HERFORD. ROM. Tunc inclinet se cum junctis manibus ad altare, di cens: PLA Dicto Ite missa est, vel Benedicamus Domino, sacerdos inclinat se ante medium altaris, et manibus junctis super illud, dicit: LACEAT tibi, sancta Trinitas, obsequium servitutis meæ, et præsta: ut (hoc, Herford.) sacri etiam, Te Deum, et Ite missa est, recitamus." Cap. 46. That is, upon the Lord's day and the greater festivals. "Ad missas de Requiem quod attinet, Stephanus Augustodunensis ex 600 jam annis nos monuit loco Ite missa est, dici Requiescant in pace. . . . Non ergo populum per Ite missa est dimitti congrueret, cum fere missam sepultura precesque consequantur, quæ sane persuadere adstantibus debent, ut ne recedant." Le Brun, i. 323; and Belethus, cap. 49. 98 According to the old English uses the mass ended with the "Ite missa est" or the "Benedicamus Domino;" and the people then were at liberty to leave the church: though it is not likely that many left until they knew that the prayer "Placeat tibi" had been said. This prayer was in very early times left to the discretion and devotion of the priest to be said or not as he thought proper. The reason why the final blessing was not given to the people in England before the seventeenth century may probably have been because of the SARUM. BANGOR. EBOR. oculis majestatis tuæ (tuæ majestatis, Ebor. et Bangor.) indignus obtuli, tibi sit (sit tibi, Ebor.) acceptabile : mihique et omnibus pro quibus illud obtuli, sit, te miserante, propitiabile. Qui vivis et regnas (Deus. Per omnia sæcula sæculorum. Amen. Sar. et Bangor.). Qua finita erigat se sacerdos, signans se in facie sua, dicens: Et sic inclinatione facta, eo ordine, quo prius accesserunt ad altare in principio missa, sic induti cum ceroferariis et cæteris ministris redeant. Sacerdos vero in redeundo dicat evangelium:99 In principio.1 episcopal benedictions which were to be said before the Agnus Dei. The date of the addition of the benediction to the Roman use is uncertain: but when first added only a bishop was allowed to give it. Some writers have carried the date up to the tenth or ninth century, because the blessing of the people at the end of the mass is mentioned by early ritualists. But the blessing so spoken of refers to the postcommunion. This is clear from the words of Walafrid Strabo (A.D. 830): "Statutum est, ut populus ante benedictionem sacerdotis non egrediatur de missa. Quæ benedictio intelligitur illa ultima sacerdotis oratio." Cap. 22. Although this prayer is not in the old ordines Romani it is nevertheless very ancient, and occurs in the manuscript edited ficium, quod oculis tuæ majestatis indignus obtuli, tibi sit acceptabile: mihique et omnibus pro quibus illud obtuli, sit, te miserante, propitiabile. (Qui vivis. Herford. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. Rom.) by Illyricus, in many others of equal date, and is noticed by Micrologus. Another reason why the ordines omit it possibly is because in fact the service is already over, having concluded with the "Ite missa est." So in many manuscripts it is headed post missam, and Micrologus says: "Finita missa dicit, Placeat tibi, sancta Trinitas." Cap. 23. 99 This lection was the first fourteen verses of the first chapter of the gospel according to St. John. It has been said that it was not obligatory according to the Roman use until the last revision, after the council of Trent; but the rubrics of the Bangor and Sarum missals do not seem to leave a discretion. In some of the churches of France this last gospel is still read not at the altar but as in England anciently in SARUM. BANGOR. EBOR. returning to the sacristy; in others standing at the entrance to it; and again, in some, in the sacristy. Many of the monastic uses omitted this gospel. The directions when this gospel is now to be omitted according to the Roman liturgy, and another read in its stead, are given in the Rubr. gen. xiij. 2. 1 "Cum vero sacerdos exuerit casulam et alia indumenta sacerdotalia, dicat psalmos subscriptos: cum antiph. Trium. puerorum. ps. Benedicite sacerdotes: usque ad finem cantici. ps. Laudate Dominum in sanctis ejus: totus psalmus. Nunc dimittis servum: cum Gloria Patri, et sicut erat. Deinde dicitur tota antiph. Trium puerorum cantemus hymnum, quem cantabant in camino ignis benedicentes Dominum. Kyrie eleyson. Christe eleyson. Kyrie eleyson. Pater noster. Et ne nos. Sed libera nos. Benedicamus Patrem, et Filium, cum sancto Spiritu. Laudemus et superexaltemus eum in sæcula. Benedictus es Domine in firmamento cœli. Et laudabilis et gloriosus in sæcula. "Benedicat et custodiat nos sancta Trinitas. Amen. Non intres in judicium cum servo tuo, Domine. Quia non justificabitur in conspectu tuo omnis vivens. Domine Deus virtutum converte nos. Et ostende faciem tuam et salvi erimus. Domine exaudi orationem meam. Et clamor meus ad te veniat. Dominus vobiscum. Et cum spiritu tuo. Oremus. "Oratio. "Deus, qui tribus pueris mitigasti flammas ignium, concede propitius, ut nos famulos tuos non exurat flamma vitiorum. "Oratio. Ure igne sancti Spiritus renes nostros et cor nostrum, Domine: ut tibi casto corpore serviamus, et mundo corde placeamus. HERFORD. ROM. Joannem, In principio erat Verbum, vel aliud evang. ut dictum est in rubricis generalibus. Cum dicit, Et verbum caro factum est, genuflectit: In fine, R. Deo gratias. "Oratio. Actiones nostras quæsumus, Domine, aspirando præveni et adjuvando prosequere: ut cuncta nostra operatio et a te semper incipiat, et per te cœpta finiatur. Et finiantur hæ tres orationes sic: Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen." Sar. miss. edit. 1492. The Bangor use agrees in the main with the above. The York has also nearly the same verses and responses with one collect only, viz. "Deus, qui tribus:" headed "¶Orationes post missam communes." The Hereford appoints similar verses and responses and the prayer "Deus, qui tribus," followed by "Alia oratio. Protector in te sperantium Deus, sine quo nihil est validum, nihil sanctum: multiplica super nos misericordiam tuam, ut te rectore, te duce, sic transeamus per bona temporalia, ut non amittamus æterna. Per." On the same page immediately preceding the canon in the Salisbury missal of 1492, upon which is the "oratio dicenda ante missam" which I have already given (note 1. p. 2), is the following "Oratio dicenda post missam. Omnipotens sempiterne Deus Jesu Christe Domine, esto propitius peccatis meis, per assumptionem corporis et sanguinis tui. Tu enim loquens dixisti qui manducat meam carnem et bibit meum sanguinem, in me manet et ego in eo, ideo te supplex deprecor: ut in me cor mundum crees, et spiritum rectum in visceribus meis innoves, et spiritu principali me confirmare digneris, atque ab omnibus insidiis diaboli ac vitiis emundes : ut gaudiorum cœlestium merear esse particeps. Qui vivis et regnas Deus, per omnia sæcula sæculorum. Amen." Many editions contain more prayers to be said at the priest's choice both before and after the service. The Bangor and Hereford missals do not give any: in my copy of the |