The Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

34. Introductory Prayers

These prayers⁴²42These prayers were the last developed of the various portions of the preparatory part of the Mass, for they are first mentioned only since the eleventh century. Preparatory prayers were indeed recited at a much earlier period; but they were not so rigorously prescribed, and did not belong so strictly to the Mass liturgy, as they were generally said in the sacristy or on the way to the altar, while the choir sang the Introit Psalm. All known liturgies begin with a kind of confession of guilt. In former times the formulas differed greatly: the present Confiteor appears to have been in general use since the thirteenth century. The assertion that Pope Celestine I. (422–432) gave the Psalm Judica its present position, is entirely untenable. Cf. Bona, Rer. liturg. l. 2, c. II, § 1–8. include Psalm XLII., the Confiteor and two prayers for the perfect cleansing of the heart. This part of the rite as far as the Introit may be called the general introduction to the celebration of Mass; for priest and people therein seek mainly, by humble petition and supplication for mercy and pardon, duly to prepare themselves, so as to approach the altar with perfect purity of heart and worthily to celebrate or assist at the Holy Sacrifice.

1. The priest⁴³43Clothed in sacred vestments, the priest when advancing to the altar must also have his head covered—as a mark of his dignity and authority; for the rubric that directs the priest capite cooperto to go to the altar, is of precept (S. R. C. 14, Jun. 1845). From the time that the amice no longer served this purpose, the biretta gradually became the prescribed liturgical covering for the head. In Italy the biretta used at liturgical functions must have only three corners or points (in remembrance of the Most Holy Trinity), because in that country the doctor’s biretta is four-cornered. (S. R. C. 7. Dec. 1844.) In other countries, on the contrary, for instance, in Germany, Spain, France, the United States, four-cornered birettas—in the form of a cross—have always been used and are, therefore, permitted also at ecclesiastical functions. Cfr. Bouvry, Expositio rubricarum II, 196 sq. unfolds the corporal entirely, places thereon the covered chalice,⁴⁴44Sacerdos extendit corporale super medium altaris, ubi est ara consecrata, et super corporale collocat calicem velo coopertum: totus autem calix saltem quoad partem anteriorem debet esse coopertus, dum recitatur ea pars Missae, quae dicitur catechumenorum, ut postea in Missa fidelium discooperiatur, quia revelari debent fidelibus magis expresse arcana passionis Christi mysteria (Quarti, in rubr. Miss. p. 2, tit. 2, n. 2). opens the Missal,⁴⁵45An in Missis privatis permitti possit ministro aperire Missale et invenire missam? Resp.: Negative et serventur rubricae (S. R. C. 7. Sept. 1816). — Sacerdos Missale aperiens et ex eo divina mysteria populo annuntians denotat Christum, qui solus dignus est inventus aperire librum et solvere signacula ejus (Apoc. 5, 9). Quarti, l. c. p. 2, tit. 2, n. 5. bows at the middle of the altar to the altar-cross,⁴⁶46According to the S. R. C. 12. Nov. 1831 the celebrant must adhere exactly and strictly to the rubrics, which prescribe only in two cases a bow to the cross on the altar: on reaching the middle, that is, when leaving the middle of the altar—before descending for the prayer at the foot of the altar (facta primum cruci reverentia), and when he himself carries the Missal before the Gospel to the other side (caput cruci inclinat). descends and remains standing at the foot of the altar—as at the threshold of the Most Holy. “How terrible is this place! This is no other than the house of God and the gate of heaven!” (Gen. 28, 17.) In his interior the priest hears, as it were, a voice saying to him: “Come not hither, put off the shoes from thy feet, for the ground whereon thou standest, is holy ground.” (Exod. 3, 5.) He remembers the words of St. Chrysostom: “When the priest calls upon the Holy Ghost and offers the tremendous Sacrifice: tell me in what rank should we place him? What purity shall we require of him, what reverence? Then reflect how those hands should be constituted which perform such services! What should that tongue be which pronounces such words! At this moment the very angels encompass the priest, and the whole choir of the heavenly powers lend their presence, and take up the entire space around the altar, to honor Him who lies thereon in Sacrifice. Therefore, the priest should be as pure and as holy as though he were himself in heaven among those sublime beings.”⁴⁷47De sacerdotio l. 3, c. 4; l. 6, c. 4. With what holy thoughts and sentiments should not his soul be filled at this moment? On the one side, God expects due honor from the Sacrifice, the Church militant claims the blessings of the altar, and the suffering souls in purgatory are thirsting for the refreshing stream of the blood of the Sacrifice: thus the priest is drawn to the altar by love, vocation and duty.⁴⁸48Cum celebrare sit tam privilegiatum ac dignissimum opus, Dei Patris omnipotentis, imo totius superexcellentissimae Trinitatis praecipue honorativum, passionisque Christi et ceterorum ipsius mysteriorum ac beneficiorum eximie recordativum, totius quoque Ecclesiae, imo vivorum ac mortuorum potissime subventivum, admonendi sunt sacerdotes, ut quotidie celebrare non cessent, nisi speciale occurrat obstaculum; imo sic conversari, taliter proficere satagant, quod ad celebrandum quotidie, quantum humana sinit fragilitas, suo modo sint digni (Dion. Carthus. De sacram. altar. serm. 5). On the other hand he is reminded of the infinite sanctity of the Sacrifice, of his fearful responsibility, of his sinfulness and unworthiness, of his faults and infidelities: and thus he is kept back from the altar by the consciousness of guilt, by a holy and salutary fear.⁴⁹49Cum sacerdos est absque peccato mortali et in proposito bono, non habens legitimum impedimentum, et non ex reverentia, sed ex negligentia celebrare omittit, tunc, quantum in ipso est, privat sanctam Trinitatem laude et gloria, angelos laetitia, peccatores venia, justos subsidio et gratia, in purgatorio existentes refrigerio, Ecclesiam Christi spirituali beneficio—et se ipsum medicina et remedio contra infirmitates et quotidiana peccata, quia, sicut ait Ambrosius (De sacr. l. 4, c. 6, n. 28), si “quotiescunque effunditur sanguis Christi, toties in remissionem peccatorum effunditur, debeo illum semper accipere, ut semper mihi peccata dimittantur; qui semper pecco, semper debeo habere medicinam.” — Item, privat se omnibus talibus provenientibus ex sacra communione, quae sunt peccatorum remissio, fomitis mitigatio, mentis illuminatio, interior refectio, Christi et corporis ejus mystici incorporatio; virtutum roboratio, contra diabolum armatio, fidei certitudo, elevatio spei, excitatio caritatis, augmentatio devotionis et conversatio angelorum. — Item, non complet sibi injunctum magnae dignitatis obsequium nec officium exercet debitae servitutis Dei (Jer. 48, 10). — Item, contemnit Christi praeceptum de observantia hujus sacramenti (Joan. 6, 54). — Item, abicit viaticum suae peregrinationis, exponens se periculo mortis, quia, nisi recipiat alimentum corporis Christi et vitae vegetationem, efficitur sicut aridum membrum, ad quod non transmittitur corporalis cibi nutrimentum. — Ultimo, quantum in se est, evacuat divinum cultum et latriam Creatori debitam sicut ingratus de beneficiis Dei. Ergo, quantum potes, toto conatu per exercitium boni operis, lacrimarum contritionem et devotionis flammam expelle a te omnem torporem et negligentiam, ne inveniaris respuere tantorum charismatum dona (S. Bonav. tr. de praepar. ad Miss. c. 1, § 3, n. 9). In this interior struggle of contrary p. 24feelings he signs himself with the holy sign of the Cross and recites alternately with the acolyte, who represents the congregation,⁵⁰50Our acolytes (Mass or altar servers) actually attend to the important duties of the minor clerics; they act and speak (respond) in the name of the faithful. The pastor should see that they behave with modesty, recollection and reverence, that they perform their task with devotion and with hands joined, pronounce the words correctly and distinctly, and that they be cleanly attired. — In Missis privatis sufficit unum habere ministrum, qui gerit personam totius populi catholici, ex cujus persona sacerdoti pluraliter respondet (S. Thom. 3, q. 83, a. 5 ad 12). the Forty-second Psalm, wherein the sentiments of his soul find their full expression.

a) The holy sign of the Cross.⁵¹51Cfr. Gretser, De sancta cruce l. 3, c. 1–65, in which the kinds, the constant and repeated use, the mysteries and blessings of the sign of the Cross are explained in detail. — The priest makes what is known as the large or Latin cross upon himself, bringing his open hand from the forehead to the breast and from the left to the right shoulder,⁵²52In former times it was also made with three or two fingers (in allusion to the Trinity or to the two natures in Christ). The Greeks carry the hand from the right to the left shoulder, as appears to have been practised at the time of Innocent III. (†1216) and generally also in the Roman Church (quia Christus a Judaeis transivit ad Gentes—De sacro alt. myst. l. 2, c. 45). It is made with the right hand, because the right hand has precedence over the left. Hoc rudis illa liberorum aetas docetur, qui si porrigant sinistram (quippe qui nesciunt quid sit inter dextram et sinistram suam), illico parentes dextram poscunt. The pretty little hand, dicunt Germani (Gretser l. c. c. 2). — The so-called Latin cross appears to have come into vogue only since the eighth century; previously the Sign of the Cross was usually impressed on the forehead with the thumb, more rarely also on the breast or on the mouth. saying at the same time the words: In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti. Amen. “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.”

The venerable custom of making the Sign of the Cross over persons and things has, without doubt, its origin from Apostolic times; some even trace it to Christ our Lord Himself who, according to a devout opinion, blessed at His Ascension into heaven the disciples with His hands in the form of a cross.⁵³53“Elevatis manibus suis benedixit eis” (Luc. 24, 50)—sc. forsitan signum crucis super eos formando et verba benedictionis aliqua proferendo, ut et ipsi sic facerent aliis (Dion. Carth. i. h. l.). — Potest pie et probabiliter credi Christum non utcunque manus elevasse, sed in signum crucis vel certe in aere crucem describendo, sicut nunc est in usu Ecclesiae, quem ex apostolica traditione manasse testatur s. Basilius, Liber de Spiritu Sancto c. 37 (Suarez disp. 51, sect. 2, n. 5). The very ancient use of the Sign of the Cross is proved from the universal testimony of the Fathers and ecclesiastical writers. Tertullian writes at the beginning of the third century: “At every step, in coming in and going out, when putting on our garments and shoes, when washing, when at table, when lighting a candle, on going to bed, when sitting down, at every work we perform, we Christians mark the forehead with the Sign of the Cross” (frontem crucis signaculo terimus).⁵⁴54De corona militis c. 3. — The sign of the Cross forms one of the most important features of the liturgy; for it is employed in the celebration of the Sacrifice, in the administration of the Sacraments, in all exorcisms, consecrations and blessings.

The making of the sign of the Cross, or the signing of one’s self with the Cross is a profoundly significant and, at the same time, an efficacious act. — It is first, full of holy mystery, of wholesome instructions and admonitions. The sign of the Cross is a symbolical expression of the principal mysteries of Christianity, a confession of the Catholic faith. It reminds us of the Crucified, of the price of our redemption and of the value of our soul; it enkindles love of God, strengthens hope, animates us to follow Christ on the way of the Cross; it indicates that in the Cross we are to find our honor, our salvation and our life; that we should prefer “the folly and weakness of the Cross” to all the wisdom and power of the world, that, as disciples of the Crucified, we should combat under the banner of the Cross and by this sign triumph over all our enemies. — As to the different meanings inherent in the sign of the Cross, often the one or the other is more clearly pronounced and more emphasized by the accompanying words; for the words and actions of the liturgy harmonize with each other, mutually supply and explain each other. This is also the case in the universally known formula: “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen,” which in the plainest manner sets forth the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity symbolized in the sign of the Cross. St. Francis de Sales writes on this subject:⁵⁵55L’étendard de la s. croix, liv. 3, ch. 1. “We raise the hand first to the forehead, saying: ‘In the name of the Father’, to signify that the Father is the first person of the Most Holy Trinity, of whom the Son is begotten and from whom the Holy Ghost proceeds. Then saying: ‘and the Son,’ the hand is lowered to the breast, to express that the Son proceeds from the Father, who sent Him down to the womb of the Virgin. Then the hand is moved from the left shoulder or side to the right, while saying: ‘and of the Holy Ghost,’ thereby signifying that the Holy Ghost, as the third person of the Holy Trinity, proceeds from the Father and the Son, that He is the love that unites both, and that we, through His grace, partake of the fruits of the Passion. Accordingly, the sign of the Cross is a brief declaration of our faith in the three great mysteries: namely, of our faith in the Blessed Trinity, in the Passion of Christ and in the forgiveness of sin, by which we pass from the left side of curse to the right of blessing.⁵⁶56In signo crucis sanctissimae Trinitatis mysterium, admiranda Verbi divini incarnatio, Christi Domini passio, remissio peccatorum et vita aeterna repraesentantur...; sive enim formando crucem proferantur illa verba: “In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen,” sive non proferantur, semper animo mysterium sacrosanctae Trinitatis et incarnationis objicitur (Gretser l. c. c. 4).

Exceedingly great, therefore, is the efficacy of the holy Sign of the Cross which, likened by the Fathers to the true Cross of Christ, is not unfrequently termed by them the cause of our salvation. — The Cross is the source of all graces and blessings; it is likewise the weapon and the armor of our defence against the evil spirit; for it is the glorious sign of the victory of Christ over sin, death and hell.⁵⁷57Signum crucis diabolo valde formidolosum est (Robert. Paulul. De offic. eccles. l. 2, c. 20). — Diabolus super omnia abhorret memoriam passionis et figuram crucis, per quam sumus a potestate ejus liberati (S. Bonav. 3, dist. 19, a. 1, q. 3). Wherefore the Church prays: Per signum crucis de inimicis nostris libera nos, Deus noster! and she cries out to the evil spirits: Ecce crucem Domini, fugite partes adversae—“Behold the Cross of the Lord, begone ye adverse powers; for the Lion of the tribe of Juda hath overthrown you!” — This superior power, which has ever been ascribed to the Sign of the Cross, depends for its efficacy neither solely, nor mainly on the faith and confidence wherewith it is made, but also, and that principally, on the ordinance of God, who, on account of the honor and merits of the Crucified, has imparted to the Sign of the Cross such salutary efficacy. This efficacy is, of course, the greater and the more meritorious in its results, if it be made with a believing, devout disposition, with recollection of mind and devotion of heart, with love toward the Crucified and with confidence in Christ’s death on the Cross.⁵⁸58Confert ad effectus crucis pietas et probitas operantis: cum enim signum crucis sit tacita quaedam Christi crucifixi invocatio, sequitur, eo fore efficacius, quo ex majori caritatis fervore processit, sicut et ipsa invocatio, quae corde vel ore perficitur, tanto aptior est ad impetrandum, quanto melior et Deo carior est is, qui invocavit (Gretser l. c. c. 62).

Certainly it is highly proper that the most sacred act of Sacrifice should begin with the equally significant as well as merciful Sign of the Cross. As he invokes the triune God, the priest signs himself with the Sign of the Cross, to express by word and action, that “in the name,” that is, by the commission, with the power and the assisting grace of the three divine persons, as well as to promote the honor and glory “of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost” he intends to celebrate Mass, this mystical representation and renewal of the Sacrifice of the Cross,—to implore for himself at the same time protection and security against the snares of Satan, as well as help and assistance from on high for the devout celebration of the Sacrifice. The concluding word Amen has here a twofold meaning: on the one side, it expresses his desire that the petitions included and mentioned in signing himself with the Sign of the Cross may be fulfilled; on the other hand, it confirms and seals the good intention excited within him by the accompanying words in honor of the Most Holy Trinity.

b) The Antiphon⁵⁹59Ἀντίφωνος = resounding against, answering replying; hence Ἀντίφωνα = responsive sound, singing opposite, alternate chant. “Antiphona” (= cantus antiphonus) signifies, according to its etymology and original meaning, a singing, in which two choirs deliver separate verses alternately (antiphonatim) and, as it were, respond to each other. Quaedam in Ecclesia canebantur olim alternis vicibus, ut etiam modo fit; alia verbo simul et adunatis choris. Primum canendi modum veteres appellarunt ἀντίφωνον ὑμνῳδίαν, alterum σύμφωνον (Praefat. in Antiphon. S. Gregorii M.). At present the name Antiphona is usually employed in another sense; namely, to designate a verse, a sentence or a phrase, by which the psalms and canticles are begun and ended. of the Forty-second Psalm. — By this is understood the verse: Introibo ad altare Dei: ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam—“I will go up to the altar of God: to God who giveth joy to my youth.” This verse introduces and concludes the psalm. This antiphon contains the fundamental thought of the aforesaid psalm which should here have the prominent place, and hereby indicates the special point of view in which it is to be taken and recited, that is, it gives the key to the liturgical and mystical understanding of the psalm with regard to its application to the celebration of Mass. It expresses the sentiment which animates the priest: it powerfully attracts him to the altar. He longs to ascend to the altar of God, there to perform his holy office, to draw near to the Lord God and to be united to Him and, by this union with the Eucharistic Saviour, cheerfully and joyfully to be strengthened in the interior life. This longing and desire for the holy place and for the celebration of the Sacrifice is expressed three times.⁶⁰60Introibo ad altare Dei, quod est in ecclesia materiali et manufacta, quatenus sacramenta Christi recipiam oblationemve faciam, nec subsistam in ipso altari, sed introibo, mentis affectu et debito cultu, ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam, non corporalem et exteriorem, sed spiritualem ac interiorem, qui non veterascit cum corpore, sed indesinenter virescit per gratiam, donec ad patriam anima sancta transferatur. Haec ergo juventus est spiritualis profectus in gratia Dei; hanc Deus laetificat, dum anima corde jucundo et fervido Domino servit (Dion. Carthus. In Ps. 42, 4). By the words: “to God who giveth joy to my youth,” the priest may, indeed, also acknowledge that from his early days God has been his delight and bestowed on him a thousand joys; but the term youth (juventus) is here to be understood first and chiefly of the supernatural and spiritual new life which is obtained by regeneration in the grace of the Holy Ghost. By grace the old man of sin (Rom. 6, 6) is destroyed in us and the newness of life in the Holy Ghost (Col. 3, 9) is created. This life of grace and of spirit, ever young and imperishable, is nourished and refreshed at the altar by the Holy Sacrifice and its banquet. Whoever approaches the altar as a spiritually new-born child, that is, full of holy simplicity, innocence and purity of mind, his youthfulness of spirit, that is, his fervor and cheerfulness in the service of God, or his young (that is still tender, weak) life of grace daily grows and waxes strong under the blessed influence of the Divine Sacrifice and Sacrament.⁶¹61Cfr. the Antiphon: Introibo ad altare Dei: sumam Christum qui renovat juventutem meam (In festo corp. Chr.). By means of the sanctifying and blessed effects of the Eucharist “youth,” that is, the soul’s supernatural life is renewed and refreshed. While the Lord on the altar satisfies your desires with supernatural goods, your youth, your life is renewed in fresh strength, so that, like the eagle, you may take flight heavenward (renovabitur ut aquilae juventus tua—Ps. 102, 5).

c) The Forty-second Psalm.

This little hymn of David is a prayer petitioning God (v. 1–3), followed by a holy resolution (v. 4), and concluded with an act of resignation and confidence in God (v. 5). It depicts the situation and sentiments of David, who had been driven from Jerusalem by the revolt of Absalom, and was grievously harassed by his enemies. The separation from the holy tabernacle distresses him most of all, and appears to him as a punishment of God; hence he sorrowfully longs after a return to the sanctuary of the Lord. There he will glorify God by sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving; in conclusion he encourages himself to a cheerful confidence in God, to a reliance on prompt assistance.

The principal reason for incorporating this psalm into the prayers recited at the foot of the altar at the beginning of Mass is, without doubt, contained in the fourth verse: Et introibo ad altare Dei...,⁶²62This verse is also recited with propriety in those Masses in which the Psalm itself is omitted. The Mozarabic Rite has this Psalm with the Antiphon Introibo in the prayers at the foot of the altar and the Antiphon in addition again before the Illatio (that is, the Preface). The Milan Liturgy has in the prayer at the foot of the altar merely the Antiphon Introibo without the Psalm Judica. which serves at the same time as an antiphon, that is, gives a pointer to the mystical and ascetical comprehension of the holy hymn in its liturgical position and application. The sorrowful longing, humble fear, touching plaint, joyful hope seek and find an affecting expression in this psalm. Its prominent tone is one of joy and happiness in God; for the expectation of salvation, the fervor of faith and hope triumph at last over every sorrow and sadness—and exult joyously in the Gloria Patri and in the repetition of the antiphon Introibo.⁶³63Antiphona (Introibo) repetitur, ut intellegatur, quanta firmitate et constantia incohandum et prosequendum sit hoc opus intendentibus intrare ad altare Dei ejusque praesentiae assistere, qua renovetur, quod fuerat inveteratum, et restituatur nobis juventus spiritualis, quae est fervor spiritus et laetitia ex eo oriens, repetitur etiam, ut intellegamus, Missam nec dicendam nec audiendam esse solum ex consuetudine, cum quadam tepiditate, animo abjecto, taedioso ac tristi, quasi grave sit et molestum, tempus in ea re consumere, sed potius audiendam et legendam esse recenti quadam, delectatione et spirituali impulsu, quasi illa esset prima, resistendo taedio spiritus quod tunc aggredi nos audet (De Ponte l. c.).

1. The priest is on the point of ascending the altar: the solemnity of the moment affects him in a lively manner. The world around him is immersed in wickedness, is full of deceit and violence, in his own interior even there is strife, a combat of the spirit against the flesh. Hence he implores God to protect his good and holy cause against a godless and deceitful world; to assist him to come off victorious over the “old man,” that is, over the concupiscence of the flesh, over all perverse inclinations and attachments.

2. The priest is aware of his own weakness; he knows that God alone is his “strength” and “girds him with power” (Ps. 17, 33), that only God’s nearness and assistance can avert defeat in this his warfare against enemies within and without. Besides the combats to be sustained against temptations, the passions and daily faults, there are frequently added either as a punishment for sin or as a trial and purification of the soul—the painful apprehension of being abandoned by God; the distressing state of spiritual disgust, dryness and darkness. In such a condition, presenting the strongest and most justifiable reasons for sorrow, all adversaries appear to gather renewed strength; hence the touching plaint: “Why go I sorrowful whilst the enemy afflicteth me?”

3. Still the ray of a bright hope lights up even the darkest night of desolation and anxiety: the priest supplicates the Lord, who imparts to him the blissful light of truth, for grace and devotion; the Lord is his comfort and his guide, who conducts him to the sanctuary, to the mystical Calvary and to the eucharistic tabernacle.

4. Lovely, indeed, are the tabernacles of the Lord of Hosts. Confiding in the mercy of God, the celebrant, cheered and encouraged, will ascend the steps of the altar, where “the Bread of Life” imparts to him an unalterable youth of mind and blissful immortality, fills his whole life with fresh vigor and joy in the Lord, so that “the inward man is renewed day by day, though the outward man be corrupted” (worn out) (2 Cor. 4, 16) by the labors, difficulties and combats of the priestly vocation.

5. Again a feeling of sadness and anxiety is felt, but the strength of holy hope overcomes it all. This hope is not confounding; it shows him in God the source of light, salvation and peace. For all these graces the priest will gratefully praise and glorify the Lord during the day and all the days of his life.

d) The little Doxology⁶⁴64Doxologia minor vel parva (from δόξα and λόγος = speech of praise, formula of glorification), the Gloria Patri is called in distinction from the Gloria in Excelsis, which is called doxologia major vel magna. Already in Holy Scripture we meet at one time with shorter, and at other times with longer doxologies (Rom. 11, 36; 16, 27. Apoc. 5, 13). In the Fathers we come across a great variety of doxologic formulas, with which, as a rule, they close their homilies. The conclusion of the liturgical prayers and the concluding stanza of the Church hymns are usually a glorification of the triune God. The Gloria Patri occurs in the Responsories of the Nocturns and Hours, at the end of the Psalms and Canticles; we wish thereby to confess the eternal equality of essence of the three Divine Persons, and to glorify and adore the Most Blessed Trinity. The simple Old Testament formula, “God be praised,” is accordingly enlarged and transformed in the Gloria Patri to a specifically Christian doxology. The first half of the little doxology is copied from the baptismal formula, and it dates in all probability from apostolic times, but it had previous to the Arian heresy a manifold form or composition (Gloria Patri et Filio cum Spiritu sancto,—vel per Filium in Spiritu sancto). In its present form, with the annex sicut erat..., the Gloria Patri was quoted for the first time at the Second Council of Vaison (529), and that with the remark that it was thus, as a general thing, everywhere recited. The addition, sicut erat in principio, expressing the eternal equality and unity of essence of the Son with the Father, is a protest against the heresy of Arius, and thus, in consequence of the combat against this heresy in the West, it has found universal acceptance; for the Greeks do not make use of it. — In the fifth and sixth centuries the custom was introduced everywhere in the West of concluding each separate Psalm with the little doxology. Quoniam psalmorum usus antiquior est quam lex gratiae, ut propriam ejus perfectionem participaret, et ita fieret (ut ita dicam) psalmus consummatus, non sine speciali Dei providentia factum est, ut ex institutione Ecclesiae in fine uniuscujusque psalmi adderetur Trinitatis confessio et glorificatio per illa verba: Gloria Patri... (Suarez, De religione tr. IV, l. 4, c. 2, n. 4). — According to an ordinance of the Fourth Council of Toledo (633) the little doxology in the Mozarabic Liturgy is as follows: Gloria et honor (cfr. Ps. 28, 2) Patri et Filio et Spiritui sancto in saecula saeculorum. Amen. (Cfr. Lüft, Liturgik II, 81 etc. — Augsburger Pastoralblatt, Jahrg. 1863, S. 290 etc.) as a rule forms, according to p. 31ecclesiastical ordinance, the conclusion of the Psalms. It runs thus: Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui sancto,—sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen. — “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.” By these sublime words we acknowledge, in union with the angels and saints of heaven, the truth of the adorable mystery of the Trinity—the unity of essence and the Three Persons in the Trinity—expressing at the same time our profound homage, the highest praise, the most joyful thanks, the most faithful and efficacious love towards the Most Holy Trinity. Many other praises, consecrated by their origin and by custom, ascend daily and hourly from earth to Heaven. The sublime Gloria in excelsis in the Mass, the marvelous, soul-stirring Te Deum, the incomparable Magnificat, the thrice repeated Sanctus, the joyful Benedictus, the many beautiful chants of the Psalter, the numerous touching Church hymns and canticles: what sublime, ravishing, heaven-penetrating praises of God! But they all are but the development of the brief, yet comprehensive Gloria Patri. The most genial Christian thinker, the most celebrated theologian can discover nothing greater or higher than what the most simple Christian stammers daily in the few words of the Gloria Patri. What lofty sentiments, what devotion and enthusiasm should there not be awakened in me by the reflection! Not I alone repeat this Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui sancto; but millions of brethren are at this moment offering the homage of their hearts to the infinitely great God in the selfsame words!⁶⁵65Cf. Martin, Die Schönheiten des Rosenkranzes, S. 59 ff. — When we say Gloria Patri, we bow the head as a sign of that reverence due the infinite majesty and greatness of God, as well as in acknowledgment of our own lowliness and unworthiness. As this manner of praise expresses and calls to mind the final object of all sacrifices and prayers, that is, the glorification of the triune God, it is advisable when reciting it to recollect one’s self anew, to renew and enliven the good intention, our attention and fervor. This chant of praise should not only ascend heavenward from our heart and lips, but it ought, moreover, to form the motto of our whole life: all our thoughts, intentions and efforts, all our actions and our conduct, our life, our death should be a joyful and grateful Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui sancto, so that “the charity of God (the Father) and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the communication of the Holy Ghost may be with us all” (2. Cor. 13, 13). Spes nostra, salus nostra, honor noster, O beata Trinitas! — “Our hope, our salvation, our honor art Thou, O most blessed Trinity!” “When you repeat the Glory be to the Father,” writes St. Alphonsus,⁶⁶66The true Spouse of Christ, c. 24, § 3. “you may make various mental aspirations, for example, acts of faith and thanksgiving, of joy at the felicity of God, and of desire to honor Him and to suffer for His honor and glory. As often as St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi recited the ‘Gloria Patri,’ she made the intention, at every inclination of the head, to offer it to our Lord as a sacrifice of herself for the holy faith; and this practice she followed with so much fervor, that at times she would grow pale, because it so impressed her, as though she were really about to be beheaded.”

The Gloria Patri with the Psalm Judica is omitted in all Requiem Masses and in all the Passiontide Masses from Passion Sunday to Holy Saturday. On Holy Saturday, “the great and holy Sabbath,” the Sacrifice formerly was not celebrated; now the Mass of the Resurrection night is anticipated on that day, and the Forty-second Psalm is resumed, as the celebration really no longer properly belongs to Passiontide. The reason for its omission is justly founded on the contents of the Psalm, and on the character of the Masses. For this Psalm seeks to banish sorrow and sadness from the soul (quare tristis es, anima mea, et quare conturbas me?), to awaken a joyful mood in him who prays; therefore, it is proper to omit the Psalm at a time when the heart should be penetrated with profound sorrow, painful sadness and intense compassion, as is supposed to prevail in Requiem Masses and the Masses of Passiontide.⁶⁷67The Carthusians, Dominicans and Carmelites never use the Psalm Judica in the prayers at the foot of the altar (cf. Romsée, Oper. liturg. IV, p. 353 sqq.).

2. The central and chief part of the prayers said at the foot of the altar is composed of the Confiteor, which is introduced by a passage from the Psalm (Ps. 123, 8) and is concluded by what is known as the Absolution.

a) The verse: Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini—qui fecit coelum et terram—“Our help is in the name of the Lord,—who made heaven and earth,” at which the priest signs himself with the sign of the Cross, may be regarded as a transition, that is, as referring as well to what precedes as to what follows. In connection with the desire and purpose previously expressed of drawing nigh to the Lord on the altar and of applying the mind to the Holy Sacrifice, it signifies that in carrying out this purpose we depend on and confide in the unlimited power and goodness of God. For since we are deeply conscious of our nothingness, our weakness and unworthiness, our unwavering hope in and our longing for the Holy Sacrifice are founded solely on the power and love of God, who has created us, as well as on the mercies and merits of Christ, who died on the Cross for us and acquired for us all the helps of grace, as we intimate in signing ourselves with the Cross. Our misery is so great that, of our own strength, we cannot even think anything conducive to our salvation, and without the grace of the Holy Ghost we cannot even pronounce worthily the holy name of Jesus (2 Cor. 3, 5; 12, 3); how much more will we have need of help from on high, and of a greater and more powerful assistance, in order that we may worthily and meritoriously discharge the most sublime and holy function—the Sacrifice of the Mass!

However, if the verse of the Psalm be considered as an introduction or transition to the Confiteor which follows, then it means that the Almighty alone can relieve our poverty and misery, and remit our sins and the punishment due to them—and that we may with confidence expect favor and pardon, “because with the Lord there is mercy and with Him plentiful redemption” (Ps. 129, 7), which issues forth on the Cross of Christ and which flows unto us from the Cross (sign of the Cross).⁶⁸68In like manner the Adjutorium nostrum... is placed before the Confiteor of Prime and Complin. With this petition the Church begins all her blessings: for she would thereby humbly and gratefully confess the Almighty Creator as the fountain and source of all blessing and salvation, while the Sign of the Cross then made refers to the merits of the death of Christ, for the sake of which all gifts are imparted to us. In the Psalms and at Prime after the lectio brevis the Sign of the Cross is not made at this verse.

b) The general confession of sins (Confiteor). — At the foot of the altar the priest is incited to humble, contrite self-accusation and to earnest supplication for the forgiveness of all sins. Only he who “is innocent in hands and clean of heart” (innocens manibus et mundo corde), may approach the altar, “go up to the mountain of the Lord and stand in His holy place” (Ps. 23, 3–4). In order worthily to represent here “the High Priest Jesus Christ, the holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and made higher than the heavens” (Heb. 7, 26), the priest should be adorned with all blamelessness, purity and sanctity of life. But despite his careful preparation, he knows and feels himself to be still far removed from such purity. The dignity, the knowledge and the fulness of grace bestowed upon him also aggravates in him slight sins and infidelities of which he may be guilty in the service of God; light faults and negligences become grave evils in his eyes, when he weighs them in the scales of the sanctuary, and even “for sins forgiven he is not without fear.”⁶⁹69De propitiato peccato noli esse sine metu (Eccli. 5, 5). Quo magis pius in me Dominus, tanto magis ego impius! Hence he has every reason, before beginning the great act of Sacrifice, an act filling the very angels even with admiration, reverence and awe, to make a public confession of guilt, to approach the altar only in the spirit of the deepest sorrow and compunction, and to implore heavenly and earthly intercession.

The Confiteor is an open avowal of compunction of heart, a contrite and penitential prayer which should cleanse the soul from even the slightest stains of guilt and from all sinful defects.⁷⁰70The Confiteor with the tunsio pectoris may not in a real, but only in a more general sense be called a Sacramental, having power to cancel venial sins. While the devout use of the real Sacramentals (for example, the holy water) impetrates, in virtue of the prayer and blessing of the Church, the dispositions required for the forgiveness of venial sins (for example, sentiments of compunction, affections of love and sorrow), the confessio generalis and tunsio pectoris contribute towards the freeing from venial sins, only in as far as they include the acts of penance, sorrow, love and humility by which the just obtain remission of venial sins. But in order that its recital, together with the threefold striking of the breast, may prove cleansing and salutary to the soul, it must in truth be the outpouring of a contrite spirit, proceeding from the depths of a heart touched with love and sorrow.⁷¹71Summa sollicitudine providendum est, ne tale officium sine actuali et fervida devotione inchoetur. Nam virtus principii in his, quae sequuntur, relucet ac permanet, et modicus defectus in principio, magnus efficitur in processu. Debet ergo confessionem ante altare cum magna attentione facere sacerdos, non ex consuetudine arida, ut exterior humiliatio corporis et tunsio pectoris vera sint signa interioris humiliationis atque mentalis redargutionis sui ipsius. Debet etiam cordialiter affectare, ut alii orent pro se, et per preces aliorum auxilium sibi affuturum sperare, pie atque humiliter credens alios meliores et apud Deum magis auditos quam se (Dion. Carthus. Expos. Miss. art. 7).

The Confiteor is divided into two clearly distinct parts: for it contains an acknowledgment of sin, as well as a petition to the blessed and the faithful to intercede in our behalf with the Lord our God. The confession of guilt is made not only before Almighty God, but also in presence of the blessed in heaven and the faithful upon earth. Before them, we humble and debase ourselves, and chiefly, that they may be the better disposed to become by their powerful intercession and mediation, which we afterward implore, our support before God and our help to obtain from Him more perfect pardon.⁷²72Debet unusquisque orationes aliorum humiliter ac ferventer appetere et eos ut pro se orent rogare. Quo enim alios humilius atque ferventius ut pro nobis orent rogamus, eo capaciores efficimur fructus orationis illorum (Dion. Carthus. In ep. Jac. 5, 16). In every Mass the intercession of the saints is repeatedly invoked, and God is besought for grace with confidence in their prayers and merits. “God has wished that we should pray to the saints and they should pray for us, in order that the fainthearted may gain confidence to receive through worthy intercessors that which they do not dare ask of themselves or could not obtain by their own prayers; and so that humility may be preserved in those who pray, the dignity of the saints be made manifest, and finally, that in all the members of the body of Christ love and unity may be revealed, so that the lower creatures may confidently look up to those higher placed and implore their assistance, and these latter in return may in all love and kindness condescend unto them.”⁷³73S. Bonav. Brevil. V, 10. It is in the divine economy that⁷⁴74Deus decrevit et voluit, quod Sanctos rogaremus, triplici ex causa, sc. propter nostram inopiam, Sanctorum gloriam et Dei reverentiam. — Propter inopiam in merendo, ut ubi nostra non suppeterent merita, patrocinentur aliena; propter inopiam in contemplando, ut qui non possumus summam lucem aspicere in re, aspiciamus in Sanctis; propter inopiam in amando, quia miser homo se magis sentit affici circa unum Sanctum quam etiam circa Deum. Ideo compassus nostrae inopiae voluit, nos rogare Sanctos. — Secunda causa est Sanctorum gloria: quia Deus vult Sanctos suos glorificare, vult per eos miracula facere in corporibus et salutem in animabus, ut ipsos laudemus, et hoc non tantum per supremos Sanctos, sed etiam infimos; unde sicut aliquis sanatur corporaliter invocando Linum et non Petrum, alius e converso; sic et spiritualiter. — Tertia causa est Dei reverentia, ut peccator, qui Deum offendit, quasi non audeat Deum in propria persona adire, sed amicorum patrocinium implorare (S. Bonav. IV, dist. 45, a. 3, q. 3). the saints be our helpers, protectors and intercessors; and they are to be regarded as such especially when we poor sinners, conscious of our unworthiness and weakness, desire to approach the throne of the Almighty, in order to be delivered from the misery of sin. Therefore, it is highly proper that we humble ourselves by self-accusation before the saints in heaven, as well as in presence of the faithful on earth and implore their mediation with God. Besides the saints whose names are mentioned in the Confiteor, no others are to be expressly named without the sanction of the Holy See.⁷⁵75Some religious orders have the privilege of mentioning the name of their founder after the Princes of the Apostles. (Cf. S. R. C. 13. Febr. 1666.)

a) The Blessed Mary ever Virgin, Mother of God, is always named in the Liturgy in the first place—before all the angels and saints,—and her name which, after the name of Jesus, is the sweetest, the most powerful and the most holy, is invariably distinguished by some honorable title which celebrates and expresses her ineffable privileges of grace and glory, chiefly her incomparable virginity and her dignity of the Divine Maternity. For us Mary is the “Mother of Divine grace,” “the Mother of mercy,” “the Refuge of Sinners,” “our dear Lady, our Mediatrix, our Intercessor,” “our Life, our Sweetness and our Hope;” “she obtains for us the clemency of the Father at Christ’s throne of grace,” and “as the Mother of divine clemency she imparts salvation to her servants,” for “God has taken her out of this world, that she may stand before His throne in heaven, an unfailing intercessor in behalf of us poor sinners.”

b) The blessed Michael the Archangel.⁷⁶76The name Archangelus (Archangel) does not denote that Michael belongs to the second last order of the Angels, who are thus called, but that he (as Gabriel and Raphael) in the rank of the Angels in general occupies a higher place, that is, is placed above the lowest orders of mere Angels. (Cf. de la Cerda S. J., De excellentia coelestium spirituum c. 49.) The angels have their position in the liturgy immediately after their Queen, Mary the Mother of God, and hence before all the saints. They constitute in God’s creation a marvellously glorious, brilliant kingdom; they are sublime spirits, full of wisdom and power, full of splendor and beauty. As children of the same Heavenly Father, they are also our brethren and they form along with us one family of God. They take a manifold, active part in the work of redemption, in the preservation and extension of the Church of God, as well as in her combats and victories; themselves not in need of redemption, they are altogether ministering spirits, sent to minister for them who shall receive the inheritance of salvation (Heb. 1, 14): consequently, they rejoice over the conversion of sinners and over the perseverance of the just (Luke 15, 7). — St. Michael is one of the three angels whose name and deeds Holy Scripture records, and he is, indeed, the chief of all the heavenly spirits, the prince of the angelic hosts, the leader of all the choirs of angels.⁷⁷77In the Office of the Church St. Michael is called princeps gloriosissimus, princeps militiae Angelorum, praepositus paradisi. Michael dicitur Archangelus, non quod sit de ordine Archangelorum, sed quia omnium Angelorum caput et dux est (Molanus, De histor. ss. Imag. l. 3, c. 39). — Multi jam valde probabiliter censent, Michaelem tum naturae, tum gratiae et gloriae dignitate esse absolute primum et principem omnium omnino Angelorum (Cornel. a Lapide, in Daniel. c. 10). He is the angelic warrior, who handles the sword of the power and of the justice of God; he hurls the rebellious spirits into the abyss, and he still continues to battle victoriously with the old dragon of hell and his adherents in behalf of the Church and of individual souls.⁷⁸78Cf. Stengelius O. S. B., S. Michaelis principatus, apparitiones, templa, cultus et miracula. In the Old Law he was the protector of the Synagogue, and now he is the defender of the Church and of the reigning Pontiff. In the Middle Age, that age of faith, the valiant Archangel was highly honored by noble and peasant as the guardian and patron of the German nation. Many churches bear his name, and in his honor two feasts are celebrated (May 8th and September 29th).

c) Blessed John the Baptist⁷⁹79Cf. Medini, De s. Joannis Bapt. relativa dignitate et sanctitate. Venetiis 1890. — Bazy, S. Jean-Baptiste. Paris 1880. is the glorious precursor of our Lord, the mighty preacher of penance in the desert, the greatest prophet, yea more than a prophet (Matt. 11, 9), since “with his finger he pointed Him out, who taketh away the sins of the world, while the other seers, with prophetic spirit, merely predicted the Light of the World that was to appear” (Hymn. Eccles.). The Church celebrates the holy and glad day of his birth (June 24), as well as his saintly and glorious martyrdom (August 29).⁸⁰80Since St. John the Baptist stands in the middle, between the Old and the New Law—terminus Legis et initium Evangelii (S. Thom. 3, qu. 38, a. 1 ad 2), he is considered at one time to belong to the Old, at another to the New Testament. It would in all probability be more correct to place him (with St. Thomas, Suarez, Guyet, Benedict XIV. and others) in the New Dispensation. Joannes pertinet ad novum Testamentum (S. Thom. 2, 2, qu. 174, a. 4 ad 3). “Since the peculiarity of the Old Dispensation consists in the expectation of the promised Messiah, then must he who not merely expects the Redeemer, but beholds Him present, be considered to appertain not to the Old, but to the New Testament,” writes Suarez. (Cf. disp. 24, sect. 6, n. 3–4.) — St. Joseph is not named in the Confiteor and in some other formulas in which the names of several saints are given. A reason for this may be found in the fact that the liturgical veneration of the holy Patriarch was not developed until later on, while the formulas of prayer in question originated at an earlier epoch. This later and gradual growth of the Church’s devotion to St. Joseph, harmonizes wonderfully with his mysteriously hidden and retired life. At present he is honored as the Patron of the Universal Church, and shines as a resplendent constellation in the firmament of the Saints. Suarez affirms as a devout and established opinion, that the Foster-Father of Christ and the Spouse of the blessed Virgin excelled all the other Saints—therefore, even St. John the Baptist and the Apostles—in grace and glory (disp. 8, sect. 2, n. 5–6). In the Litany of the Saints “St. Joseph, consequently, is named after John the Baptist, because the latter is a martyr; while he is mentioned before the Apostles, because he is a Patriarch” (Benedict. XIV. De beatif. l. 4, p. 2, c. 20, n. 48). By the established order of names in the Litany, as well as by the distinction of feasts and their celebration, the Church does not intend to decide and pronounce judgment with regard to the greatness, that is, the difference of grace, of merit and of glory of the individual saints. To the question: Quis erat melior, utrum Petrus an Joannes? the seraphic doctor replies: Quis eorum apud Deum finaliter fuerit carior, hoc melius sciemus in gloria et melius est expectare, quam hic temere definire. Hoc tantum dixisse sufficiat, quia ille altior est in coelis, qui finaliter majorem caritatem habuit in terris et hoc dico quantum ad magnitudinem praemii substantialis. Nam quantum ad decorem aureolae, quae respondet continentiae virginali, non est inconveniens, Joannem (Evangelistam) Petro praeponi (S. Bonav. III, dist. 32, q. 6).

d) The holy Apostles Peter and Paul. St. Peter was the representative and vicegerent of Christ upon earth, endowed with the highest power and dignity, to open to the sheep and lambs of the Lord the pastures and the holy fountains of life (Vitae recludit pascua et fontes sacros—Hymn. Eccles.). — St. Paul was Christ’s chosen instrument for the propagation of the Gospel, the teacher of the nations, the apostle of the world and the ideal of an Apostle in his labors and sufferings. In the liturgy the names of the two princes of the Apostles are inseparably connected with each other. “Glorious princes of the earth,” sings the Church, “as their mutual love joined them together in life, so in death they were not separated from each other!”

The position of the body corresponds to the meaning of the Confiteor and serves, on the one side, to express, after a perfect manner, the interior penitential disposition, and, on the other hand, to intensify it and stimulate it the more. The profound inclination of the body, the joining of the hands and the striking of the breast,⁸¹81This threefold gesture is beautifully expressed in the Dies irae: Oro supplex (= joining of the hands) et acclinis (= profound inclination of the body), cor contritum quasi cinis (= striking of the breast). all betoken that humble position and disposition of a poor sinner who, laden with sin and full of compunction, stands before His Judge to implore grace and mercy. — The priest does not presume to raise his eyes to Heaven, but in deep confusion and profoundly inclined, he casts them to the earth, debasing himself before the offended Majesty of God, since he is but dust and ashes (Gen. 18, 27). — The joining of the hands indicates recollection of mind and a spirit of devotion, the surrendering of one’s self up to God and a repose in God, the mistrust of one’s own strength and a confident supplication for grace and mercy. — The striking of the breast, that is, of the sinful heart, is a very natural symbolical sign of a penitential spirit: it includes a sincere acknowledgment of guilt, of sorrow and displeasure for sin committed, the will to make satisfaction and to undergo punishment for sin heartily repented of.⁸²82Tunsio pectoris 1. symbolum est confessionis peccati, quod scilicet confitens fateatur peccati sui causam non esse aliam quam cor, appetitum et voluntatem suam in pectore latentem; 2. eadem est symbolum contritionis, indicat enim, cor esse contusum et contritum; 3. eadem symbolum est satisfactionis et vindictae, percutit enim pectus, ut illud reum affligat et puniat (Cornel. a Lapide, in Luc. 18, 13). The striking of the breast means that the heart concealed within is the cause of sin and deserving, therefore, to be punished, bruised and humbled;⁸³83Pectus percutimus, signantes videlicet, quod nequiter egimus, displicere nobis, ac ideo antequam Deus feriat, id nos in nobis ipsis ferire, et antequam ultio extrema veniat, commissum poenitentia digna punire (Nicolaus I. ad consulta Bulgar. n. 54). — Tunsio pectoris obtritio (a crushing) cordis (S. Aug. Enarr. II. in Ps. 31, n. 11. — Cfr. in Ps. 141, n. 19. — in Ps. 137, n. 2. — Sermo 67, n. 1). p. 39that the insolent pride of the sinful heart is to be broken and destroyed, in order that God may create a new, clean heart within the penitent breast. — The striking of the breast three times signifies, in general, the intensity, the sincerity and the vehemence of our contrition; in a stricter sense it may be understood as the suitable accompaniment and confirmation of guilt thrice acknowledged, each time with increased fervor (mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa), and it may, moreover, be referred to the three kinds of sin (in thought, word and deed) of which we accuse ourselves.⁸⁴84Cum vice quadam (S. Mechtildis) ad Missam iret, vidit Dominum de coelo in candidissima veste descendentem et dicentem: Cum homines ad ecclesiam properant, poenitentia, pectoris tunsione et confessione se deberent praeparare; sic meae divinae claritati possent obviare, et eam in se recipere, quae per hujus vestis candorem declaratur (S. Mechtild. Lib. special. grat. p. 3, c. 19).

c) The forgiveness of guilt is dependent upon the acknowledgment of the sin: “I have acknowledged my sin to Thee (O God), and my injustice I have not concealed. I said: ‘I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord,’ and Thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin.” (Ps. 31, 5). The priest has publicly acknowledged, and in a most humble posture, his guiltiness not merely before God, but also before the angels, the saints and the faithful, to move them to intercede with God for him, and thus by means of joint supplication the more readily to obtain his forgiveness.⁸⁵85“Confess, therefore, your sins one to another; and pray for one another, that you may be saved; for the continual prayer of a just man availeth much” (James, 5, 16). Those present accede to his desires and they beg for him by the mouth of the server mercy and favor (Misereatur). — Then the server also in the name of the faithful recites the Confiteor, that they, too, by the intercession of the saints and of the priest may obtain favor, that is, be cleansed from the guilt of sin in order to have a share in the fruits of the Holy Sacrifice. After the Confiteor of the server, the priest likewise intercedes for the faithful, in pronouncing the formula known as the Absolution,⁸⁶86Absolutio—the principal signification of this word is, on the one hand, freeing and acquittal; on the other, conclusion and completion. It often occurs in the liturgy, and is not always easy of explanation. Thus in Matins certain formulas of prayer after the Psalms and before the Lessons are called absolutiones, either ab absoluta prece, that is, as conclusion of the Psalmody, or because the name was transferred from the third formula (A vinculis peccatorum nostrorum absolvat nos... Domine), which contains a petition for the cleansing of the heart, to the two others. — The intercessions, made at the catafalque (or tomb) for the departed by prayers and Sacramentals, are also called absolutio, as they seek to obtain the deliverance of the suffering souls from the pains of purgatory, and usually conclude with the prayer Absolve. — The expression ad absolutionem capituli, which is still found in Prime before the lectio brevis, probably signifies that in ancient times, “at the close of the assembly for chapter” after the foregoing prayers, a spiritual reading was made in convents and that the supplement or second part of Prime—the so-called officium capituli, not held in the choir but in the chapter-room—was concluded by a short lecture. which is as follows:

The priest accordingly prays,⁸⁷87The deprecative formula Misereatur and Indulgentiam is designated in the Ordo Missae by the name Absolutio. But in this place it does not mean a judicial absolution, but only an intercessory prayer, a petition, a desire for God to remit sins; hence this Absolutio must be carefully distinguished from the Absolutio sacramentalis, which in those who are properly disposed infallibiliter et ex opere operato effaces and removes sin. But the above deprecatory formula is said before the sacramental absolution, in order to dispose the penitent for the reception of the sacramental grace. that God would deign by virtue of His almighty power (omnipotens) to impart to the faithful the fulness of His mercy (misereatur), forgive all their sins (dimissis peccatis) and thus raise them up from spiritual death to the life of grace, and conduct them to the eternal life hereafter (perducat vos ad vitam aeternam).

Then the “almighty” Lord, who “reveals His power most gloriously by sparing the sinner and by exercising mercy,” and the “merciful” Lord, “whose property it is always to show mercy and to spare,” is again implored to grant us all (nobis) His gracious favor and kind forgiveness, the full remission of sin (indulgentiam), that is, absolution of guilt (absolutionem) and remission of punishment due (remissionem).⁸⁸88The words indulgentia, remissio are often used synonymously; combined they doubtless denote more forcibly the full remission of sin. An attempt has been made and can be made to distinguish more minutely their respective meaning; but a well founded basis for this distinction is wanting. — The accompanying sign of the Cross indicates Christ’s atoning sacrificial death, from which flows unto us all forgiveness of sin.

Profoundly significant and well established is the connection apparent in many prayers of the Church between the power and the mercy of God (omnipotens et misericors Dominus); for upon God’s absolute fulness of power are based His unbounded mercy, clemency, compassion, mildness and longanimity toward His sinful creatures. “God has mercy upon all, because He can do all things,” because, “being Lord of all, He makes Himself gracious to all;” “as Master of power He judges with tranquillity and with great favor disposes of us” and “He spares all, because all are His.”⁸⁹89Misereris omnium, quia omnia potes. — Ob hoc, quod omnium Dominus es, omnibus te parcere facis. — Tu autem Dominator virtutis, cum tranquillitate judicas, et cum magna reverentia disponis nos: subest enim tibi, cum volueris posse. — Parcis autem omnibus, quoniam tua sunt, Domine, qui amas animas (Sapient. 11, 24; 12, 16–18; 11–27). — God’s mercy is proved in relieving our wants, frailties and shortcomings, in delivering or preserving us from the misery and the evil of sin. All this God can do, because He is almighty, because His power is without end and without bounds. Yes, God’s power is principally manifested in the exercise of His mercy, whereby He comes to the assistance of His weak and needy creature. The conversion and justification of the sinner, the production of sanctifying grace in the soul, is, in a certain sense, a greater work than the creation of heaven and earth,—hence a glorious work of divine power.⁹⁰90S. Thom. 1, 2. q. 113, a. 9. “In accordance with the greatness of God is, therefore, His mercy” (Eccli. 2, 23). “God is rich in pardoning and in displaying His bounty; for His mercy is almighty and His omnipotence is merciful; so great is the goodness of His omnipotence and the omnipotence of His goodness, that there is no guilt that He will not or cannot pardon to one who is converted to Him.”⁹¹91Multus est (Deus) ad ignoscendum (He forgives often and much). (Is. 55, 7). — In hoc multo nihil deest, in quo et omnipotens misericordia et omnipotentia misericors est. Tanta est autem et benignitas omnipotentiae et omnipotentia benignitatis in Deo, ut nihil sit quod nolit aut non possit relaxare converso (S. Fulgent. Epist. 7, ad Venantium n. 6).

3. The conclusion of the prayer at the foot of the altar is made up of two orations, which are introduced by some verses of the Psalms. The priest recites these concluding prayers in silence, the one while ascending the steps of the altar, the other after reaching it; he says them specially for himself,⁹²92That both of these prayers refer to the celebrant only is apparent from not only their being recited in silence, but also their wording or contents, for the first treats of the entrance into the “Holy of holies” of the New Testament which is the privilege of priests only, and the second implores the forgiveness of all sins for the celebrant (indulgere digneris omnia peccata mea). Cf. Lebrun p. 1, a. 7. to obtain of God the grace of perfect cleanliness and purity of heart for the worthy celebration of the most holy Sacrifice.

a) Sin disturbs all peace in life and vitiates all the sources of joy; therefore, there is no greater happiness nor sweeter consolation than to be delivered from the evil and burden of sin. By mutual intercessory prayer hope of pardon gains new strength and is uppermost, but the consciousness of sinfulness has not as yet entirely left the celebrant; therefore, he recites the verses of the Psalms⁹³93Ps. 84, 7–8; 101, 2. which follow the “Absolution,” no longer as he did the Confiteor, with a profound but with a middling or moderate inclination of the body, which at the same time expresses both confidence and reverence.

God is irritated and turns away from us, when we sin; but if we repent and acknowledge our guilt, He again favorably turns toward us, giving back to us His grace and mercy (Deus tu conversus), as the Living God, as the Giver of life, from whom we draw anew joyful courage and fresh life (vivificabis nos). — After receiving fuller reconciliation with God and a more abundant life of grace from Him, the heart finds its peace, joy and felicity in God, it rejoices and exults in God, its Saviour (et plebs tua laetabitur in te). This joy which we experience in the possession of present happiness, as well as in the prospect of future glory, is still imperfect and incomplete, indeed; for we shall be filled with a glorified and an unspeakable joy only in the next life; there our happiness shall be perfect, and no one shall take it away from us (John 17, 13).

In order that we may attain this happy end, we beg our Lord that He deign to extend to us His mercy and to let it rule over us (ostende nobis, Domine, misericordiam tuam); to send us our salvation, that is, Jesus, our Light and our Life on the altar (salutare tuum da nobis). It was after this salvation from God, that is, after the Saviour, that the saints of the Old Law yearned, for they saw and saluted the promises only from a distance (Heb. 11, 13). More privileged, far happier are the children of the Church, for they can daily hasten to the altars of the Lord, and thence draw and drink to their hearts’ content from the perennial living fountains of the Saviour.

Before the priest ascends the steps of the altar, he expresses the desire that all his petitions, supplications and cries for help may find their way to the ears of God and be answered by Him. A holy vehemence, devout impetuosity and an ardent fervor of heart is a powerful voice (clamor), penetrating to the throne of God and drawing down the fulness of heavenly blessings.⁹⁴94Frigus caritatis, silentium cordis est; flagrantia caritatis, clamor cordis. Si semper manet caritas, semper clamas (S. Aug. Enarr. in Ps. 37, n. 14). — Deus non vocis, sed cordis auditor est; nec admonendus est clamoribus, qui cogitationes hominum videt (S. Cyprian. De Orat. domin. c. 4). — Clamor meus—sc. mentalis, i. e. ardens affectio desideriumque coeleste; seu clamor vocalis, qui est magni ac sancti desiderii nuntius—ad te veniat—tibi acceptus sit, tibi complaceat, et attendatur ac impleatur a te; venit enim clamor noster ad Dominum non loco, sed acceptatione (Dion. Carthus. in Ps. 101).

b) To the above verse from the Psalms is annexed the salutation: Dominus vobiscum—“The Lord be with you”—Et cum Spiritu tuo—“And with thy spirit,” and this immediately introduces the two concluding orations of the prayers said at the foot of the altar. This mutual salutation between the priest and people is frequently repeated during the celebration of Mass.⁹⁵95This formula of salutation in the present rite of the Mass does not occur seven times, as is often erroneously asserted, but eight times. The priest in saying it turns four times to the people (before the Collect, before the Offertory, before and after the Post-Communion), unless he has the people before him in consequence of the situation of the altar; the remaining four times (during the prayer at the foot of the altar, before the Gospel, before the Preface and before the last Gospel), it being neither proper nor necessary, the turning to the people is, therefore, omitted. — In the primitive ages the altar generally was so placed that the celebrant had his face toward the people and, therefore, he had no occasion to turn around. From this circumstance it may have arisen that in the Ambrosian and Mozarabic Rites the celebrant never turns to the congregation when pronouncing this salutation. The Mozarabic formula is invariably as follows: Dominus sit semper vobiscum—Et cum spiritu tuo. Both as to its meaning and partly as to its wording it is taken from Holy Scripture; and because of its beautiful, profound signification it was not only received at an early date into the liturgy of the West, but is also frequently used. — When the priest says: “The Lord be with you”—he desires and prays, in virtue of his mediatorial office, that God would especially bless and favor those whom he addresses with this salutation, that He would graciously dwell, act, and reign in them, and impart to them His powerful help and assistance. This explains why the priest so often repeats these words in the Mass. For the grace of the Lord is the first requisite for the worthy celebration of the Holy Sacrifice. But since this action needs constant grace, there is need of constant and earnest prayer for this grace. Therefore, in the course of the Mass, the priest repeatedly desires that God may be with those who assist at the Holy Sacrifice, and, on the other hand, those present wish that “the Lord may be with his spirit.” — This salutation includes all the good that the Church can desire for her children. Where the Lord is, there He is present with His truth and grace, with His favor and help, with His love and His mercy, with His blessing and peace. To have Him with us who is our God, our Creator, our Redeemer, our Comforter, our felicity and supreme good and last end, our one and all,—what can be better, greater, more full of bliss? If we bear this in mind, then will it become clear to us, why the Church during the Holy Sacrifice so often puts in our mouth the words Dominus vobiscum,—and the more we take this to heart, the less risk shall we run of repeating its words in a thoughtless manner. If we truly and sincerely wish that the Lord may be present in the hearts of the faithful, will not our own heart, then, necessarily ardently yearn also for the Lord, and be fit to receive Him, whom the faithful wish to be in our heart? Where there is an ardent longing for the Lord, the Lord enters there with His grace; and such a desire should be excited, maintained and augmented in us by the frequent repetition of the salutation and petition: “The Lord be with you”—“And with thy spirit.”⁹⁶96Cf. Augsburger Pastoralblatt, Jahrg. 1876, p. 249 etc.

c) By this formula of salutation, both priest and people implore the assistance of divine grace to enter on devout prayer, to which all are now invited by the Oremus—“let us pray” given out in the hearing of all.⁹⁷97In the Mozarabic Liturgy of the Mass the formula Oremus is said or sung at high Mass only twice (namely, before the threefold cry agios [ἅγιος], which differs from the Trisagium proper [Sanctus], and before the prayer which introduces the Paternoster). Among the Greeks the deacon always cries out: “Let us pray to the Lord” (τοῦ Κυρίου δεηθῶμεν). Not until after saying Oremus does the priest stand erect in order to ascend the altar, this mystical Mount Calvary, on which He as Moses on Sinai stands nearer to the Lord God than do the people who are present.⁹⁸98Quanto sacerdotes et clerici ampliori, singulariori ac diviniori a Christo ornati et exaltati sunt potestate, auctoritate, gradu, ordine et honore, tanto omnino decet et opus est, ut Christo sint gratiores, subjectiores et puriores (Dion. Carthus. De vita Curatorum art. 68). Therefore, while ascending to the altar, the priest continues his supplication that greater purity be granted him, reciting secretly the following prayer:⁹⁹99The Sacrament. Gelasian. contains this prayer among the Orat. et preces a Quinquagesima usque Quadrag. with some slight change: Aufer a nobis, Domine, quaesumus, iniquitates nostras, ut ad sancta sanctorum puris mereamur sensibus introire.

The Lord has promised: “I have blotted out (delevi) thy iniquities as a cloud, and thy sins as a mist” (Isa. 44, 22). Therefore, the priest invokes Him, that, in His compassionate mercy, He would cleanse his soul more and more from all iniquity, from all defilement and the remains of sin, from all evil inclinations and attachments, that, being made whiter than snow (Ps. 50, 9), he may be worthy to go into the true Holy of Holies¹⁰⁰100Eusebius in his History of the Church (l. 10, c. 4) uses the same expression to designate the altar τὸ τῶν ἁγίων ἅγιον = sanctum sanctorum. of the new Covenant of grace, that is, to enter the place of sacrifice, there to offer the Eucharistic oblation. The Holy of Holies of the Old Law, which the high-priest alone was permitted to enter, and that but once a year, with the sacrificial blood of the animals, was a feeble figure of the Holy of Holies of the New Testament, into which entrance is open daily, even to the humble priest; for day after day Jesus Christ, the Holy of Holies (Sanctus sanctorum), offers Himself there by His own hands, to gain for us admission into the Holy of Holies of heaven.¹⁰¹101Inter alias legis gratiae excellentias ea est valde admirabilis, quod in sacrificio summam praestantiam cum summa frequentia conjungat. Nam in mundo omne pretiosum, ut dicitur, est rarum... Olim summus sacerdos semel tantum in anno ingrediebatur in Sancta sanctorum, ubi erat propitiatorium, ad orandum pro se, pro familia sua et pro omni populo, offerens sacrificium thymiamatis, quod ponebat super prunas, et nullus hominum poterat cum eo ingredi, aut assistere ei, quod ille faciebat. Nunc autem quilibet sacerdos etiam ex minoribus potest quotidie ingredi in Sancta sanctorum Ecclesiae et orare coram propitiatorio, Christo Jesu, pro se et pro toto populo, licetque aliis ipsum comitari et omnibus fidelium ei assistere (De Ponte, De christ. homin. perfectione IV, tr. 2, c. 15).

d) The desire of being entirely free from sin and from all the misery of sin, again finds expression in the following prayer which the priest says while bowing down moderately before the altar and resting his joined hands thereon.

The petition for perfect purification from all sin is here further supported and strengthened,—namely, by the invoking of the merits of the saints, by the placing of the hands on the altar and by the kissing of the altar. Aware of his own unworthiness, the priest bases his petition for the remission of all sins and all punishment due to them, on the merits and satisfactions of all the saints and especially of those martyrs, whose relics are deposited within the altar. This confidence and reliance are expressed by word (per merita Sanctorum) and by act; for the priest places his joined hands on the dressed altar, which is the figure of Christ and the saints, thereby to show that he does not rely on his own strength, but on Christ and the saints, and that, relying upon their merits, he hopes for and implores of God the remission of all his sins. — In order to share more abundantly in the heavenly treasures of grace merited and obtained by Christ and by the saints with Christ’s assistance, the celebrant devoutly kisses the altar in the middle when saying the words: quorum reliquiae hic sunt—“whose relics are here (preserved).” As the accompanying words show, this kissing refers chiefly to the relics concealed in the altar, that is, to the martyrs and other saints, whose earthly remains at the consecration of the altar were placed there;¹⁰²102The ordinance of Pope Felix I. (about 270), to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass “over the tombs of the martyrs,” merely confirmed a long existing custom. Later on the remains of the saints were transferred from their place of burial and placed in the interior of newly erected altars. The place in which the martyrs were interred, that is, the altar built over their tomb and also the church which enclosed it, were usually called confessio (μαρτύριον, place of confession) or memoria (memorial). The remains of the saints on earth may also be regarded under various aspects and, therefore, they received from the Fathers different names, for example, reliquiae (λείψανα), pignora, patrocinia, sanctuaria, beneficia, cineres, xenia, insignia, exuviae Sanctorum. With respect to the close connection of devotion to relics and the Eucharistic Sacrifice cf. also Prudent. Peristephan. III, 211 sqq. — V, 515 sqq. — XI, 169 sqq. and, in the next place, it refers generally also to all the saints, who are mentioned at the same time (et omnium Sanctorum), and above all to Christ—the Head, the Crown and the King of all the saints—of whom the altar is and will ever be the symbol. By kissing the altar, enriched with relics, the priest would evince his love and veneration for the Church triumphant, for Christ and all the saints, and he would thereby animate anew and confirm his communion with them. — How exceedingly consoling this supernatural communication between earth and heaven, this communion of life and of goods between the glorified children of the Church who are reigning in heaven, and the wretched children of Eve still in their earthly pilgrimage, struggling amid want and hardship! And how could we, without overflowing with gratitude and joy, be mindful of the glorious treasures that the blood of Jesus Christ, the tears and sorrows of the Blessed Mother, the works of charity and penance which all the saints have acquired for our benefit? This reflection and this sentiment take possession of the priest on his first arriving at the altar, and he kisses it, to testify his love, esteem and reverence for His Heavenly Benefactor.