota, stando, præfationem ad eos conversus, hoc modo. Deum Patrem omnipotentem, fratres carissimi, suppliciter deprecemur, ut hos famulos suos bene dicere dignetur, quos in officium ostiariorum eligere dignatus est, ut sit eis fidelissima cura diebus ac noctibus ad distinctionem horarum certarum, ad invocandum nomen Domini nostri Jesu Christi. Oremus. Diaconus. Flectamus genua. Levate. Domine sancte, Pater omnipotens, æterne Deus, benedicere dignare hos famulos tuos in officio ostiariorum, ut inter janitores ecclesiæ tuæ pareant obsequio: et inter electos tuos partem tuæ mereantur habere mercedis. Per Dominum.13 Omnes lectiones cum suis titulis legantur. Cap. 168. But long before the reformation, this duty, as I have said, had devolved upon the ostiarii; and there is a very plain reference to it in the Preface which almost immediately follows in the text. Probably the ceremony of giving them the bells, (if I may so call it) was added in the revised Roman pontifical, in order to supply what appeared to be an omission. 13" Tunc exeant omnes 08tiarii." Rubr. Pontif. Winton. The Bangor MS. is both defaced and mutilated: no more can be read here, than, "Accedant qui ordinand.—,, verbi, etc." "Tunc sedeat episcopus, et legatur lectio prima, cum graduali, quibus dictis sequitur, Oremus. Et dicitur secunda oratio, qua dicta dicat archidiaconus: Recedant qui ordinati sunt ostiarii: accedant qui ordinandi sunt lectores. Tunc episcopus sedens dicit eis: Lectorem oportet. etc." In diebus illis: Clamabunt ad Dominum a facie tribulantis: et mittet eis salvatorem et propugnatorem qui liberet eos. Et cognoscetur Dominus ab Ægypto: et cognoscent Ægyptii Dominum in die illa. Et colent eum in hostiis et muneribus, et vota vovebunt Domino, et solvent. Et percutiet Dominus Ægyptum plaga: et sanabit eam. Et revertentur ad Dominum et placabitur eis et sanabit eos: Dominus Deus noster. Gr. A summo cœlo egressio ejus; et occursus ejus usque ad summum ejus. V. Cœli enarrant gloriam Dei, et opera manuum ejus annunciat firmamentum. Oratio. Concede quæsumus omnipotens Deus, ut qui sub peccati jugo ex vetusta servitute deprimimur, ex peccatis unigeniti Filii tui nova nativitate liberemur. Qui tecum. Dicta oratione, statim dicat archidiaconus: Accedant qui ordinandi sunt lectores. Tunc immediate accedant antequam lectio legatur, et episcopus sedendo sine nota eis dicat: 14 Lectorem oportet legere quæ prædicat, et lectiones 14 Post hæc, finita secunda oratione, et secunda lectione cum gradali, vocentur ex nomine qui ordinandi sunt lectores. exponat eis episcopus officium ordinis sui, quod sunt suscepturi: Tunc Lectoribus in ecclesia verba sacræ legis et prophetarum legendi datur potestas. Horum talis debet esse vita, ut quod ore annunciant, bonis operibus compleant. Et in his quæ prædicant, cæteros superemineant. Habent autem exordium a veteri testamento. Legitur vero ita: Stetit Esdras scriba super gradum ligneum quem fecerat ad loquendum; et universum eminebat populum. Stat super gradum ligneum, unde infimos supereminet, qui dominicam passionem imitando, cæteros morum probitate transcendit. Et quicunque aliquem bonis moribus instruit, lectoris officio fungitur. Hoc vero Dominus noster functus est offi |