E SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

CHAPTER the FIFTH.
THE ASPERGES.
THE Asperges, so called from the opening word of the
antiphon, Asperges me, Doniine, hyssopo et mundabor : lavabis
me et super nivem dealbabov "Thou shalt sprinkle me
with hyssop, O Lord, and I shall be cleansed : Thou
shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow,"
is a solemn act of purification by which the Church
prepares her altar, temple, and worshippers for the
holy mysteries of which the material church is about to
be the scene, and the faithful the sharers. At this
Service she makes use of holy water, which has been
blessed for the use of the faithful. (Oakeley, Ceremonies of
the Mass, p. 105.)
" The antiphon says, Thou shalt sprinkle me with
hyssop," because in Exodus xii. 22, by command of
Moses, the transom of the door was sprinkled by the
bunch of hyssop dipped in the blood of the lamb and in
Leviticus xiv. 51, the hyssop is to be left in the blood of
the sparrow that is to be immolated and the house is to
and thus we see the fitness
be sprinkled seven times ;
of the application of the antiphon to the service of
purification.
The priest vested in a cope of the colour proper to