Charles Philip Augustus Burnett

“ If a ciborium be used, the priest does not take up the paten, but moves the ciborium forward on the corporal, uncovers it, holds it by the stem, with his left hand, and a host over it with his right hand, and proceeds as directed above. Persons to be communicated should present themselves "in order." Bishops, priests, and deacons, duly habited, should kneel at the altar-steps. If any lay persons who are members of Religious orders or communities present themselves, they should kneel at the altar-rail, before and apart from the other people. ”

“ On announcing the Gospel, the priest places his left hand upon the book, makes a small sign of the cross, with the tip of the thumb of his right hand, upon the opening words of the Gospel; and then, placing his left hand near and a little below his breast, he makes similar signs of the cross on his forehead, lips, and breast. While performing these actions the hands are extended, and palms turned towards book and person.
When anything is done with only one hand, the other must be placed on the book, altar, breast, or chalice, as the particular action may require. ”

“ It should be noted that a garment made of linen and shaped like a chasuble, no matter how it may be ornamented, is nothing more than a chasuble-shaped surplice. Surplices shaped like the old-time chasubles have been worn in various places in Europe since the beginning of the twelfth century, but never as a mass-vestment. Putting orphreys on a chasuble-shaped surplice does not make the garment a chasuble any more than the lack of orphreys on a chasuble makes the said vestment anything less or other than a chasuble. ”

“ Most gracious God, incline thy merciful ears to our prayers, and enlighten our hearts by the grace of the Holy Spirit; that we may worthily minister at thy holy mysteries and love thee with an everlasting love. ”

“ In no case should the priest while he is bending his knee down to the floor, or rising again, move hastily, for, even though the reverential spirit be not altogether lacking in the priest, such hasty and undignified action may have the appearance of an act of derision rather than that of an act of reverence. When a genuflection is made at the altar before the consecration, the hands are placed on the altar beyond the corporal, but after the consecration and before the ablutions they should be placed upon the corporal. ”

“ O God, who didst teach the hearts of thy faithful people, by sending to them the light of thy Holy Spirit; grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort. ”

“ When, after the communion, the chalice is covered with the pall (which of old was the posterior fold of the corporal, and) which is to be regarded as a detached part of the corporal, and the paten is covered with the anterior folds of the corporal, both vessels are covered with "a fine linen cloth," so fulfilling the rubrical requirement and continuing the ancient subsidiary use of the corporal as an Eucharistic veil. "There is," Fr. Robinson says, "a mystical reason for covering the sacred vessels with a silken chalice-veil, rather than with a linen chalice-veil, after the communion. ”

“ When the communion is given in one species only, there may indeed be some loss of the special grace signified by the species which is lacking, but no loss of any grace that is needful for salvation. In the species of the consecrated bread, the Body of Christ is not given without His Precious Blood; and in the species of the consecrated wine, Christ's Precious Blood is not given without His Body. To believe otherwise is to accept as true the false doctrine that in the Eucharist we feed upon the dead Christ ”

“ The priest should always retain a firm and controlling hold of the chalice. The people may guide the chalice by taking hold of the base, but ought not to touch the cup. Each communicant should hold head quite erect, drink a very little of the Precious Blood, and carefully refrain from wiping the lips after communicating. When all who are then kneeling at the rail have communicated, the priest returns to the altar, passes his lips over that part of the cup from which the people received the Precious Blood, and then sets down the chalice upon the corporal and covers it with the pall. ”

“ The priest, we are told, should take care that "none shall remain," to be consumed at a later time, by consuming at once what remains; and it is asserted that to defer such consumption until after the Blessing, has no precedent in Catholic Christendom. We are told that "liturgical precedent, Eastern and Western, unanimously assigns the conclusion of the act of Communion, before the post-communion thanksgiving begins, as normally the proper point, in the service, for the consumption of whatever remains of the Sacrament and for the consequent ablutions." ”

“ After he has said the words of consecration the priest raises his head and, holding the host (as before, with both hands) over the paten, he genuflects slowly and devoutly, rises at once in like manner, and elevates the host in a perpendicular line above the paten to a point a little above his head, holds it there for an instant and at once lowers it and places it upon the paten. (From this time until the ablutions the thumb and forefinger of each hand are not to be disjoined except when the consecrated bread has to be touched or handled.) ”

“ The priest, when celebrating the holy Eucharist, ought to wear (over his cassock) an amice, an alb, a stole, a maniple, and a chasuble.
The Amice is a piece of fine white linen, thirty inches long and twenty-four inches wide, or at least about twenty-four inches long and twenty inches wide, having a hem of about one quarter of an inch wide, and two tapes or cords of about a yard long, each of which is attached at one end, one to one and the other to the other of the upper corners. In the middle of the upper part, near the hem, an equal-armed cross should be embroidered in white thread. ”

“ If possible, the priest ought to be assisted at low mass by a server, man or boy, who should be a devout person and well instructed in the duties incumbent upon him at the altar. He should be tidy and clean, and if possible habited in cassock and surplice. In approaching the altar, the server walks a little in advance of the priest, and has his hands joined before his breast. If he carries the book he will hold it with his left hand so that it rests upon his left arm, and keep his right hand before his breast ”

“ When he approaches the altar, returns from it, or moves from one place to another, the priest should walk with solemn gait, hold his head erect, have his eyes cast down and be recollected but not self-conscious. In passing from one part of the altar to another, and when going up or coming down the steps of the altar, the priest should never move sideways nor backward, but should first turn himself so as to face in the direction in which he is to go, and then proceed. ”

“ From the time at which corporals and purificators are put in use at the altar, until the time they are sent away to be laundered, the said articles should not be handled by any person who is not in holy order. Before corporals and purificators, which have been in use at the altar, are sent to be laundered they should be carefully rinsed by the priest himself, or some other clerk in holy order, and the water used for such rinsing should be poured into the sacristy drain, which should empty directly into the earth. ”

“ For the celebration of the holy Eucharist, in close connection with the use of the chalice and paten, the articles called the corporal, the pall, the purificator, the veil, and the burse, are required.
The corporal is a fine white linen cloth, upon which the bread on a paten and the wine in a chalice, are consecrated; and is quite distinct from the "fair white linen cloth" with which the mensa of the altar is to be covered. ”

“ The Collect of the day should have its full ending. If two collects are said, the second also, ordinarily, should have the full ending. If more than two collects are said, only the first and the last should have the full ending. If the collect is addressed to the Father, the full ending should be Through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. ”

“ The ordinary genuflection is made by bringing the right knee to the plane upon which the person is standing, and near to the left foot, the head, meanwhile, being held erect. The priest genuflecting in the mass, rises at once after his knee has touched the floor, save that when the Blessed Sacrament is upon the altar his genuflection should be more than usually deliberate. ”

“ If "Black-letter" days are observed, the red-coloured vestments should be used on festivals of Martyrs, and white on festivals of Confessors and Virgins.
Reverence for our Lord demands reverential care of the things used in his service. In any case waste is sinful, so that proper economy is called for in the manner of wearing and of keeping the sacred vestments. The priest should exercise due care in handling the vestments when putting them on and in taking them off; also that he does not, when vested, press or rub them against the vesting table and the edge of the altar-mensa. ”

“ The eyes are to be raised without movement of the head, and so that the priest looks at the altar-cross. Having been raised they are at once cast down except at the offering of the wine, where they remain uplifted throughout the prayer. ”

“ The modern Roman sequence of colours is certainly convenient, yet we are free to act in accordance with the more ancient custom which paid more regard to richness of material and ornament than to any particular colour, and made use of the best vestments, irrespective of their colour, on the greatest festivals, and relegated such as had seen their best days in festal use to the masses on ferial days. ”

“ To us also, thy sinful servants, who hope in the multitude of thy mercies, grant some portion and fellowship with thy holy Apostles, and Martyrs, and all thy Saints, unto whose company we beseech thee to admit us, through Christ our Lord. ”

“ A plain white linen apparel, about two inches and a half wide and eighteen inches long, is sometimes attached to the upper edge of the amice, to serve as a covering to the stole, lest the latter be soiled by contact with the priest's neck. ”

“ Then, taking the Girdle, he doubles it for about two thirds of its length, and holding the loop thereof in his right hand and the other end of the doubled portion in his left hand, he passes the said portion about his body, upon his loins, puts both ends of the girdle through the loop, draws them taut, and brings the loop to the front; then taking hold of the lower end he passes it, by his right, around his body and then through the second loop thus formed, and drawing both ends taut lets them hang down in front. ”