Ceremoiiij. — The following office of the mass is ex- tracted from the Gurdeii of the Soul, prepared by the late bishop Clialloner, and may be accepted, therefore, as the authorized rite of the English IJoman Catholics: "At the beginning of the mass, the priest at the foot of the altar makes the sign of the cross, ' In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy (ihost ; amen,' and then recites with the clerk tlie I'id I'sahn — K/iidica me, Dens,' etc. Then the priest, bowing down, "says the CoiifUeor, by, way of a general- confession to tiod, to the whole court of heaven, and to all the faithful there pres- ent, of his sins and unworthiness, and to beg their pray- ers to God for him. And the clerk, in the name of the people, prays for the priest, that God Avould have mercy
on him, and forgive him his sins, and bring him to ev- erlasting life. Then, in the name of all there present, the clerk makes the like general confession to God, to the whole court of heaven, and to the priest, and begs his prayers. And the priest prays to God to show mercy to all his people, and to grant them pardon, absolution, and remission of all their sins. Which is done to the end that both priest and people may put themselves in a penitential spirit, in order to assist worthily at this divine sacrifice. After the Confiteor the priest goes up to the altar, saying, 'Take away from us, we beseech thee, O Lord, oiu: iniquities, that we maj' be worthy to enter with pure minds into the holy of holies, through Christ our Lord ; amen,' and kisses the altar as a fig- ure of Christ, and the seat of the sacred mysteries. When the priest is come up to the altar, he goes to the book, and there reads what is called the introit or en- trance of the mass, which is different every day, and is generally an anthem taken out of the Scripture, with the first verse of one of the Psalms, and the Glory be to the Father, etc., to glorify the blessed Trinity. The priest returns to the middle of the altar, and says alter- nately with the clerk the Kyrie eleison, or Lord have mercy on us, which is said three times to God the Fa- ther; three times Christe eleison, or Christ have mercy on us, to God the Son ; and three times again Kyrie elei- son, to God the IIolj' Ghost. After the Kyrie eleison, the priest recites the ' Gloria in Excelsis,' or Glory be to God on high, etc., being an excellent hymn and prayer to God, the beginning of which was sung by the angels at the birth of Christ. But this, being a hymn of J03-, is omitted in the masses of reqviem for the dead, and in the masses of the Sundays and ferias of the penitential times of Advent and Lent, etc. At the end of the Glo- ria in Excelsis the priest kisses the altar, and, turning about to the people, says, ' Dominus vobiscum' (The Lord be with you). Answer : ' Et cum spiritu tuo' (And with thy spirit). The priest returns to the book, and says, ' Orcmus' (Let us pray), and then reads the collect or collects of the day, concluding them with the usual termination, 'Per Dominum nostrum,' etc. (Through our Lord Jesus Christ, etc.), with which the Church commonly concludes all her prayers. The col- lects being ended, the priest lays his hands upon the book and reads the epistle or lesson of the day, at the end of which the clerk answers, ' Deo gratias' (Thanks be to God) — viz., for the heavenly doctrine there deliv- ered. Then follow some verses or sentences of Scrip- ture, called the gradind, which are ever\- day different. After this the book is removed to the other side of the altar, in order to the reading of the Gospel for the day ; which removal of the book represents the passing from the preaching of the old law, figured by the lesson or epistle, to the Gospel of Jesus Christ published by the preachers of the new law. The jiriest, before he reads the Gospel, stands awhile bowing down before the mid- dle of the altar, begging of God in secret to cleanse his heart and his liijs, that he may be worthy to declare those heavenly words. At the beginning of the Gospel the priest greets the people with the usual salutation — 'Dominus vobiscum' (The Lord be with yon), and then tells out of which of the evangelists the Gospel is taken, saying, ' Sequentia S. Evangelii secundum,' etc. (What follows is of the holy Gospel, etc.). At these words both priest and people make the sign of the cross: 1st. upon their foreheads, to signify that they are not ashamed of the cross of Christ and his doctrine ; 2d, upon their mouths, to signify they will ever profess it in words; 3d, upon their breasts, to signify that they will always keep it in their hearts. The clerk answers, ' Gloria tibi, Domine' (( ilory be to thee, O Lord). At the Gospel the people stand up, ro declare by that posture their readi- ness to go and do whatsoever they shall be commanded by the Saviour in his Gospel. At the end of the Gospel the clerk answers, ' Laus tibi, Christe' (Praise be to thee, O Christ), and the priest kisses the book in reverence to those sacred words he has been reading out of it. Then