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[page 23] “The Order of the Administration of the Lord’s Supper, or, Holy Communion”* COLOURS.† If there are more sets of vestments than one, the following order should be observed in the use of them:— |
* An ellipse[1] for “The Order of the Administration of the Sacrament of the LORD’s Supper, or Holy Communion.” “In the Catechism the ellipse is expressly supplied in the question which inquires, ‘How-many Sacraments hath CHRIST ordained in His Church?’ to which the answer is, ‘Two only, as generally necessary to salvation, viz., Baptism, and the Supper of the LORD.’ In the other case the ellipse is also (though not quite so plainly,) supplied in the Prayer Book itself. The Office indeed is called, ‘The Order of the Administration of the LORD’s Supper, or Holy Communion,’ without any immediate mention of the word Sacrament. But if we look to the Title of the Prayer Book, we find it to be inscribed, ‘The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church,’ and from thence I conceive we should supply the word ‘Sacrament’ both to this Office and that of Holy Baptism. “‘The general title and contents of the Book therefore, for the ‘Sacramentary’ (like the Ordinal, the Psalter, &c.) as a distinct Book, would stand thus: ‘The Administration of the Sacraments: 1. The Administration of the LORD’s Supper (i.e. the one Sacrament, or Holy Communion.) 2. The Ministration of Baptism, (i.e. the other Sacrament).’”—A Letter to the Lord Bishop of S. Andrew’s, by the Rev. T. Chamberlain. (Masters.) † The Sarum use of the colours was different, as will be seen from the subjoined translation of the general rubric on that matter contained in the Sarum Missal, usually found preceding the Ordinary of the Mass. “.... in the Paschal season,[2] of whatsoever the mass be said, (except in the Invention of the Holy Cross,) the ministers of the Altar shall use white vestments at the mass; so be it like wise on the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Mary, and in the Conception of the same, and in both Feasts of S. Michael, and in the Feast of S. John the Apostle, in the Nativity of our LORD, and in the octave, and throughout the octave of the Assumption, and of the Nativity of the Blessed Mary, and in the Commemoration of the same throughout the whole year, and throughout the octave, and in the octave of the Dedication of the Church. But let them use red vestments in all Sundays throughout the year without the Paschal time when it is the service of the Sunday, and in Ash-Wednesday, and the Cœna Domini, and in each Feast of the Holy Cross, and in every Feast of Martyrs, Apostles, and Evangelists, without Paschal time; but in all Feasts of a Confessor or many Confessors, let them use vestments of a yellow (crocei) colour.”—Rub. Saris. In another rubric, immediately following the mass for S. Felix, occur these directions: “But in vigils and ember days let the mass of the Fast ever be said; but if a Feast of Nine Lessons fall thereon let the mass of the Feast be said after terce, the mass of the Fast after sext, both at the principal Altar; but so that the deacon and subdeacon be robed in albs with amices without tunicles or chasubles at that mass, that is of the fast; but the clerks in the choir shall use black copes.”—Rub. Saris. Black vestments were undoubtedly used in vigils and masses for the dead. Though no mention is made in the Sarum Rubrics of the colour of the hangings of the Altar, they as a matter of course followed the same law which obtained in the matter of the vestments of the priest, &c., and were consequently always of the colour of the day or season. Again, no mention is made of any vestments or altar-hangings of blue or green, and yet these frequently occur in the ancient inventories of church furniture; as for instance, in Dugdale’s Monast. viii., 1209, of York Cathedral; ibid. 1387, of Lincoln Cathedral; ibid. 1362, of S. George’s Chapel, Windsor; and in the illuminated MSS. in the British Museum, and else where. There is no direction as to the colour on Ferial Days. The colour, if not green[3] as at present, might vary according to that of the preceding Sunday; and if so, there was probably an exception during Advent and Lent, when black vestments were most likely used. |
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White.‡—From the evening of Christmas Eve to the Octave of Epiphany, inclusive, (except on the two feasts of S. Stephen and the Holy Innocents;) from the evening of Easter Eve to the Vigil of Pentecost, on Trinity Sunday, Purification, Conversion of S. Paul, Annunciation, S. John Baptist, S. Michael, S. Luke, All Saints. Red.—Vigil of Pentecost to the next Saturday, Holy Innocents, (if on a Sunday,) and all other Feasts. Violet.—Ash Wednesday to Easter Eve; Advent to Christmas Eve; Ember week in September; the Rogation Days; Holy Innocents, unless on Sunday, and on Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima Sundays. Black.—Good Friday and funerals; on public fasts et de missis de requiem. Green.—All other days. Some ritualists say the Altar should be stripped on Good Friday. Cloth of gold is said to supply all other colours. The vestments used at the celebration of the Holy Eucharist should be of the same colour as the Frontal of the Altar. The Superfrontal may always be Red. |
‡ White, emblematical of Purity. Red, colour of Blood, and is proper to all Martyrs’ Days; and is an emblem of the fiery tongues in the form of which the HOLY GHOST descended on the Apostles. Green, the least expressive of colours, or perhaps as the prevailing colour of nature. Violet, a mourning colour; this colour is used on the Feast of Holy Innocents, because the Church deems it no prejudice to mourn for the great wickedness of the crime which cut them off from the earth—especially directed against our Blessed LORD Himself—even whilst celebrating the memory of these earliest and very glorious Martyrs. |
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1. Time of Vesting the Altar for a Festival. At the Evensong next before, being its first Vespers. 2. The fair white Linen Cloth. “The Table, at the Communion-time having a fair white linen cloth upon it.”* It is well to have one fair white linen cloth with a border worked in colours for Festivals. No cushion should be allowed upon the Altar, and only one book (for the Celebrant,) with a small brass desk to support it. 3. Vestments for Choristers. See infra, Appendix. 4, Assistant Deacons. Deacons assisting in other capacities than the above, wear surplice and stole deacon-wise, but no hood‡—the hood never being worn at a Celebration of the Holy Eucharist when the authorized vestments are used. 5. Diaconal Vestments. For the Vestment of the Deacons, i.e. Epistoler and Gospeller, see infra, Appendix, where they are marked thus (*). 6. Vestments, Episcopal and Sacerdotal. For the Vestment of the Celebrant, if a Bishop, see infra, Appendix; if a Priest, infra, Appendix, where the Eucharistic Vestments are marked thus (+). 7. Prayers for Choristers. When vested. Cleanse me, O LORD, and keep me undefiled, that I may be numbered among those blessed children, who having washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, stand before Thy throne, and serve Thee day and night in Thy Temple. Amen. |
* The fair white linen cloth should cover the top of the Altar, and hang down at the ends thereof, but not over the front, more than an inch or two to show a border of lace or embroidery. It should never cover the Antependium. † The Book of the Gospels and the Book of the Epistles are placed upon the credence.— Masters’ Edition of the Book of Common Prayer, according to the sealed copy in the Tower, printed in red and black, with the old Elzevir type, is generally used for this function. ‡ According to the Rubrics of the Roman Church, those religious orders who wear hoods are directed to adjust them during celebration under the ecclesiastical vestments. They are usually enveloped in the amice. |
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Before Service. O LORD, open Thou my lips, that my mouth may show forth Thy praise, and purify my heart, that I may worthily magnify Thy glorious Name; through JESUS CHRIST our LORD. Amen. After Service. Grant, O LORD, that what I have sung with my mouth, I may believe in my heart; and what I believe in my heart, I may steadfastly fulfil; through JESUS CHRIST our LORD. Amen. 8. Orationes cum Diaconus paramentis induitur. Ad amictum, (infra). Ad albam vel superpellicium, (infra). Ad zonam, (infra). Ad stolam, (infra). Ad dalmaticum: Da mihi, Domine, sensum et vocem, ut possim cantare laudem Tuam ad hanc missam. Vel ad tunicam: Indue me, Domine, vestimento salutis, et indumento lætitiæ circumda me semper. Ad sanonem, (infra). 9. Orationes cum Sacerdos induitur sacerdotalibus paramentis. Cum lavat manus dicat: Da, Domine, virtutem manibus meis ad abstergendam omnem maculam: ut sine pollutione mentis et corporis valeam Tibi servire. Ad amictum imponendum capiti suo: Spiritus Sanctus superveniet in me, et virtus Altissimi obumbrabit caput meum. Ad albam: Miserere mei, Deus, miserere mei: et munda me a reatibus cunctis, et cum illis qui dealbaverunt stolas suas in sanguine Agni mereamur perfrui gaudiis perpetuis. Ad zonam: Præcinge me, Domine, zona justitiæ, et constringe in me dilectionem Dei et proximi. Ad stolam, dum imponitur collo: Stola justitiæ circumda, Domine, cervicem meum, et ab omni corruptione peccati purifica mentem meam. Ad fanonem, dum imponitur brachio sinistro: Indue me, Pater clementissime, novum hominem, deposito veteri cum actibus suis, qui secundum Deum creatus est in justitia et sanctitate veritatis. Ad casulam, cum assumitur: Domine Qui dixisti, Jugum Meum suave est et onus Meum leve, fac ut istud portare sic valeam quod consequar Tuam gratiam. |
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10. Præparatio ad S. Eucharistiam. FOR THE CELEBRANT ALONE. Ante S. Eucharistiam: Deus Qui de indignis dignos, de peccatoribus justos, de immundis mundos sacis: munda cor et corpus meum ab omni contagione et sorde peccati, et fac me dignum altaribus Tuis ministrum, et concede propitius, ut in hoc altari, ad quod indignus accedo, hostias acceptabiles offeram pietati Tuas pro peccatis et offensionibus meis et innumeris quotidianisque excessibus; et pro omnibus hic circumstantibus, universisque mihi familiaritate et affinitate conjunctis, atque me odio aliquo infec-tantibus et adversantibus, cunctisque fidelibus Christianis vivis et mortuis: et per Eum sit Tibi meum votum atque sacrificium acceptabile: Qui Se Tibi Deo Patri obtulit in sacrificium, Jesum Christum Filium Tuum Dominum nostrum, Qui Tecum vivit et regnat in Unitate Spiritus Sancti Dominus. Post S. Eucharistiam: Gratias Tibi ago Domine sancte, Pater omnipotens, æterne Deus, Qui me peccatorem, indignum famulum Tuum, nullis meis meritis, sed sola dignatione misericordiæ Tuæ satiare dignatus es pretioso Corpore et Sanguine Filii Tui Domini nostri Jesu Christi. Et precor ut hæc sancta communio non sit mihi reatus ad pœnam, sed intercessio salutaris ad veniam. Sit mihi armatura fidei, et scutum bonæ voluntatis. Sit vitiorum meorum evacuatio, concupiscentiæ et libidinis exterminatio: charitatis et patientiæ, humilitatis et obedientiæ augmentatio: contra insidias inimicorum omnium, tam visibilium quam invisibilium, firma defensio: motuum meorum, tam carnalium quam spiritualium perfecta quietatio: in Te uno ac vero Deo firma adhæsio, atque finis mei felix consummatio. Et precor Te, ut ad illud ineffabile convivium me peccatorem perducere digneris: ubi Tu cum Filio Tuo et Spiritu Sancto sanctis Tuis es Lux vera, Satietas plena, Gaudium sempiternum, Jucunditas consummata et Felicitas perfecta. Per Christum. ii. The Chalice and Paten* The Chalice—having placed upon it the Paten, upon this the Pall.† and over this a Veil of silk of the colour of the season, the burse or corporal case, |
* At the oblation of elements, viz. during the Prayer for the whole state of CHRIST’s Church, the Chalice should be placed in the centre of the Altar, behind the Paten. This was the Sarum custom, and is now the present Roman use; though before the fifteenth century the celebrant was ordered by the Roman rubrics to place it on the left of the Host, to catch, as it were, the Blood which flowed from the spear-wound in our Blessed LORD’s right side. The most ancient known custom—that of the Syriac Liturgy of S. James—is to place the elements side by side at the oblation, one behind the other, for consecration, thus effecting a cruciform arrangement by the successive positions. —See Renaudot’s Lit. Or. vol. ii. † The Pall is a small square of linen on both sides, cardboard in the middle. Formerly, when the Corporal was much larger than at present, its ends used to cover both the holy vessels. The Pall is therefore supposed to be a part of the Corporal, and represents a Corporal folded. It is about eight inches square; and it is most correct that it be not fringed with lace, or any thing which hangs over. The Burse is usually nine inches square, the Corporal about two feet. The Chalice-cover of linen, about a foot square, with embroidered cross. The Chalice-veil of silk, about one foot eight inches, with embroidered cross. |
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also of the colour of the season, containing a white linen corporal, being laid on the top of all—is placed upon the Altar at the beginning up to the oblation of the Elements, the Chalice is then covered with the Pall, the Paten with the corner of the corporal.* After the Communion of the people, the Paten is usually placed upon the Chalice, and the whole covered with the Chalice-cover of linen and lace. 12. The Credence May be placed at the north or south end of the Altar. If the Aumbrye is used as a Credence—which is certainly undesirable—it will usually be found on the north: but the Epistle side is most convenient. It should be covered with a white linen cloth. Upon it, should be placed before Service begins, the Holy Vessels, viz.: the Cruets or Flagons, for wine and water; a metal Plate for the bread, which should lie upon fair white linen, and be covered with a napkin to preserve it from dust or other defilement;† and at least two fair linen maniples, for the lotio manuum, and for the wiping of the chalice after the purifications: the napkin used for the latter purpose should be fourteen inches square; the usual shape of a maniple is better suited for the former. It is convenient to have a perforated Spoon on the credence. The Offertory bason and alms-bags should also be placed on the Credence, |
* A like direction is found in the Coronation Service. “And first the QUEEN (kneeling) offers BREAD and WINE for the Communion, which.... are by the Archbishop received from the QUEEN, and reverently placed upon the Altar, and decently covered with a fair linen cloth”— The Coronation of her Majesty Queen Victoria. Immediately follows the Secreta of the Coronation: “Bless, O LORD, we beseech Thee, these Thy gifts.” It is to be observed that in the Form and Order of Coronation the oblation of the unconsecrated elements precedes the oblation (offertory) of the “purse of gold,” the Queen’s second oblation. † The elements should be placed upon the Credence before the Liturgy commences. When the Eucharist is celebrated as a distinct service, the proper place for bringing in the elements and placing them upon the Credence is co-ordinately with the procession and introit. (See Par. 16.) The Sarum (and old French) use allowed it till the first Collect, (see Maskell’s Ancient Liturgy of the Church of England, p. 34,) but strictly speaking it should accompany the Introit, and in the Syriac it was quite at the beginning. When Matins, Litany, and the celebration of the Holy Eucharist follow in succession, the fittest place for bringing in the elements and placing them on the Credence is with the Introit “Anthem” before the Litany;[4] in which case there will of course be no Introit between Litany and Communion Office. But where the present Anthem is retained, and the Introit immediately precedes the Communion Office, the elements may be brought in co-ordinately with the procession and Introit. They ought on no account to be placed on the Credence before matins or earlier than “the Anthem.”[5] At plain service the elements are placed upon the Credence by the clerk who serves; at solemn service by the assistant priest. |
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also a ewer and a metal or glass bason (where there is no Piscina) for the Priest to wash his hands after the Offertory. Also there should be thereon the Book of the Gospels, and the Book of the Epistles. 13. Hour of Celebration. The Holy Communion may be celebrated at any hour, from break of day till twelve o’clock: there should be no Communion after that hour. The Holy Sacrament should invariably be received fasting, according to the practice of the Universal Church. Bishop Sparrow* reckons nine a.m. as the canonical hour for Celebration. At any rate, putting aside Catholic usage, as a marriage by act of Parliament must be celebrated before noon, and it is declared by the rubric that it is “convenient that the married persons receive the Communion at their marriage,” it would seem to be implied that the Communion was celebrated in the forenoon. See also Ecclesiologist, Vol. XIII. pp. 53—56, in condemnation of afternoon Celebration. 14. The Communion,, or Houselling Cloth,† May be spread over the Septum or Rails, where there are any, or else placed in readiness to be used during the Communion of the People. 15. The Altar Lights.‡ These should be lighted immediately before the Service by a Clerk in cassock |
* Sparrow’s Rationale, p. 251. Ed. London, 1661. † Mentioned in Coronation Service: “Whilst the King receives, the Bishop (Bishops, George II. &c.) appointed for that Service, shall hold a towel of white silk, or fine linen, before him.”—Order of Coron. of Geo.IV. The Houselling cloth has not since been used in the Coronation Service. It is still spread in some churches in the diocese of Winchester; and at S. Mary’s, Oxford, and at All Saints, Leamington. It is placed over the rails before the communicants. ‡ Testimony of S. Jerome: “Per totas orientis ecclesias quando Evan-gelium legendum est, accenduntur luminaria, jam sole rutilante, non utique ad fugandas tene- bras, fed ad lignum lætitiæ demonstrandum..... ut sub typo luminis corporalis, illa lux ostendatur, de qua in Psalterio legimus—Lucerna pedibus meis verbum Tuum, Domine, et lumen semitis meis.”—Hier. Epist. adversus Vigilant. “They reduced candles formerly sans number in churches to two upon the High Altar, before the Sacrament; these being termed lights shows they were not lumina cæca but burning.”— Fuller’s Church History, p. 374, fol. 1655. Speaking of the Queen’s Chapel, Heylyn writes: “The Altar furnished with rich plate, two fair gilt candlesticks with tapers in them, and a massy crucifix of silver in the midst thereof.”—Hist. of Reform, p. 124, fol. 1660. In the 42nd Canon of those enacted under King Edgar, (Thorpe’s Ancient Laws and In stitutes of England, Vol. II. p. 252—3,) we find, “Let there be always burning lights in church when Mass is singing.” Ditto 14th Canon of Elfric, pp. 348—9 of the same volume. “Lights were received in the primitive church to signify to the people that GOD the Father of Lights was otherwise present in that place than in any other..... We must not be hasty in condemning particular ceremonies, for in so doing in this ceremony of lights, we may condemn the Primitive Church that did use them, and we condemn a great and noble part of the Reformed Church, which doth use them unto this day.”—Dr. Donne’s Sermons, p. 80, fol. 1640. “Semper in ecclesia lumen ardeat dum missa decantetur.”—King Edgar’s Canons, (a.d. 968). The above is from Lambard’s Latin version. “Who perceiveth not that by this right way the tapers came into the Church mysteriously placed with the Gospel upon the Altar, as an emblem of the True Light?”—Gregory’s Works, 1st Edition, p. 108. London, 1671. “Ut sub typo luminis corporalis illa lux ostendatur de qua in evangelio legitur—Erat lux vera quæ illuminat omnem hominem.”—S. Isi-dore of Seville (Orig. vii. 12.) Lights are placed on the Altars of the several Oxford College Chapels and Parish Churches mentioned below: Merton, Magdalen, Christ Church, Jesus, Pembroke, Queen’s, Exeter, Lincoln, All Souls, Balliol, S. Edmund Hall, Corpus Christi, Oriel, Trinity, S. John’s, Brasenose, New College. Also at S. Peter-in-the-East, S. Paul, S. Michael, S. Thomas the Martyr, S. George, S. Frideswide, S. Giles, S. Mary. At Cambridge: Trinity, S. John’s, Caius,[6] King’s, S. Peter’s, Jesus,[7] Magdalene, Emmanuel.[8] And in the following cathedral and parish churches: Westminster Abbey; Ely Cathedral (when there is a celebration of the Holy Eucharist); Christ Church Cathedral; Bristol Cathedral (post-Reformation; Salisbury Cathedral (at early Communion); Shrewsbury Cathedral; Exeter Cathedral; Manchester Cathedral; Bruton, Somerset; West Tennant, Somerset; Theale, Berks; Shoverton, Devon; S. Paul’s, Brighton; Marlborough S. Mary, Wilts (from time immemorial); Beaumaris, Anglesea: All-Hallows, Barking, City of London; Cliften Hampden, Oxford-shire; Walpole S. Peter, Norfolk; Chapel of S. Edmond (ibid.); Skipton, Christ Church, York-shire; Kilndown, Kent; Benefield, Northants; Eastnor, Hereford; Cuddesden, Oxford; S. James’ Chapel Royal; S. Gregory’s, Canterbury, Kent; S. Margaret’s, Canterbury, Kent; S. Paul’s, Knightsbridge; S. Barnabas, Pimlico; Ham, Stafford, (the candlesticks are put on the Altar on days when Holy Communion is administered; an ancient practice. The present incumbent who has held the living fifty years found the custom and retained it): New Shoreham, Sussex; Old Shoreham, Sussex; Withyam, Sussex; Crowborough, Sussex; Rotherfield, Sussex; S. Paul’s, in the city of Exeter; Littlemore, Oxford; S. Saviour’s, Leeds, York; Hackness, York (ancient); S. Martin, Liverpool; Sheen, Stafford; S. Augustine’s College Chapel, Canterbury, Kent; Lavington, Sussex; Graffham, Sussex; Stoke South, Sussex; Holy Trinity, Coventry, Warwickshire; Batleigh, Somerset; Balstonborough, Somerset; Wasperton, Warwick; S. Paul, Birmingham; Shevioke, Cornwall; Stoke, near Coventry; Low, near Coventry, date 1730; Empshott, Hants; S. Columba, Edinburgh; Arley Chapel, Cheshire; Sackville College Chapel, East Grinstead, Sussex; Christ Church, Hoxton; S. Ethelburga, City of London; S. Mary Magdalen, Chiswick; S. Andrew, Wells Street, London; Crawley, Sussex; Parish Church, Leeds; S. Mary, Brompton, (until stolen two or three years ago); Cowley, Oxford; Sand-ford, Oxfordshire; S. Mary-le-Strand, London; Wantage, Berks; S. Mary, Stone, Kent; S. James, Enfield, Middlesex; Leigh, Essex; S. John Baptist, Harlow, Essex; S. Hugh, Harlow, Essex; S. Ninian, Perth.[9] |
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and surplice. He should make a reverence before ascending to light them, and commence from the Epistle side. It should be observed that these lights should never be used as mere candles |
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for lighting the Sanctuary * The Coronæ and standard lights are sufficient for that purpose. The two lights are symbols and in honorem Sacramenti, and must be cæca lumina, save when Celebration is intended. When Matins, Litany, and Communion, or Matins and Communion, are celebrated together, the lights should not be lighted till just before the Communion Office begins. 16. The Procession and Introit.† The Choir proceed from the Sacristy, two and two through the nave, holding their caps‡ with both hands before the breast, and preceded by the verge-bearer, take their places in the chancel, laterally, first inclining before the Altar, two and two. These are followed by the Celebrant and the ministers of the Altar, (preceded by the serving-clerks in cassock and surplice,) in the following order:
Gospeller and Epistoler walk together, Celebrant alone. |
* See supra p. 9, note and subnote. † When the Litany immediately precedes the Liturgy, the proper place for the Introit is doubtless before the Litany, (on non-Litany days if the Liturgy be immediately preceded by matins, before the equivalent prayers,) in short, exactly where—as it happens—the anthem is now placed. For certainly the Litany was originally throughout the West[10] part and parcel of the Communion Office, and the Introit may, perhaps ought to, precede all else. However, if the Anthem and the Introit be utterly distinct things,—if the Anthem represents the Hymn after the Short Chapter at Lauds in the ancient English Offices, or is a substitute for the old antiphons, which last supposition seems untenable from the position of the antiphons and the anthem in their respective services, whilst the Introit is a verse or psalm when the clergy are going to the Altar for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist,—a fit alternative place is that “directed” in the Text, before the LORD’s Prayer and Collect for Purity, since penitential matter often, indeed mostly, preceded the Introit; and though the Litany when in its eucharistic place has not that penitential aspect which it has on ordinary Wednesdays and Fridays, on which no part of the Communion is now directed to be used, as it is on Sundays and holy-days;[11] yet, as a great prelude of intercession in connection with the Holy Eucharist, it has a phase of mournfulness, as “agony” of prayer must really have. ‡ On no account must the Priest place his “Birretta” upon the holy Altar, (he should give it to the lay clerk who serves, if at plain service; and to the sub-deacon or Epistoler at solemn service; who will place it on the credence, or in the Priest’s feat of the sedilia, and return it to him after the Liturgy is over,) nor his handkerchief, which may be carried in the girdle of his alb under his vestment. In fact, nothing should be placed upon the Altar but what immediately relates to the Eucharist; even the “ornaments,” viz. the Cross and Altar-lights, and Flower Vases are placed upon the superaltar. |
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On arriving at the foot of the Altar-steps, the clerks take their places laterally near the Credence, and not in front of the Altar, and the Celebrant and Ministrants stand humbly before the steps of the Altar until the commencement of the Introit, when the Celebrant advances to the Altar, and the Gospeller and Epistoler also take their places.* 17. The Pater Noster† and Collect for Purity. “And the Priest‡ standing at the north side of the Table shall say the LORD’s Prayer, with the Collect following, the people kneeling” The Celebrant, continuing to stand on the north side with his face to the east, recites the LORD’s Prayer in monotone or otherwise, the Ministrants standing in their places. The Pater Noster and Amen here are said by the celebrant alone. 18. The Commandments and Kyrie Eleisons.§ “Then shall the Priest, turning to the people, rehearse distinctly all the TEN COMMANDMENTS; and the people still kneeling shall, after every Commandment, ask GOD mercy for |
* It is an old practice for the Gospeller to go to the right hand of the celebrant, while the Epistoler ascends to his left. After the Introit is sung the Priest goes to the book on the north side or Gospel corner, and the ancient custom is for the Gospeller to go to his step next to the platform on the south side, and the Epistoler on his own step behind the Gospeller; of course all facing the east. The position of the hands and feet.—The hands of all the ministers should be joined before the breast, with the fingers extended. The chief exceptions are in Collects and similar prayers, the intonations of the Creed, the Prefaces, and the Consecration Prayer to the words “Body and Blood,” and Gloria in excelsis; in these cases the celebrant (only) holds his hands open and extended, the palms facing each other. The feet are put close together. In sitting the same rule is observed, and the hands should be placed in the lap. † The Celebrant says the “Pater Noster,” alone. The rubric in the Morning Prayer has nothing whatever to do with the question, for the Communion Office is governed by Special Directions. The Sarum custom was for the Priest to say the Pater and the Oratio, Deus cui omne cor patet, as a preparation as it were for the Holy Sacrifice. The LORD’s Prayer was doubtless in the early part of the Gregorian Office in all churches, but the Roman removed it to the sacristy in the Præparatio ad Missam. It is also at the beginning of, or early in, the Syriac, the Nestorian, and the Mozarabic Rites, and was probably universal. ‡ Though the LORD’s Prayer and Collect for Purity are removed from the sacristy to the Altar, they are still a Præparatio ad Missam. Hence the Amen at the end of the Pater Noster is not printed in italic type, as it is said by the Priest; but in the Collect: the Priest seems to extend the Præparatio to the Faithful who make it their own, by the answer “Amen.” It will be observed that the Amen of the Collect is printed in the usual italic type. § The Kyrie Eleisons occupy their old place, as in the Sarum Rite. As to the Command ments, they form invariable capitula taken from Exodus xx., and are prefixed to each Kyrie. In the Sarum Use, at certain seasons (v. Maskell, Anc. Lit. Appendix) addresses to the three Persons of the HOLY TRINITY are similarly inserted. It is also worthy of record, that on the eve of Pentecost the Sarum Rite began with the LORD’s Prayer, after which lessons were read from the law of Moses without titles, each lesson being followed by a response and collect.—Miss. Saris. fol. cii. London, 1526. A portion of the Decalogue was read on the Feria iv. post Oculi, followed by the response: “Miserere mei, Domine, quoniam infirmus sum, sana me, Domine”—Ibid., fol. xlvi. London, 1526. |
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their transgression thereof for the time past, and grace to keep the same for the time to come, as followeth” These are said by the Celebrant, still standing at the north side of the Altar, but with his face towards the Faithful. The Service Book should be laid open on the palm of the left hand, and held steadily with the right. The Rubric of the Scotch Rite of 1636 (v. Laud’s Prayer Book) desires that mercy shall be asked “for the transgression of every duty therein; either according to the letter, or to the mystical importance of the said commandment.” 19. Collect for the Queen. “Then shall follow one of these two Collects for the Queen, the Priest standing as before, and saying.” “Standing as before,” viz. in the position the Priest was in before rehearsing the Commandments—at the north side* of the Altar, with the face eastwards. The Second Collect is to be preferred. It is the ancient and famous “Deus in cujus manu corda sunt regum,” found in the Gregorian Sacramentary, and ordered to be used daily in some parts of the Sarum dominions, e.g., in Scotland (v. Maskell’s Anc. Lit. p. 28, note), and doubtless elsewhere. It is of course in one of the “missæ pro rege” in the Sarum Missal. The first Collect on the contrary seems to be a new one, though very likely there was an original. Its containing a Prayer for the whole Church as well as for the King, though a recommendation, does not warrant a preference over the Second Collect. |
* The north side (as distinguished from the north end, the Altar being a parallelogram) is the technical phrase for the north part of the west side, called also the Gospel or left corner. It occurs in the Syriac Liturgy of S. James:—” Venitque (i.e. sacerdos) a latere septentrionali ad australe”—Renaudotii Lit. Or. Coll., tom. ii. p. 24. The corresponding rubric in the Nonjurors’ Office explains their north side to mean the north end; and thereby shows by implication that the then practice of the Church of England did not. |
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20. The Collect for the day—The Epistle*—The Gospel—The Creed. “Then shall be said the Collect of the Day. And immediately after the Collect the Priest shall read the Epistle,† saying, The Epistle [or, The portion of Scripture appointed for the Epistle] is written in the ——— Chapter of——— beginning at the ——— Verse. And the Epistle ended, be shall say, Here endeth the Epistle. Then shall be read the Gospel (the people all standing up) saying, The holy Gospel is written in the ——— Chapter of ——— beginning at the —— Verse. And the Gospel ended,‡ shall be sung or said the Creed following, the people still standing, as before” |
* According to the Use of Sarum the Epistle was read at a lectern or desk in the midst of the Choir; “Subdiaconus per medium chori ad legendam epistolam in pulpitum accedat.”— Miss. Saris. The Hereford Use was, “Deinde legatur EPISTOLA super lectrinum a subdiacono ad gradum chori.”—Miss. Herf. It is also according to Catholic usage to read both Epistle and Gospel from the jube or rood-loft, if the chancel is deep, so that the Faithful cannot hear. According to the Roman Rite the Epistle is read towards the Altar on the south side. † At Solemn Service, the Epistle and Gospel should be read by an Epistoler and Gospeller. The usage of the Universal Church is for these Ministers to stand during the greater part of the Communion Service as well as the Priest. The exceptions in the Church of England are at the Confession and Absolution, the Prayer of Access, the Consecration, the receiving of the Sacrament, and the Benediction. The Gospeller’s Office is to assist the Priest; the Epistoler to assist the Gospeller: or rather the Gospeller is to assist at the Holy Eucharist, directly and principally; the Epistoler to assist in it indirectly and subordinately. When there are none to assist who are deacons, it is customary for Priests to act as Gospeller and Epistoler at Solemn Service, i.e. to discharge for the time being, the office not of their actual, but of their inferior and implied order,—accordingly they wear the habits and badges not of the order to which they have attained, but of that through which they have passed, and which they are fulfilling. According to an injunction of Abp. Grindal, a layman in surplice and cassock might read the Epistle. When there is only a celebrant, a chorister or clerk, habited simply in cassock and surplice down to the knee, should always serve the Priest. When the Gospel and Epistle are read in pulpito vel a lectrino, one pulpit or lectern will serve. It would seem from a comparison of the Sarum Rubrics, that on Sundays and principal Feasts this was the use. But on Ferial days they were read from their respective steps of the choir. They were, as a rule, either both read from the pulpit, from the rood-loft, or from the choir. “Quandocumque enim legitur epistola in pulpito, ibidem legatur et evangelium.”—Rub. Saris. But whenever the Gospel was read, the Gospeller’s[12] face was of old turned to the north, “et semper legatur Evangelium versus aquilonem.”— Rub. Saris. When the Gospel and Epistle are read from the rood-loft, the former is read from the north and the latter from the south side. In all other cases the Epistle is read on a lower step than that from which the Gospel is, and from the south side, and the Gospel from the north. According to Mr. Maskell, the Gospel was originally read on the north side, the Deacon turning to the south, where the men sat, who were addressed as the chief objects of the Church’s teaching in her public offices, and from them the women were to learn at home, as S. Paul admonishes. It would seem from the will of Maud, Lady Mauley, dated 1438, that the Gospel and Epistle were both read from the south side, when not read in the pulpit, but, of course, on different steps, the Gospeller probably looking northwards. See “Ancient Liturgy of Church of England,” pp. 46, 47, second edition. ‡ The Gospeller is not directed to say, “Here endeth the holy Gospel,” inasmuch as ancient ritualists teach us that the Gospel being everlasting has no end; or because, as some of them hold, that the Gospel finds its proper end in the creed. |
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Other Collects (“Plures collectæ dicendæ,” Saris. Miss.) besides the one for the day, used to be said according to the Sarum Rite; the number varying with the season.* But the rubric orders that the use of Collects shall be uneven, probably for the reason that an uneven number is symbolical of the desire of the Church for unity; an exception, however, was made in the week of the Nativity.† But the number was not to exceed seven, because that was the number of petitions in the LORD’s Prayer (besides the seven gifts of the HOLY GHOST‡); this reason is given in the rubric, and is curious, because there is reason for saying that originally the Roman Rite had no Collect, but only the LORD’s Prayer in the Collect’s place, as the Mass of S. John Lateran still had in the days of Durandus, L. iv., fol. xliv. The Sarum rule supplemented, when necessary, the even number of Collects by adding that of All Saints, (1 Dom. Adv.) The First Book of Edward VI., clearly reckons the Collect for the King as one, and so makes two at Communion, for it says “Then the Collect for the daie” (which no doubt then came first, according to the old way) “with one of these two Collectes followyng, for the Kyng.”.... “The Collectes ended,” &c. Now except on the ground of “imparity”—which may be attained (according to the Sarum Rule of supplementation of Collects when needful) by adding, as the English Rite conveniently permits, another Collect from those appended to the Communion Office with the rubric that they may be said after the Collects either of Morning or Evening Prayer, Communion, or Litany, at the discretion of the Minister—the presumption is certainly that the rubrics about additional or “memorial” Collects given in our Prayer Book, were meant to apply to the Communion Office, whether to the Daily or not, from the mere fact of their being in our “Missale” so to call it; and on looking back to the Sarum, we certainly do find “memoriæ” of Saints’ Days were said “ad missam,” e.g. the leading rubric, 1 Dom. Adv. So in e.g. Miss. 2 Vigil. Nativ., memoria de S. Anastasia, after the Collect. Again as to the Collects for Advent Sunday, Christmas Day and Ash-Wednesday, though we have not a traditional rule applying to the first and third of these seasons, we have in the case of Christmas |
* The number varied greatly. Through Lent there were seven on week-days, only one on Sundays. In the Trinity period, three on week-days, three on Sundays—(i) of the day, (2) of Trinity, (3) of All Saints. † “Ita tamen quod ad missam impar numerus ipsarum collectarum semper custodiatur nisi in ebdomadâ Nativitatis Domini tantum.”—Saris. Missal. ‡ “Item, in collectis dicendis semper impar numerus observetur. Una propter Unitatem Deitatis. Tres propter Trinitatem Personarum. Quinque propter partitam passionem Christi. Septem, propter septiformem gratiam Spiritus Sancti. Septenarium numerum excedere non licet.”—Cautelæ Missæ. Saris. Missal. |
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Day perfect analogy for the others; for first, the Collect De Nativ. was said “in missa” every day till the Circumcision. Secondly, the Collect for Easter Day was used at Communion, after the Collect: for the day, on every week day in Easter, though not on Sundays (rubric ibid.) Whilst the Trinity Sunday Collect was said after the Collect for the day, on all Sundays after Trinity, but not the week-days. These instances cover the whole ground; and distinctions between Sundays and week-days being now done away, it remains that in seasons when the Collect is to be repeated at all, it is to be repeated at the Holy Communion. The only question is whether it should be used at the Daily Service, for which there is no precedent or analogy. Of course head Collects are only spoken of, viz. the Collects for Advent Sunday and Ash-Wednesday. For “Memoriæ” of Festivals in the ordinary Office there is abundant precedent. The law of connection of the Mass and the ordinary Service as to Collects was this:— 1. The number of Collects in both must be the same on any given day. 2. Both must begin with the Collect for the day, “de Die.” 3. But after that the two sets diverge. The Breviary set always contained the “de Pace” and “de S. Spiritu” memorials. The Missal set sometimes contained the de Pace (as in Lent and Trinity periods on week-days) but this set varied much with the season. 4. Since the number of Collects at Mass varied according to a rule, as supra, the ordinary Service clearly took its cue from thence; and hence perhaps we obtain a sort of rule for our present practice, to use the same number of Collects, and in fact the same Collects at both Services; and if the scrupulous ritualist object to there being an even number of Collects, at either the Holy Communion, or at the ordinary Service, the proper remedy for the “parity” has been already suggested in the Collects at the end of the Office. However the rule does not very clearly hold, as we have the Collect for the Queen at Holy Communion and not at Matins, unless indeed the Prayer for the Queen counts as a Collect, a conclusion which would after all only complicate an already intricate matter. It would therefore be proper to say the Collects of “commemorated” Feasts at both the Communion and the ordinary Office; but the head Collects of Seasons, viz., Advent and Lent, at Holy Communion only; “imparity” being always attainable by the use of the Collects at the end of the Office for the Holy Communion. On Saints’ Days the Sunday Collect should be omitted, for our Service-Book directs, that “the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel appointed for the Sunday shall serve all the week after, where it is not in this Book otherwise ordered” The Choir, after the announcement of the Gospel, turning eastwards, sings |
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“Glory be to Thee, O LORD.” And after the Gospel is sung, “Praise to Thee, O CHRIST.” In announcing the Epistle and Gospel the wording of the directions in the rubric should be strictly followed, thereby avoiding such errors, as “the portion of Scripture appointed for the Epistle” is taken out of, &c. The words “portion of,” &c., obviously apply to those inftances where “the Epistle” is taken from other parts of Scripture than the Epistles. The Gospel should be given out as “according to” (“ secundum”) each Evangelist. The Catholic theory being that there is and can be but one Gospel, though expressed “according” to the four writers. 21. The Creed. The Celebrant now proceeds to the mid ft of the Altar immediately before the cross, and, extending his hands, intones the first sentence of the Creed.* The Sarum rubric directs everything before the Epistle to be said at the Epistle corner (in dextro cornu) of the Altar, the Creed and everything after it in the middle of the Altar. The rubric in our Ordo substitutes the north side (Gospel or left corner, in sinistro cornu) for the Epistle corner at first, but curiously enough at the Creed gives no direction “to stand as before,” as before the Collect for the Queen, evidently intending that it should be sung, with the rest of the Function, — where it is not specially ordered otherwise, as in the Exhortations (Pax, v. infra), Absolution, Comfortable Words, and Sursum Corda — in the middle of the Altar. The ancient English rubric is as follows: — Ex Miss. Sarisb. Ed. Herbriant. Paris, 1516. Fol. cxlix. “Sciendum est autem quod quidquid a sacerdote dicitur ante Epistolam in dextro cornu altaris expleatur præter inceptionem ‘Gloria in excelsis,’ similiter fiat post perceptionem sacramenti. Cetera omnia in medio altaris expleantur nisi forte diaconus desuerit. Tunc enim in sinistro cornu altaris legatur evangelium.” 22. Notices of Holy-days,† Fasting-days, &c., Banns of Matrimony, &c. “Then the Curate shall declare unto the people what Holy-days, or Fasting-days, are in the week following to be observed. And then also (if occasion be) shall notice be given of the Communions and the Banns of Matrimony published; and Briefs, Citations, and Excommunications |
* On bowing at the Name of JESUS, and at the Gloria Patri, see among others two Constitutions in Wilkins, Conc. tom., iii., p. 20. At the words “down from heaven” the Hereford Missal has this rubric, “et fiet genuflexio dum dicetur.” To “genuflect” is to kneel on the right knee; to “kneel,”—on both knees. † The minor Festivals, or black-letter days, although they have no proper offices, nor are publicly commemorated, ought, nevertheless, like the others, to be announced on the preceding Sunday, and, as far as may be, observed according to the direction given in the Canons:—[13] “Due Celebration of Sundays and Holy Days. All manner of persons within the Church of England shall from henceforth celebrate and keep the LORD’s Day, commonly called Sunday, and other Holy Days, according to GOD’s holy will and pleasure, and the orders of the Church of England prescribed in that behalf; that is, in hearing the word of GOD, read and taught; in private and public prayers, in acknowledging their offences to GOD, and amendment of the same; in reconciling themselves charitably to their neighbours, where displeasure hath been; in oftentimes receiving the Communion of the Body and Blood of CHRIST; in visiting of the poor and sick; using all godly and sober conversation.”—Canon 13. The fact that the minor Holy Days are without proper offices does not detract from the obligation of keeping them holy, any more than in the case of Vigils and Rogation Days, which in that respect: are equally destitute, and yet the Prayer Book positively declares that they are “to be observed.” |
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read. And nothing shall be proclaimed or published in the Church, during the time of Divine Service, but by the Minister. Nor by him anything, but what is prescribed in the Rules of this Book, or enjoined by the Queen, or by the Ordinary of the place” The proper way of giving notice of days to be observed during the week is thus: “Thursday in this week is the Feast of S. ———; Wednesday is the Vigil of that Festival.” “Monday and Tuesday in this week, being within the Octave of Easter, (or Whitsun Day,) have special services appointed for them.” At the same time, the celebration of the Holy Sacrament, during the week and on the following Sunday, should be announced. The Exhortations which come after the Prayer for the Church need only be used when it is wished to give some special “warning” to the people, either of their coming too little or too carelessly, as it may be. When notice of Communion is given the Priest may use any short form that is convenient.* When he giveth warning the whole exhortation is read, in which case it is read after the sermon, and from the pulpit, as a kind of homily, rather than a notice. In the “sealed books,” after the word Communion, is this clause, “and the Banns of Matrimony published;” these words have been omitted in later editions of the Prayer Book, — the Queen’s printer, the delegates at Oxford, and the syndics at Cambridge, having not only committed a breach of the Act of Uniformity, but having assumed to themselves the province of Convocation. The Marriage Aft, 26 Geo. II., c. 33, on which this unauthorised omission is based by a wrong interpretation thereof, would seem to provide for the publication of Banns of Matrimony after the Second Lesson at Evening Prayer in churches where there is no morning service; and after the Second Lesson at Morning Prayer as well as after the Nicene Creed when the services |
* It is customary to use the first paragraph of the first exhortation, down to the word “CHRIST” inclusive, for this purpose. |
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are divided; but when they are combined, not after the second Lesson, but after the Creed, as the unmutilated rubric directs. For the words of the Act are not, during Morning Prayer or Matins, but “during the time of morning service,” i.e. such divine offices as take place before noon. Such is the course for those who regard Parliament as having authority to alter or interpolate rubrics. It should be remembered, however, that the Ad of Uniformity demonstrates that the power of the Crown is limited in the matter of rubrical alterations to the necessary changes occasioned by the birth and death of any of the Royal family. And since that review when the Prayer Book was finally fettled by the united authority of Convocation and Parliament, no argument for the independent legislation of the Crown or Parliament on ecclesiastical matters can be drawn from the precedent of antecedent times. The rubrical direction of the “sealed books,” the only authorised standard of our present Prayer Book, must be observed, and such observance is moreover in accordance with the right interpretation of the Marriage Act, 23, The Sermon or Homily, in Communion Office* “Then shall follow the Sermon, or one of the Homilies already set forth, or hereafter to be set forth, by authority” After the Creed is finished the Celebrant and Ministers take their feats in the sedilia, each in his own place, and the Preacher ascends the pulpit. If |
* “We would observe that as the bulk of our congregations, in towns as well as in rural districts, is composed of ignorant persons, it is very desirable that preachers should generally avoid ‘long trains of naked reasoning,’ and that their sermons ‘should be comparatively short.’ We believe that much of the indifference with which sermons are heard by the lower and uneducated classes arises from the fact that the Clergy, in their studies, so often lose sight of the wants and capacities of these classes, and think and write in a style which, though familiar and intelligible to themselves, is far otherwise to the majority of their hearers. With the teaching of our LORD and the Apostles before them, and knowing the copious use which all popular writers and speakers have made of ‘similitudes and illustrations,’it is surprising to us that the Clergy should so neglect them in their sermons. The most habitually callous arid reckless will Men when they hear the daily occupations, thoughts, and habits of themselves or of their companions, referred to and described, accurately and intelligibly, and adduced as they may constantly be, to illustrate and enforce high and holy truths, principles, and practices. There must be something to arrest, and keep alive, the attention of the ignorant, the indifferent, and the worldly, or it is of little use to preach sermons. The mere recitation, or dull reading, of a well written essay, in which the allusions, illustrations, and references are mostly scholastic and conventional, and the words and sentences barely English, is but a feeble instrument for turning men, women, and children, from the errors and temptations which beset them. Monotony of matter, and monotony of manner, we regard as one of the very greatest defects in the preaching of the present day. And it is strange to observe how entirely men of the most opposite styles of preaching agree in adopting a monotonous mannerism in the delivery of their sermons, even of those parts in which there is, per force, a palpable variation in the matter. For instance, those who simply read, or who intone their sermons, often deliver the moil solemn and affecting texts, and other quotations, with as little feeling and emphasis as they exhibit in the delivery of the most formal and technical matter: while, on the other hand, the lachrymose, the grandiloquent, and the ranting mannerist, will, respectively, throw just as much of their peculiar quality into the mere announcement of the chapter and verse where a certain text is to be found as they would employ in delivering the most awful and pathetic passages of which our language is capable. If every man’s experience did not teach him this, it would be incredible that educated and even learned men could be constantly guilty of such a violation of common sense, good taste, and propriety. That it must necessarily lead many persons to suppose that the whole manner is put on—a piece of mere professional conventionalism—irrespective of any feeling or thought about the matter—is very obvious, and must be as injurious, morally, as it is physically—in the ‘wear and tear’ of a perpetual mannerism—to both pastor and people.” “Relaxed throat is usually caused, not so much by exercising the organ, as by the kind of exercise; that is, not so much by long or loud speaking as by speaking in a feigned voice. Not one person in, I may say, ten thousand, in addressing a body of people, does so in his natural voice, and this habit is more especially observable in the pulpit. I believe that relaxation of the throat results from violent efforts in these affected tones, and that severe irritation, and often ulceration, is the consequence.”—W. C. Macready. “The evil of speaking in a feigned or unnatural voice has already been touched on in the former part of this treatise, and the opinion of Mr. Macready on the point given. It is, unfortunately, rather difficult to convince persons that this is the case with themselves, whilst those who know them and their natural tone in conversation can easily detect the difference. This feigned tone is sometimes adopted under an idea of giving increased solemnity or impressiveness to the reading; but as nothing that is unnatural is really impressive, it is a great mistake. If the feeling exist, the tone will follow; if it do not, the remedy is to strive after it rather than its expression.”—Dysphonia Clericorum. |
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the Preacher be not one of the Ministrants, he preaches in his cassock, surplice, stole (pendent), and hood; if the Gospeller or Epistoler preach, he takes off the dalmatic or the tunicle, lays it on the sedilia, and wears a Priest’s stole (crossed) if he be a Priest, or a Deacon’s (over the left shoulder and tied on the right side) if he be a Deacon. Hoods never being worn (in the Church of England) when the ancient vestments are used, the Preacher, though not one of the Ministrants, may wear if he please instead of surplice, stole, and hood, the alb and stole not crossed. If the Celebrant preaches he lays his Vestment on the Altar, and wears, of course, the alb and crossed stole, except he be a Bishop, who wears the stole pendent under the episcopal tunic and dalmatic, only laying aside the Vestment. The Preacher may precede the Sermon with the words, “In the Name of the FATHER, and of the SON, and of the HOLY GHOST. Amen.” “The LORD be with you,” is also an ancient form of salutation that has been used before the Sermon; to which the people reply, “And with thy spirit.” It is much preferable to the use of a prayer in this place. |
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It should be remembered that the Preacher has no legal right to deliver an introductory prayer in the pulpit before the Sermon; because there has been none provided by the rubric, In the Canons of 1604,* a bidding of prayer is ordered, and which was to terminate with the LORD’s Prayer; but no rubric commanding such observance is in the present Prayer Book, 1662. In fact no prayers should be used publicly, but those that are prescribed, left through ignorance or carelessness anything be uttered before GOD contrary to the Catholic Faith. The Preacher should never kneel in the pulpit; as to his prayer before preaching he had better say it in his chamber, or in the sacristy, or in his place in the sanctuary, or in his stall in the chancel. The doxology at the end of the Sermon should be said turning eastwards. 24. The Offertory.† “Then shall the Priest return to the LORD’s Table, and begin the Offertory, saying one‡ or more of these Sentences following, as be thinketh most convenient in his discretion” Said by the Celebrant as an antiphon, not as an exhortation, standing before the midst of the Altar with his face eastwards and with hands joined. “Whilst these Sentences are in reading, the Deacons, Churchwardens, or other fit person appointed for that purpose, shall receive the Alms for the Poor, and other devotions of the people in a |
* The Canon (LV.) probably referred to Lectures apart from the Holy Communion. Then the Bidding Prayer is in place and might precede the Litany. † The real rationale of the offertory of money occurring in this place is as follows: The Sacramental elements are the oblations, and all other kinds of oblations at this time grew, merely and purely, out of this one. When the Priest presents the oblations, not only do the Faithful therein provide, according to the ancient idea, a real material gift, however small, out of their own substance, to constitute the substance of the Sacrifice; but (2) since so small a gift as is needed for the Christian “mincha” or meat-offering (Malachi i.) cannot really be divided amongst a multitude, the rest provide other gifts for several purposes—gifts, we may say, to CHRIST for His Ministers, His temple, His poor members, and the like; and (3) the Faithful here symbolically desire to give up themselves in body, soul, and spirit, “ready to be offered,” and uniting consecration and oblation—their “reasonable service” first reaches the Altar herein. ‡ It seems preferable that one Offertory sentence instead of several should be recited by the Priest. At Solemn Service the choir will immediately sing it as an anthem; during which time the alms will be placed upon the Altar, and the Gospeller will then bring the bread and wine from the credence to the Priest. The bread should be brought first, then the wine, and where it is customary the water. This last should be brought by the Epistoler. At Plain Service, when the Offertory will be said, it is convenient to use divers sentences. That there is warrant for this is evident from an old Ordo Romanus in which not only verges, but whole Psalms were added to the Offertory Proper. See Maskell, in loco. The alms-bowl should never be kept on the Altar, but on the credence. See supra, par. 12. |
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decent basin, to be provided by the Parish for that purpose, and reverently bring it to the Priest; who shall humbly present and place it upon the holy Table” The alms are collected in bags, and are placed by the Deacons, Churchwardens, Clerks in surplices, or other fit persons, reverently, on the basin held by the Epistoler, who then gives the basin to the Celebrant to present. The alms-bowl is most conveniently placed on the south end of the Altar, and after being presented should be removed to the credence, or elsewhere. The Faithful should stand during the Offertory. 25. The Oblation of Bread and Wine, commonly called the First Oblation. “And when there is a Communion, the Priest shall then* place upon the Table so much† Bread and Wine, as he shall think sufficient” In presenting the alms, and offering the oblations (viz. the Sacramental elements provided by the Faithful‡ for consecration and presentation, and |
* If there be no credence or side-table, the Elements may be placed previous to service in the vestry, and brought hence in procession. But doubtless this necessary adjunct to the Altar will be now found in all churches, as it has been so recently and so solemnly authorized. See supra, p. 6, par. 2. † “So much” and no more-—the bread and wine not required for consecration being replaced on the credence. The custom of offering fruits in kind, as bread, at the Altar, had been long obsolete at the time of our revision. In the First Book of Edward VI. the parishioners were to “offer euery Sonday, at the tyme of the offertory, the juste valour and price of the holy lofe,” not the loaf itself, which it was clear the Parson was to provide himself with, in the shape of wafers,[14] only he was thus to be indemnified therefore. Then, as now, he was “to take so muche bread and wine, as shall suffice for the persons,” &c. That which was not wanted, might indeed be well considered to be offered in the gifts of money paid for it, but was rather looked upon as part of the sacred furniture and equipments, and as such needed no dedication at that time to the service of GOD. Hence it is quite wrong to oblate and leave upon the Altar the bread and wine not needed for the Eucharist, instead of replacing such unoblated Elements back again on the credence. All bread and wine destined for this holy use should be set apart with prayer[15] for the purpose, when it is provided, of course in the sacristy, before it is placed on the credence. They will thus be on a par, which is enough, with other things used about the Altar. Presentation at the Altar being restricted to “so much as,” &c. ‡ “The Bread and Wine for the Communion shall be provided by the Curate and the Churchwardens, at the charges of the Parish.”—Rubric, Book of Common Prayer. |
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signifying their desire to give themselves to GOD, and also as an oblation to GOD the FATHER of His own creatures, Bread and Wine, as an humble acknowledgment that our food and all we have are His gifts, which He, by the operation of GOD the HOLY GHOST, turns into our heavenly and daily bread,) the Priest should stand erect; he should never kneel on this occasion; the Priest himself and no other,* should place the Sacramental Bread and Wine on the holy Table. The Celebrant now moves to the Gospel corner, and the Gospeller advances to the middle of the Altar and moves the chalice to the ministerium, i.e. Epistle corner: he takes the burse from the chalice and takes out the corporal with his right hand, laying it on the midst of the Altar. He then puts the burse on the Altar towards the north side, and spreads the corporal with both hands. It is not to hang over. He then arranges the book, and stands on the right† of the Celebrant. The Epistoler having gone to the credence and taken therefrom the metal plate with the bread, having first removed the napkin, (see par. 12,) accompanied by the Clerks, the senior of whom bears the cruet or flagon with the wine, and the other with the water-cruet where it is customary, goes to the right of the Gospeller, and places the plate with the bread on the right of the veiled chalice, he then takes off the veil‡ from the chalice, folds it in three, and places it near the back of the Altar. He next takes off the pall, and places it against the super-Altar. The Gospeller then goes to the Epistle corner of the Altar, and, taking the plate in his left hand, with his right removes the paten from the chalice, and places it on the left thereof. He then takes either a wafer or one piece of bread and places it on the paten. He next puts sufficient bread upon the corporal, a little to the left,§ and gives the metal plate, with the bread not needed, to one of the Clerks, who replaces it on the credence. If wafers are not used, it is usual to place the communicants’ bread on a silver plate, or large paten, or in the ciborium, or in the pyx. The Epistoler meantime wipes the chalice with the square maniple, || which |
* This of course does not apply to the preparation of the chalice, &c. by the deacon and his assistants, on the ministerium, viz. the right or epistle corner of the Altar. † The right of the Priest is always the deacon’s proper place when ministering at the Altar, (ad dextrum cornu altaris.) The deacon never goes to the left corner of the Altar at all, in the Sarum Rite, except at the benediction before the Gospel,—in cornu altaris sinistro a sacerdote in cornu altaris dextro stante,—and in moving the book and folding up the corporal whilst the Priest is making the ablutions after communion, assisted by the subdeacon, on the right, ‡ When the Celebrant is a Bishop the chalice and paten are without the veil. § In order that the Priest’s own bread, which is to be used for the ostension and fraction, may be distinguished from the other breads. || See supra, p. 16.[16] This maniple is not to be confounded with the maniple on the left arm of the priest. |
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he lays down on the Epistle side, when the Gospeller, taking the chalice with his left hand, and the wine-cruet from the hands of the Epistoler with his right, pours wine into the chalice. The Epistoler then, taking the water-cruet from the Clerk with his right hand, pours in a little water,* where it is customary. The Gospeller places the paten with the Priest’s own bread upon it on the chalice, which he gives with both hands to the Celebrant, who proceeds to the midst of the Altar, and places the chalice on the middle of the corporal. The Gospeller and Epistoler go to their respective steps. 26. Lotio manuum.† Where this decent custom obtains, this is the proper place for it; as ritualists hold that the “Washing” originated in the fact that the hands of the |
* “Quo dicto (offertorio) ministret ea quæ necessaria sunt sacramento; scilicet panem, vinum et aquam in calicem infundens.”—Missale in usum Herford. “Putting thereto a little pure and clean water.”—Rubric after the Offertory in Edward VI.’s First Prayer Book. In Bishop Andrewes’ Form of Consecration of a Church and Churchyard, there is this rubric: “Cæteris rebus ordine gestis episcopus... vino in calicem effuso, et aqua admixta, stans ait.” Palmer’s Origines Liturgicæ, vol. ii. p. 76, 8vo., 1832. Collier’s Eccl. Hist., vol. ii. p. 726. Brett on the Liturgy (instances Archbishop Laud), p. 404, edit. 1838. This practice is symbolical of our LORD’s Incarnation; the wine as the more precious Element representing His Divinity, the water as the inferior, His Sacred Humanity, rtoV prosferetai kai oinoV kai udwr. Justin Martyr, Ap. 2. This practice is mentioned by S. Cyril of Jerusalem. Cat. Lect. xiii. 21. According to another view the water symbolizes the people united to CHRIST. The Armenian Church, however, a very ancient one, has never mixed water with the wine. It is still kept up at Sandford, Oxon, where the ancient cruets remain, and are in use. “It is certain that the primitive Christians did offer water mingled with wine in the Eucharist. Justin Martyr, Irenæus, Clemens Alexandrinus, and Cyprian do especially mention it; and though we know there were several heretics that used water only in the Sacrament, yet we have not heard of any, in the most primitive times, that used wine alone, either in the Church or without it.”—Johnson’s Unbloody Sacrifice. † “Et canat cum suis ministris offertorium. Postea lavet manus.”—Missale Ebor. This, then, is the best place in our present office for this very proper and highly typical ceremony. Bishop Andrewes directs that it should be done immediately before the Prayer of Consecration. It would only be right to wash the hands in both places, but as modern practice is averse to the multiplying of ceremonies, once will suffice. Either of the following antiphons or prayers may be found convenient to be used in secret: “Lavabo inter innocentes manus meas; et circumdabo altare tuum, Do-mine;” or “Munda me, Domine, ab omni inqui-namento mentis et corporis; ut possim mundatus implere opus sanctum Domini.” “Ye saw then the Deacon give to the Priest water to wash, and to the Presbyters who stood around GOD’s Altar.... The washing, therefore, of hands (before the Holy Communion) is a symbol.”—S. Cyril of Jerusalem, Cat. Lect, xxiii. 2. |
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Priest were soiled by the offerings, which often included the fruits of the earth. It has now received a mystical signification, the Priest saying secreto, while washing his fingers, “I will wash my hands in innocency,” &c. This form had better take place, where indeed it originally did, at a piscina or basin on the Epistle side of the Altar:* the mode of ablution at the piscina is not, of course, by immersion of the fingers, but by an assistant pouring water upon the hands of the Celebrant from an ampulla, ewer, or basin; “Infundat ei aquam in manibus,”† as the old rubric gave direction. When there is no piscina, the Celebrant had better stand at the Epistle corner of the Altar looking to the south, when the senior Clerk brings in both hands from the credence a towel folded, and the junior‡ the basin in his left hand, and the water-cruet in his right, which he pours over the four fingers and thumb of the Priest. They then return and place the towel and basin on the credence. 27. The Commemoration of the Living and the Dead. “After which done, the Priest shall say,§ |
* “Eat sacerdos ad dextrum cornu altaris et abluat manus.”—Saris. Mis. † Liber usuum Cisterciensium. Martene, Monach. Rit. p. 151. ‡ In the Roman Pontifical, on the ordination of a Sub-deacon, a basin and towel are delivered to him as symbols of his office, a custom that dates from the fourth council of Carthage, at the end of the fourth century, and no doubt from an earlier period.—Baronius ap. Binium, concil. tom. i. p. 588. § Wheatly, following Bishop Patrick (Christian Sacrifice, p. 77), considers that the term “oblations” refers exclusively to the elements of bread and wine, offered up for consecration. Johnson maintains it has a prospective reference to the oblation of our LORD’s Body and Blood. The elements being thus offered on the Altar, the Priest turns him to the people, and says, “Let us pray for the whole state of CHRIST’s Church militant here in earth.” Then the Priest turns him to the Altar, and says, “Almighty and Everlasting GOD,” &c. (See Rubric in Edward VI.’s First Prayer Book.) “Stans ad medium altaris clare et distincte dicat;” as the Sarum Rubric directs. The ancient English Use was to offer the oblations both together, the paten with the host being placed upon the chalice containing the wine and water. The rule, however, was not universal, as the Rubric in the York Missal directs the oblations of Bread and Wine with water to be made separately, and this is the usage of the modern West: the Roman prayers however are different. The following are the old English Rubrics on the subject: “Deinde dicat offertorium. “Quo dicto ministret ea quæ necessaria sacra-mento: scilicet panem, vinum et aquam in ca-licem infundens: benedictione aquæ prius a sacerdote petita hoc modo:”... “Sacerdos sic dicens:”... “Et postea sumat patenam cum hostia et ponat super calicem in manibus suis, dicat devote:”... “Qua dicta reponat calicem, et cooperiat eam cum corporalibus: ponatque panem super cor-poralia decenter, ante calicem vinum et aquam continentem, et osculetur patenam: et reponat eam a dextris super altare sub corporalibus, pa-rum cooperiendo.”—Herford Missale. “Post offertorium vero porrigat diaconus sa-cerdoti calicem cum paten a et sacrificio: et os-culetur manum ejus utraque vice. Ipse vero accipiens ab eo calicem: diligenter ponat in loco suo debito super medium altare: et inclinato pa-rumper elevet calicem utraque manu offerens sa-crificium Domino, dicendo hanc orationem,” &c. dicta oratione. “Qua dicta reponat calicem, et cooperiat cum corporalibus: ponatque panem super corporalia decenter, ante calicem vinum et aquam continentem, et osculetur patenam et reponat eam a dextris sub corporalibus parum cooperiendo.”—Saris. Missale. “Postea lavet manus et componat hostiam super corporales pannos et dicat:”... “Item, calicem cum vino et aqua et dicat.” —Ebor. Missal. This Prayer should be said very deliberately, shiort pauses being made in particular places for the purpose of commemorating especial persons, as at the words “all Bishops and Curates,” “especially to this congregation,” “all them who in this,” &c., “that with them we.” The Priest should always in addition to the above, privately commemorate the faints whose festivals fall on the day, or about the day, on which he celebrates the holy eucharist. This Prayer must of course always be said by the Celebrant. |
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“Let us pray for the whole state of CHRIST’s Church militant here in earth.”* The Celebrant, standing of course at the middle of the Altar, looking eastward, |
* As some ritualists have gone so far as to assert that this prayer is a compromise, because the title does not correspond with the contents, and as this apparent anomaly (supported as it is by the history of the successive reviews our Service Book has undergone since the first revision of our offices in the reign of Edward VI.)[17] has been a cause of distress to many both of the clergy and laity, it may be a source of comfort to the Faithful to point out that strictly speaking the title is not at variance with the contents of the prayer. The Church militant here in earth is indeed the title and main subject of the prayer, but it is not necessarily the exclusive subject; the whole Church and those departed in faith and fear are also its objects, if the subsequent words are sufficiently large to comprehend them, which they are. The molt ancient actions, so to speak, of the Church with reference to the departed, was not prayer, strictly speaking, but remembrance. So in the Syriac—no doubt the oldest existing form—” Memoriam agimus—even of B. V. M. and of All Saints.” (Renaudotius, tom. ii. pp. 17, 33, 98, 99.) This was all. Now this is just what the English Church does in the prayer for “the Church militant;” she prays for the living, the Church militant—she prayerfully remembers the departed (in this particular prayer[18]), and as this is done in a manner that “with them we may be partakers,” &c., the title need not specify anything more. There is yet another sanction—the LORD’s Prayer makes exactly this degree of memory of the departed in “Thy kingdom come,” and the Church in the earliest ages did no more in the Holy Eucharist. With regard to the title of the prayer it is notoriously ancient as far as “Church,” in the English use. For on Good Friday (the only day in the year that she had an intercession with the oblation, though anciently without doubt it was the place for the Roman intercession), the rubric was Oremus—” Et primo pro universali statu ec-clesiæ.”—Saris. Miss. fol. lxxviii. And more than this—there is a pre-Reforma-tion prayer with a heading almost word for word the same, and which goes on, not prayerfully to remember, but to pray for the dead. “¶ A generall and devout prayre for the goode state of oure moder the Churche mylitant here in erth. Omnipotens et misericors Deus, rex cœli et terras, tuam clementiam suppliciter deposco; ut per interventum et meritum gloriose Dei gene-tricis semper virginis et omnium sanctorum an-gelorum patriarcharum prophetarum apostolorum martyrum confessorum monachorum, virginum viduarum, et omnium supernorum civium Do-minum apostolicum et omnem gradum ecclesi-asticum episcopum nostrum reges et principes nostros, famulos et famulas tuas atque locum istum una cum universa ecclesia catholica in omni sanctitate et pace custodias; omnesque cum sanguinitate affinitate familiaritate commissione et elemosynarum largitione nobis junctos et omnes Christianos a vitiis et a peccatis emundes virtu-tibus illustres, pacem et salutem mentis et cor-poris nobis tribuas, hostes visibiles et invisibiles a nobis removeas, æris temperiem indulgeas, fruges terræ concedas, carnalia desideria repellas, infirmis nostris sanitatem restituas, lapsis repara-tionem navigantibus atque itinerantibus fidelibus iter prosperum et salutis portum, tribulatis gau-dium oppressis elevationem, captivis liberationem salutarem concedas inimicis nostris ac discordant-ibus et nobis veram charitatem largiaris, rector-ibus nostris pacem tribuas, errantes corrigas, incredulos convertas, ecclesiæ tuæ sanctam sidem augeas, symoniacam heresim, et omnes hereses et cismata in ecclesia tua catholica destruas, et omnibus fidelibus vivis et defunctis, in terra viventium vitam eternam pariter et requiem concedas. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. Pater noster. Ave.” “Horæ Beatæ Mariæ Virginis ad usum ecclesiæ Sarum ex officina Christophori Ruremundeñ, 1531. Venundantur in cimiterio Sancti Pauli sub intersignio sancti Augustini.” This Church militant prayer before the Reformation is extracted from a Sarum book of Hours in the possession of J. D. Chambers, Esq., to whose kindness and courtesy the Editor is indebted for the above verbatim copy. |
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will pause at the words, “alms and oblations,” and having first verbally oblated the alms, he will take the chalice with the paten thereon with both hands, and will offer the sacrifice to GOD, holding the chalice and paten before his breast. At the same time he directs his intention to the breads upon the corporal. The following Secreta, (which is quite a model,) from the Hereford Missal, is strongly recommended to be said secreto during the pause at the oblation of the elements. “Suscipe sancta Trinitas hanc oblationem quam tibi offero in memoriam passionis Domini nostri Jesu Christi, et præsta, ut in conspectu tuo tibi placens ascendat, et meam et omnium fidelium salutem operetur æternam, per Christum.” The Celebrant then replaces the chalice in the midst of the Altar, on the middle of the corporal, and takes therefrom the paten with the bread, which he places before the chalice. See note (*), p. 27. He then covers the chalice with the pall, and takes from the paten the bread (the Priest’s own bread) and places it upon the corporal* before the chalice, i.e. between it and himself.† He places the empty paten on the right, and partly covers it with the corner of the corporal. He then proceeds with the prayer, junctis manibus. It is convenient after the words “any other adversity” for the Celebrant to |
* The old English (as well as the Roman) custom is, to place the bread on the corporal without anything intervening. In the East the bread is retained in the “holy disk” = paten, and so placed on the cloth. † “Si plures hostias habet consecrare, debet harum unum elevare, quam deputaverat a prin-cipio ad missam; ut teneat illam penes alias, ita quod visum et intentionem ad omnes simul di-rigat. Et signando et dicendo; Hoc est enim corpus meum: omnes cogitet quas demonstrat.” Saris. Missale. (Cautelæ Missæ.) |
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pause, and call to mind distinctly and individually any in such estate, as he is bound by promise, request, or duty especially to commemorate. At the commemoration of the faithful departed he should ,extend his hands (disjunctis manibus) with the palms facing each other, and pause after the words “and fear” and should call to mind distinctly and by name, any faithful dead whom he desires, or is requested, especially to commemorate. In the pauses for secretæ, and intervals for commemorating the Living and the Departed, the Priest should not be long left he should weary the Faithful. Five, or at the utmost ten, minutes is ample for all such pauses throughout the entire service. During the prayer for the whole state of CHRIST’s Church, the Gospeller and Epistoler stand on their own steps, and the Celebrant at the middle of the Altar, all facing the east, as they do throughout the whole function, unless it is otherwise specially ordered. 28. The Exhortation and Invitatory. “At the time of the Celebration of the Communion, the communicants being conveniently placed for the receiving of the Holy Sacrament, the Priest shall say this Exhortation” If the first exhortation, “Dearly beloved in the LORD,” be read by the Epistoler, as it should be at solemn Service, from his own step looking to the west, the Gospeller stands on his own step. The last paragraph is a doxology, and should be said facing eastwards; the exhortation to charity corresponds in idea, though not in position, to the ancient Pax; the people reply Amen. “Then shall the Priest say to them that come to receive the Holy Communion.” The last exhortation, “Ye that do truly,” should be read by the Celebrant, who, however, sometimes directs the Gospeller or Epistoler to say it. 29. The Confession* “Then shall this general Confession be made, in the name of all those that are minded to receive the Holy Communion, by one of the Ministers, both he and all the people kneeling humbly upon their knees, and saying” The Confession is more usually made by the Gospeller, who kneels, facing the east. The Celebrant stands in the midst of the Altar, of course also facing the east. At Plain Service the assistant alone says the Confession, in the name of those about to communicate. |
* The confession is said all kneeling, except the Celebrant, “capite inclinato, junctis manibus.” |
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30. The Absolution* “Then shall the Priest (or the Bishop being present,) stand up,† and turning himself to the people, pronounce this Absolution” The Celebrant here fronts the people, and standing in the midst of the Altar, pronounces the Absolution, junctis manibus. 31. The Comfortable Words. After the Absolution the Priest says the comfortable words, standing in the same position, junctis manibus if he do not hold the service-book, fronting the west. 32. The Sursum Corda, &c. At the Sursum Corda the Celebrant, still fronting the people, raises his hands. He joins them before his breast at gratias agamus. 33. The Daily, and the Proper, Preface.‡ Here the Celebrant turns to the Altar. He opens his hands, (the palms facing each other,) at “It is very meet” he places them on the Altar at the Preface, he joins them before his breast at the Sanctus. All incline moderately. The Sanctus should only be sung in its proper place, viz., after the Preface junctis manibus. The saying or singing of the people commences at “Holy, Holy,” &c., and not at “Therefore with Angels.” During the Sanctus the Faithful kneel. |
* The Priest should always pronounce the absolution and the benediction without the use of the book. † This refers to the case of the Celebrant being without Gospeller or Epistoler or Assistant, when of course he will make the Confession kneeling, junctis manibus. ‡ “Ad dicendam vel cantandam præfationem erigat se sacerdos honeste et ponat manus super altare ex utraque parte calicis et dicat hoc modo.... Tunc sacerdos elevans aliquantulum bra-chia junctis manibus dicat: Sanctus”—Missale Hereford. It is to be deplored that the words “Holy, holy, holy” have not always been printed in our Rite separated from the preface immediately preceding them, “Therefore with angels.” In all the ancient Liturgies the trisagium is sung by the Faithful. Perhaps the Celebrant’s tone and manner might assist in understanding where they ought to be silent, and where not* Our own composers set merely the sanctus to music, leaving the introductory part to be said by the Priest. |
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34. The Prayer of Humble Access* “Then shall the Priest, kneeling down at the LORD’s Table, say in the name of all them that shall receive the Communion, this Prayer following.” This is to be said by the Celebrant kneeling before the midst of the Altar with his hands outside the corporal. The Ministrants are to kneel. After the Prayer of Humble Access the Celebrant rises and stands before the midst of the Altar, looking to the east, as indeed he does throughout the whole function, save where it is otherwise specially ordered. 35. The Canon. So called because it has been laid down as the Rule or Canon which is to be rigidly followed by the Priest who offers the Holy Sacrifice. The Prayer of Consecration† containing the Commemoration of the Passion, the Invocation, and the Consecration Proper, i.e., the Words of Institution. What the Celebrant is meant to do is, just what CHRIST did, as near as we can imitate His Action. “He takes,” when he says, “He took,” and presents to GOD the element, he breaks‡ when he says, “He brake it,” and designs it to reception by laying his hand upon it, and in a manner imparts it when he says, our LORD gave it, saying, “Take, eat,” &c., and he makes it the Body of CHRIST by the words of consecration, “HOC EST CORPUS MEUM.” “When the Priest, standing before the Table,§ hath so ordered the Bread and Wine, that he may |
* The confession, and the prayer of humble access, are the only prayers at which the Celebrant kneels during the whole function, and only at the latter, when he has an Assistant, or at solemn Service, when there will be Gospeller and Epistoler. † The prayer of consecration, which was taken from the Sarum Canon, should be said by the Priest as the present rubric enjoins, “standing before the table.” According to the direction in the Sarum Missal the beginning of the canon is said “manibus junctis et oculis elevatis.” “Hear us, O merciful FATHER, &c.” should be said extensis manibus. See also Ecclesiologist, vol. xii., p. 91., for legal opinion on the position of the celebrating Priest, viz., before the altar, facing the east. Vide Laud’s Trial, p. 116, fol. ed. London, 1705. Jebb in his Choral Service, pp. 508-9, instances Andrewes, Wren, and Cosin, as invariably adopting this position. Montague likewise practised the same, as may be seen in the charges brought against him in the House of Commons. —Reports in loco. ‡ In the Sarum Rite, at “fregit,” there is this direction, Hic tangat hostiam; the “fraction” not taking place till after the Consecration. The Old English Church, as does the Roman Church at the present day, divided the Sacred Host into three; the Eastern Church into four, following S. Chrysostom; and the ancient Liturgy of S. James into two. The present English Rubric, inserted at the last revision, prescribes a breaking of the Bread during the benediction, thus imitating our LORD’s Action more closely than any other Liturgy. § This phrase (standing before the Table) means of course before the midst of the Ta- |
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with the more readiness and decency break the Bread before the people, and take the Cup into his hands, he shall say the Prayer of Consecration, as followeth.*
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ble. The rubrics of our Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments for the most part have reference to an Officiant or Celebrant alone (supposing that assistant Ministers would follow the Catholic use); now the Celebrant before the prayer of consecration is kneeling before the midst of the Altar in the prayer of humble access —in accordance with the place he has occupied since the Creed—the revisers of the Liturgy having endorsed the old English rule that everything after the Creed should be said in the middle of the Altar (v. supra, p. 35, par. 21). Therefore “standing before the Table” means standing in the midst thereof, in contradistinction to kneeling at the middle of the Altar, in which position the previous rubric had left the Celebrant. This direction was inserted at the last revision, with the rubrics about the paten, fraction, and chalice. There had been no rubrics having special reference to this Action since the First Book of Edward VI. Doubtless it was this absence of minute and reverent rubrical detail which led to the remarkable statement of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the case of the Knightsbridge churches, delivered March 21, 1857, that the Second Book of Edward VI. contained no consecration of the elements. In which case it would follow that the English Church was cut off from CHRIST for more than one hundred years. Yet this Book of Common Prayer, of which it is asserted, that “the Prayer for Consecration of the Elements was omitted” (see Judgment of the Committee of the Privy Council in regard to the churches of SS. Paul and Barnabas, p. 28. Painter and Sons’ edition, printed verbatim from the authorized official document,) was the very Service Book[19] which Pope Pius IV. offered to confirm, on the condition of the return of Queen Elizabeth to the Roman obedience. See “Lawful Church Ornaments,” by Rev. T. W. Perry, p. 172, 173. Masters. To “break the Bread before the people” means in presence thereof,—not that the Faithful actually see the “fraction” itself, but that the Celebrant may be seen as he inclines in the act of the breaking, and as he elevates the paten, and shows the chalice, as he raises it, above his head. This Action is of course best seen by the Faithful when the Priest stands before the middle of the Altar with his face to the east—an arrangement which secures his undistracted attention during the awful Action. For the Celebrant should never look about him, least of all at so dread a moment. Were the Priest to stand in any other position, either at the north or south sides, he would be obliged to extend his arms in an inconvenient and dangerous manner to reach the sacred vessels; if on the other hand he were to place them on either the Gospel or Epistle corner of the Altar, and were to say the prayer of consecration, standing, either at the north or south sides, or at the north and south ends, according to a very modern, offensive, and quite unauthorized usage, he could be seen by at least only one half of the Faithful in “breaking the bread” and in other parts of the Action. * If the Celebrant deems it fit, though it seems unnecessary, he may say the following before the prayer of consecration in secret. “Most merciful GOD, look graciously upon the gifts now lying before Thee, and send down Thy HOLY SPIRIT upon this Sacrifice, that He may make this bread the Body of Thy CHRIST, and this cup the Blood of Thy CHRIST; and that all who are partakers thereof may obtain remission of their fins, be confirmed in godliness, and be filled with Thy HOLY SPIRIT. Amen.” But the English (as the Roman) Church holds, that the words of Institution are sufficient for the consecration, as may be gathered from the rubric concerning the consecration of further bread and wine. |
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The Celebrant at the Consecration Prayer inclines humbly junctis manibus, or perhaps more correctly extensis manibus, (see note on the position of the hands and feet, p. 32.) At the direction “to take the paten into his hands,” he is to take the bread (the Priest’s own bread) from the corporal and place it upon the paten. At the words “Body” and “Blood” it is usual for him to make a cross over the elements. The paten, and also the cup, are held in the left hand; the sign of the cross being made with the right hand. At the recital of the Words of Institution the Celebrant removes the pall from the chalice.‡ In consecrating the Blessed Sacrament at the recital of the Words of Institution, and, respectively after the consecration of the paten and of the
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* Though it be true that GOD the FATHER effects the consecration of the elements by the operation of GOD the HOLY GHOST, it is un-necessary to pray expressly for the HOLY GHOST to consecrate the elements of Bread and Wine, because GOD knows perfectly all that is necessary for a valid consecration. See Palmer, Orig. Lit. tom. ii. pp. 138-40. † So our Church, with the whole West, and the Sarum, emphatically, as see Cautelæ Missæ, clearly holds,—containing imitation of the Action, and Recital of words of Institution. ‡ “Et tunc discooperiat calicem.”[20]—Missale Saris. |
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chalice, the Priest should be careful to raise the paten up, and also the cup,* so that the people may see. He should remain in the same position, viz., in the midst of the Altar fronting the east. The Blessed Sacrament should be elevated above the head of the Celebrant. It is quite wrong to turn to the people at the breaking of the bread, lifting up of the paten, and showing of the cup. It is right for the Celebrant to incline at the words, “This is My Body,” and at the words, “This is My Blood.” The choir and the Faithful generally bend profoundly at this, the time of consecration. It is usual at the Fraction—”He brake it”—to divide the wafer or bread into two particles. The ancient division into three† particles, as was anciently practised by the Church of England after the consecration, and is still directed in the modern Roman rubric, had now better take place immediately after the Prayer of Consecration, when one of the two particles can be divided. In the first Fraction there is a typical allusion to the Sacrifice of CHRIST on the cross, in imitation of HIS OWN ACTION at the Last Supper. And if indeed another reason was, to divide the bread so that each of the Twelve might take a part, it seems proper, in imitation thereof, to communicate the Gospeller and Epistoler of the two remaining Particles, the Priest taking the first and largest. See Maskell in loco. After the consecration the Celebrant will replace the pall on the chalice. The paten, standing in front thereof, will remain uncovered. No one should sit after consecration, but all should remain kneeling or standing, till after the final consumption of the Holy Sacrament. After the consecration prayer it is most desirable that no person passes before the Blessed Sacrament, without some token of reverence. On entering or leaving a church it is desirable to use a prayer. 36. Preces Secretæ May be said by the Celebrant standing humbly before the midst of the Altar. The following are strongly recommended. (Ex Missali Sarum.) |
* The ostension or elevation of the chalice, after the consecration, which was the ancient English custom, was prohibited by a Rubric in Edward VI.’s First Prayer Book, but this rubric has been omitted at all the subsequent revisions. The paten and chalice ought to be taken off the Altar reverently with both hands. If wafer bread is not used, the Bread should be cut through previously to the service. The breaking of the bread in the Prayer of Consecration, of course means the Priest’s own Bread. The “sacrificium,” as the Sarum, and the “hostia,” as the York, Rubric, calls it. The greatest care should be taken to avoid the sacrilege of allowing the smallest Particle to fall from the paten, or from the ciborium, or pyx, in communicating the Faithful. † It does not seem that the Church of England meant to exclude the ancient Fraction by directing a Fraction during the Consecration. See Palmer, v. ii., p. 146. |
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Dicendæ post Consecrationem. Unde et memores, Domine, nos servi Tui, sed et plebs Tua sancta, ejusdem Christi Filii Tui Domini Dei nostri tam beatæ Passionis, necnon et ab inferis Resurrectionis, sed et in cœlos gloriosæ Ascensionis, offerimus præclaræ Majestati Tuæ de Tuis donis ac datis, Hostiam pu+ram, Hostiam sanc+tam, Hostiam imma+culatam: Panem sanc+tum vitæ æternæ, et Cali+cem salutis perpetuæ. Supra quæ propitio ac sereno vultu respicere digneris: et accepta habere, sicuti accepta habere dignatus es munera pueri Tui justi Abel, et sacrificium Patriarchæ nostri Abrahæ: et quod Tibi obtulit summus sacerdos Tuus Melchisedech, sanctum sacrificium, immaculatam Hostiam. Supplices Te rogamus, Omnipotens Deus: jube hæc perferri per manus fancti Angeli Tui in sublime altare Tuum, in conspectu Divinæ Majestatis Tuæ: ut quotquot ex hac altaris participa-tione, sacrosanctum Filii Tui Cor+pus et San+guinem sumpserimus: omni bene+dictione cœlesti gratia repleamur. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. Memento etiam, Domine animarum famulorum famularumque Tuarum (N. et N.) qui nos præcesserunt cum signo fidei, et dormiunt in somno pacis: ipsis Domine, et omnibus in Christo quiescentibus, locum refrigerii, lucis et pacis, ut indulgeas, deprecamur. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. Nobis quoque peccatoribus famulis Tuis de multitudine miserationum Tuarum sperantibus, partem aliquam et societatem donare digneris cum Tuis sanctis Apostolis et Martyribus: cum Joanne, Stephano, Matthia, Barnaba, Ignatio, Alexandro, Marcellino, Petro, Felicitate, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucia, Agnete, Cæcilia, Anastatia, et cum omnibus Sanctis Tuis: intra quorum nos confortium, non estimator meriti, sed veniæ, quæsumus, largitor admitte. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Per quem hæc omnia Domine, semper bona creas, sancti+ficas, vivi+sicas, bene+dicis, et præstas nobis. Per ip+sum, et cum ip+so, et in ip+so est Tibi Deo Patri Omnipo+tenti, unitate Spiritus + Sancti omnis honor et gloria. Per omnia sæcula sæculorum. Amen. 37. The Communion of the Priest. “Then shall the Minister first receive the Communion in both kinds himself, and then proceed to deliver the same to the Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, in like manner (if any be present)” The Priest,* according to the ancient usage of the Universal Church, communicates himself STANDING. When he is so doing he should repeat the words aloud;† he need not use the last clause at all. The proper use for the Celebrant is standing in front of the Altar, with his back to the people, to incline moderately at taking the paten in his left hand, saying secreto, “LORD, I am not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only, and my soul shall be healed.” After a short meditation he communicates himself of the body over the paten, with his right hand, reverently inclining his head. He then proceeds to communicate |
* “Hic,” says the York Missal, just before the Priest communicates, “inclinet se sacerdos dicens orationes sequentes” “inclinet” referring merely to bowing the head. † It is “dicit” everywhere in the Uses Roman and English, without any secreto. Of course the first person should be used. |
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of the blood, saying secreto, “What shall I render unto the LORD for all His benefits that He hath done unto me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the Name of the LORD.” He takes the chalice by the knop in his right hand. He always inclines the head at the Name of JESUS. The Celebrant alone communicates standing; he next communicates the Gospeller and Epistoler, who kneel on the edge of the platform; after them the Clergy present in surplices and stoles communicate on the step next below the platform, and the choir on the floor below it, and then the Clergy who may be simply in their ordinary dress. 38. The Communion of the People. “And after that to the people also in order, into their hands, all meekly kneeling. And when be delivereth the Bread to any one, he shall say” The Celebrant here places the blessed Sacrament of the LORD’s Body into the ciborium,* as being larger than the paten, if the Gospeller has not done so at the oblation of the elements, see par. 25; it is more secure from accident in communicating the Faithful. Though non-communicants† have an undoubted legal right to be present during the whole rite, yet if they be disposed to depart, the proper time is doubtless after the Consecration, whereby they are present at the Sacrifice, though not at the Communion. Non-communicants, merely pro hac vice, will of course be present at the Communion as well. In the present Scotch Liturgy there is a direction for the dismissal of non-communicants after the Sermon. It seems better for them to retire without dismissal after the prayer for the whole state of CHRIST’s Church before the reading of the first exhor- |
* The ciborium, as used in the West, signifies a vessel in which the Blessed Sacrament is reserved. It is, in fact, a chalice with a cover like a reversed bowl, so that when the cover is on it forms a globe. It is surmounted by a cross. The pyx was originally used for this purpose: this vessel is of various shapes, from that of a dove to a round box with a conical top, terminated by a cross. The pyx was also used for Altar-Breads: S. Paul’s Cathedral, “Item, a painted pyx for the Altar-Breads. In the Chapel of S. Rhadegund: Item, 2 wooden pyxes for the Altar-Breads.”—Dugdale’s Monasticon. The ciborium, or else a chalice, is also used in the West in communicating the Faithful. A Constitution of Abp. Peckham, (a.d. 1279,) orders the pyx to be lined with linen. Abp. Winchelsea’s Constitutions, (a.d. 1305,) speak of the pyx as one of those articles to be provided at the charge of the parish. The pyx is therefore the authorized vessel to be used in the Church of England. † In the First Prayer Book of Edward VI., those who did not receive were to depart, not out of the church, but out of the quire, except the Ministers and Clerks, who might remain without communicating. In the Book of 1552 the Puritan party introduced a sentence of exclusion, which was withdrawn when the Prayer Book was last revised by the Church’s representatives in 1662, when it again became possible for all who were in the Church’s communion to take part on all occasions in the eucharistic sacrifice. |
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tation. The Communion* is given to the people kneeling before the sacrarium or other convenient place. If there are rails these should be covered with a linen cloth (see supra, p. 29, par. 14, and note); if there are no rails a cloth should be held before the communicants by the Clerks or by one of the Ministers, for the Blessed Sacrament is the LORD’s Body and Blood. The Sacrament of the LORD’s Body should be taken in the palm of the right hand, which should be raised to the mouth supported by the left. The Celebrant of course bears the ciborium, or the large paten. The Gospeller is to follow with the chalice, which he should always retain in his hand, even when he places it in that of the communicant. The practice of prostration, on many grounds, could be recommended. The communicants in the act of receiving hold the head and body erect. Before and after communicating no position can be too lowly. 39. Consecration in one kind.† “If the consecrated Bread or Wine be all spent before all have communicated; the Priest is to consecrate more according to the Form before prescribed: beginning at [Our SAVIOUR CHRIST in the same night, &c.] for the blessing of the Bread; and at [Likewise after Supper, &c.] for the blessing of the Cup.” If the first rubric in the Communion Office (So many as intend to be partakers of the Holy Communion shall signify their names to the Curate, at least some time the day before.) were attended to, additional consecration would be very infrequent. |
* “Approaching therefore come not with thy wrists extended, or thy fingers open; but make thy left hand as if a throne for thy right, which is on the eve of receiving the King. And having hollowed thy palm receive the Body of CHRIST saying after it, Amen. Give heed left thou lose any of It, for what thou losest is a loss to thee as it were from one of thine own members. For if any one give thee gold dust wouldst thou not with all precaution keep it fast, being on thy guard against losing any of it and suffering loss? How much more carefully then wilt thou observe that not a Crumb falls from thee of What is more precious than gold and precious stones. “Then having taken of the Body of CHRIST, approach also to the Cup of His Blood; not stretching forth thy hands, but bending, and saying in the way of worship and reverence, ‘Amen, be thou hallowed by partaking also of the Blood of CHRIST.’ “—S. Cyril of Jerusalem, Cat. Lect, xxiii. 21-22. “Let us approach then with a fervent desire, and placing our palms in the fashion of a cross, receive the Body of the Crucified.”—Damascen. Orthodox. Fid. Lib. iv. c. 13. “Whosoever wilfully throws It away, shall for ever be excluded from communion.”—Conc. Tolet. xi. These catholic usages are endorsed by Bishop Sparrow. See Rationale, p. 272. London, 1657. † Some ritualists are ignorant that the words of Institution are all that is necessary for valid consecration. This is the old rule. The whole preceding prayers, necessary or not, (which they are not, any more than the prayer to sanctify the water at Baptism,) count; and so the Action is ample as well as sufficient. It is, however, discreet to take care always to consecrate enough at first. |
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The rubric is a perfectly correct and simple transcript of the old Sarum rule in the “Cautelæ Missæ”—that if a priest found there was no wine in the cup, after he had consecrated the bread, he was to begin at “Simili modo,” the previous part of the Office reckoning. So with the bread, if a Priest died, or fainted, in the aft of consecrating it, another Priest was to take up the rite at “Qui pridie.” What this proves is, that un-oblated elements might be consecrated, the previous oblation counting. The whole of this old provision is a perfect justification of ours. 40. The Post Communion. “When all have communicated, the Minister shall return to the LORD’s Table’’ When all have communicated the Celebrant is to return to the LORD’s Table with the ciborium, or the large paten, and the Gospeller with the cup. 41. The Veiling of the Blessed Sacrament. “And reverently place upon it what remaineth of the consecrated Elements, covering the same with a fair linen cloth” The Ministers having returned to the Altar, the Priest takes the Blessed Sacrament from the ciborium (see Par. 25, line 28, and Par. 38, note *) and places it upon the paten, which he places on the chalice, (in the middle of the Altar,) covering both with the Veil,* which the Gospeller brings him from the credence. 42. The LORD’s Prayer† and Collects. “Then shall the Priest say the LORD’s Prayer, the people repeating after him every petition” “After shall be said as followeth.” The Celebrant still stands in the midst and fronting the Altar. It is much to be desired that the former of these Collects were put back into the place which it occupied in the First Prayer Book of Edward VI., between the consecration and administration, where Bishop Overall always insisted on saying it, and as it is in Laud’s Prayer Book. But its original place, however, was the conclusion of the canon, before the words of consecration, “Hanc |
* A veil of linen and lace; this chalice-cover is only used for the veiling of the blessed Sacrament after the communion of the people, and must not be confounded with the chalice-veil of silk, of the colour of the season. † The LORD’s Prayer was anciently said, in the Sarum use, not only towards the end of the canon after the consecration and the ‘Oratio pro mortuis? but after the Rite was over, (see Saris. Missale. Rubric at the end of the Missa.) And this is probably the reason why it is put after reception in our Canon. |
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igitur oblationem servitutis nostræ... placatus accipias;... quam obla-tionem tu Deus... rationabilem, acceptabilemque facere digneris...” Saris. Missale. Canon Missæ. And as then it was a desire for the acceptance of the Sacrifice before it was offered, so may it very well be used here for its acceptance after it has been offered. Meanwhile it is well to say either of the Collects secreto and the other aloud. Or if the second be used the first might be said secreto after* consecration. 43. The Gloria in excelsis Is then to be intoned by the Celebrant at the midst of the Altar, the Gospeller and Epistoler stand on their respective steps, † of course facing the east. The Faithful may stand. The Celebrant usually intones the words “Glory be to GOD on high,” and the choir sings the remainder of the hymn. 44. The Blessing.‡ “Then the Priest (or Bishop§ if he be present) shall let them depart with this Blessing” || The Gospeller and Epistoler are then to kneel on the edge of the platform, whilst the Celebrant turning to the people gives the Blessing. |
* In the Eastern Liturgies prayers for grace and acceptance after reception are very common. See S. Mark’s, the Coptic, S. Basil, Armenian, &c. † As the Gloria in excelsis is used in the English Rite as a thanksgiving, and not as in that of S. Peter as a preliminary hymn, the Epistoler and Gospeller do not ascend to the Altar. ‡ The right hand is always used in blessing, confirmation, &c. The Bishop, when he uses the pastoral staff, as directed by the Rubric, carries it in his left hand, according to the usage of the Church. The Priest in blessing holds his hand open before his breast. The Bishop extends his hand with the three first fingers open level with the shoulder.[21] Some hold, incorrectly as it seems, that Bishop and Priest bless in the same manner. In blessing the old rule was for the Priest to make the sign of the Cross once: the Bishop at the mention of each Name of the Persons in the blessed Trinity. “Quid est lignum Christi, nisi Crux Christi? Quod signum nisi adhibeatur sive frontibus credentium, sive ipsi aquæ ex qua regenerantur, sive oleo quo chrismate unguuntur, sive sacrificio quo aluntur, nihil horum rite perficitur.” S. August. Hom, cxviii. in Joan. § This benediction is a peculiar function of the Bishop’s Office, if present, because the less is blessed of the better’, Heb. vii. 7. || The Blessing is compounded of (i) the “Pax,” and (2) the Blessing. Therefore at any other service the “Pax” being peculiar to the Holy Communion should not be given, but only the Blessing (2). Palmer, however, (Vol. ii., p. 161,) considers our formulary to be a judicious enlargement of benedictions which were used in the English Church before the year a.d. 600. “Benedictio Dei Patris omnipotentis, et Filii, et |
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In Blessing (and Absolution) the left hand is placed on the breast, and the right arm slightly extended with the hand open, but not raised higher than the shoulder, and held opposite the breast. 45. The Occasional Collects. “Collects to be said after the Offertory, when there is no Communion, every such day one, or more; and the same may be said also, as often as occasion shall serve, after the Collects either of Morning or Evening Prayer, Communion, or Litany, by the discretion of the Minister.” The first is a prayer for safety in all worldly changes; the second, for the preservation of our souls and bodies; the third, for a blessing on GOD’s Word; the fourth, for direction and success in all our undertakings; the fifth, for excusing the defect of our former prayers; the last, for the acceptance of all the rest of our supplications. Although in this place these Collects are ordered to be said after* the Offertory, when there is no Communion, it is plain from the rubric at the end of the Office, that the Prayer for the whole state of CHRIST’s Church is to intervene, so that the Collect: or Collects will immediately precede the Blessing. See Par. 20, pp. 35, 36, for the proper method of using these Collects. 46. Missa Sicca.† “Upon the Sundays and other Holy-days (if there be no Communion) shall be said all that is appointed at the Communion, until the end of the general Prayer [For the whole state of |
Spiritus Sancti, maneat semper vobiscum.”— Saxon Office, ad finem completorii. “Benedictio Dei Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, et pax Domini, sit semper vobiscum.”— Benedictiones in quotidianis diebus, MS. Leofric, Exon. fol. 332. See also Proctor, pp. 331, 332. * In Edward VI.’s First Book where this rubric first occurred, it was strictly applicable; since there there was no special and separate prayer for the Church militant to be said. In his Second Book that prayer,—torn from its original place at the beginning of the canon,—was ordered to be used when there was no communion, together with, i.e. manifestly followed by, one or more of these collects before rehearsed. The rubric ought to have been adapted to this change, but by an evident oversight was not. † The term Missa Sicca (Dry Service,) is generally used for the Office, consisting of the first part of our Communion Service, and ending after the prayer for the Church Militant, followed by one or more of the collects, printed at the end of the Office, and concluding with the blessing, and has therefore been retained in the text. The following is the Rationale of this anomalous Service. The use of an Office selected from the Liturgy is of very ancient use in the Church, and is universal in the East, from whence no doubt the West derived it as early as the thirteenth century or earlier. Not only in Egypt on Wednesdays and Fridays, but throughout the East, (the Greek East certainly, and the Armenian Church,) is there used every day, when there is not celebration, on Sundays, &c. whether there is or is not, either after Sexts or Nones, (according to the time of the year,) a very full Office selected from the Liturgy, (Bona, Div. Psalmod.c. 18,p.904. Quibus additur Typicum, quod loco missæ recitare solet.”) This “Typicum,” which means, both in Greek and Slavonic (see Neale, Hist. of H. E. Church, Gen. Int. p. 941) “the likeness or imitation,” viz., of the Liturgy, consists of the Sunday Eucharistic Office up to a certain point, viz., I. Psalms 103-146. 2. The Hymn “Only Begotten SON,” corresponding to the Western “Gloria in Excelsis.” 3. The Beatitudes with responses, like our Commandments and responses, (see Par. 18, note §.) 4. Epistle and Gospel, (see Bona, p. 905.) Then, in lieu of the Eucharistic Preface and Tersanctus, another form of Tersanctus. Then the Nicene Creed in the old place of Creed and Reception. Then deprecation and LORD’s Prayer, much as in the Liturgy, certain Hymns and the Psalm of Thanksgiving after Communion, (Psalm 34.) The Armenian has a similar Office at Nones. The Egyptian Church was therefore not peculiar in having on Wednesdays and Fridays “all the Eucharistic Service, except what was proper for celebration,” (Socrates, 1. c. ap. Bingham.) Neither is there in the abstract any possible objection to a Service so selected, provided it keeps a remote distance from the Liturgy. Ordinary Offices always borrow something e.g. the collect, from the Eucharistic; it is a question of degree how much they should borrow. The so-called Missa Sicca of the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries in the West was simply such a distant parallel. The Priest was vested in his stole and all his sacerdotal vestments. The Office omitted the canon altogether except the LORD’s Prayer, but had the Præfatio, which the East had not, and the Tersanctus like the East. But the Secreta, or oblationary prayer was omitted, exactly as is ordered in our Book, (see rubric to Church Militant prayer, “if there be no alms or oblations” &c.) as being sacrificial, Durandus l. iv. c. i. 23. This is very remarkable, and shows the exact ritual learning of our Revisers (of 1662.) It is worthy of remark that it was our first and best revisers (of 1549, not 1552), who ordered the saying of the Office, as far as the offertory, if there was no Communion. It is most likely that they had the Eastern precedent before them, the Egyptian more especially, which from so common a writer as Socrates they might reasonably have. It would seem that they intended such use of the abridged Office to take place daily, if there was no Communion. For the rubric which enjoins it on Wednesdays and Fridays, as chief Eucharistic days, ends thus: “and the same order shall be used all other days, whensoever the people be customarily assembled to pray in the church, and none be disposed to communicate with the Priest.” And this is no doubt, or probably, the reason why the matins in that Book ends so abruptly, viz., because either Celebration, or the short Office was to follow. Hence the so-called Dry Service is not objectionable in the abstract, when regarded as a sort of ordinary Office, but only when it is substituted for, and as it would seem, preferred to the Liturgy. It were to be desired that the term “abridged Office,” or “shorter Service,” were used instead of Missa Sicca or Dry Service. Without doubt the proper name for it would be the “proanaphoral” or the “Service of catechumens.” |
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CHRIST’s Church militant here in earth] together with one or more of these Collects last before rehearsed, concluding with the Blessing” “And there shall be no celebration of the LORD’s Supper, except there be a convenient number to communicate with the Priest, according to his discretion” “And if there be not above twenty persons in the Parish of discretion to receive the Communion; yet there shall be no Communion, except four (or three at the least) communicate with the Priest.” “And in Cathedral and Collegiate Churches and Colleges, where there are many Priests and Deacons, they shall all receive the Communion with the Priest every Sunday at the least, except they have a reasonable cause to the contrary.” Daily Eucharist. It is plain from the note “that the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel appointed for the Sunday shall serve all the week after where it is |
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not in this Book otherwise ordered, “that celebration in other days besides Sundays and Festivals is contemplated by the Church as likely to be of common or stated occurrence. The Holy Sacrifice ought also to be offered if there be four, or three at least, to communicate with the Priest, and this is required that he may “solemnize so high and holy mysteries with all the suffrages and due order appointed for the same.”*—(Edward VI.’s First Book.) When the Dry Service is celebrated, which ought only to be the case on Good Friday,† the Priest wears a cope instead of a vestment, (chasuble,) and is permitted to use a surplice in the place of the alb. Vide First Prayer Book, Edward VI., in loco. 47. The Bread.‡ Wafer bread is the order of the Church of England, with a permission to use “the best and purest wheat bread;” which permission has led to the ordinary use of the latter. When wafer bread is used, it is convenient to place on the credence a canister§ containing wafers. When loaf bread is used, a square thereof should be divided into breads, and placed on a metal plate. The Celebrant will generally know how much to consecrate, and should be careful to do so, and also to consecrate with the least. No one should be permitted to arrange the wafer, or prepare the bread, (viz., to cut the square and divide it into breads) save the Deacon; when there is no Deacon the Priest must do it himself. It is of course prepared in the sacristy. |
* This need not practically ever prevent celebration at least on Sundays and Festivals; for even if people withdrew after the prayer for the Church, if the oblation has been made, as of course it will have been, the service must go on. Much more should absent sick persons, who will of course communicate spiritually, be counted in. † Good Friday is the only day in the year for which proper Collect, Epistle, and Gospel are appointed, when no celebration takes place. The Priest veiled in the black cope, not chasuble, would end the Service with the Church Militant prayer, collect, and blessing. ‡ “That a Priest never presume to celebrate Mass, unless he hath all things appertaining to the housel, viz., a pure oblation, pure wine, and pure water. Wo be to him that begins to celebrate unless he have all these; and wo be to him that puts any foul thing thereto, as the Jews did, when they mingled vinegar and gall together, and then invited CHRIST to it by way of reproach to Him.”—Canons made in Edgar’s reign, a.d. 960. Our custom of using common baker’s bread, adulterated, as it often is, with alum and potatoes, and bonedust, is as alien to the spirit of our forefathers, as it is in itself unseemly and irreverent. § Amongst the furniture of the Altar of Bishop Andrewes’ chapel was a “silver and gilt canister for the wafers, like a wicker basket, and lined with cambric laced.”—Hierurgia Anglicana, p. 8. |
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It would seem to be lawful in the Church of England to use either leavened or unleavened bread.* The wine should be the pure juice of the grape. Tent wine# is the present use of the English Church. 48. The Consumption and Purification. “And if any of the bread and wine remain unconsecrated, the Curate shall have it to his own use: but if any remain of that which was consecrated, it shall not be carried out of the church, but the Priest and such other of the Communicants as he shall then call unto him, shall, immediately after the Blessing, reverently eat and drink the same” The Celebrant immediately after the blessing, and without any private devotions stands before the midst of the Altar, whilst the Gospeller, going to the left hand (see Note † p. 43,) closes the Book, and the Epistoler, going to the right, uncovers the paten for the consumption of the elements, placing it on the corporal. He next covers the chalice with the pall, (see Par. 11, Note #). The Priest then takes, or distributes the fragments to the Ministers or communicants, and then standing in the midst of the Altar, he replaces the paten on the corporal. The Deacon having then uncovered the chalice, the Priest gives the chalice to the Deacon to distribute, among the communicants, after which he replaces it on the corporal and covers it. The Celebrant standing before the Altar as before, first purifies the corporal by scraping up with the paten any fragment which may remain on it, and then purifies the paten by scraping from it with his forefinger the remaining fragments into the chalice, which the Epistoler uncovers for that purpose. Then holding the paten in his left hand, he presents the chalice on the Altar to the Epistoler, who receives the wine-cruet from the clerk, and pours some wine with his right hand into the chalice, when the Celebrant, moving about the chalice with his wrist, in order to take off any particles which may adhere to |
* Unleavened bread in the Holy Eucharist, remarked by Alcuin a.s. 789, thus:—”Panis qui in Corpus Christi consecratur absque sermento ullius alterius infectionis debet esse mundissimus.”—Epist. lxix. ad Lugdunenses. “Without deciding the much disputed point, whether our blessed LORD employed leavened or unleavened bread when He instituted the Holy Eucharist, it is suggested, that if we test the merits of the two kinds of bread by their purity, the unleavened will undoubtedly be the best. Its elements are perfectly simple, and can be mixed together before one’s own eyes, without the necessity of adding any foreign substance to render the bread such as is desired. ‘Apertissimum est,’ says S. Anselm, ‘quia melius sacrificatur de azymo, quam de fermentato: tum quia valde aptius et prius et diligentius fit; tum quia Dominus hoc fecit.’“—See “On the Celebration of the Holy Eucharist,” p. 6-7, Masters. A work that ought to be studied by every Priest. † Claret wine has always been used, until the present year, in the Royal Chapels, except in the German Chapel, where white wine is still used. Red wine (Malaga) is used on feast days in the Latin Church in some countries. |
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the inside of the chalice, drinks the wine, if possible by the side where the particles adhere. He then lays the paten on the corporal on the Gospel side, and carries the chalice to the Epistle corner, when the Epistoler, having retired to the south corner of the Altar, receives from the clerk the water-cruet in his left hand, and the wine-cruet in his right hand. The Celebrant having presented the chalice to the Epistoler, resting it on the Altar, the latter pours in some wine, then gives the wine-cruet to the clerk, and taking the water-cruet into his right hand, pours some water into the wine over the fingers* of the Priest. The Epistoler then having returned the water-cruet to the clerk to place with the wine-cruet on the credence, puts the square maniple (see Note || and subnote16 on p. 43) on the hands of the Celebrant, who dries his fingers with it over the chalice. The Celebrant then joins his hands, holding the square maniple, and going to the midst of the Altar, he lays his left hand on it, outside the corporal, and takes the chalice with his right. Then holding the square maniple under it, he drinks off the ablutions.† He then places the chalice upright upon the paten‡ on the ministerium, i.e. Epistle corner of the Altar, so as to let its wet sides run into the bowl. The Epistoler then folds the corporal, and puts it into the burse, and covering the chalice with the silk veil, of the colour of the season, (see Par. 11,) lays the burse upon it, and putting it on the credence, returns to his place on the left of the Celebrant. They all three kneel before the Altar for private devotion, the Celebrant saying, “Gratias tibi ago Domine sancte, &c.,” (see Par. 10.) They |
* “Qua dicta eat sacerdos ad dexterum cornu altaris cum calice inter manus, digitis adhuc conjunctis[22] sicut prius: et accedat subdiaconus et effundat in calicem vinum et aquam: et resinceret sacerdos manus suas ne aliquæ reliquiæ corporis vel sanguinis remaneant in digitis vel in calice.”—Sarum Missal. † “Cum vero aliquis sacerdos debet bis celebrare in uno die: tunc ad primam missam non debet percipere ablutionem ullam, sed ponere in sacrario vel in vase mundo usque in finem alterius; tunc sumatur utraque ablutio.”[23]—Saris. Missale. ‡ The Bangor and Hereford uses were to lay the chalice upon its edge upon the paten that it might drain thereon.—See Dr. Rock’s “Church of pur Fathers,” vol. iii., part ii., p. 167, for an illustration of this custom. The following are the old English rubrics on this subject: “Post perceptionem ablutionum ponat sacerdos calicem super patenam: ut si qua remaneat stillet; et postea inclinando se dicat: “Adoramus crucis signaculum, per quod salutis sumpsimus sacramentum.”—Saris. Miss. “Eat sacerdos in medio altaris, ibidem calicem super patenam jacentem dimittens: et se cum magna veneratione respiciendum crucem inclinans, dicat in memoria passionis Domini.... Adoremus, &c.”—Bangor Missale. “Tunc ponat calicem jacentem super patenam, et inclinet se ad altare, et eat ad sacrarium et lavet manus suas, et in eundo dicat: “Lavabo inter innocentes manus meas: et circumdabo altare tuum, Domine.”—Herford Missale. The bowl of the chalice when laid upon the paten faces the west. |
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then descend to the floor, bearing to the left, (the Ministrants never descend backwards,) and return to the sacristy in the order in which they came. During the consumption of the Blessed Sacrament it is convenient for the choir to sing Nunc Dimittis. The serving-clerk extinguishes the Altar lights, beginning with that on the Gospel side. This rubric was first inserted in the Book of Common Prayer at the final revision. It is evident from it that the faithful should not leave the church until the solemn ceremony of the consumption is ended. This ceremony has descended from a remote antiquity. See Cleaver’s edition of Bp. Wilson’s “Short and Plain Instruction for the better understanding of the LORD’s Supper,” p. 139. 49. Duplication. It is not convenient for the same Priest to celebrate more than once in the same day, except in cases of necessity, nor of course must the Assistant Ministers receive the Blessed Sacrament more than once in the same day, though present at more than one celebration. “Bis in die celebrare nullus præsumet, nisi in diebus Nativitatis et Resur-rectionis Dominicæ; et tunc in prima missa ablutio digitorum vel calicis a celebrante non sumatur.” Wilkins’ Concilia, tom. i. p. 531. (This is from a Provincial Constitution of Archbishop Langton.) The 55th of the Excerpts of Archbishop Egbert, contemporary of Venerable Bede, declares:—”Et sufficit sacerdotem unam missam in una die celebrare, quia Christus semel passus est, et totum mundum redemit.”—Wilkins’ Concilia, tom. i. p. 104. |
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[1] The term “Lord’s Supper” was first introduced into the Book of Common Prayer, (Edward VI.’s First Book,) to signify the consecration as distinct from the communion. “The LORD’s Supper and Holy Communion;” the latter having come in the year before, (Sparrow’s Collection, “The Order of the Communion, 1547,”) to signify the receptionary part of the office.
[2] I.e. from Easter Day to Trinity Sunday.
[3] The great number of green vestments described as existing, renders it most probable that green was the Sarum ferial colour; there is no other way of accounting for the numerous vestments of that colour.
[4] See note † page 31.
[5] Except in village churches where there is sometimes no sacristy to deposit the elements during the time the ordinary Service is being recited.
[6] They were removed when the chapel was lighted with gas, having been, it is presumed, most improperly used to light the sanctuary at evensong.
[7] Date 1777.
[8] The gift of Archbishop Sancroft.
[9] More than five hundred churches in England have lights upon the Altars.
[10] The Litany was used in the Communion Office of the West until the tenth century.—See Goar, Euchol.
[11] Compare the Rubric at the end of the Communion Office in the First Book of Edward VI., with the corresponding one in our present Service Book.
[12] The present Roman use is for the Celebrant to face respectively the Gospeller and Epistoler at a time when they exercise their special function.
[13] It seems proper to use the colour of the day. See Appendix for Colours to be used on these Festivals.
[14] “It is mete that the breade prepared for the Communion, bee made through all thys Realm, after one sort and fashion: that is to say, unleavened, and rounde, as it was afore, but without all manner of printe, and Lome thyng more larger and thicker then it was, so that it may be deuided in diuers pieces, &c.”—Rubric of Edwd. VI.’s First Book.
[15] The following Prayer (slightly altered) from the “Office of the Prothesis,” from the Liturgy of the Holy Eastern Church, is recommended. “O GOD, our GOD, Who didst send forth the Heavenly Bread, the nourishment of the whole world, our LORD and GOD, JESUS CHRIST, as a saviour and Redeemer and Benefactor, blessing and hallowing us; Thyself bless this oblation, and receive it to Thy Altar: remember, of Thy goodness and love to men, him who is about to offer it, and those for whom it is about to be offered; and keep us without condemnation in the celebration of Thy holy Mysteries. For blessed and hallowed is Thy glorious Name, FATHER, SON, and HOLY GHOST host, now and ever, and to ages of ages. Amen.”
[16] The square maniple is called in the west a “Purificatorium.” No maniple is on any account ever to be used in wiping the chalice after consecration. The maniple was anciently intended to wipe the Priest’s hands so that their moisture might not tarnish the holy vessels: hence its name Sudarium.” See Bona, Lib. I. chaps, xxiv. v. and vi., for an account of the maniple and purificator.
[17] The “memento” of the Faithful departed was left out in the Second Book of Edward VI., and was not restored till the final revision of the English Service Book of 1662.
[18] In the first Post Communion Collect the dead in CHRIST are emphatically prayed for, not merely prayer fully remembered. Blessed be GOD, the English Church still supplicates for those who have gone before, when she prays that “we and ALL HIS WHOLE CHURCH may obtain remission of our sins, and all other benefits of His Passion.”
[19] The main difference between the second book of Edward VI. and the book of Elizabeth consists in the latter restoring to the Church the ancient ornaments which the former had taken from her; the variations in the text are very flight, so that the two books, with the important exception alluded to, are in point of fact identical.
[20] There was a variety of practice as to elevating the cup, covered or uncovered. It would seem that the use of the English Church was to elevate uncovered. See Maskell, Anc. Lit. p. 96.
[21] That is not merely a Bishop, but the Bishop of the diocese, who blesses with the three fingers instead of the whole hand. A Bishop out of his diocese blesses simply as a Priest. At Rome the Pope (as Bishop of that diocese) is the only one who blesses episcopally.
[22] I.e. so that the first finger and thumb of each hand might be within the chalice, and thus washed as well as the cup with wine and water poured over them.
[23] This rule should be carefully observed in case of duplication.