more readily, because Mr. Palmer represents it in a very mutilated
form. The celebrant, whether priest or bishop, is vested in the
sacristy: the vestments bear some resemblance to those of the Greeks.
The beginning of the mass is the only part probably taken from the
Roman liturgy, but it contains an invocation of the B. Virgin and of
the saint of the day. When the celebrant goes up to the altar, the
veil is drawn: he uncovers the chalice, blesses the host, which is
like ours of unleavened bread; pours wine and water into the chalice,
and recites the beautiful prayer of S. John Chrysostom: "O Lord our
God, who hast sent our Lord Jesus Christ the celestial bread, the
nourishment of the whole world; do thou bless this proposition etc."
The veil is then drawn back, and the offerings, the altar, and the
people are incensed. The Celebrant recites the prayer of the festival,
followed by other prayers composed by S. John Chrysostom: the
Trisagion is sung, and the gospel is carried in procession, and is
kissed by one of the congregation. Then follow the epistle, gospel,
and creed. After two prayers, and two benedictions imparted to the
people; the offerings are carried in procession to the altar, the
celebrant offers them up to God, and prays that Jesus Christ will make
him worthy to consecrate, and receive his "holy and immaculate body
and precious blood; for thou, O Christ our God, art he who offers
and is offered". After he has washed his hands, he says "O Lord God
of armies, let this victim become "the true body and blood of thy
only begotten Son". He then blesses the people, says prayers which
correspond to our preface and _Sanctus_, and pronounces the words of
consecration. After he has said other prayers, and made the sign of
the cross several times over the host and chalice, he invokes the holy
Ghost, begging also that the body and blood of Christ may produce "the
salvation of our souls and the remission of our sins". He then prays,
through the merits of the holy sacrifice, for the whole world, the
church and state, all conditions of men and for all the faithful
departed: he invokes the intercession of the B. Virgin and all the
Saints: he prays for the Pope and all present; and after other similar
supplications, he says the _Pater noster_. The elevation takes place
at this part of the mass, and also the blessing of the people with
the consecrated host and chalice, accompanied by appropriate prayers.
After the curtains have been drawn, the priest breaks the host, and
puts a particle of it into the chalice: he then receives communion,
blesses the people with the chalice and particle, and distributes
communion; before its distribution the curtains are drawn back. When
the ablutions and prayers after the celebrant's communion are ended,
turning towards the people, he recites a prayer of S. John Chrisostom,
which is followed by the last gospel. Then invoking the holy cross he
blesses the people, who unite in praising God. He finally blesses them
again, and distributes blessed bread (not consecrated) among them. At
S. Gregorio Illuminatore Vespers are added and said _in circolo_: the
clergy carry tapers; and the gospel is held up by the Celebrant to
implore blessings on the people.
[Sidenote: Reflections.]
These ceremonies may appear singular to us, who are of a different
clime and different customs; their music in particular is little in
accordance with our taste, or notions of melody and harmony. Yet the
remark of Montfaucon (Diario Italico) "æra Dodonæa dixisses", alluding
to the brass kettles of the oracle (Potter Arch. Graec. B. 2, § 8)
is an exaggeration. Their _flabelli_ are of metal, of a round form,
surrounded with little bells, which are sounded at the seraphic hymn,
to express, if we might believe Cancellieri, "by the trembling of the
hands, that of the blessed spirits, who assist at the throne of the
Divine Majesty with fear and trembling". (Tre Pontific. Not. VI).
Their mass is anticipated, but not at so early an hour as that of
the Latin. (Even in the Latin church, permissions to say mass in
the afternoon of this day have been granted by some Popes; they may
be seen in Cancellieri. _Funz. d. Sett. S. p_. 183, 184). Amid the
numerous differences between their rite and our own, the attentive
spectator will not fail to remark the similarity of the substance and
order of their liturgy, and of that of the Roman church; although,
with the solitary exception of the beginning of the mass, both have
existed independently of one another during the last 1400 years. This
is a powerful argument in favour of the great antiquity, nay of the
apostolic origin of their most important ceremonies, which may be
traced through different channels to the _primitive_ liturgies of Rome
and Antioch. It is also one of those striking illustrations, which
Rome presents, of the unity and catholicity of the church; and at
the same time of the adaptation of her immutable doctrines and sacred
practices to the feelings and customs of widely-separated nations who,
having little in common but human nature, yet all acknowledge "one
Lord, one faith, and one baptism". (Ephes. IV. 5); and all belong to
"one fold and one shepherd". John X, 16.
[Sidenote: Conclusion.]
Having now considered in detail the various ceremonies of Holy Week
at Rome, a philosophic mind will take a general review of them: and
this question will very naturally suggest itself: What judgment
ought I to form concerning them? am I to consider them as mummery, or
superstition, or idolatry, as many most confidently pronounce, who
are unacquainted with their nature, their origin, and their meaning;
and at the same time are little accustomed from early infancy to
any language or gesticulations save those of the tongue? or am I not
rather to regard them as a solemn, and sacred, and pathetic, and most
ancient expression of Christian faith and Christian feeling; which,
united as it is with the noblest productions of divine inspiration and
of Christian art may haply not only instruct and elevate the mind, but
also enkindle in the soul flames of that pure and practical devotion,
which this holy season demands from every follower of Christ? Let the
reader decide for himself; but for our part, we envy not the mind
or heart of him, who can prefer the former of these views. We shall
ever bless God, that we have learnt in another school not to condemn
the customs and manners of other countries and other people, merely
because they differ from our own; and that we are disposed to
attribute to signs the meaning attached to them by those who adopt
them, and not that of our own fancies. Men of warmer climates than our
own convey to others their sentiments and feelings by action as easily
as by the tongue. Italians, as well as Greeks and Orientals, have
inherited from their fathers a language of gesture more powerful and
expressive than that of words. The Hebrew prophets, Isaiah, Ezechiel,
and others, nay Christ himself, spoke by action as well by the tongue.
God appointed in the old law innumerable ceremonies: Christ in the new
law of spirit and truth instituted sacred rites, or sanctified those
which previously existed: the early church imitated His blessed
example: and they have been faithfully preserved as a precious
inheritance till the present time. The very objection, that some of
them were borrowed from Jews or Pagans, is a proof of their primitive
antiquity: Christ or the church removed from them all profaneness or
superstition, and then adopted and sanctified them. (See Wiseman's
Letters to Poynder). If all parties unite in approbation of the
illumination of the cupola of S. Peter's, and of the fireworks of S.
Angelo, considered as outward demonstrations of the exultation of the
church at the resurrection of her Divine Spouse; we shall ever admire
also the expressions of christian feeling exhibited in the interior
of her temples, whether they consist in ceremonies or words; and on
this day emulating the transports of joy of the fervent and eloquent
pilgrim to Jerusalem and Mount Sinai, when shall unite our voices with
those of the angelic spirits in singing, _Alleluja_; "because Jesus
Christ, our Lord, who was delivered up for our sins, rose again for
our justification". Rome. IV, 24, 25.[139]
[Footnote 111: Anciently in some churches, as Thomassin has shewn (de
dierum Festorum celebratione lib. 2. c. 14), fire used to be struck
from a flint to light the church-lamps etc. every day and particularly
on Saturday, and the new fire was blessed; on holy Saturday however
this ceremony was performed with great solemnity; and in the 11th
century it was restricted to that day alone. At Rome in holy week
this practice was not originally confined to holy Saturday, but was
observed on the three days before caster: for the first _Ordo Romanus_
directs, that on holy _thursday_ fire should be struck from a flint
outside the church, and blessed. Amalarius also (4e Ordine Antiph.)
testifies that on good _friday_ "new fire was enkindled and reserved
till the nocturnal office". Leo IV however (A.D. 847) appears to have
first ordered that on Easter Eve "the old fire should be put out, and
new fire blessed and distributed among the people" (Homil. de cura
Pastorali). For Pope Zachary, about the year 731. in answer to
the enquiries of Boniface, bishop of Mayence, states that "on holy
thursday, when the sacred chrism is consecrated, three lamps of a
large size filled with oil collected from the different lamps of the
church, and placed in a secret part of the said church, should burn
there constantly, so that the oil may suffice till the third day,
that is saturday. Then let the fire of the lamps which is used for the
sacred font be renewed. But concerning the fire taken _ex cristallis_,
as you have asserted, we have no tradition". Pouget (Inst. Cathol. l.
1) observes that the new fire is blessed with great solemnity on this
day, "because the fire struck from a flint appears to be a type of
Christ arising from the dead". Formerly not only the lights of the
church, but all the fires of the city were enkindled from the blessed
fire (as we learn from a MS. Sancti Victoris (ap. Martene, De ant.
Eccl. Ritibus lib. IV, c. XXIV). "After the _Ite Missa est_" says
the Ordinarium of Luke archbishop of Cosenza "the bishop gives his
blessing, and immediately the deacon commands the people, saying
"Receive the new fire from the holy candle, and having put out the
old, light it in your houses in the name of Christ; then rejoicing
they depart with the light". This custom is mentioned also in Leo
IVth's homily above quoted.]
[Footnote 112: As for the Paschal candle, Anastasius says that
Zosimus, who was elected pope in 417, gave leave that candles should
be blessed in the churches. Bened. XIV, Merati and Gretser understand
by these words, that that Pontiff only extended to the parish churches
a custom already practised in the greater churches: however this may
be, the blessing of this candle is at least as old as the time of Pope
Zosimus. It is inserted in the ancient sacramentary of Pope Gelasius
(A.D. 495). S. Augustine (lib. 15 de Civ. Dei) mentions some verses
written by himself in praise of the paschal candle. S. Jerome also
speaks of it in his epistles; and Ennodius bishop of Pavia in
519 wrote two formulas, according to which it might be blessed.
Cancellieri, at the end of his _Funzioni della Settimana Santa_,
describes two blessings of the paschal candle contained in manuscripts
of the 12th century. Du Vert as usual rejects every mystical meaning
of the candle: but why then should it be lighted on this night, and
not on christmas and other nights? The 4th Council of Toledo, held in
633, states that the paschal candle is blessed, in order that we may
receive the mystery of Christ's resurrection; and hence the abbot
Rupert says, that the candle when lighted represents Christ's
resurrection from the dead. That such is its meaning appears from the
five holes made in it in the form of a cross, to represent the five
wounds of Christ: in them the five grains of incense are fixed by the
Deacon, in order to represent, according to Rupert, the spices applied
to Christ's body by Joseph of Arimathea. In confirmation of this
explanation, we may observe that this candle is not removed from the
church till the gospel has been sung on Ascension-day when Christ
departed from among men: and it is lighted at solemn mass before the
_gospel_ and at vespers before the _Magnificat_ on the Sundays and
holidays which occur between holy saturday and the ascension. To the
same symbolical meaning of this candle we must attribute the ancient
custom of affixing to it (as a symbol of Christ) a tablet on which
the current year of our Lord and its indiction were marked: sometimes
these, if not other chronological dates, were inscribed on the candle
itself by the deacon, before he sang the _Exultet_, as Ven. Bede
testifies, The same idea was preserved in the practice of forming the
_Agnus Dei_ with the wax of the paschal candle. "On this day" (holy
saturday) says Durandus "the acolythes of the Roman church make
_lambs_ of newly blessed wax, or of the _wax of the paschal candle_
of the preceding year mixed with chrism: on Saturday in Albis they
are distributed by the Lord Pope to the people in the churches".
Amalarius likewise mentions this custom. It appears also from the
two benedictions of Ennodius mentioned above, that the faithful used
particles of the pascal candle as a preservative against storms: the
good effects hoped for in this and similar cases are attributed to the
prayers of the church, which God in His goodness has promised to hear.
The paschal candle is painted according to an ancient custom.
"Ast alii _pictis_ accendant lumina _ceris_".
S. Paulinus Nat. VI. S Felicis
Pierin del Vaga, whom Vasari considered as the most distinguished
of Raffaello's assistants, was originally nothing more than a
candlepainter. His creation of Eve at S. Marcello at Rome, and
his frescoes in the Doria place at Genoa, are well-known; at the
Vatican he assisted Giovanni d'Udine in his arabesques, Polidoro in
his antique chiaroscuri, and executed some of the most beautiful
historical paintings of the loggie di Raffaello. Hence may we judge of
the versatility of his talents.]
[Footnote 113: Why does a deacon perform this ceremony? since other
benedictions are reserved to bishops and priests. Rupert assigns as a
reason, that Christ's body was wrapped in spices by his disciples, and
not by the apostles whose successors are bishops and priests: besides,
the hymn sung by the deacon is the præconium Paschale, or announcement
of the Resurrection, which was first made by inferiors to their
superiors, by the women to the apostles. We may add that both the fire
and the 5 grains of incense are previously blessed by the priest, and
in the præconium itself there is not any form of blessing, strictly
speaking. In the church of Ravenna however the bishop used to
bless this candle (S. Gregory ep. 28, lib. 9). In the Roman church,
according to cardinal Gaetani, the last of the Cardinal priests
usually blessed the fire, and the last Card. deacon lighted the _lumen
Christi_, or triple candle, and the Paschal candle. The deacon used
to bless the latter either at the steps of the presbytery, or from the
ambo; and hence we find a marble column, intended to support it, fixed
to the ambo in S. Clement's S. Laurence's, and S. Pancras' churches
at Rome. See another marble column destined for the same use ap.
Ciampini, Vet. mon. cap. 2.]
[Footnote 114: Martene (De antiquis Eccl. rit. lib. 4, c. 24)
maintains that this hymn was composed by S. Augustine, and this
opinion is adopted also by Baillet and Benedict XIV, and confirmed by
a MS. pontifical of the church of Pavia of the 9th century, and other
documents cited by Martene, ibid: it was corrected by S. Jerome, if
we may believe an ancient Pontifical of Poitiers (quoted ibid.) The
_chant_ of this beautiful hymn is very ancient. "I have seen," says
Baini "in many manuscripts both anterior and posterior to the 11th
century the melodies of the preface, of the _Pater noster_, of the
_Exultet_, and of the _Gloria_ precisely such as the modern" (T. 2,
p. 92). In a splendid roll of the Minerva (signed D. 1. 2) of the 9th
century, are contained the _Exultet_, the solemn benediction of the
baptismal font, and the administration of all the ecclesiastical
orders. Nor is this the only roll containing the chant precisely
similar to the modern. D'Agincourt left another to the Vatican
library. See also MS. no. 333 of the Barberini library, of the year
1503.]
[Footnote 115: Prudentius speaks of the "guttas olentes" or
odoriferous drops of the candle, and S. Paulinus of Nola of "odora
lumina": hence P. Arevalo conjectures that the grains of incense were
fixed in the paschal candle even at the time of Prudentius in the 4th
century.]
[Footnote 116: In churches, at the words _Apis mater eduxit_, the
lamps also are lighted. With regard to the triple candle, we may
observe that on an ancient marble column preserved in the Piazza
before the cathedral of Capua is a bas-relief representing the
lighting of the paschal candle by means of a reed surmounted by 3
small candles, as the Canonico Natali testifies in a letter printed at
Naples in 1776. The triple candle is mentioned in the Ordo Romanus
of Card. Gaetano, in that of Amelius, and in a MS. Pontifical of the
church of Apamea, ap. Martene. As Thomassin observes, "we light a
candle divided into three in honour of the Trinity, considering that
enlightened by Christ we know that recondite mystery". Gavant also
gives the same explanation. In the Greek service the bishop gives
his blessing, as often as he sings mass, with a triple candle. In the
Latin church it is used only on holy Saturday.]
[Footnote 117: See Appendix.]
[Footnote 118: This custom is proved from the letter of Siricius
Pope in the 4th century to Himmerius, from letters of S. Leo and
Pope Gelasius, as well as other ancient documents (ap. Bened. XIV,
Institut. prima ed lat.); and vestiges of it are preserved in the
liturgy of the weeks of Easter and Pentecost. Ordinations were
generally conferred before Christmas, as is evident from the lives of
the early Popes. Baptism was administered before the great festivals
of Easter and Pentecost, that the newly-baptised might be prepared to
celebrate them worthily, and receive the graces therein commemorated.
Perhaps another reason for selecting the eve of Easter may be found in
the parallel drawn by S. Paul between baptism and Christ's death and
resurrection (Rom. VI, 5 and foll.): "we who are baptised in Christ
Jesus are baptised in his death. For we are buried together with him
by baptism unto death: that as Christ is risen from the dead by the
glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life" etc.]
[Footnote 119: See on such subjects Del Signore's Institut. Hist.
Eccles. with notes by Prof. Tizzani Cap. V. § 19 seq.]
[Footnote 120: See Comm. ad Ord. Rom. Mabillonii tom. 2, Mus. Ital. p.
95.]
[Footnote 121: According to the Ordo Romanus, children after baptism
on this day were to take no food or milk before Communion "and on all
days of Easter-week let them go to Mass, and let their parents offer
for them, and let all communicate". As Cabassutius proves in his
notitia Ecclesiastica sæculi primi, they used to receive the B.
Sacrament under the form of wine alone. The bishop dipped his finger
into the sacred blood, and then put it into the mouth of the child a
practice observed in modern times in some parts of the East, according
to the learned Maronite Abraham Ecchellensis; afterwards a little milk
and honey was put into their mouths, as an emblem (according to John
the deacon) of the promised land, to which they were called. This
custom of giving communion to children was not of necessity for
salvation, as Cardinal Noris proves in Vindiciis Augustinianis § 4,
and the Council of Trent observes. In some places an abuse crept in
of putting the milk and honey into the consecrated chalice, but it was
prohibited by an African Council.]
[Footnote 122: In the 4th century, S. Basil writing to the clergy of
Neocesarea observes, that the litanies, which they then used, were
introduced after the time of S. Gregory Thaumaturgus (Epist. 63). In
Gaul about the year 452, S. Mamertus bishop of Vienne appointed solemn
litanies to be recited on the three _rogation_ days. "At Rome," say
Palmer, "no doubt litanies were in use at an early period, since we
find that in the time of Gregory the great (A.D. 590), the appellation
of litany had been so long given to processional supplications,
that it was then familiarly applied to those persons who formed the
procession". Vol. 1, p. 271. That holy Pontiff gave the following
directions; "Let the litany of the clergy set out from the church of
S. John the Baptist, the litany of the men from the church of the holy
martyr Marcellus, the litany of the monks from the church of SS John
and Paul: the litany of the handmaids of God from the church of the
blessed martyrs Cosmas and Damian, the litany of the married women
from the church of the blessed protomartyr Stephen; the litany of the
widows from the church of the blessed martyr Vitalis, the litany of
the poor and children from the church of the blessed martyr Cecilia".
Vita S. Gregorii a Joanne Diacono, lib. 1, c. 42. That the litanies
were recited on holy-saturday appears from several ancient _rites_
quoted by Marlene (De Ant. Eccl. Ritibus, lib. 4, c. XXV, and lib. 1,
c. I, art. 18). Palmer, wishing to defend the liturgy of the church
of England, maintains the antiquity of litanies, but pretends that the
invocations of saints were not originally contained in them, but were
added to them in the west about the eighth century (vol. I, p. 289).
From a passage in Walafridus Strabo he is led to admit that at _his_
time (the ninth century) "these invocations must have been _for
some time_ in use, and accordingly manuscript litanies containing
invocations have been discovered by learned men, which appear from
internal evidence to be as old as the eighth century". He attempts
however by _negative_ arguments to shew, that these invocations
are not more ancient than that period; although at the same time he
confesses that "we have no _distinct account_ of the _nature_ of the
service which was used on occasions of peculiar supplication during
the earliest ages". p. 272. To his arguments we may oppose the
_positive_ testimony of Walafridus Strabo, who says "The litany of the
holy names is believed to have come into use after Jerome, following
Eusebius of Cesarea, had composed the martyrology". A long time,
about three centuries, elapsed before the _canon_ of the scriptures
was determined; and it is not therefore surprising if the _canon_
of saints, (if such it may be called), who died at considerable
intervals, required some time for its formation. Invocations of the
saints in ancient litanies may be seen ap. Martene (lib. 4f c. 27
and lib. 1, c. 1, art. 18). One would conceive from Palmer's account
of the Ambrosian litany that it did not contain invocations of
the saints, p. 276; yet in the Ambrosian processional, to which he
alludes, we read as follows "Afterwards they go to the altar, were the
litanies are recited on bended knees, in reciting which the _names
of the saints_ without _Intercede pro nobis_ are sung aloud by the
provost and clergy of the first collegiate church; and by the other
clergy with _Intercede pro nobis_ and this rite of singing the
_litanies_ and antiphons is observed in every other stational church".
ap. Martene lib. 4, c. 28. In the Ordo Romanus also De Benedictione
Ecclesiæ these invocations are found. The question however concerning
their antiquity _in the litanies_ is of minor importance. Even Palmer
admits, that "Catholic fathers in the 4th century invoked the saints"
p. 292, though he gravely assures his readers, that "they were too
well instructed in the Christian faith to believe positively that the
saints heard our prayers". He mentions the learned work of Serrarius
called "Litaneutici seu de Litaniis etc." as an instance of the
writings, in which "innumerable passages have been cited from ancient
writers to prove, that the invocation of saints is more ancient than
the eighth century. But most of those passages do not refer to the
invocation of saints, but to prayers made to God for the intercession
of saints". Palmer, vol. I, p. 278. We consider that there is little
difference in principle between these two things: we shall however, to
satisfy him, quote only one passage from an ancient Oriental liturgy.
"Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, pray for me to the only begotten
Son, who was born of thee, that he may forgive me my offences and
sins, and may receive from my feeble and sinful hands this sacrifice,
which in my weakness I offer on this altar, through thy intercession
for me, O holy Mother". (From the ancient liturgy used by the
Nestorians called the liturgy of the holy apostles. Renaudot, t. II.
See bishop Poynter's Christianity, Note E: and ancient inscriptions
in Rock's Hierurgia, p. 347 and foll.) Though we have the _innumerable
ancient_ passages above-mentioned in favour of the Catholic doctrine,
yet shall we call Mr. Palmer's attention to the following passage of
his own work. Speaking of secrecy, he says: "this primitive discipline
is sufficient to account for the fact, that very few allusions to
the liturgy or eucharistic service are found in the writings of the
Fathers". I, p. 14. His fears of _heresy and blasphemy_ arising from
the invocation of Saints may be calmed by the simple perusal of the
doctrine of the church taught by the Council of Trent, sess. 25. "The
holy synod commands all bishops and other teachers--_diligently to
instruct the faithful, teaching them_ that the Saints reigning with
Christ offer to God their prayers for men; that it is _good and
useful_ to invoke them with supplication, and to have recourse to
their prayers, help, and assistance, in order to obtain benefits _from
God through his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who alone is our Redeemer
and Saviour_". Accordingly we say in the litany "Lord, have mercy on
us: holy Mary _pray for us_" etc.]