E SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
the Mass, are so many signs which express thought
more plainly than words. (Vol. I. Preface, p. 16.)
Some Rubrics carry us back to the very earliest time :
they are speaking records of the past.
remember this," says the Bishop of Newport
beautiful work (Our Divine Saviour, p. 282),
"
" Let
us all
in his
there is not
a ceremony of the Mass, not a prayer, not a genu
flexion, not a vestment worn which has not been
prescribed by ancient saints, if not by the Apostles
themselves, and which has not upon it the stamp and
sanctity of a hoary and venerable tradition. There is
not a symbol of office in the country, not a crown or
a flag, a chain or a robe, which is not of yesterday,
compared with the stole and chasuble of the priest at
the altar."
It will interest our readers to know that there is
hardly a Rubric ever used which may not yet be found,
either whole or in part, in the ceremonies employed in
the Church to-day. If we do not find it in High Mass
we shall find it in Low, if not in the Mass of a priest,
at least in that of a Bishop or perhaps in the Pope s
solemn Mass, said three times a year on the feasts of
Christmas, Easter, and SS. Peter and Paul. Some
times rites no longer seen in the Roman Mass, still find
a place in the rites peculiar to certain Religious Orders
or in Votive Masses. Let us illustrate our meaning
by examples.
To begin with, the derivation of the word Mass
reveals the existence of a rubric which for ages has