E SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
passed away. Mass comes to us from the Latin Missa.
Missa is another form of Missio, meaning dismissal,
just as collecta (a collect) is another form of collectio, and
repulsa of repulsio in the line from Horace, Virtus repulses
nescia sordid^, not to quote other examples. Now,
in the Liturgy there were two solemn dismissals
first, of the catechumens after the Gospel ; next, of
the faithful at the end of the Service. The word for
dismissal came to denote the Service from which
there were two solemn dismissals. If further,
it be
asked why the catechumens were dismissed after the
Gospel, the answer requires a brief explanation of
what is called the Discipline of the Secret (Disciplina
arcani). By the Discipline of the Secret, we mean the
custom which prevailed in the early Church, say, from
the end of the second to the close of the sixth century,
of concealing from heathens and catechumens under
instruction for the Church the most sacred doctrines
of the Faith. This secrecy was preserved by the early
Christians from the natural fear that the knowledge
of their doctrines might increase the violence of per
secution, or expose such doctrines to ridicule or pro
fanation. The catechumens were ordered to withdraw
after the Gospel, because at that point the preparation
for the Sacrifice begins.
Another rubric still in daily use reminds us of the
Discipline of the Secret, though some of our readers
may be unaware of the connection. Why is the Pater
noster said audibly at Mass, and in secret at the Little
b