secrated species. Then covering the chalice, he goes to the book and reads a versicle of holy Scripture, called the communion ; after which he turns about to the peo- ple with the usual salutation, Dominus vobiscum, and, re- turning to the book, reads the collects or prayers called the post-communion. After which he again greets the people with Dominus vobiscum, and gives them leave to depart with Ite, missa est ; the clerk answering, ' Deo gratias' (Thanks be to God). Then the priest, bowing down before the altar, makes a short prayer to the blessed Trinity ; and then, turning about to the people, gives his blessing to them all, in the name of the blessed Trinity ; and so concludes the mass, by reading the be- ginning of the Gospel according to St. John, which the people hear standing, till these words, ' Et verbiun caro factum est' (And the Word was made tlesh) ; when both priest and people kneel down, in reverence to the mys- terj' of Christ's incarnation. At the end the clerk an- swers, 'Deo gratias' (Thanks be to God). And so the priest returns from the altar to the sacristy, and imvests himself, reciting in the meantime the Benedicite, or the canticle of the three children, inviting all creatures in heaven and earth to praise and bless the Lord. As the mass represents the passion of Christ, and the priest there officiates in his person, so the vestments in which he officiates represent those with which Christ was ig- nominiously clothed at the time of his passion. Thus the amice represents the rag or clout with which the Jews muffled our Saviour's face, when at every blow they bid him prophesy who it was that struck him"' (Luke xxii, 64). The alb represents the white garment with which he was vested by Herod ; the girdle, mani- ple, and stole represent the cords and bands with which he was bound in the different stages of his passion. The chasuble, or outward vestment, represents the purple garment with which he was clothed as a mock king; upon the back of which there is ^ cross, to represent that which Christ bore on his sacred shoidders ; lastly, the priest's tonsure or crown, is to represent the crown of thorns which our Saviour wore. Moreover, as in the old law, the priests, that were wont to officiate in sacred functions, had, by the appointment of God, vestments assigned for that purpose, as well for the greater decency and solemnity of the di\'ine worship, as to signify and represent the virtues which God required of his minis- ters, so it was proper that in the Church of the New Testament Christ's ministers should in their sacred func- tions be distinguished in like manner from the laity by their sacred vestments, which might also represent the virtues which God requires in them : thus the amice, which is first put upon the head, represents divine hdf)e, which the apostle calls the helmet of salvation ; the alb. innocence of life; the girdle, with which the loins are begirt, purity and chastity ; the maniple, which is put on the left arm, patient suffering of the labors of this mortal life ; the stole, the sweet yoke of Christ, to be borne in this life, in order to a happy immortality ; in fine, the chasuble, which is uppermost, and covers all the rest, represents the virtue of charity. In these vest- ments the Churcli makes use of live colors, viz. the w/iite on the feasts of our Lortl, of the blessed Virgin, of the angels, and of the saints that were not martyrs; the red on the feasts of Pentecost, of the invention and exalta- tion of the cross, and of the apostles and martyrs ; the violet, wliich is the penitential color, in the penitential times of Advent and Lent, and upon vigils and ember days; the rp-een on most of the otlier Sundays and ferias thro\:gh()ut the year; and the bliick on (iood Friday, and in the masses for the dead. We make a reverence to the altar upon which mass is said, because it is the seat of these divine mysteries, and a figure of Christ, who is not only our priest and sacrifice, but our altar too, inasmucli as we offer our prayers and sacrifices through him. Lipon the altar we always liave a crucifix, that, as the mass is said in rememl)rance of Christ's passion and death, both priest and people may have before their eyes, during this sacrifice, the image that puts them in
mind of his passion and death. And there are always lighted candles upon the altar during mass, as well to honor the victory and triumph of our (ircat King (which is there celebrated) by these lights, which are tokens (jf our joy and of his glory, as to denote the light of faith, with which we are to approach to him.