all sin those who accept of his atonement in righteous- ness. See Imporits : Six.
In the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Church, as well ,-i ime ol the ultra-ritualistic churches which still cling to Protestantism, acts of purification prevail to tent. There is, firstly, the act of purification
after the communion in the mas~. It relates | ,; | t,. the
purification of tin. chalice : - wine is poured into it
by the servant of the altar, and slightly shaken with a circular motion, to take in all particles of the holy blond :
then the chalice is emptied in two draughts, the mouth touching the same place from which the holy blood has been drunk. During this performance the prayer Qftod ore sumsimua i- recited: this prayer stands in an old Gothic missal of Charlemagne's time as Postcommunio. In the oldest times of Christianity the purification of the chalice was done with water, which was afterwards poured into a special vessel placed at the side of the altar, and called piscina (q. v.). It was Innocent III who directed that the purification of the ehaliee should In- done with wine, (b) To the periodical purification of the ciborium (<\. v. }, which is performed after the par- taking of the holy blood and before the purification of the chalice, by gathering with wine the rest of the holy bloodlefl in the ciborium, and emptying it as before, and then wiping out its inside with thepuriftcatorium (q. v.). There is, secondly, the act of purification for women, which has been derived through rather than from the Jewish rite (Lev. xii). It is based upon the practice of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose compliance with the de- mand of the Jewish ceremonial law is related in Luke ii, 22-24. The Romish Church has in commemoration of this purification act instituted a festival called Feast of Purification of tin- Blessed Virgin Mary; and as by the Levitical law the ceremony was appointed for the fortieth day after childbirth, the feast is put on Feb. 2 (reckoning from Dec. 25. the Natis ity of Christ). As on the same occasion the Holy Virgin complied also with the law of Numb, xviii. 15, by the offering prescribed in redemption of the first-born, the festival is also called by the name of the Presentation ofth Child Jesus, or the Feast of Simeon, and sometimes, also, of the Meeting (occursus), in allusion to Simeon's meeting the Virgin Mother, and taking the child into his arms (Luke ii. 25 ). The date of the introduction of this festival is uncertain. The first clear trace of it is about the middle of the 5th century, during the reign of Marcia, and in the Church of Jerusalem. Its introduction in the Roman Church, in 494, was made by pope Gelasius the occasion of trans- ferring to a Christian use the festivities which at that season were annexed to the pagan festival of the Luper- calia.
In the Church of England, the restoration of woman to the privileges of the Church is accompanied by a sol- emn thanksgiving for deliverance in her great danger. The title of the service. The Thanksgiving of II omen after Childbirth, was adopted in 1552 to bring this point into prominence. The old Sarum title. Ordo ml Purifi- candam Mulierem post Partum, and that in the Prayer- book of 1549, 'I'h' Order ofth Purification of l! b nen, seemed to mark an unholiness in the woman which the service removed. The Puritans objected to the use of the service for this very reason —"For what else doth this churching imply hut a restoring her unto the ( hurch, which cannot be without some bar or shutting forth pre- supposed?" They complained, too, against such indi- vidualizing of prayer and praise (see the controversy between Cartwright andWhitgifi and Hooker, in Kc- ble, 3d ed. of Hooker's Works, ii. 434-438). In the Sarum use the service was read at the church door, ante ostium ecclesia ; in the book of 1549, -nigh unto the quire door," afterwards at the altar rails: now at •■some convenient place." The solemn readmission of the woman to divine service of the Sarum use has been wholly discontinued. The Look of Common Prayer re- quires of the woman to he -decently apparelled," which means that she shall appear .-it church veiled. Hooker gives an instance where a woman appeared unveiled and was therefore excommunicated, and when the case
was appealed to the bishops tiny confirmed the de- cision. Palmer says that all ill. We-t, en rituals and
that of Constantinople had offices for this rite. A ser- vice of the 10th century is given by Migne, Cursus (Paris. 1841), exxxviii: "Benedictio Puerperse secun- dum usum .I'.thiopum." The anointing the forehead of
the woman and child, SOi ra n iirlimi, . the imposition of hands, the reception of holy communion, the giving of
PURIFICATION-OFFERINGS 801 PURIFICATION -WATERS
incense, are parts of this rite. Sec Siegel, Christliche Atterthiimer (Index in vol. iv); Kiddle, Christian An- tiquities (see Index) ; Brit. Quar. Rev. July, 187 1 , p. 1 10. See also Ablution. (J. H. W.)
Purification-offerings were such as the law en- joined upon those who had been raised from leprosy, unclean issues, haemorrhages, and childbed. See Pol- lution. Those for lepers were the most burdensome, since a trespass-offering was among them.