" The priest who is to celebrate mass must previously confess all his mortal sins, in order that he may feel morally sure tliat he is in a state of grace, since for the recovery of that state by such as have once fallen from it, confession, or contrition, if confession cannot be ob- tained, is absolutely necessary. Confession is unattain- able when there is no confessor, or when there is none but an excommunicated person, or one whose powers have expired, or whose powers do not extend to absolu- tion from the particular sins of which the penitent is guilty, or one who is justly suspected of having betrayed the secrets of confession, or who requires an interjireter, or when it is impossible to go to confession without manifest inconvenience from distance, badness of the roads, inclemency of the season, or the murmurs of the congregation impatient for mass. Even if any of these reasons can be pleaded, no unconfessed priest ought to celebrate mass unless he be compelled bj' menaces of death, or through fear that a sick person may die with- out receiving the viaiiciim, or to avoid scandal when a congregation is waiting, or to finish a mass in which another priest has been accidentally interrupted. If a priest, during the celebration of mass, should recollect that he is in a state of mortal sin, excommunicated or suspended, or that the place in which he is celebrating it is interdicted, he must quit the altar, imless he has already consecrated the host ; and even if he has done so, or any fear of scandal induces him to proceed (as it is morally impossible but that some such fear must arise), he must perform an act of contrition, and make a firm resolution to confess, if in his power, on the very same day. No priest, without committing venial or perhaps mortal sin, can celebrate mass before he has re- cited matins and lauds, unless from the necessity of ad- ministering the viciticnm to the dying, or of exhorting such a one during the night, from pressure of confes- sions on a holiday, or to quiet murmurs among the con- gregation. It is a mortal sin for a priest intending to say mass to taste food, drink, or medicine after the pre- ceding midnight. Even an involuntary transgression of such rules is a mortal sin ; so that a priest offends in that degree if he celebrates mass alter having been forced to eat or drink the smallest morsel or drop while the hour of midnight is striking, or a single moment af- terwards. The exceptions are — 1. To save the profa- nation of the host; thus, if a heretic is about to profane the host, and there be no one else by who can otherwise prevent it, a priest, although not fasting, may swallow it without sin. 2. When a priest has so far proceeded in mass that he cannot stop, as when water has been accidentally put into the chalice instead of wine, and he does not perceive it till he has swallowed it, or when he recollects after consecration that he is not fasting. 3. When, after having performed the larabo, he perceives any scattered fragments of hosts, provided he be still at the altar, these he may eat. 4. To prevent scandal, such as a suspicion that he had committed a crime the night before. 5. To administer the viaticum. 0. To finish a mass commenced by another priest, and acci- dentally interrupted. 7. ^Mien he is dispensed. It is vert/ probably a mortal sin, by autliorities, to celebrate mass before dawn. So also mass must not be celebrated after noon, and never, unless for the dying, on Good Friday. It is a mortal sin to celebrate mass without the necessary vestments and ornaments, or with uncon- secrated vestments, etc., unless in cases of the uttermost necessity. These vestments lose their consecration if any portion has been torn off and sewed on again, not if they are repaired before absolute disjunction, even if it be by a downright patch. No Avorn-out consecrated vestment should be ajiplied to any other purpose ; but it
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should be burned, and the ashes thrown in some place in which they will not be trampled on. But, on the other hand, with a very wise distinction, the precious metals wliich have served profane uses may be applied to sacred purposes, after having been passed through the tire, which changes their very nature by fusion. No dispensation has ever yet been granted by any pope to qualify the rigid precept enjoining the necessity of an altar for mass; and this must have been consecrated by a bishop, not by a simple priest, imless through dispen- sation from the" holy father himself. Three napkins are strictly necessary ; two may suffice if such be the com- mon usage of the country— one in very urgent cases ; and even that, provided it be whole and clean, may be unconsecrated ; but a lighted taper must not on any ac- count be dispensed with, even to secure the receipt of the viaticum by a dying man. IMass must stop if the taper be extinguished and another cannot be obtained. On that account a lamp should be kept burning day and night before every altar on which the host is deposited; and those to whom the care of this lamp appertains com- mit a mortal sin if they neglect it for one whole day. In no case must a woman be allowed to assist a priest at the altar. Certain prevalent superstitions during the celebration of mass are forbidden — such as picking up from the ground, during the sandus of the mass on Palm Sunday, the boxwood consecrated on that day, infusing it for three quarters of an hour, neither more nor less, in spring water, and drinking the water as a cure for the colic; keeping the mouth open during the sandus in the mass for the dead, as a charm against mad dogs; writing the sandus on a piece of virgin parchment, and wearing it as an amulet; saying mass for twenty Fri- days running as a security against dying without con- fession, contrition, full satisfaction, and communion, and in order to obtain admission into heaven thirty days af- ter decease ; ordering a mass of the Holy Ghost to be said in certain churches by way of divination. If a fly or a s])ider fall into the cup before consecration, a fresh cup should be provided ; if after consecration, it should be swallowed, if that can be done without repugnance or danger, otherwise it should be removed, washed with wine, burned after mass, and its ashes thrown into the sacristy. There are some nice precautions to be ob- served in case of the accidental fall of a host among the clothes of a female communicant; if the wafer fall on a napkin, it suffices that the napkin be washed by a sub- deacon ; but if it be stained by no more than a single drop of wine, the office must be performed by a priest.