E SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
Milton. Remember that the Mass has the privilege
of arousing the warmest love of the saint and the
undying hatred of the heretic. Whenever heresy
arises, its most bitter persecution
is reserved for the
Mass, and in no land did that persecution wax more
furious than in England. A love of the Mass is an
infallible test of a nation s faith ; where devotion to
Mass is weak, the faith is certain to wane. If you wish
to find a people who have kept the faith through an
almost passionate love for the Mass, look at Ireland,
where in Dublin alone some 40,000 hear Mass daily.
To increase the love for Holy Mass I have
endeavoured to explain every word and allusion found
in the Ordinary of the Mass which throws light on the
doctrine of the Blessed Eucharist, as also those expres
sions and phrases which to many are unintelligible
because they may never have been explained.
This little book is meant for all classes ; for the
educated and the labouring man, for the home, the
convent, ecclesiastical seminaries, for boys and girls
at school, and especially for converts. Priests may
sometimes find in it thoughts of saints and theologians
that will make the privilege of ministering at the altar
even more highly prized.
In conclusion, I have to express my deep indebted
ness to the following works : Rock s Hierurgia, the
Catholic Dictionary (Sixth Edition, 1903),
Le Brun s
famous treatise on the Mass, Canon Oakeley s Explana
tion of the Ceremonies of the Mass, Benedict XIV. on the