The distinct favour accorded to these Notes in their original shape, has encouraged the Editors to collect them together, and after a careful and thorough revision to issue them in such a form as will make them permanently useful. Some additions have been made, notably an Appendix containing the Prayers of the Celebrant and Sacred Ministers at the Holy Eucharist with some brief Ritual Directions, and also, a copious General Index, which, it is hoped, will be very valuable for ready reference on points of detail as well as to the different sections of the book.
The ritual Use and sequence of colours current in the Western Church having been, happily, all but generally adopted in the ritual movement in England, they have been taken as the basis of this work, subject, of course, to such modifications as are required by the plain directions of our own Book of Common Prayer, which must necessarily have the first claim upon the obedience of English Catholics.
It is unnecessary, of course, at this period and in this place to enter upon any discussion as to the propriety of supplementing the somewhat meagre ritual directions of the Book of Common Prayer. Such an addition is recognised as an essential necessity by all who are desirous that the Services of the Church should be rendered with reverence and dignity, and that the yearly round of the Church’s Seasons should be duly marked and observed, but it may be desirable, perhaps, to say a few words as to the adoption of the present Western Use as our guide in this matter.
The sequence of colours, as remarked above, has been most extensively adopted amongst us, and it admits of so simple and obvious an explanation that the teaching intended to be conveyed can be readily grasped by the least intelligent; it would be unwise, therefore, to discard it for some other, albeit more aesthetic or archaic, or more gratifying to our insular prejudice. As with the colours, so with the ritual rules, they represent a living rite, which is the common form of worship enjoyed by more than one hundred and fifty millions of our fellow Catholics in Western Christendom and is the result, not merely of the studies of a few liturgical scholars, but of the combined experience of many thousands of Clergy in all lands. It seems, therefore, little less than an absurdity to prefer a dead and buried Use, the adoption of which would put us out of harmony with the rest of the Western Church, and the rules of which are so lost in obscurity that the few distinctive features which can be certainly ascertained need to be supplemented, for practical purposes, by “fancy ritual” or by a large infusion of the directions of that very Use which its opponents delight in stigmatising as “Italian ceremonial.”
The Western Use is based upon venerable authority, its rules are quite clear and are readily ascertainable, so that in adapting it for English use the Editors have every confidence that their work will commend itself to those Clergy who are desirous of putting “Before their people a beautiful and dignified ritual, which, while instructive to the worshipper, will sustain that Objective Worship which is the leading idea involved in all the principal Services of the Church, by the direction of the devotion towards some recognizable Divine Presence, especially in the Holy Eucharist, itself the special embodiment of objective worship and its full realization, as therein, “before” men’s “eyes JESUS CHRIST” is “evidently set forth, crucified among” them.—(Gal. iii. 1.)
Great care has been exercised to make this work as complete and accurate as possible, and although it has not been found feasible or desirable in a handbook of this character, to quote the authorities from which the various details are derived, those who use this book may do so with every confidence that its directions are really based on authoritative documents and a painstaking examination of the opinions of the best rubricists.
Lent, 1894.
PAGE |
|
Of the Altars |
1 |
Of the Altar Cross |
1 |
Of the Candlesticks |
1 |
Of the Sacred Vessels |
2 |
Of the Altar Linen |
2 |
Of the Sacred Vestments |
|
i. Of the Vestments generally |
3 |
ii. Of their Colour |
4 |
iii. Of their use |
5 |
iv. Of Folded Chasubles, Humeral Veil, &c., Note A |
48 |
Of the Altar Cards and Missal |
6 |
Of the Special Observances of the Church’s Seasons and of certain Greater Days |
|
Of Advent |
6 |
Of Christmas-tide |
7 |
Of the Epiphany |
8 |
From the Octave of the Epiphany until Septuagesima |
8 |
Of the Feast of the Purification |
8 |
Note B |
48 |
From Septuagesima to Lent |
10 |
Of Lent |
10 |
Of Passion-tide |
11 |
Of Easter-tide |
13 |
Of the Rogation Days and the Feast of the Ascension |
13 |
Of the Feast of Pentecost and Trinity Sunday |
14 |
Of the Feast of Corpus CHRISTI |
14 |
From Trinity Sunday to Advent |
14 |
Of the Commemoration of All Souls |
15 |
Of the Feasts of the Patron and Dedication |
15 |
Of Votive Celebrations of the Holy Eucharist |
16 |
Of the relative Dignity of Feasts, &c. |
|
i. Of the Occurrence |
18 |
ii. Of the Concurrence |
20 |
Of Processions |
21 |
Note C |
48 |
Of the Occasional Offices |
|
Holy Baptism |
23 |
Confirmation |
23 |
Holy Matrimony |
24 |
Churching of Women |
25 |
Visitation of the Sick |
25 |
Burial of the Dead |
26 |
Of the Collects |
27 |
Of the Office Hymns |
28 |
Note D |
48 |
Of Solemn Evensong |
29 |
Of Low Celebrations of the Holy Eucharist |
|
i. Of the Preparation in the Sacristy |
31 |
ii. Of the Approach to the Altar |
32 |
iii. From the Introit to the Offertory |
33 |
iv. From the Offertory to the Canon |
34 |
v. From the Canon until after the Consecration |
37 |
vi. From the Consecration to the Communion of the People |
39 |
vii. From the Communion to the End of the Service |
42 |
viii. Notes for the Server |
44 |
Note E |
50 |
APPENDIX |
|
Additional Notes |
48 |
PAGE |
|
Of the Ceremonies at a High Celebration of the Holy Eucharist |
|
i. Of the General Preparations |
51 |
ii. Of the use of Incense |
51 |
iii. Of the Vesting and the Entrance into the Sanctuary |
52 |
iv. From the Preparatory Prayers to the Offertory |
54 |
v. From the Offertory to the Canon |
66 |
vi. From the Canon to the Communion of the People |
74 |
vii. From the Communion to the End of the Service |
78 |
Special Duties of the Ministers at Solemn Requiems |
84 |
Special Duties of the Ministers where Folded Chasubles are worn |
86 |
Of the Ceremonies at a Choral Celebration of the Holy Eucharist without Deacon and Sub-deacon and without Incense. |
|
i. Of the General Preparations |
87 |
ii. Of the Entrance and Commencement of the Service |
87 |
iii. From the Offertory to the Communion of the People |
88 |
iv. From the Communion to the End of the Service |
89 |
Of the Ceremonies at a Choral Celebration of the Holy Eucharist without Deacon and Sub-deacon but with Incense |
|
i. Of the General Preparations |
90 |
ii. Of the Entrance into the Sanctuary |
90 |
iii. The Celebrant |
90 |
iv. The Master of Ceremonies |
91 |
v. The Acolytes |
92 |
vi. The Torch-bearers |
93 |
vii. The Thurifer |
93 |
Additional Notes for Holy Week |
94 |
Rules for Sacristans |
94 |
Of the Asperges or Sprinkling with Holy Water |
|
i. Of the Order of the Ceremonial |
95 |
ii. Of the Manner of Blessing the Water |
98 |
iii. Of the Order of the Service |
99 |
Of the Absolution for the Dead at Requiems |
|
i. When the Body is Present |
100 |
ii. When the Body is not Present |
102 |
iii. Of the Order of the Service |
103 |
APPENDIX |
|
The Prayers for Celebrant and Sacred Ministers at the Holy Eucharist with some Brief Directions |
105 |
GENERAL INDEX |
114 |
