Monday Within the Octave

them that eat him. tus pinguedinem.

The Lord hath sworn, and he will not repent him of his oath : he hath sworn : " Thou art a Priest for ever, " according to the order of Melchmdech Z" 1 Thus did the sons of Levi sing, to the expeoted Messias, in one of the loveliest of their Psalms. This noble and privileged family, this corona fratrum, standing, in all its glory, around the altar, whence there daily ascended the smoke of the victims burned on it, — this community of brethren oelebrated, on the sacred harp, the Priesthood of the good things to oome, and announoed their own being set aside. Shadow and figure as it was, their own priesthood was to disappear, when the brightness of the divine realities of Calvary came. They were indebted to the infidelity of the nations, for their being oalled to perpetuate the worship of the true God, in his one single Temple ; but this preoarious honour would cease, when the reconciliation of the world took plaoe. Being son of Juda, through David, the High Priest Christ receives nought of Aaron. When the in6pj^d Psalmist sings a hymn in honour of our Jesus' Priesthood, he goes back, in thought, to the ages beyond Moses ; he passes the time of the twelve Patriarohs and their father Israel ; and there, in the distant past, he meets with the type of a Priest- Pa. cix« 4. hood, which is to have no limits, either of plaoe or time: it is Melohisedeoh. Melohisedeoh reoeived, through Abraham, the homage of Abraham's son, Levi ; the priest of the unoiroumeised nations gives a blessing to the venerable holder of the promise ; and this mighty blessing, which is extended to the patriarch's entire race, derives its effioaoy from a mysterious sacrifice : — the peaceful offering of bread and wine to the Most High. 1

The Priesthood of the King of justice and peace, not only precedes that of Aaron as to time, but it is also to outlive it. And observe, it is at the very time when God was making a covenant with one single race, and, thereby, seemed to be turning away from all other nations, and was establishing the priestly order, to their exolusion, — it is precisely then, that the King-Priest of Salem, who has neither beginning of days nor end of life, 3 suddenly comes before us as the imposing image of our Eternal Priest, who offers the divine Memorial, whioh is to perpetuate the great Sacrifice on the earth, and for ever take the plaoe of the bloody sacrifices of the Mosaio dispensation.

The Sacrifice of the Cross lasts all ages of time, and fills eternity. And yet, as to time, it was the offering of one single day ; and as to place, it was made but on one spot. It matters not : in every plaoe, in every age, man must have the sacrifice ceaselessly offered up in his presence ; he must have its offering renewed daily in his midst. As we have already seen, sacrifice is the centre of the whole of religion ; and man cannot dispense with religion, for it unites him to God as the sovereign Lord, and constitutes the jpimary bond of social life. As, then, to satisfy the imperious necessity, which showed itself from the very beginning of the world, divine Wisdom appointed those figurative offerings, which foretold the one great Sacrifice!

1 Gen. xiv. 18-20. * Heb. yii. 3. and from which they derived what merit soever they possessed ; so, in like manner, onoe the oblation of the great Viotim made, it is again to supply the demands of mankind, and provide the world with a permanent Sacrifioe ; it is to be a Memorial and not a Figure ; it destroys not the unity of the Sacrifice of the Gross ; and it applies the fruits of that one Sacrifice to each member of eaoh future generation.

We will not here describe the Lord's Supper, and the institution of that new Priesthood, which is as far above its predecessor as the promises it holds are more glorious, and the covenant, of which it forms the basis, 1 is more divine. We have had all the details of that marvellous history related to us on Maundy-Thursday. It was on that day, — that day expected from all eternity ; it was at that hour, (cum facta esset Hora), 2 that Hour so long put off, that divine Wisdom sat down to the supper and banquet of the New Covenant ; he sat down, having with him the Twelve Apostles, who represented mankind. Putting an end to figures by a final immolation of the Pasohal Lamb, Jesus exclaimed : With desire (that is, with immense desire), I have desired to eat this Pasch with you I s The Man- God thus eased his sacred Heart, which had so long waited for this Hour ; he had so loved it ! and it is now come ! Then, forestalling the Jews, he immolates his victim, — the divine Lamb, signified by Abel, foretold by Isaias, shown by John the Precursor; 4 and, by a miraoulous anticipation, there is already in the holy chalice the Blood which, in a few hours hence, is to be flowing on Calvary ; already his divine hand presents to the disciples the bread now changed into his Body, which has beoome the ransom of the world : Take, says this Jesus, take ye and eat : this is my Body, which shall be delivered

1 Heb. viii. 6. 3 St. Luke, xxii. 15.

• St. Luke, xxii. 14. * St. Greg., Moral, xxix. 31.

▼o* x. 2b for you ! Take and drink this Chalice, which is the new testament in my Blood ! This do ye for the com* melioration ofme: 1 that is, " As I am now anticipa- " ting, for your sakes, the death I am to suffer on the ^ " morrow, so you, when I have left this world, do this "same for the commemoration of me."

The covenantee allianoe, is now made. The New Testament is declared, and, like its predeoessor, is sealed by Blood. If, as yet, it be of no force, save in prevision of the Testator's real death, 2 the reason is, because this Jesus, who is the Viotim of the divine vengeance for the salvation of the whole world, has made a solemn covenant with his eternal Father,* that this universal redemption is not to be effected but by the morrow's cruel work. He has made himself the Head of guilty mankind ; he has made himself responsible to God for the orimes of his own race ; for the destruction of sin, therefore, he willingly submits to the stern laws of expiation, and, by the torments he undergoes, reveals to the world how immense are the the earth, from that very Thursday night, is in possession of the Chalice whioh is to announce the Saviour's death until he come, 5 by oommunioating 6 to each member of the human family Christ's real and true Blood, shed for our sins. 7 And, surely, it was most fitting, that our adorable High Priest himself, and without all that display of outward violenoe, — whioh, a few hours later, is to disconcert the whole Apostolic college, — should offer himself, with his own hands, as a true Saoiifioe to his Father ; he would thus evinoe how spontaneous was his death, 8 and do away with our ever having suoh a thought as that the treachery, pr

» 1 Cor. xi. 24, 25. 5 1 Cor. xi. 26.

Notwithstanding all this,

• Heb. ix. 16-18.

3 Ibid. xii. 2.

4 £om. iii. 26, £6,

• Ibid. x. 16. 7 St. Luke, xxtf. 2P, 8 jSMohn ? x. 18 t violence, of crime, of a handful of men, could be the origin and cause of the whole world's salvation. 1

It is on this aooount, that, lifting up his eyes to bis Father, 2 and giving thanks, he says, and in the present, (as the Greek text gives the words) : This is my Body, which is given for you ; this is my Bloody which is shed for you. z These words, — which he bequeaths, and with all their efficaoy of power, to the representatives of his Priesthood, — really produce what they express. They not only change the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ ; but, as a mystioal sword, they truly separate under the twofold species, and, as far as their own power is concerned, they offer separately to the Father, the Body and Blood of our Lord, which are, indeed, united, but they are so by the omnipotent will of the infinite Majesty of God, who was abundantly and eternally satisfied by the offering made on Calvary, As often, then, as the words of Consecration, which may be likened to those whioh drew the world out of nothing, are pronounced over wheaten bread and wine of the grape, by the mouth of a Priest, — no matter how long may be the time, or how distant the plaoe, from the Sacrifice offered on Calvary, — that same moment, the august Yiotim, our Jesus, is then and there really present. It was one and the same Viotim both at the Last Supper, and on the Cross, and It continues the same in the oblation made to the Father, now, and to the end of time, and in all places, by the One High Priest, Christ our Lord, who borrows, and makes them his own, the handB and voioe of the Priests of his Church, who have been chosen and consecrated, in the Holy Ghost, for this dread Ministry.

Oh ! how great will not these men be, who have

1 St, Greg. Nyas. Orat i. in Chr. resurr. ? Qva<m MiflB, 3 St. Luke, zzii. 19, 20, been taken from among the rest of men, by the imposition of hands ! New Christ*, that is, new anointed Priests, identified, by their ministry, with the Son of Mary, they are the privileged members of divine Wisdom ; they are olosely united, by love, with the power which he himself has ; they are the companions of this Jesus in the doing that grand work which he, Wisdom, is ever doing throughout all ages : that is, the immolation of the great Victim, and the mingling of the Chalice, 1 wherein our humanity, blended with its Head in the unity of the one same Sacrifice, derives also love for both its God and its fellow-members, and is made to be partaker of the divine nature, as St. Peter words the mystery of union. 2

Praise, then, and glory be to our Jesus, the sovereign High Priest, for these noble sons of the human race ! they are a marvel to heaven, and the pride of our earth ! Surrounded by them, as is the palm-tree with its victory-speaking palms, or the cedar with its incorruptible branches, 8 this divine Pontiff of ours oomes forward, like the olive-tree budding forth its young plants, in which he puts, and with such an overflowingness, dignity, power, and holiness. 5 And as the cypress-tree, that rears itself on high, 4 hides its vigourous trunk beneath the forest of its ever-green branches, — so, hiding his own direct action, and, as it were, retreating behind the countless Priests on earth, who derive all their power and unction from Him, our true High Priest draws them all to unity with his own adorable Self.

On that night ever-blessed, that night of the divine Supper, when, as he said, the hour had come for the Father and Son to glorify one the other ; 6 it

1 Prov. ix. 2. 4 Ecclus. 1. 11.

• 2 St. Pet. i. 4. 5 j hidt

? Ecclus. 1. 13, 14. 6 g t . John, xvii. 1. was just as he was on the point of asoending the blood-stained steps of the altar of the Cross, where was to be consummated the perfection of glory ; l yes, it was then, and thus early, that he manifested the power of his own divine Priesthood. Under the likeness and name of Simon, Son of Onias, who did suoh great things for the Temple, and saved his people from destruction ; 2 we have our Jesus, whose praises are inspired and oelebrated by the Holy Spirit, in that last of the Books descriptive of eternal Wisdom, — Ecclesiasticus. It is into the, as yet, feeble hands of his Apostles, whom he vouchsafes to oall his friends? and his Brethren? that our Lord intrusts the oblation, whioh was to immortalise, and so, in a manner, extend his Saorifioe to the Xing of Ages. His divine hands are stretched out, offering, as a libation, the blood of the grape : he pours it forth at the very foot of the altar, whioh is already being put up ; and the fragrance of that offering makes its way to the Most High Prince. Our High Priest saw into the future ; he heard the songs of triumph whioh would hymn the praises of the divine Memorial ; he heard the saored Psalmody, whioh would fill the great Eouse y the Church, with oeaseless and sweet harmony, around the Tabernaole of his Presenoe ; he saw millions prostrate in the adoration of Him, the Lord their God, and paying to the Almighty their now perfeot homage.. Then did he rise from the table of the Supper ; he went out in his strength and his love, 5 that he might, for a whole long day, stretch forth his hands in presence of the crowd of unbelieving and hostile children of Israel ; 6 he renewed his oblation, consummated his Sacrifice by his Blood, for, by the Cross, he wished to show the power of God. 7

1 Ecclus. 1. 11, 12. 5 St. John, xiv. 31.

• IbidA. 1-5. 6 Is.lxv. 2.

8 St. John, xv. 15. 7 Ecclus. 1. 15-23,

• Ibid xx. 17.

" The evening Saorifioe, whioh was the Passion of " Christ," says St. Augustine, " became, in his Besur- " reotion, the oblation of the morning." 1 It was a Sar orifice, whose mysterious transformation was signified, under the Law, by the solemnly presenting to the Lord of a sheaf of the first-fruits of the bafley-harvest ; the presentation was to be made on the third day following the slaying of the Pasohal Lamb. 3 But the time for offering the very bread itself, the true wheat and food of souls, was not as yet oome ; and the law subjoined as follows : Ye shall count, therefore, from the morrow after the Sabbath, wherein ye offered the sheaf of the first-fruits, seven full weeks, even unto the morrow after the seventh week be expired, that is to say, fifty days : and then ye shall offer a new Sacrifice unto the Lord : — two loaves of flour, — the first-fruits of the Lord?

Fifty days were to transpire, in the New Covenant, before the divine agent oame, who alone could transform these gifts, this Bread and Wine. Pentecost, the glorious renteoost, arose at last ; and the creating Spirit oame with a mighty wind. The flesh of the Word, and the divine filood, which he formed at the very onset, and are still in his keeping, awaited, for their being re-produoed in the sacred Mysteries, the incommunicable operation of Him whose glorious master-piece they are. " It was by Him who is eternal " Fire, that is by the Spirit," says the Abbot Rupert, "that Mary conceived; it was by him that Jesus " offered himself, a living Victim*, to the living God ; " and it is by the same Fire that he now burns on our " altars, for it is by the operation of the Holy Ghost "that the Bread is changed into his Body." 4 So, too, St. Denis the Areopagite, the great disciple of the Apostle St. Paul, teaches us, 5 that our Jesus, t^e,

1 In Psalm. cxl. 4 Kupert in Exod. lib. ii. c. 10.

• Lev. xxiii. 10, H. 8 De Eccl. IJier. cap* v. 3. $ec. v. supreme Hieraroh, when he called hi* disciples to share in his sovereign priesthood^ — although, as God,, he was the author of all consecration, yet did he leave the consummation of their priesthood to the Hdly Ghost ; and he bade his Apostles not to depart from Jerusalem, but there wait for the promise of the> father, that is, for their being baptised with thet Holy Ghost a few days later on. 1

" The Priest," says St. John Ghrysostom, " oomes " forth, carrying, not fire, as under the Law, but thei " Btoly Ghost." 2 "It is a man who appears before "us, but it is God who works." 3 Sow shall this be done, said Mary to the Angel, for I know not man. Gabriel answers her : the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most Sigh shall overshadow ihee* " And thou now askest me," says St. John Damascene to an inquirer, " i How do the bread and " • wine and water become the Body and Blood of " ' Christ ?' I answer thee : The Holy Ghost over- " shadows the Ghuroh, and aohieves this Mystery, " whioh is beyond all word and all imagination." 5

Therefore it is, that, as St. Fulgentius observes, " the Church cannot have any better reason for pray- " ing for the coming of the Holy Ghost, than for ther " consecration of the Saorifioe, wherein, as under the "shadow of the Spirit in the Virgin's womb, the^ " Wisdom of the Father united himself with the Man " chosen by him for the divine espousal, so the Churoh " herself is united, by the Holy Ghost, to Christ, as " a bride is- to her spouse, or the body to its head." 6 It is on account of all this, that the hour of; Tierce, (our hour of nine o'clook,) the hour wherein the divine' Paraclete came into this world, is the one set apart, by the Churoh, on each of her Festivals, for the

1 Acts, i. 4, 5.

• Be Sacerd. lib. iii. c. 4.

8 Tarn. v. sewn. 38.

• St. Luke, i. 34, 35.

5 De fid. orthod. lib. iv. c. 13.

6 Ad Monim* lib* ii. c. 10. solemn oelebration of the great Saorifioe, over whioh this Blessed Spirit presides in the omnipotence of his operation.

0 holy hour of Tierce ! 0 saored Nine o' Clock, as men call that third hour ! it is then that the Bride, the Ohuroh of Christ, feels an alleviation of her exile ; for, though still on earth, she gives to her God a homage that is worthy of him, and reoeives baok from him every grace wherewith to bless her dear children. In this sense, the Mass is her fortune, her dower ; it belongs to her to regulate its celebration, to piesoribe the formulas and the oeremonies, and to reoeive its fruits. The Priest is her minister : she prays ; he immolates the Viotim, and gives her prayer an infinite power. The indelible charaoter of the Priesthood, stamped by God himself on the Priest's soul, makes him the exclusive depositary of the marvellous, the divine, power, and gives to the Saorifioe, offered by his hands, a validity which no human power can control ; but he may not, licitly and lawfully, make the oblation, save in and with the Churoh.

This mutual dependence, this union whioh confounds not, of the Priest and the Church, in the Saored Mysteries, was deeply impressed on the minds of the early Christians. In the cemetery of Saint Callixtus, — that oentral point of the Roman cemeteries, and the one set apart for the burial of the Bishops of the Mother-Churoh during the entire 3rd Century, — there is a whole series of paintings, going baok as far as the beginning of the Catacomb itself. These were a symbolic teaohing of the initiated how the dogma of the Eucharist was instituted by our Lord, as basis of the religion, whereof the Popes, who were buried there, in the papal orypt, had been the faithful guardians. The repast of the seven disciples, for whom, during their mysterious fishing, Jesus himself has been preparing bread and a fish roasted on hot

MONDAY WITHIN THB OCTAVE. ooals, 1 is painted in one of the rooms, on the oentre of the wall facing the entrance-door. On either side of this oentral subject, there are two other smaller ones : one is the saorifioe of Abraham, with its well-known meaning ; the other represents a non-historic scene, whioh, however, evidently forms a counterpart with the one on the other side ; it speaks of the Sacrifice of the Christian Church ; and symbolism so thoroughly hides the secret of the Mysteries from the profane, that we may expect the symbolism to be deep in proportion. On a table lies a loaf, whose meaning is made plain enough by the fish, the euoharistio xcthm y being placed near it. On the spectator's right hand is an aged female ; she is standing, with her arms stretohed out as an Orante, and is offering up her prayer to heaven ; on the left is the figure of a young man ; he wears a simple pallium, which was the usual garb of the Christian clerio in the 2nd Century ; with an air of authority, he is holding his open hands over the table and its gifts. We know the meaning of all this ; it is the Church, who is united, in the oonsecration, with the Priest, her minister and her son. 2

With what fidelity does not this queen, who is in mourning for her Spouse, carry out the Testament, which left her, in the Sacrifice, the eternal and undying remembrance of his Death, — and he gave her that Testament at his Last Supper ! Whilst he gives his whole Self to her in the mystery of love, she is forcibly reminded, by the state of immolation in whioh she sees Him, that she is not to be taken up so muoh with the joy this sweet presence of his oauses her, as with the duty of completing and continuing his work, by immolating herself together with Him. Under the Altar, where she and her Jesus

1 St. John, xxi. 8.

• De Rossi, Horn. sott. torn* ii«

?neet, she, <Aa valiant woman} has laid the lelioa ol her Martyrs, for she is aware that the Passion of he? Lord demands, from her children, who are his mem-* bers, * something which will fiU up what is wanting of his sufferings? , She was produced from his open Side, when on his Cross, and she was espoused to him in Death ; that first embrace, whioh, from her very birth, put her Spouse's Bleeding Body into her arms, has communicated to the soul of this seoond Eve the same inebriation of devotedness and love, which sent the heavenly Adam into his deep sleep on Calvary.

To this Church, then, to this Mother of the living, the immense human family runs with all its manifold miseries, and countless wants. She makes good use of the treasure confided to her ; that treasure is the Mass, and it supplies every necessity ; and, by that same, she is enabled to fulfil all her duties, both aa Bride and Mother. Each day identifying herself, more and more, with the universal Victim, who imparts to her Sacrifice his own infinite worth, the Church adores God's sovereign Majesty, gives him thanks for his favours, sues for the pardon of the past and present sins of her ohildren, and asks for them the bestowal of blessings temporal and eternal. The precious Blood of her Jesus flows from her Altar upon the suffering souls in Purgatory, assuages their fire of expiation, or leads them to the place of re* freshment, light and peace. 3

So great is the power of the Saorifioe offered in the Church, that, of itself, and (as far as the principal effect is ooncerned,) independently of the merits of the Priest or the people present, it fulfils those four ends, whose realisation inoludes the sum total of religion, — that is, Adoration, Thanksgiving, Propitiation, and Impetration ; — yes, independently of the merits of the human Priest, — for it is the Viotim,

• Prov. xzzi. 10. 1 Gdosi. i, U. 8 Can. Miss. whioh giyes this Saorifioe its worth ; and the Victim on our Altars is the Same that was on Calvary ; it is a Viotim equal to the Father, who offers himself, as he did on the cross, for these same ends, and in one same Oblation. The Creator of spaoe and time is not bound to observe their laws, and he has proved his divine independence in this mystery. " J ust as though offered in many places, it is one and the same Body, and not several bodies," says St. John Chrysostom, " so is it with the unity of the Sacrifice, though offered in different ages." 1 Between the Altar and the Cross, there is but the difference of the manner of the offering. Bloody on the Cross, unbloody on the Altar, the offering is one, 2 notwithstanding this diversity of mode. The immolation of the august Victim on the Cross was a visible one, for it was amidst all the oruel horrors which slew Him ; but the violence of the executioners concealed the Saorifioe offered to God, by the Incarnate Word, in the spontaneity of his generous love. At our Altar, the immolation is not visible ; but the religious worship of the Saorifioe is as patent as the noon-day brightness, and as splendid in its glorious* ritual. Upon the earth, whioh on that terrible Friday, had drunk the stream of its shedding, the precious Blood left the malediction of deicide ; but the chalioe of salvation held by the Church's hand sheds benediction throughout our planet.

0 glorious condition of this Earth of ours, from whose surface, the Lamb that is slain, who is now receiving, on the Throne of God, the homage due to his triumph, 3 is presenting, eaoh day, in his state of infinite lowliness as Man, total satisfaction to his Father for the sins of the world, and a glory adequate to the perfections of the divine Majesty ! The Angela

1 In Ep* ad Eeb. Horn. 17. * Heb. x. 14.

3 Apoc. v. 6, 12. are in admiration as they look down upon this our globe, mere speok as it is amidst the bright heavenly spheres, and yet so loved, from the very onset, by eternal Wisdom ; they surround, trembling the while, this Altar on earth, so closely resembling, so one with theirs in heaven, that, on the two, the one same High Priest pays homage to the one same God in the one same infinite Offering. Hell from its deepest depths, trembles at it ; and, raging as it does against God, and vowing vengeance against man, there is no object so hateful to it as this Saorifice. What untiring efforts has not Satan been making, what artful designs has he not planned, in order to make this muoh-detested Saorifice cease ! And, alas ! there has been, even in the very heart of Christendom, some partial success to those efforts and designs, — there has been the protestant heresy, which has destroyed thousands of our Altars, especially in our own dear fatherland, — and there is still the spirit of Revolution, which is spreading as our modern times grow older, and whose avowed aim is to shut up our Churches, and do away with the Priests who offer saorifice !

So it is : and, therefore, our world, which heretofore used to be set right again after the storms that swept its surfaoe, now complains that the impending ruin is an universal one, and one wherein there is no strength, save in the very chastisements sent by God. It vainly busies itself with its plans of safety, and, at eaoh turn, feels that the human legislation it would trust to, is but an arm of human folly stretched out to support a decrepit age of proud weakness. The Blood of the Lamb, once the world's power, no longer flows upon it with its former plenty. And yet the world goes on ; it does so, because of that same Saorifice, which, though despised, and, in many lands totally suspended, is still offered in thousands of happy spots on earth ; and, on the world will go, for the time yet to come, until, in a final acoess of mad frenzy, it shall have put the last Priest to death, and taken away from every Altar here below, the eternal Sacrifice. 1

The incalculable influence of the Euoharistio Sacrifice, and its unlimited power, are brought forward in the following beautiful formula, which is a continuation of what we have already taken from the Apostolic Constitutions.

CONSTITUTIO JACOBI.

We beseech thee that thou mercifully look down upon these gifts, thou, O God, who standest in need of none of our things ; and be thou wellpleased m them, for the honour of thy Christ ; send down upon this sacrifice thy Spirit, he that was witness of the Lord Jesus' sufferings; in order that they who are partakers of his (Body and Blood) may be strengthened unto piety, may obtain the remission of their sins, may be delivered from the devil and his deceit, may be filled with the Holy Ghost, may be made worthy of thy Christ, and may obtain life everlasting, by thv being reconciled to them, 0 almighty Lord.

We further pray thee, O Lord, for thy holy Church, which is spread from one end of the world to the other, which thou hast purchased by the precious Blood of thy Oh list : preserve it unshaken and free from disturbance

1 Dan.

Poscimus te ut super hsec dona placate respicias, tu qui nullius indiges Deus, et beneplaceas in eis ad honorem Christi tui, atque supra hoc sacrificium mittas sanctum tuum Spiritum, testem passionum Domini Jesu : ut participes illius ad pietatem confirmentur, remissionem peccatorum consequantur, diabolo ejusque errore liberentur, Spiritu sancto repleantur, digni Christo tuo fiant, vitam sempiternam impotrent, te illis roconciliato, Domine omnipotens.

Adhuc oramus te, Domine, pro sancta Ecclesia tua, quae a finibus ad fines extenditur, quam acquisisti pretioso sanguine Christi tui : ut earn inconcussam ac minime fluctuantem conserves usque in seeculi con- evmm&tienem t item pro universe episeopatu recte verbum veritatis tractante ac dietribuente, pro omni presbyterio, pro diaconis, ac universo olero : ut omnes sapientiam a te donates Spiritu sancto impleas.

Adhuc rogamus te, Domino, pro rege et iis qui in sublimitate sunt et pro cuncto exercitu, ut res nostrae in pace versentur; quo totum vitee nostrae tempus in quiete et ooncordia trajicentes, te per Jesum Christum spem nostram gloria afficiamus.

Adhuc offerimus tibi pro omnibus Sanctis qui a sreculo placuerunt tibi, patriarchis, prophetis, justis, apostolis, martyribus, confessoribus, episcopis, presbyteris, diaconis, subdiaconis, lectoribus, cantoribus, virginibus, viduis, laicis et omnibus quorum tu nosti nomina.

Adhuc offerimus tibi pro populo hoc : ut eum in laudem Ohristi tui exhibeas regale sacerdotium, gentem sanctam ; pro iis qui in virginitate et castitate vivunt ; pro viduis Ecclesise ; pro iis qui in nuptiis honestis degunt; pro infantibus plebis tuse: uti nostrum neminem rejiciendum habeas.

Adhuc poscimus te pro urbe hac et habitantibus in ea; pro segrotis, pro dura eervitute affliotis, pro exsu- until the const wtimtion of time; we also pray for the whole episcopacy which rightly treats and distributes the word of truth ; for the whole presbytery, for deacons, and the entire clergy : that, having enriched them all with Wisdom, thou mayst fill them with the Holy Spirit.

We further pray thee, O Lord, for the king and them that are in authority, and for the whole army, that all our affairs may be in peace ; that, thereby, spending the whole time of our life in quietness and concord, we may glorify thee, through him who is our hope, Christ Jesus.

We further offer thee (this Sacrifice) for all the saints who have been pleasing to thee from the beginning: patriarchs, prophets, righteous, apostles, martyrs, confessors, bishops, priests, deacons, subdeacons, lectors, chanters, virgins, widows, laity, and all whose names are known to thee.

We further offer it to thee for this people, that thou wilt make them, to the praise of thy Christ, a kingly priesthood and a holy nation ; for them that live in virginity and chastity; for the Church's widows ; for them that live in honourable wedlock; for the infants of thy people : that thou mayst not cast any one of us away.

We further beseech thee for this city and its inhabitants ; for the sick ; for them that are in cruel servitude ; for them that are in banishment; for them that are in prison ; for them that are travelling by sea or land : that thou i>e their supporter, thou the helper and defender of all.

We rurther beseech thee for them that hate and persecute us for thy name's sake; for them that are without, and are astray : that thou lead them to what is good, and appease their fury.

We further also beseech thee for the Church's catechumens, and for the possessed by satan, and for our brethren the penitents : that thou mayst perfect the first in faith, cleanse the second from the attacks of the wicked one, and accept the penance of the third, pardoning both them and us the offences committed by us.

We offer it to thee, likewise, for favourable weather and abundant crops : that over receiving the good things thou bestowest, we may cease not to praise thee, who givest food to all flesh.

We also beseech thee for them that are absent for a just cause : that thus, being maintained in holiness by thee, thou mayst unite us all, immoveable, blameless, and without reproach, in the kingdom of thy Christ, who is the God of every creature both sensible and intellectual, and is also our king.

For to thee be all glory, worship, thanksgiving, honour, adoration, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now, and lfbus, pro proscriptis, pro navigantibus et iter facientibus : ut sis auxiliator, omnium adjutor ac defensor.

Adhuc rogamus te pro iis qui oderunt nos et propter nomen tuum nos persequuntur, pro iis qui foris sunt ac errant : ut adduoas eos ad bonum, et furorem eorum mitiges.

Adhuc rogamus te et pro Ecclesiae catechumenis, et pro iis qui ab adversario jactantur, et pro poenitentiam agentibus fratribus nostris: ut primos quidem perficias in fide, alteros vero mundes a vexatione mali, tertiorum autem pcenitentiam suscipias, condoneeque cum iis turn nobis qu» delinquimue.

Offerimus quoque tibi pro aeris temperatura et f rugum ubertate : ut indesinenter bona a te collata percipientes, assidue laudemus te qui das escam omni carni.

Etiam rogamus te pro iis qui ob causam probabilem absentes sunt: ut omnes nos in pietate conservatos a te, in Christi tui, Dei universae naturae sub sen sum et intelligentiam cadentis, regisque nostri regno congreges, immutabiles, inculpates, irreprehensos.

Quoniam tibi omnis gloria, veneratio, gratiarum actio, honor, adoratio : Patri, et Filio, et Snirituj

• sancto, nunc, et semper, et ever, and for endless everlast- in infinita ac sempiterna ing ages, saecula sseculorum.

Atque omni populua Amen And let all the people answer : respondeat. Amen. §

We have taken the following fine Sequence from Daniel's Thesaurus Hymnologicus. Unlike so many other liturgical pieces composed, in the 14th and 15th Centuries, in honour of the Blessed Sacrament, we find in it somewhat of the soul and spirit of the great Christian poets of earlier times.

DE 8. SACRAMENTO.

(Infra Septuagesimam et Quadragesimam.)

De superna Hierarchia, Vera descendit Sophia

In uterum Virginis : Optatus Dux in hac via Venit natus de Maria,

Esse portans hominis.

Magnae Matris magnus Natus,

Modo miro mundo natus,

Muudi tollit erimina : Aufert morbos, dat salutem, Ante suos fert virtutem, Hostis f ugans agmina.

Zelator mirabilis, Effectus passibilis,

In cruce damnatur : Legislator veteris Legis plagis asperis

Pro nobisjplagatur. Agnus in Cruco levatus, Et pro nobis immolatus,

Fit salutis hostia : Vitra nostras reparator, Et virtutum re^taurator,

Cceli pandit ostia.

True Sophia, true Wisdom, came down, from the hierarchy of heaven, into the Virgin's womb : our long-desired Guide in this life, came, born of Mary, having the nature of Man.

Noble Son of noble Mother, born into this world in a wonderful manner, he takes that world's sins away : he expels disease, .bestows health, leads on his people with power, and puts the hostile ranks to flight.

He that is wonderful in his love, having become passible, is condomned to the Cross : he that is the giver of the Old Law is, for our sakes, wounded with cruel wounds.

The Lamb being lifted up on the Cross, and immolated for us, is made the Victim of salvation : the repairer of our life, the restorer of all virtues, opens heaven's gates. tttrtitoAt Wrfittfr Vert <H?*aV1s. '885

At the great Supper, he first declares his mysteries, knowing well what awaited him. Taking bread, he blesses it ; This, he says, is my Body : be it a remembrance of me !

The wine in the cup which he presents, is blessed by him, who is Son of God ; and When blessed, it becomes the Blood of the Word made Flesh.

To God alone are these things understood ; we are to believe and worship them, without prying into their depths : let the just man alone approach to receive them, Who is of simple faith : if thou art cloaked in vice, approach not !

Take heed, thou Judas ! for thou wilt find thy condemnation ! Thou, O Peter, take and find salvation ! This is the food of Believers. At this Table, the just man is clad with armour ; but the guilty one is stripped, and is made a prey to the foes.

These, 0 Christ, are thy marvellous works : 0 save us, who receive them, from an angry judgment. Adorn us With the garb of grace ! Defend us from punishment. 0 thou restorer of salvation ! 0 heavenly Physician ! make us worthy of the food thou givest us I

Sacramenta dictat prius, Coena magna, bene scius

Quae jam erant obvia : Prsebens panem benedicit ; Hoc est corpus meum, dioit ;

Sit mei memoria. Data benedictio Pit a Dei Filio

Vini pi opiuafci ; Et cum benedicitur, Tunc sanguis efficitur

Verbi incarnati.

Deo nota sunt heeo soli : Credi debent atque coli,

Amoto scrutinio : Justus tantum expers doli Sumat ilia : — sed tu noli

Involute vitio.

Cave, Juda, ne damneris : Petre, sume, ut salveris :

Cibus est fidelium : Ad cujus mensam armatur Justus, reus et nudatUr,

Prseda f actus hostium.

Tua, 0hri8te, sunt haec mira ; Serva sumentes ab ira

Judicii : Orna nos veste grati», Defende nos a facie

Supplioii. Beparator salvifice, Dignos cibo nos office

Medicine coelioe. vol* z.

2c

TTJE8DAT.

WITHIN THE OCTAVE OP CORPUS CHRISTI.

Let us adore Christ, the Xing, who ruleth the nations : who giveth fatness of spirit to them that eat him.

Christum regem adoremus dominantem eentibus, qui se manducantibus dat spiritus pinguedinem.

Wisdom prosecutes the fulfilment of the divine plan framed before all ages. His union, or, to use the scriptural expression, his marriage, with human nature, in the womb of his Virgin-Mother, has shown his love ; and J esus, that Son of Man, who never had any personality but the Word Himself, immolated on the Cross, in a daily renewed Sacrifice, offers an infinite glory to the Eternal Father. But the august Victim, who comes down upon earth at the word of the Priest, does not return to heaven amidst some sacred flame, like that which used to consume the ancient holooausts. Immovable and passive as are the elements, whose substance has been changed into His, by the marvellous power of the sacrifioe, — He, Jesus, remains at the Altar under the appearance of Bread and Wine, for such they seem to be to the eyes and the other senses : — this is the Blessed Sacrament, the outward sensible sign of a mysterious banquet.

" 0 Sacrament of Sacraments ! 1 0 most divine and " holy Sacrament ! lifting up the veil of the symbolic " mysteries which surround thee, show thyself to us " in thy perfection, and fill our mental vision with " thine incomparable and pure light ! " 2 Thus, in his inimitable style, speaks the interpreter of the divine

1 S. Dion. De Eccl. hier. c» iii. 1« * S. Dion. 1. c. 3, } 2.

TUESDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE. hierarchies, the Eagle of Athens, when, having explained the holy ceremonies of the Sacrifice, he soars aloft in the consecration of the architypes, or principles, of the sacred rites, which he has just been describing. Let us follow, as far as may be, the sublime philosophy of our Christian Plato, who has given a sort of consecration to the language and formulas of pagan wisdom, by making them the re* ceptacles and teachers of Christian dogma ; and, like St. Paul, has made every height of science obey and subserve the mysteries of Christ. 1

The Priest, then, has just pronounced the words of Consecration, and the tremendous Mysteries are there on the altar : he shows them, veiled under the sacramental species. The host, after being concealed for a few moments, is held up before the adoring multitude ; it was one, and, now, he divides it into several portions : he presents to all the faithful the one same Chalioe ; he mystically multiplies and dis-

For the simple and hidden Unity of the Word, by uniting, by espousing, to himself the whole nature of man, came forth from the bosom of his Father into this visible, this many-oreatured world of the senses ; and, conforming himself to this multiplicity, without, in any way, ohanging his own oneness, uniting our lowliness with his own dignity, uniting our life with his own, uniting us as his members to himself as our Head, he would have us all be one with himself :* so, the divine Sacrament, which in its own essence, is one, and simple, and indivisible, lovingly multiplies itself, under the exterior symbol of the species ; in order that, returning from the multiplicity of the receivers into the unity which is its own principle, it will bring into Unity them that received it in holy dispositions. 3 tributes

Sacrifice.