The Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

61. The First Prayer of the Canon After the Consecration

By the Consecration the Eucharistic Sacrifice is essentially accomplished. But as the sacrificial action, as simple as it is sublime, was appropriately introduced and prepared by manifold rites, it must also liturgically be properly developed and worthily concluded. Hence the Church now encircles the head of the Victim reposing on the altar, with a mystical wreath of holy prayers and ceremonies. At the moment of the Eucharistic Consecration there was thrown open to us on the altar an immense treasury of graces; these the Church would now gather up and turn to the greatest profit for all her needy children. First, there follows an oblation prayer in three parts.

These three parts of the Canon belong together both as to their form and their contents, for they constitute but a single prayer, which concludes with the customary clause. If the aforesaid formula of prayer be conceived and explained after this manner, then the intimate relation of the parts of the prayer and the gradual development of the whole cannot be mistaken. In general, it contains the presentation to God of our sacrificial gifts and supplication that He graciously accept them, and finally terminates with the wish that the most abundant benedictions of grace may be poured out from the altar upon all who participate in the holy sacrificial nourishment.

1. First Part of the Prayer (Unde et memores). The virginal seer St. John beheld in heaven the wonderful, meek Lamb, who triumphed in His blood, and he saw Him standing “as it were slain” (Vidi: et ecce... Agnum tanquam occisum—Apoc. 5, 6), on account of the marks of His wounds; with far greater right we may say, that the same Lamb of God after the Consecration remains in a state of sacrifice, “as if immolated” on the altar—immolated by the two-edged sword of the wonderful and mighty words of Consecration. Assuredly the Lord indeed dieth no more, nor can He die; He is exalted above death and the pangs of death; but nevertheless He here submits, under the sacramental species, to a mystical death, inasmuch as He renders present and conceals His Body and His Blood under the cover of inanimate things. While He places Himself by the separate Consecration in this state on the altar, He consecrates Himself to His Heavenly Father as a sacrifice of praise, of propitiation, of thanksgiving and of petition. His Eucharistic Heart glows and burns with the same fire of sacrificial love which at one time consumed Him as a holocaust on Calvary.

But on the altar He is also our Sacrifice, He is in our hands:—we are likewise to offer Him. This is done already at the Consecration; for the sacrificial act, as such, essentially includes the oblation of the gift.⁸⁴⁷847Adverte duplicem esse oblationem. Una est intrinseca sacrificio. Omne enim sacrificium est oblatio, et haec quidem oblatio non est alia actio ab ipsa, quae dicitur sacrificium, sed eadem ut in Deum ordinatur. Altera est, quae ab ipso sacrificio disjungitur; et haec est, qua expressius et distinctius sacrificium ipsum factum aut faciendum in Deum ordinamus et mente et voce. Et haec est, quae fit post consecrationem illis verbis: Unde et memores... et ante consecrationem illis: Suscipe, sancta Trinitas... (Tolet. In Summ. s. Thom. De sacrif. Missae controvers. 5). The offering already contained in the sacrificial action in itself may still be more clearly expressed and made repeatedly under different aspects and for different purposes through words and ceremonies. The Offertory prayers previous to the Consecration do not refer to the Eucharistic elements exclusively, but at the same time to the Victim about to be present. Immediately after the Consecration again similar oblation petitions occur; they do not belong to the essence of the Sacrifice, yet they, in a certain sense, add to its greater perfection and completeness.⁸⁴⁸848Deposito Calice et adorato, prosequitur sacerdos sacram actionem Canonis, et facta reali et substantiali oblatione victimae per consecrationem, eandem confirmat et perficit repetita oblatione verbali, nempe oratione, quae incipit: “Unde et memores...” et aliis subsequentibus, additis etiam sacris ritibus in eundem finem: quae omnia accidentalem addunt perfectionem et majorem ornatum sacrificio, qualis tum maxime decet, dum in altari jam praesens est victima seu hostia vivens, sancta et Deo placens, videlicet ipse Christus sub accidentibus panis et vini (Quarti p. 2, tit. 9, n. 1). The immolated, sacrificed Lamb of God, His Body and Blood lie before us on the altar; these infinitely precious gifts we now present to the Divine Majesty, principally to commemorate the Redeemer and His work, as well as to gain the fruits of the Sacrifice.⁸⁴⁹849Quod sacerdos etiam tunc (sc. post consecrationem) orat, ut Deus acceptum habeat sacrificium, non est quia essentialis oblatio sacrificii non sit jam peracta, sed quia adhuc habemus praesentem rem oblatam, et per illam possumus plura semper beneficia impetrare, et iterum atque iterum Deum deprecari, ut et majorem in ipsum reverentiam ostendamus, et ut ad plura beneficia nobis conferenda sacrificium nostrum acceptet ac denique, ut effectus sacrificii propter demeritum nostrum non impediatur (Suarez disp. 75, sect. 5, n. 15). Who accomplishes this offering?

a) “We, Thy servants, as also Thy holy people,”—that is, first and chiefly consecrated priests; then, subordinate to and united with them, also the rest of the faithful.

The plural “Thy servants” recalls the time when the concelebration⁸⁵⁰850During many centuries priests were accustomed—especially on great feasts—to celebrate the Eucharistic Sacrifice in common with the bishop; this was called συλλειτουργεῖν, concelebrare, consacrificare. Mos est Romanae Ecclesiae, ut in confectione immolationis Christi adsint Presbyteri et simul cum Pontifice verbis et manibus conficiant (Amalar. De eccles. offic. l. 1, c. 12). — Consueverunt presbyteri Cardinales Romanum circumstare Pontificem et cum eo pariter celebrare, cumque consummatum est sacrificium, de manu ejus communionem recipere (Innoc. III. De sacro altar. myster. l. 4, c. 25). In the Roman Liturgy this rite of Concelebration is now limited to the Masses at which takes place the ordination of priests and the consecration of bishops, also the consecration of abbots (abbas legit totam Missam, exceptis verbis consecrationis, quae non profert), while with the Greeks it still frequently occurs. (Cfr. Bona, Rerum liturg. l. 1, c. 18, § 9.) of the priest with the bishop was still in practice, and, accordingly, proves the antiquity of the prayer.⁸⁵¹851Primum de praelatis; alterum de subjectis agere non dubitatur (Microlog. c. 13). The expression servi is not to be confined to priests alone, but according to circumstances it is also to be referred to levites and minorites. As in the prayer Hanc igitur we have here also a grouping together of clerics and laity: the former (the officials of the house of God) constitute the hierarchical, the latter the laical, priesthood. As λαὸς θεοῦ, that is, as members of the congregation and of the house of God, all Christians have, in a wider sense, a priestly character (1 Peter 2, 5), and they exercise it chiefly at the Eucharistic Celebration, in which by closest adherence to the liturgy they in common offer the Sacrificial Body and Sacrificial Blood of Christ, as well as their own subjective sacrifice. — Non solum sacerdotes et clerus (qui secundum diversos gradus divinis occupantur officiis) offerunt, sed etiam audientes, qui votis et orationibus assistunt cooperantes (B. Odo Camerac. dist. 2). The priests are in quite a special manner “servants of God”; but as they are to serve Him through love and with joy, they are also called “friends of God”. In His farewell discourse the Lord spoke to His disciples those words, which the bishop repeats after the ordination in reference to the newly ordained: “I no longer now call you servants, but My friends, because you know all that I have done in your midst”⁸⁵²852Nonne per charismata gratiarum, per sapientiae claritatem, per virtutum decorem, per puritatem internam, per custoditam, fructuosam et contemplativam coram Deo conversationem, per odium vitiorum, per ardentem Deitatis amorem efficeris non solum servus Dei, imo et filius adoptivus, secretus amicus, heres regni coelestis, increatae Sapientiae sponsus, amantissimus Dei et tamquam consiliarius ac secretarius Creatoris? Intuere, quam deificum et praeclarum consistat, cum Deo assidue miscere colloquia in orationibus ac laudibus ejus, ipsum quoque tibi loquentem audire in lectionibus Scripturarum, in inspiratione occulta, in manifestationibus abditorum (Dion. Carthus. De laude vitae solitariae art. 12).—Jam non dicam vos servos, sed amicos meos, quia omnia cognovistis, quae operatus sum in medio vestri. Thus does the Lord by an unmerited favor elevate us priests to the rank of bosom friends and messmates, honors us with the most intimate, confidential intercourse; but, nevertheless, we are and will ever remain “His servants”. This service is assuredly in itself again a very great honor and distinction,⁸⁵³853Multo pretiosior est christiana humilitas et servitus regum opibus et superbia (S. Agatha). to which the Lord chose us out of His free mercy, and called us through His powerful grace. We should administer and dispense the mysteries of God like good and faithful servants, leading a life befitting our vocation and office, so that the Lord, when He shall come to judge us, may find us watching and admit us into His eternal joy. The ministers of the Church are indeed, by their ordination, dignity and power, exalted above the laity; but they are thereby none the less obliged to serve the flock that has been subjected and entrusted to them, that is, in love and humility, with devotedness and self-sacrifice, labor, suffer and care for the salvation and temporal welfare of their flock, after the example of “the Son of Man, who came not to be ministered unto but to minister, and to give His life as a redemption for many” (Matth. 20, 28).

The words plebs tua sancta⁸⁵⁴854In like manner Christians are called gens sancta, populus acquisitionis (1 Petr. 2, 9); frequently in the liturgy sacrata plebs; plebs Domino dicata; populus sanctus Dei.—“Thy holy people”—denote the high dignity of the faithful regenerated by the sacrament of baptism; they are and should be “a people of God” (plebs tua) and as such a “holy people” (plebs sancta). The faithful are a people belonging to God; for God has purchased them and acquired them with the great price of the Blood of Christ. They form a community which, in a very special manner, is dedicated to God as His peculiar property. The members of the Church are designated as a “holy people”, inasmuch as God has singularly favored them, and poured out on them in abundance the spirit of sanctification, whereby they are enabled as well as bound to lead a new, virtuous and holy life. Then indeed shall the children of the Church truly be “the holy people of God,” if by word and deed, by their whole conduct, they endeavor to serve God and to glorify Him, since for this has He called and transplanted them out of the darkness of the world into the wonderful light of His heavenly truth and grace. God gave us His Son and He gives Him again daily on the altar, that “He might redeem us from all iniquity, and might cleanse to Himself a people acceptable, a pursuer of good works” (Tit. 2, 14).

At this offering priest and people are at the same time “mindful also of the blessed passion, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ,” and that, because the Lord Himself commanded it. It is to this above-mentioned and previously stated command of Christ (in mei memoriam facietis) that the words Unde et memores—“wherefore also calling to mind”—refer.⁸⁵⁵855Peracta consecratione in omnibus Liturgiis Christi mandatum commemoratur praecipientis, ut ipsum sacrificium in ejus memoriam peragamus: “Haec quotiescunque feceritis, in mei memoriam facietis.” Quis enim auderet ad altare Dei accedere et augustissimum mysterium celebrare, nisi Dominus tanti sacramenti institutor praecipisset? Propterea Ecclesia Domini mandato obsequens sequentia verba recitari constituit: “Unde et memores, Domine, nos servi tui, sed et plebs tua sancta,” fidelis scilicet et in Ecclesiae gremio consistens; sancta, non quidem actu, cum non omnes sancti sint, sed vocatione, debito et professione; quae vel praesens adest sacrificio vel in unitate Ecclesiae ubique degens particeps est sacrificii (Bona, Rer. liturg. l. 2, c. 12, § 3). The Eucharistic Sacrifice is the living commemoration and mystical accomplishment of the entire work of redemption (opus redemptionis nostrae exercetur); Christ, as Highpriest and as Victim, is present on the altar with all the fruits and merits of the redemption. In the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass not only His passion and death,⁸⁵⁶856Illius ergo panis et calicis oblatio mortis Christi est commemoratio et annuntiatio, quae non tam verbis quam mysteriis ipsis agitur, per quae nostris mentibus mors illa pretiosa altius et fortius commendatur (Florus Lugdun. De actione Missar. n. 89. — Cfr. Algerus, De sacram. corp. et sang. Domin. l. 1, c. 16). but also the life of His glory is mystically (in mysterio) represented and renewed. Three great mysteries are here principally made prominent: before all, the sufferings of Christ in His sacrifice and death on the Cross, as the essence and centre of the work of the redemption; then the joyful resurrection and glorious ascension, which constitute the conclusion, crown and completion of the work of the redemption.⁸⁵⁷857Nominantur potius hic ista tria Christi opera: passio, resurrectio, ascensio, quam alia in dispensatione carnis assumptae ab eo facta, quoniam plus ceteris faciunt ad complementum redemptionis et glorificationis humanae. Passio namque Christi pretium nostrae redemptionis exsolvit et mortem destruxit. Resurrectio ejusdem perditam reparavit vitam nobisque resurgendi spem et fiduciam suggessit. Ascensio vero in coelum paradisi patefecit introitum quantum ad ejus ingressum et nobis eandem ingrediendi viam monstravit (Clichtov. Elucidat. eccles. l. 3, n. 35). The passion, beyond all conception, so full of pain and torment for the Saviour, is here designated as “blessed” (tam beata passio),⁸⁵⁸858Nulla nobis sit de Christi cruce confusio, quia habemus de ejus passione victoriam: sicut enim sempiternus Dei Filius non sibi, sed nobis est natus, ita immaculatus Dei Agnus non sibi, sed nobis est passus (Maxim. Taurin. Homil. 83). — Haec dominicae dispensationis arcana (the mysteries of the redemption) et semper nos animo decet retinere et intentius solito ubi beatissimae passionis sacramenta conficiuntur, ubi mors Salvatoris nostri, quam citissimae resurrectionis virtute in aeternum conculcavit, mysticis in altari renovatur officiis (Bed. Venerab. l. 2, hom. 4). — Tam beatae, h. e. tam excellenter beatificantis (passionis), quia mortuos a vinculis mortis absolvit (Albert. M., Summa de offic. Missae tract. 3, c. 13). by reason of the blessed effects and sweet fruits which it produced for us men. Thus the Church in a Passion Hymn calls also the hard wood of the Cross and the cruel nails “sweet” (dulce lignum, dulces clavi). — Since the merciful Saviour has left us on the altar such a wonderful memorial of His redeeming life and death, we should during the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice most fervently meditate upon and venerate these great mysteries.⁸⁵⁹859Commemorantur tria opera Christi, videlicet passio ejus, cujus memoria caritatem inflammat; resurrectio, quae fidem confortat; ascensio, quae spem nostram corroborat. Quod enim in Christo capite nostro factum credimus, in nobis perficiendum speramus. Dum vero sacerdos haec verba dicit, debet quidem celeriter, non tamen superficialiter, imo cordialiter recordari passionis Christi, non sine compassionis affectu, resurrectionis quoque et ascensionis cum exsultatione mentali, contemplando mentaliter, quomodo ex clauso sepulcro surrexit, anima ex limbo inferni ad corpus redeunte, et qualiter nubes in ascensione accepit eum ab oculis discipulorum (Dion. Carthus. Expos. Missae art. 32). “At the institution of the Eucharist, the Lord Himself said to the Apostles: ‘Do this in remembrance of Me!’ so that this sublime and venerable Sacrament might be to us an excellent and singular memorial of the immense love wherewith He loved us. This is the sweetest memorial, the most salutary memorial, by means of which we renew the joyful remembrance of our redemption. This is the glorious commemoration that fills the souls of the faithful with a salutary joy, infuses into our hearts felicity, at the same time sweetly moving to tears. For we rejoice in the remembrance of our deliverance; but inasmuch as we renew the passion of Jesus Christ, through which we received our deliverance, we can scarcely restrain our tears. Thus there shall be for us in this most holy memorial tears together with the sweetest joys, so that amid tears we rejoice thereat and rejoicing weep, having at the same time joyful tears and a weeping felicity; for the heart, overflowing with infinite joy, trickles sweet tears through the eyes.”⁸⁶⁰860Cfr. the Bull of the Institution of the feast of Corpus Christi by Urban IV. (11. August, 1264).

We offer the Sacrifice to the most exalted, the most worthy and glorious Majesty of the heavenly Father—offerimus praeclarae majestati tuae. But where shall we find and whence take the offering for the God of Majesty? Since every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Giver of all that is good, we cannot offer anything to God, but from His “presents and gifts”, which He had previously imparted to us.⁸⁶¹861Deus, qui cum muneribus nullis indigeas ipse nobis munera cuncta largiris, accipe propitius, quae de tuis donis tibi nos offerre voluisti, non solum nostrae reputans devotioni quae tua sunt, sed etiam per haec nos ad coelestia regna perducens (Sacram. Leon. XXIV). “Thine, O Lord, is magnificence and power and glory and victory: and to Thee is praise! For all that is in heaven and in earth is Thine: Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art above all princes. All things are Thine, and we have given Thee what we received of Thy hand” (1 Paralip. 29, 11–14). The “presents and gifts” (dona et data) here mentioned, by means of which we offer a Sacrifice to God, are the natural elements of bread and wine, taken from the noblest fruits and productions of God’s creation.⁸⁶²862Among the “God-given gifts and presents” we may also at the same time understand the Eucharistic Victim. Sensus est: offerimus tibi hostiam puram, panem sanctum et calicem salutis, quae ex creaturis tuis a te datis et donatis, ex pane scil. et vino per consecrationem habemus. Sic exponit Innocentius. Possunt etiam referri omnia ad ipsam Eucharistiam sive ad Christum ut in Eucharistia existentem; rectissime enim dicitur Christus Dei datum et donum (Bellarm. De Missa l. 2, c. 24). — Dicitur haec hostia offerri ex Dei donis et datis, vel quia ex pane et vino effecta est, vel certe, quia Christum ipsum continet, qui nobis a Deo datus est (Suarez disp. 83, sect. 2). For these earthly “presents and gifts of God” are changed by the Consecration into the gift of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, into the Bread of Life and the Chalice of Salvation, which we likewise received from God, and which we again offer to the Divine Majesty.

Our Sacrifice is worthy of the greatness and goodness of God; it is an infinitely precious and perfect Sacrifice. For, indeed, we present the “clean oblation” (oblatio munda) predicted by the Prophet Malachias (1, 11), on which there cannot possibly fall the least shadow of blemish. Jesus Christ is in Himself the unspeakably “pure, holy and unspotted Victim” (hostia pura, hostia sancta, hostia immaculata), and, consequently, the inexhaustible source also whence purity, holiness and spotlessness are poured forth into every susceptible human heart.⁸⁶³863Christus est hostia pura, electos suos purificans; hostia sancta, dilectos suos sanctificans; hostia immaculata, maculas nostras purgans; panis vitae aeternae, angelos et homines reficiens, et calice sui praeclari sanguinis inebrians et perfundens (S. Bonav. Expos. Missae c. 4). The Eucharistic Victim is, moreover, partaken of; His sacrificial Body is a sacrificial food, and His sacrificial Blood is a sacrificial beverage,—both together form a “holy sacrificial repast”. Hence it is said, we offer “the Bread of Heaven, which nourishes unto eternal life,” and “the precious Chalice, whence issues everlasting salvation.”⁸⁶⁴864In the Mozarabic Liturgy the Eucharist is also frequently designated as panis (sc. quem lignum crucis coxit) and as calix, or vinum (sc. quod torcular passionis expressit). It has a similar designation in a prayer of the old Gallican Rite immolatus panis et sanguis.

b) The Five Concomitant Signs of the Cross. Even after the Consecration the sign of the Cross is made over the sacrificial gifts.⁸⁶⁵865In three places (in all ten times) it is made with the hand over the sacrificial gifts, and in two places (in all eight times) with the Host (six times over the chalice and twice outside the chalice). These signs of the Cross after the Consecration have ever been regarded as difficult of explanation; hence the most varied interpretations have been attempted.⁸⁶⁶866Cfr. Lebrun, Explication de la Messe part. 4, art. 11, § 1, n. 2. — Bossuet, Explication de quelques difficultés sur les prières de la Messe. — Hefele, Beiträge zur Kirchengeschichte etc. II, 286. — Hoppe, Die Epiklesis S. 108 etc. — Scheeben, Studien über den Messcanon, im “Katholik”, Jahrg. 1866, S. 706 etc.

The use of the sign of the Cross in ecclesiastical worship is very extensive: it is employed not merely as a holy symbol, to express various mysteries and truths, but, moreover, as a means to produce supernatural effects and to impart blessings, that is, it is a sign equally significant as well as efficacious. Since the sign of the Cross, on account of its manifold and profound contents, is so extensively employed for liturgical purposes, it is self-evident that it is not always and not everywhere used in the same sense, but at one time in one sense, at another in another, and even often in the same place it may have several meanings consistent with one another.⁸⁶⁷867Consecratio hujus sacramenti et acceptatio hujus sacrificii et fructus ipsius procedit ex virtute crucis Christi, et ideo, ubicumque fit mentio de aliquo horum, sacerdos crucesignatione utitur (S. Thom. 3, q. 83, a. 5 ad 3). — It is always to be held as a fundamental rule, that text and sign are to be explained in harmony with each other; for word and act constitute a ritual whole, since they belong to each other, mutually complete one another and reciprocally cast light on one another. — This is the case in the rite of the Mass, in which frequently occurs the holy sign of the Cross. First, the distinction between the sign of the Cross made before and that made after the Consecration must be shown. Very often the Cross is a sign of blessing: this is the case before the Consecration. There it is a significant and, at the same time, an effective sign of blessing; on the one hand, it consecrates the material elements of bread and wine to their high destiny, and, on the other hand, it indicates and implores their perfect sanctification through the Consecration. — But evidently this object cannot be ascribed to the sign of the Cross after the Elevation: there are no longer present on the altar material elements susceptible of or in need of blessing, but Christ’s Body and Blood under the appearances of bread and wine. Jesus Christ, the source of all blessings and the Holy of Holies, can and may not be blessed by the priest.⁸⁶⁸868In sacramento altaris benedictio sacerdotis fertur super terminum a quo, i. e. super panem, non super terminum ad quem, i. e. corpus Christi (S. Thom. In 1 ad Cor. c. 10, l. 4). Therefore, all admit that the signs of the Cross made over the oblation after the Consecration can in nowise have the signification and power of effective signs of blessing for Christ who is present, for His Body and Blood.⁸⁶⁹869Notandum quod consignatio facta super panem et calicem ante consecrationem quasi oratio est, ut consecratio compleatur; post consecrationem vero iterata consignatio consecrationis jam adimpletae quaedam est testificatio (Robert. Paulul. De offic. eccles. l. 2, c. 32). The signs of the Cross after the Consecration again have different meanings and ends which, consequently, will be best shown by explaining the prayers and acts connected with them.

In our present prayer the Eucharistic Sacrifice is named five times, and at each mention of it a Cross is made over the Holy of Holies. In these Crosses we may discover a manifold meaning. The sign of the Cross is indeed but a passing action, yet it possesses the form and expression of a holy image: it is like the Crucifix, and like it, it ever reminds us of Christ’s passion and death. The Cross, therefore, has always and everywhere this reminding feature, especially at the celebration of Mass, which is the showing forth and renewal of the Sacrifice of the Cross.⁸⁷⁰870Mentio mortis adest, ubicumque perennibus escis
Imprimit uncta manus mystica signa crucis.
(Hildeb. Turon. Vers. de myster. Missae.)
Quid est inter ipsa mysteria rebus sacratis vel sacrandis signum crucis superponere, nisi mortem Domini commemorare? Unde et Dominus formam consecrandi corporis et sanguinis sui tradens, ait inter cetera: “Hoc facite in meam commemorationem” (Ivonis Carnotens. Sermo 5). When the gifts of the Eucharistic Sacrifice are named, the symbol of the Cross is appropriately added thereto, to represent to the eye also, that on the altar the same Body and the same Blood are offered as were once sacrificed on the Cross. In the above prayer this happens soon after the acknowledgment, that we are mindful of the passion of Christ.⁸⁷¹871Quinaria cruce signamus, non ut eum, a quo omnis sanctificatio, sanctificemus, sed ut vulnera pendentis in cruce—duo manuum, duo pedum, quintum lateris—flebiliter et devote recolamus (Stephan. Augustod. De sacram. altar. c. 17). — This symbolical interpretation does not exclude, but rather includes other meanings. The essence of our prayer is the offering (offerimus): now if the signs of the Cross figuratively express what the words signify, then they are also rightly to be conceived as a symbolical dedication and surrendering up to God of the Eucharistic Victim. Yet these crosses in a certain respect can here be understood as signs of blessing.⁸⁷²872The blessings made over the body of Jesus Christ with the sign of the cross, do not regard that divine body, but those who are to receive it; or if they regard it, it is to indicate the blessings and graces wherewith it is filled, and which He desires to impart to us liberally, if our want of fidelity does not prevent Him; or, in fine, if we wish to consider it in that light, Jesus Christ is blessed in all His members, who are offered in this Sacrifice as forming but one and the same body with the Saviour, in order that the grace of the Head be abundantly bestowed upon them (Bossuet l. c.). They may be regarded as a symbol of that plenitude of grace and blessing which gushes forth from the sacrificed Body and Blood of Christ over His mystical body, that is, the Church. This thought is so much more to the point and warranted, because the Church is united to Christ and offered together with Him on the altar and, consequently, she is blessed to a certain extent by these signs of the Cross.

2. The second part of the prayer (Supra quae). Immediately after the above offering very appropriately follows the petition that God would vouchsafe to look with a propitious and gracious countenance upon our sacrificial gifts and vouchsafe to accept them, as formerly He received the typical offerings of Abel, Abraham and Melchisedech. — But must not such a petition appear strange? Does not the eye of the heavenly Father rest with eternal love and infinite complacency on Jesus Christ, the “pure, the holy, the unspotted Victim” of our altars? How then can the oblation of the Body and Blood of Christ be placed on the same level with the figurative offerings of ancient times? To solve this difficulty, we must examine more closely the aspect under which the Eucharistic Sacrifice is here regarded. — In so far as Christ on the altar offers Himself, the Eucharistic Sacrifice is ever absolutely pleasing to God: to beg for a favorable acceptance of the Sacrifice of Christ from this standpoint, or even to place it on the same plane with the ancient sacrifices, is out of question, and, consequently, such cannot be the meaning of our prayer. — In it the Eucharistic oblation is considered under another aspect. At the moment of Consecration Jesus Christ as Highpriest offers Himself up through the Holy Ghost and the ministry of the visible priest to the honor of His heavenly Father, as well as for our salvation, and at the same time He places His sacrificial Body and sacrificial Blood in the hands of the Church. The Church now presents to the majesty of the Father, as her Sacrifice, the Victim mystically immolated, whilst including the sacrifice of her own self as a gift in union with the infinitely meritorious sacrificial Body and sacrificial Blood of Christ. The petition for the favorable reception refers, therefore, to the Eucharistic oblation, in as far as the Church comes to the foreground as offering it together with herself. For the value of an offering depends not alone on the quality of the gift, but also and principally on the dignity and holiness of the person who offers it. The more pure and perfect his intention in sacrificing is, the more agreeable is his homage in the sight of God. “The Lord had respect to Abel and to his offerings” (Respexit Dominus ad Abel et ad munera ejus—Gen. 4, 4), that is, the first was the cause of the second: the gift of Abel was pleasing to God, because Abel himself was pleasing to Him.⁸⁷³873With respect to the sacrifices offered by Abel and Cain, St. Cyprian writes: Non munera eorum Deus, sed corda intuebatur, ut ille placeret in munere, qui placebat in corde (De Orat. domin. c. 24). This principle is applicable also to the offering at the altar, inasmuch as the Church, the priest and the faithful are regarded as those who offer. Naturally this is not to be understood as though our disposition could impart a higher value to the sacrificial gift infinitely precious in and of itself, but it means only that God ever prefers to receive it from hands that possess the greater purity and holiness. Now, in the sight of God cannot the holiness and acceptability of the Church be found at times to be in a greater or less degree? Are not the sacrificing priest and the faithful who unite with him, often wanting in proper dispositions, in contrition, piety, purity of heart, fervor of devotion? At such reflections nothing seems more proper than humble supplications to the Most High, that He be not offended on account of our sinfulness, and reject not the Eucharistic gifts from our unworthy hands, but that He look upon and graciously accept them in as far as they are presented by us, that they may not only as the Sacrifice of Christ, but also as our Sacrifice, bring down upon us bountiful blessings and a superabundance of grace.⁸⁷⁴874Clarum est, quod sacerdos novae legis non orat sacrificium seu sacramentum altaris sic Deo placere, quemadmodum ei placuerunt sacrificia horum trium virorum (Abel, Abrahae, Melchisedech), quoniam illa sacrificia nec gratiam continebant nec placita Deo erant nisi ex devotione offerentium meritisque eorum, sed sacrificium novae legis, videlicet sacramentum corporis et sanguinis Christi, gratiarum plenitudinem continet et per seipsum Deo acceptum est, ejusque oblatio fructuosa est non solum ex meritis offerentis, sed propter dignitatem oblati. Orat ergo sacerdos oblationem suam seu sacramentum altaris Deo placere non quantum ad seipsum seu rem oblatam, quae per se sancta ac Deo placita existit, sed quantum ad offerentem, quatenus sacerdotis actio atque devotio Deo sic placeat, sicut placuit antiquorum patrum devotio, sicque effectum et gratiam hujus sacramenti consequi mereatur (Dion. Carthus. Exposit. Missae art. 33).

For the clearer understanding of such petitions, it must be further considered that the Church participates still in another way in the Sacrifice of the Altar: together with her Head, Jesus Christ, she offers herself as a gift dedicated to God: the true and real Body of Christ and the mystical body of Christ are thus combined in one Sacrifice. This mystery is symbolized at the Offertory by pouring some water into the wine in the chalice; accordingly, the priest already then prayed “in a spirit of humility and with a contrite heart,” that “we be received by God as a well pleasing sacrifice,” and immediately after summoned the faithful to pray that “his and their Sacrifice may be pleasing to God the Father Almighty.” Hence we also cry to the Lord: Nosmetipsos tibi perfice munus aeternum—“Make us perfect as an eternal gift to Thee.” Therefore, since we place ourselves with all our works and prayers, desires and concerns as a sacrificial gift upon the altar, the reason is easily understood why, with lively sentiments of our worthlessness and our unworthiness, we implore that God would deign to look with mercy on us and on our Sacrifice. Such petitions frequently occur in the liturgy of the Mass, and we shall meet them again at the conclusion of the Sacrifice. They are perfectly justifiable, inasmuch as we offer the Eucharistic Sacrifice and ourselves in union with it. To do this worthily, we should possess perfect sanctity, but as this is wanting to us, we recommend our Sacrifice to the favor and indulgence of God, that it may be more agreeable to Him and more salutary to us. When, therefore, we are assembled around the altar, may God never look down upon us with reproach and resentment, but may He always regard us and our gifts “with a favorable and gracious countenance”⁸⁷⁵875Vultus = glance, mien, feature, inasmuch as it is the indication of the interior sentiment of the mind; often emphatic = angry, threatening countenance, look of anger (cfr. Ps. 33, 17); propitius = inclined, disposed, favorable, graciously inclined; serenus = serene, bright, clear, brilliant, radiant. We also pray God not to be angry, dark, severe, but favorable, mild, graciously to look down on our oblation. Cfr. Ps. 30, 17: Illustra faciem tuam (let Thy face shine) super servum tuum; Ps. 66, 2: Illuminet vultum suum super nos (that He would allow His face to shine upon us) et misereatur nostri. — Cfr. Hilaritatem vultus tui nobis impertiri digneris (Miss. Rom.). (propitio ac sereno vultu).⁸⁷⁶876It is not true that by this interpretation “the object of the offering is volatilized into the subject of the offering” and “heterogenous thoughts are inserted in the text,” as Hoppe asserts (Epiklesis S. 103. 104); it is rather drawn from the inmost essence of the Sacrifice in general, to which an offerens is as necessary as a res oblata, and this especially of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, in which not only Christ, but also the Church, the priest and the faithful are the offerers—as well of the Body and Blood of Christ as of themselves. Cfr. the very ancient Oratio S. Ambrosii, included in the preparatory prayers of the priest, in which among others (feria sexta) we read: (Spiritus sanctus) me indignum sacerdotem doceat tantum tractare mysterium cum cordis puritate et lacrymarum devotione, cum reverentia et tremore, ita ut placide et benigne suscipias sacrificium de manibus meis ad salutem omnium tam vivorum quam defunctorum.

The next petition, that the heavenly Father would favorably accept this our Sacrifice as He accepted the sacrifices of Abel, Abraham and Melchisedech, is explained from the same standpoint.⁸⁷⁷877Licet hoc sacramentum ex se ipso praeferatur omnibus antiquis sacrificiis, tamen sacrificia antiquorum fuerunt Deo acceptissima ex eorum devotione. Petit ergo sacerdos, ut sic hoc sacrificium acceptetur a Deo ex devotione offerentium, sicut illa accepta fuerunt Deo (S. Thom. III, q. 83, a. 4 ad 8). — Here there is by no means a “parallel comparison” of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, in as far as Christ is its priest and gift, with those ancient sacrifices before Christ: there is an infinite distance between them. The comparison refers to us and to those devout patriarchs. We pray that our oblation may be agreeable and pleasing to the eyes of God, as were the sacrifices of those saints of ancient times.⁸⁷⁸878Fit in canone Missae mentio de oblatione Abrahae et Abel magis propter devotionem offerentium, quam propter figuram rei oblatae (S. Thom. IV, dist. 8, q. 1, a. sol. 2 ad 6). Now this is nothing else than praying for the fulfilment of that which the Prophet Malachias (3, 3–4) at one time predicted: “The Lord shall purify the sons of Levi (the priests), and shall refine them as gold and as silver, and they shall offer sacrifices (that is, the Eucharistic Oblation) to Him in justice. And the sacrifice of Juda and of Jerusalem (that is, of the Christian Church) shall please the Lord, as in the days of old and in the ancient years,” when holy men, as Abel, Abraham and Melchisedech, offered sacrifices of pleasing odor to God. The Lord accepted their gifts with so great complacency, because they were presented to Him with perfect dispositions, and because they at the same time prefigured the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ.⁸⁷⁹879Post consecrationem rogamus Patrem, ut super dona praedicta respiciat et accepta habeat. Sed cum Patri Filio nihil sit acceptius, quem propitio et sereno vultu semper sibi Deum aequalem intuetur: quid aliud oramus, nisi ut mediante et interpellante Filio nobis Deus fiat placabilis, et propitius et per eum, qui sibi placet, ei placeamus? Itaque oramus eum per haec sacrificia nobis miserendo placatum fieri, sicut misertus est patribus nostris propitiando eorum sacrificiis. Unde attendenda est haec comparatio in sola similitudine, non in quantitate, nec est referenda ad sacrificia, sed ad offerentium vota. Plus valet res, quam figura. Omnibus sacrificiis praecellit Eucharistia; est autem talis similitudo, ut recte offerendo similes simus patribus nostris, qui recte obtulerunt (Steph. Augustod. De sacr. altar. c. 17).

There is no doubt with respect to the typical character of the sacrifices mentioned. If the sacrifices of Abel and Abraham are assuredly principally figures of the bloody Sacrifice of the Cross, they must, indeed, in this connection with Melchisedech’s sacrifice, be also considered as figures of the unbloody Sacrifice of the Altar. Such a conception corresponds to the view of Christian antiquity, as it is often expressed by the Fathers, in liturgies and in images.⁸⁸⁰880Tuae laudis hostiam jugiter immolamus, cujus figuram Abel Justus instituit, celebravit Abraham, Melchisedech sacerdos exhibuit, sed verus Agnus et aeternus Pontifex Christus implevit (Sacram. Leonian. IV).

The simple, devout and faithful Abel offered to God from among the firstlings of his flock and their fat (Gen. 4, 4), upon which the Apostle (Heb. 11, 4) writes: “By faith Abel offered to God a sacrifice exceeding that of Cain, by which he obtained a testimony that he was just (justus), God giving testimony to his gifts.” In all probability, God manifested His special pleasure by sending fire from heaven, whereby the sacrifice of Abel was consumed. According to the expression of the Lord Himself (Matt. 23, 35), Abel is here emphatically designated as the just (justus) and as the servant (puer) of God. Full of faith, of humble simplicity, he offered a lamb to the Lord, and this sacrifice is intended to prefigure the Sacrifice of that true and immaculate Lamb, daily immolated on the altar.⁸⁸¹881Deus, qui legalium differentiam hostiarum, unius sacrificii perfectione sanxisti: accipe sacrificium a devotis tibi famulis, et pari benedictione, sicut munera Abel, sanctifica; ut quod singuli obtulerunt ad majestatis tuae honorem, cunctis proficiat ad salutem (Secret. Dom. VII. p. Pent.). — Inasmuch as Abel was infamously slain by his brother Cain, he was, by suffering death innocently, one of the principal figures of the propitiatory Sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Heb. 12, 24). “In him,” St. Ambrose says, “the redemption of the world and the Sacrifice of Christ are announced.”⁸⁸²882In isto (Abel) mundi redemptio annuntiatur, ab illo (Cain) mundi ruina. In hoc Christi sacrificium, in illo diaboli parricidium (Exhortat. virgin. n. 36, c. 6).

Abraham stands forth prominent as an example of heroic obedience and faith; chosen by God as the first father of all the faithful, he is also “our Patriarch” (Patriarcha noster).⁸⁸³883Dicitur Abraham Patriarcha, i. e. princeps patrum, non quia non habuerit patrem, sed quia sibi facta est promissio de paternitate gentium (S. Thom. In ep. ad Hebr. c. 7, lect. 2). God commanded him “to immolate his son Isaac in sacrifice, and already had Abraham bound his long-desired child of promise, and placed him on the pile of wood, and had raised the sword above him: but at the decisive moment, the Almighty restrained the father’s arm and instead of the son allowed him to sacrifice a ram to Him” (Laurent). This sacrifice of Abraham is often represented in the Catacombs, together with other biblical events symbolizing the priesthood and the Sacrifice of the New Law, as a figure of the Eucharistic Sacrifice. Abraham did indeed sacrifice his son, but Isaac’s blood in reality was not shed; Abraham “received him from death for a parable” (Heb. 11, 19), that is, as a figure of the Risen Saviour, who “as a Lamb as it were slain” (agnus tanquam occisus—Apoc. 5, 6) offered Himself on the altar in an unbloody manner. The Sequence of Corpus Christi places the sacrifice of Abraham on a par with the Manna and the Paschal Lamb; for it declares that the Eucharist “was figuratively announced by the sacrifice of Isaac” (praesignatur cum Isaac immolatur).⁸⁸⁴884Est et sine cruore sacrificium. Norunt hoc, quod dico, quicunque initiati sunt, ac propterea sine sanguine transactum est illud (the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham), quoniam istius (the unbloody sacrifice) figura (τύπος) esse debebat (S. Chrysost. Oratio in S. Eustathium). Cfr. Petav. De Incarnat. l. 12, c. 13, n. 7.

The offering of food, the sacrifice of bread and wine, which the faithful and royal priest Melchisedech, from a strange nation, presented to the Most High, is the most luminous and most striking figure of the Eucharistic Sacrifice⁸⁸⁵885Melchisedech obtulit sacrificium in pane et vino, et in eisdem speciebus modo offertur et celebratur sacramentum altaris: ergo cum non possit expressius figurari quam in simili secundum speciem, videtur, quod tunc praecessit figura expressissima (S. Bonav. IV, dist. 8, p. 1, a. 1, q. 3).; for this reason it is justly styled holy and spotless (sanctum sacrificium, immaculata hostia).⁸⁸⁶886The addition sanctum sacrificium, immaculatam hostiam, ascribed to Leo the Great, grammatically cannot be conceived as in apposition with Supra quae and be referred to the Eucharistic Sacrifice; it belongs to quod obtulit summus sacerdos tuus Melchisedech. (Cfr. Lebrun l. c. part. 4, art. 12.) — Vocat hic littera Canonis sacrificium ipsius Melchisedech “sanctum sacrificium et immaculatam hostiam,” non quidem quantum ad se absolute, sed collatione facta ad sacrificium novi testamenti, quod significat et cujus expressior erat figura quam ceterae oblationes, et idcirco nostri sacrificii conditiones illi attribuuntur tanquam imagini (Clichtov. Elucidat. eccl. l. 3, n. 39). Melchisedech himself is a figure of the eternal Highpriest Jesus Christ; his priesthood as to dignity and importance is in nowise inferior to that of Aaron, but it is even superior to it, hence he is called the Highpriest of God (summus sacerdos tuus).⁸⁸⁷887Melchisedech sacerdos summus dicitur, qui inter sacerdotes illius temporis habebatur (B. Odonis Camer. Expos. in Canon. dist. 3). “It is Jesus Christ whom the Highpriest Melchisedech figuratively represented, who did not offer to God the sacrifices of the Jews, but the sacrifice of that mystery which our Saviour consecrated in His Body and Blood.”⁸⁸⁸888Ipse est, cujus formam Melchisedech pontifex praeferebat, non judaicas hostias offerens Deo, sed illius sacramenti immolans sacrificium, quod Redemptor noster in suo corpore et sanguine consecravit (S. Leo, Serm. IV [vel V] in annivers. assumpt. suae). — A similar petition is also found in the Pontifical: Sicut Melchisedech sacerdotis praecipui oblationem dignatione mirabili suscepisti, ita imposita huic novo altari munera semper accepta ferre digneris (De eccl. dedicat.).

These patriarchs offered their merely figurative, imperfect sacrificial gifts with sentiments so devout and pure, that God regarded them with favor and grace: now should we not offer the perfect Sacrifice of the New Law with far greater piety and devotion, to the end that the Most High may also regard it with pleasure and graciously accept the gift from our hands?

3. Third part of the Prayer (Supplices te rogamus). This part contains the concluding petition by which we beseech God to command our sacrificial gifts to be carried by the hands of the angels to His altar on high, in the presence of His Divine Majesty, that by partaking of the sacrificial food, we may be filled with all heavenly blessing and grace. — This petition is clothed in words full of mystery, but evidently biblical; for it is manifest that there can be no question of a local transfer of the Body of Christ from the altar to heaven. The oblation is here brought to its close and termination, in this that the petition for a favorable acceptance of the gifts of the altar is not simply repeated, or continued, but presented under new aspects, that is, given greater scope and strengthened.⁸⁸⁹889To the words: “Do ye this in remembrance of Me,” the ancient liturgies join a prayer mentioning the memory of the passion, resurrection and ascension, as likewise an oblation prayer. That in the fifth, or already in the fourth century, the Supplices te rogamus was considered, not as an invocation, but as an oblation prayer, is clear from the writing De sacramentis, in which the first prayer of the Canon after the Consecration is worded as follows: Ergo memores gloriosissimae ejus passionis et ab inferis resurrectionis et in coelum ascensionis offerimus tibi hanc immaculatam hostiam, rationabilem hostiam, incruentam hostiam, hunc panem sanctum et calicem vitae aeternae et petimus et precamur, ut hanc oblationem suscipias in sublimi altari per manus angelorum tuorum, sicut suscipere dignatus es munera pueri tui justi Abel et sacrificium patriarchae nostri Abrahae et quod tibi obtulit summus sacerdos Melchisedech (l. 4, c. 5, n. 27). The text of the Canon recalls a celestial vision of St. John (Apoc. 8, 3–4): “And another Angel came and stood before the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given to him much incense, that he should offer the prayers of all saints (Christians) upon the golden altar, which is before the throne of God (super altare aureum quod est ante thronum Dei). And the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God, from the hand of the Angel (de manu angeli coram Deo).”⁸⁹⁰890Ex hoc loco Apocalypsis et similibus colligunt viri docti, peculiarem esse Angelum, qui sacerdoti celebranti assistat, eum juvet et dirigat, ejus preces et hostias Deo offerat, sive is Angelus sit custos celebrantis, sive custos altaris et templi, ad hanc custodiam et sacrificiorum oblationem peculiariter a Deo deputatus (Cornel. a Lap. i. h. l.).

a) Jube haec perferri—“Command these (sacrificial gifts) to be carried.” By the word haec—these—evidently nothing else is to be understood than what we met with in the immediately preceding word quae; each time reference is made to the same object offered. To these sacrificial gifts (haec), which are to be carried up from the earthly to the heavenly altar, belongs not only the mystical Body of Christ, that is, the faithful with all they are and have—with their prayers and concerns, labors and sufferings, struggles and combats—but, moreover, the Eucharistic Sacrificial Body and Sacrificial Blood of our Lord, inasmuch as we offer them.

These sacrificial gifts are to “be borne into the presence of the Divine Majesty,”⁸⁹¹891To bring our offerings up to God, to raise them up to heaven, where He may receive them, or to cause them to reach His throne, means in the ordinary language of Scripture, to present them to Him in such a manner and with so pure a conscience, that they may be pleasing to Him (Bossuet, Explication de quelques difficultés sur les prières de la Messe). that is, they are to be presented to the Divine Majesty in such a manner that He may not reject them, but that He may regard and accept them with pleasure. But then this will be the case only if the eye of God detects nothing displeasing in them who offer—but, on the contrary, beholds them so pure and so holy, as to deserve to be united and to be presented along with the Most Holy Sacrifice of Christ.

Yet our life is not so blameless, nor our heart so pure, nor our dispositions so perfect. Glancing at the shining white Host and radiant chalice so near to us, the thought of the unspeakable holiness of the gift, which becomes ours at the moment of Consecration, arouses us to a consciousness of our own unworthiness. Penetrated with such humble sentiments, therefore, most ardently do we implore Almighty God that He would “by the hands of His holy angels” carry from this earthly altar the present sacrificial gifts into the presence of His Divine Majesty. When thus offered by the hands of angels, they cannot be otherwise than pleasing to Him in the highest degree and in every respect. — It must not appear strange that we should implore the ministry and assistance of an angel to present our oblation, for the purpose of making it more acceptable to God and salutary to us. It is a tradition originating in ancient Christian times and frequently expressed by the Church, that the angels who participated in the work of redemption from beginning to end, are also present at and take part in the celebration of the holy Sacrificial Mysteries.⁸⁹²892Semper angelus credendus est adesse immolationi corporis Christi (Joann. Abrinc. n. 22). As St. Chrysostom says (Of the Priesthood VI, 4): “The priest is himself at that solemn moment surrounded by angels, and the choir of the heavenly Powers unite with him; they occupy the entire space around the altar, to honor Him who lies there as a Sacrifice.” Then the Saint describes a vision, in which was seen a multitude of angels, who, robed in dazzling white garments and with head deeply bowed, surrounded the altar, as warriors standing in the presence of their king. — The blessed vocation of the heavenly spirits consists in glorifying God by praise and in assisting man to attain salvation. Now, where could this twofold object be better fulfilled than is actually done during the holy Sacrifice? Hence hosts of angels collect about the altar to procure for God honor on high and for man peace on earth. Between the angels and the Holy Eucharist there exist, undoubtedly, intimate relations, which, indeed, to our weak vision here below remain always shrouded in a mysterious obscurity. Christian tradition speaks not only of the presence of many angels at the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, but it often, moreover, mentions in a determinate manner and yet, at the same time, in an indeterminate manner, a certain angel specially commissioned to carry our prayers and sacrifices before the throne of God.⁸⁹³893Sicut Angeli intelliguntur Deo offerre orationes nostras et petitiones, similiter et desideria—non propter ignorantiam Dei, sed propter commoditatem nostram; quia suis sanctis affectibus puris nos adjuvant et merita nostra in conspectu Dei replicant, ut ex eorum puritate sancta et affectione ferventi ratione dignitatis nuntii sint acceptabilia—sic intellegendum est offerre sacrificia, quia sacris mysteriis assistentes una nobiscum precantur, ut nostra munera sint accepta, et una nobiscum reverentur sanctissimum corpus Christi, sicut in coelo (S. Bonav. IV, dist. 11, p. 1, dub. 4). Tertullian says (On Prayer, Chap. 16) that it is highly irreverent to sit in church “before the face of the Living God, while the angel of prayer is still standing there” (sub conspectu Dei vivi angelo adhuc orationis adstante). St. Ambrose writes (In Luc. l. 1, n. 28), that we cannot doubt that “an angel assists” (assistere angelum), when Christ is sacrificed on the altar. — Thus the text of the Canon also mentions but one angel. Does it not appear from this that the Church herself would thereby indicate that God intrusts an angel with the special mission of bringing the oblation of the priest and people into His presence? More minute and accurate information relative to this Angel of the Sacrifice of the Mass (Angelus assistens divinis mysteriis—S. Thom. III, q. 83, a. 4 ad 9) is not granted to us. Many saints and servants of God had a particular devotion to the angel here mentioned, without being able or willing to decide as to his name. Some believe him to be the guardian angel of the church and the altar, or that of the priest, who most effectually assists, directs and enlightens him during the celebration of the Holy Mysteries.⁸⁹⁴894Angelus is, cujus manibus sacer ille minister
In sublime geri munus utrumque rogat,
Angelus est ejus, vel quos reverenda vetustas
Desursum missos dicit adesse sacris. (Hildeb. Turon. Versus de Myst. Missae.) — Others suppose, and this appears probable, that it is St. Michael, who is honored as the guardian angel of the Eucharist and of the Church Militant.⁸⁹⁵895S. Michael ecclesiam visitat et ante ejus altare stat, habens thuribulum aureum, i. e. caritatem praecipuam ad fideles, per quam eorum spiritualia sacrificia colligit Deoque offert; cui dantur incensa multa, quando Ecclesia ejus suffragia petit suasque preces per manus illius Deo offerri precatur. Quod et ille diligenter exsequitur, offerens preces et actus fidelium super altare aureum illud coeleste in patria, super quod beati laudes et preces offerunt Domino (Dion. Carthus. in Apoc. Enarr. c. 8, art. 9). It is not easy to judge correctly of the value of such pious opinions. The majority of them have their foundation in divine things which can be more readily conjectured than explained. — With the above-named angels, multitudes of other blessed and heavenly spirits unite in faithful co-operation⁸⁹⁶896Non immerito angelus videtur in templo (when Zacharias offered the sacrifice of incense), quia veri sacerdotis jam nuntiabatur adventus et coeleste sacrificium parabatur, in quo angeli ministrarent (S. Ambros. in Luc. l. 1, n. 24).; hence many perceive in the petition of this prayer of the Canon for the angel’s service a supplication to obtain the assistance of the angels in general.⁸⁹⁷897Singulare nomen “sancti angeli tui” pro plurali positum et significantiam habere pluralem, ab expositoribus censetur (Clichtov. Elucid. eccles. l. 3, n. 41). — Forte singulare posuit pro plurali, angeli pro angelorum (Robert. Paulul. De offic. eccles. l. 2, c. 34).

We, therefore, pray that our sacrificial gifts may, through the assistance of the angels,⁸⁹⁸898There is no reason in this instance for departing from the ordinary signification of the word, and finding in sanctus Angelus anything more than a created angelic spirit. — According to the ancient language of the Church, the name Angelus (= nuntius, missus, legatus) often, indeed, serves to designate the second and third Persons of the Godhead; but the contents of the prayer do not require such a signification, even though it might be admissible in a certain sense. In this case there is question not of a consecrated, but only of a mediatorial action, and only the latter might, therefore, be ascribed to the God-Man or to the Holy Ghost, if we thus understood Angelus. Thus the expression per manus sancti Angeli is conceived as strengthening per Christum Dominum, which gives a good meaning; in the latter instance the mediatorial action of the angels rests on Christ. The liturgy of the Apostolic Constitution likewise (l. 8, c. 13) has: “Again and again let us beg of God, through His Christ and by His Sacrifice, offered to God our Lord, that the good God may accept the same as an agreeable odor on His heavenly altar, through the mediation of His Christ.” — This prayer has also some connection with the oriental Epiklesis (Invocation), in as far at least as the latter in part proposes the imploring of the sacramental gifts of salvation; now if we would refer the word Angelus to the Holy Ghost, we would then regard Him in this place as mediator of the accomplished sacrifice, so as to make it most meritorious to us. — But some have gone still further and have understood by the action here solicited of the Angelus (Holy Ghost) a consecrating activity (perferri in sublime altare = transmutari in corpus et sanguinem Christi), so that this prayer would be a real Epiklesis, that is, a petition that “God would transform the bread into the sacred Body, and that which is contained in the chalice into the precious Blood of His Christ, changing both through His Holy Spirit.” But as this interpretation does violence to the text, and brings into the Roman Canon of the Mass an almost insoluble difficulty (that is, the Epiklesis) of the Greek and Oriental Liturgies without sufficient reason, and contradicts the convictions of the assembled Church at the Council of Florence (1439), as well as the traditional views of liturgists and dogmaticians of all ages,—we must reject it as untenable. Cfr. Franz, Die Eucharistische Wandlung II, 98 etc. ascend on high, in the presence of the Divine Majesty, and there receive a gracious acceptance. Still this does not exhaust the profound meaning of this mystical prayer. It supplicates in addition that our oblation may be carried by the hands of angels from the earthly up to the “heavenly altar of God”. This expression completes the petition for carrying up our gifts and prayers in the presence of God. — Since there can be no question of a real altar in heaven, the question arises, what is to be here understood of this celestial altar. A heavenly altar is mentioned in the Old Testament (Is. 6, 6) and in the New Testament (Apoc. 8, 5–6), as well as by the Fathers. Thus writes St. Irenaeus, that “in heaven there is an altar, to which our gifts and prayers are raised” (Adv. haeres. IV, c. 18, n. 6). The symbolism of the heavenly altar is not always the same. By an altar is properly understood the place destined for and consecrated to the offering of sacrifice—the holy place of sacrifice. Is there in heaven a place of sacrifice? Who offers there? A sacrifice in its real signification, as we have it here on earth, does not exist in heaven. But Christ appears there as Highpriest and Mediator before the face of God, and interceding presents to Him His wounds and His bloody death in order to apply to us the fruits of redemption. The blessed too are priests of God (Apoc. 5, 10; 20, 6); for they minister to Him day and night, and offer without intermission in and through Christ the Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. The altar in the Holy of Holies in heaven is, therefore, not a material place of sacrifice, but it symbolizes the heavenly sacrifice, that is, the sweet-scented incense of praise, homage and thanksgiving, which the Church glorified in union with her glorified Head, Jesus Christ, offers always and eternally to the triune God. The biblical expression of “carrying the oblation of our altar to the heavenly altar,” accordingly designates the union of our earthly Sacrifice with the heavenly Sacrifice of the Church Triumphant. But as the latter is always in the presence of the Divine Majesty, that is, is indescribably pleasing and agreeable in the sight of God, so will our offering also, supported and recommended by its union with the precious Sacrifice of heaven, be admitted into the presence of God and be favorably received by Him.

As it is evident from what has been said, that the essence of this prayer consists in the petition that the sacrificial gifts of the priest and people may be graciously received by the Most High,⁸⁹⁹899Jube haec i. e. corpus et sanguinem Christi, preces quoque ac vota nostra, perferri i. e. portari, non substantialiter, sed repraesentative per modum commemorantis atque orantis, per manus sancti Angeli tui, i. e. per obsequium Angeli, qui divinorum celebrationi interesse credendus est: imo secundum Ambrosium adest coelestis militia et secundum Bernardum angelorum adest exercitus. Quam reverenter ergo nos ibi habere oportet! In sublime altare tuum, i. e. in ipsum coelum empyreum, in quo tu specialiter habitare, sedere, regnare et exaudire cognosceris, et dum sancti angeli illuc perveniunt, vota nostra, preces et opera bona tibi offerunt: in conspectu divinae majestatis tuae i. e. coram facie tua, ita ut tu ipse ea aspicias nec vultum tuum avertas a nobis (Dion. Carthus. Expos. Missae art. 34). this petition is couched in wonderfully beautiful and deeply symbolical terms. For we implore Almighty God to come to the assistance of our weakness and impotence, not only by looking graciously upon us and our gifts, but, moreover, by uniting our oblation, through the ministry of the angels, with the Sacrifice of heaven and, in consequence, permitting it to ascend as a pleasing odor in His presence.⁹⁰⁰900Sicut videmus in causis terrenis, quod qui nescit loqui coram praetore, conducit advocatum, qui loquatur et alleget pro ipso; sic in spiritualibus intellegendum, quod cum nos nec perorare, imo quasi nec balbutire sciamus coram Deo, quod Angelus tanquam advocatus et allegator magnus in illa superna curia assumit verbum et orationem nostram proponit. — Si autem quaeritur, per quem modum habeat esse, dico, quod loqui nostrum et oratio nostra est desiderium alicujus rei vel petitio formata secundum desiderium; et quando desiderium nostrum ex mera et vera et ardenti dilectione est, tunc fortiter clamamus in auribus Dei et tunc optime peroramus. Et quoniam affectiones nostrae sunt tepidae, et affectiones Angelorum ferventissimae et magis elevatae ad ipsum; desiderando pro nobis quod nos desideramus, cum accedant ad Deum familiarius et proximius, dicuntur sibi offerre, et quod Deus vidit nos primo petere et approbare per os nostrum, secundo magis approbat per os et desiderium Angelorum (S. Bonav. IV, dist. 45, dub. 7).

Pope St. Gregory the Great undoubtedly alludes to the mysteries contained in this petition, when he writes (Dial. IV, 58): “What believing soul can doubt that at the hour of the Sacrifice, upon the word of the priest, heaven opens and that choirs of angels assist at this mystery of Jesus Christ, that here the highest is combined with the lowest, the earthly united with the heavenly, the visible and invisible become one?” But how this union of the Church Militant on earth and of her Sacrifice with heaven is properly to be understood, the human mind is unable to fathom: a holy obscurity remains and shall ever remain over this prayer so rich in mysteries. The liturgies of the Middle Age give expression to this sentiment, when they exclaim with the deacon Florus, that its words are “so profound, so wonderful and inconceivable, that we ought rather to revere them with humility and a holy awe than attempt to interpret them.”⁹⁰¹901Haec verba mysterii tam profunda, tam mira et stupenda quis comprehendere sufficiat? Quis inde digne aliquid loquatur? Magis veneranda sunt et pavenda quam discutienda... Sic cogitanda sunt, ut aliquid quo nihil sit melius atque sublimius illa cogitatione conemur attingere (De actione Missae n. 66).

The concluding clause of the prayer expresses the end and object of the petition. For the Church implores so ardently for a gracious acceptance of her Sacrifice by God, in order that it may produce the greatest possible fruit in all those who communicate sacramentally or spiritually.⁹⁰²902Id unum petit Ecclesia cum Daniele (3, 40), “ut fiat sacrificium nostrum in conspectu Dei et placeat illi,” h. e. ut ad Deum deferatur oratio, actio et oblatio nostra, atque in conspectu Dei in coelo compleatur, quod in terrestri altari peragitur, et ex praestantia coelestis victimae et ex acceptatione sacrificii nostri in nos deinde omnis benedictio descendat. Hoc subsequentia verba confirmant. Vota nempe nostra ascendere ad Deum cupimus, “ut quotquot ex hac altaris participatione sacros. Filii tui corpus et sanguinem sumpserimus, omni benedictione coelesti et gratia repleamur.” In altari est corpus et sanguis Christi: ex illo sumendum est nobis; sed rogandus divinus ejus Pater, ut actio hominum peccatorum tam sanctam hostiam offerentium ab eo clementer accipiatur: tunc enim omnis benedictio coelestis et gratia e coelesti isto convivio et sacrificio est nobis speranda (Muratori, De rebus liturgicis dissertatio c. 21). The more closely we enter into relation with the Sacrifice, which is borne from the earthly to the celestial altar, the more abundant heavenly graces and blessings flow to us as the wholesome fruit of the Sacrifice. If God allows our Sacrifice to ascend up in the presence of His Divine Majesty, then it opens to us His heavenly treasures, so that we become rich in all things, and shall be in want of no grace.⁹⁰³903Tunc a Deo (hostia) quasi acceptatur, quando Deus nobis propitiatur et coelestis benedictio nobis ab eo mittitur (B. Odo Camer. Expos. in Can. Missae dist. 3).

b) The rite is in most exquisite harmony with the tenor of the prayer. According to a very ancient rubric⁹⁰⁴904Sacerdos quando dicit “Supplices te rogamus,” humiliato capite inclinat se ante altare (Ordo Rom. II, n. 10. Cfr. Amalarius l. 3, c. 25; Microlog. c. 16). — In many places the hands were placed over the breast in the form of a cross at the same time. Sacerdos dicendo “Supplices...” stat inclinatus cancellatis (= with crossformed × held) manibus ante pectus (Durand. l. 4, c. 44, n. 4). — Cum dicit “Supplices...”, manibus cancellatis ante pectus, ita quod dextrum brachium sit supra sinistrum, inclinet ante altare (Ordo Rom. XIV, c. 53). The Carmelites, Carthusians and Dominicans still observe this rite. — Some Missals of the Middle Age have in this place a special rubric; for example, Hic orat apud se quod voluerit, deinde dicit: Jube haec. — Hic orat apud se inclinatus quae velit. Jube. (Gerbert. Vetus Liturg. alemann. I, 363. — Cfr. Tewtsch Rational Kap. 15.) the priest pronounces the petition of the principal clause with a profound inclination of the body (profunde inclinatus), to indicate the humility and fervor with which he implores of Almighty God such high and great things.⁹⁰⁵905Supplicamus tibi, curvamur ante te, obnixius deprecamur, ostende omnipotentiam, extende manum validam, ut quae propitio ac sereno vultu respicis, etiam ad invisibilia et sublimia tua perferantur et conspectui majestatis admittas. Hic necessitas incurvationis, hic opus supplicationis, hic incumbit consummatio totius nostri laboris, ut haec hostia perferatur in sublime altare tuum (B. Odo Camerac. Expos. in Canon. Missae dist. 3). — Before the words: “by partaking at this altar” (ex hac altaris participatione), the priest, full of burning love and profound reverence, kisses the altar, so as to unite himself with the Sacrificial Lamb, whom he sends up to heaven. — He then stands erect and, at the words “Body and Blood”, he makes the sign of the Cross over the oblation in token that through them, from the Cross, the plenitude of all heavenly blessing and grace flows to us. By the act of signing himself with the Cross at the end, he would apply the abundant, overflowing benediction of the altar to himself and to the congregation. — That the Sacrifice ascends from earth to heaven, and the blessing of Heaven descends upon us, we are indebted to the one only fountain of all grace, to our one and perfect Mediator between Heaven and earth; hence the petition concludes with the words: “Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.”