Leo Allatius, in his tract on this rite (at the end of his work, De Ecd. Occ. et Or. Perpetua Consensione'), names several variations. One is on the point just mentioned : "Alii sustoUebant Prresanctificata. Alii non exaltabant, sed tantum modo tangebant" (151)5). An- other important variation is, " Constantinopolitanus pra;- sanctificatum pauem sanguine non tingit; cieteri tin- gunt" (1503). Again, as to the times when the rite is usetl, "Alii, prima et secunda primsB jejuniorum heb- domadis feriis, Proesanctificata non celebrant; alii cele- brant" (1594).
In the Roman Church the omission of consecration is limited to Good Friday and Easter eve. The Missal rubric for " Feria v in Coena Domini" is, " Hodie sacer- dos consecrat duas hostias, quarum unara sumit, alteram reservat pro die sequenti, in quo non conficitur sacra- mentum ; reservat etiam aliquas particulas consecratas, si opus fuerit, pro infirmis ; sanguinem vero totum su- mit; et ante ablutionem digitorum ponit hostiam re- scrvatam in alio calice, quern diaconus palla et patena cooperit, et desuper velum expandit, et in medio altaris collocat."
On Good Friday the reserved host is brought in pro- cession to the altar, after the adoration of the cross, while the hymn is sung, "Vexilla Regis prodeunt." " Cum venerit sacerdos ad altare, posito super illud ca- lice, genufiexus sursum incensat et accedens deponit hostiam ex calice super patenam quara diaconus tenet; et accipiens patenam de manu diaconi, hostiam sacram ponit super corporale, nihil dicens. . . . Interim diaco- nus imponit vinum in calicem et subdiaconus aquam, quam sacerdos non benedicit, nee dicit super eam ora- tionem consuetam ; sed accipiens calicem a diacono po- nit super altare nihil dicens ; et diaconus ilhim cooperit palla." After censing the oblations and the altar, the
priest, turning to the people, says as usual, " Orati fra- tres ut meura ac vestrum sacrificium acceptabile fiat." "Tunc celebrans . . . supponit patenam sacramento, quod in dextera accipiens elevat ut videri possit a po- pulo; et statim supra calicem dividit in tres partes, qua- rum ultimam mittit in calicem more solito, nihil dicens. Pax Domini non dicitur nee Agnus Dei, neque pacis os- culum datur." The priest's prayer before reception fol- lows. " Et sumit Corpus reverenter." " Deinde omissis omnibus qu« dici solent ante sumptionem sanguinis, immediate particulam hostiffi cum vino reverenter su- mit de calice." "Quod ore sumpsimus," etc. "Non di- citur Corpus tuum Domine, nee Post Communio, nee Placeat Tibi, nee datur Benedictio ; sed facta reverentia coram altare sacerdos cum ministris discedit ; et dicun- tur Vesperie sine cantu ; et denudatur altare."
The principle upon which these regulations regarding Lent are founded is that the Eucharist is a feast, and the consecration service is proper only for festivals. The Sabbath as well as the Sunday was a stated feast in the early Church, and the Western Church received the La- odicasan canon ; but in later times in the Roman obedi- ence Saturday has been held a fast. Yet Socrates {E. H. v, 21) tells us that at Rome they fasted three weeks before Easter, excepting Saturdays and Sundays. See Bingham, Orir/ines Ecclesiastics, bk. xv, ch. iv, § 12.
For a statement of the position in which the Church of England stands on these questions, see ^Iwnt, Anno- tated Book of Common Prayer (in the notes for Good Friday). See also Blunt, Diet. Doctrinal and Historical Theology, s. v.
Missa Sicca, or dry service, as it is sometimes called, consists in the recital of the ordinary of the mass without the canon, there being neither consecration nor communion. The rite is described and commented upon by Durandus, Rationale, IV, i, 23 ; Durantus, De Ritibus, II, iv ; Bona, Rerum Liturg. I, xv, G; Martene, De Ant. Eccl. Ritibus, I, iii, 1 ; Bingham, A ntiq. XV, iv, 5 ; Neale, Eastern Church, I, vii, 4. "As the canons forbid priests to celebrate the liturgy more than once in the day, ex- cept in cases of urgent necessity ; and as some covetous and wicked priests were desirous of celebrating more frequently, with the object of receiving oblationj from the people ; they availed themselves of the missa sicca, and thus deceived the people, who intended to offer their prayers and alms at a real commemoration of the sacri- fice of Christ" (Palmer). The earliest mention of this abuse is its condemnation in the Capitulars of Charle- magne (Neale), that is, in A.D. 805 : the leading exam- ple is its practice by St. Louis, who died A.D. 1270. Du- rantus saj^s that the book Liber Sacei-dotalis, in which this rite is described, was approved by Leo X ; and he finds the Missa Sicca in the passage of Socrates, Hist, v, 22, where Leo Allatius finds the rite of the presanctified. The more learned Roman theologians of the IGth cen- tury condemned this abuse, and Bona states its general suppression. Neale, however, saj's that it was common in Belgium as late as A.D. 1780. The rite was never in use in the East, except in Egypt.
Neale has charged the Church of England with de- liberately retaining the Missa Sicca, but Blunt (^Dict. of Hist, and Doctrinal Theol, s. v.) holds that " this charge is without foundation. There is an essential difference between the use of the eucharistic hymns, without whicji the rite could hardly be called a Jlissa, and the use of the prayer for the Church militant only, made real, as far as can be, by the offering of alms. The English custom is not an approval of abstaining from commun- ion, such as certainly was more or less implied in the Missa Sicca, but a practical illustration of the words of the priest's exhortation, ' I for my part sliall be ready,' and a protest against the remissness of the people." See Palmer, Origines Liturgicce, ii, 164, IGo. (J. H. W.)