so many other countries that the Belgian ecclesiastical publisher, M. Dessain of Malines, informs us that he inserts this leaf, containing the special Requiem Preface with the Church's beautiful music, in all his editions of the Missale Romanum and in all Missae pro Defunctis. It is also inserted in the 1903 edition issued by Desclée, Lefebvre & Co., Tournai and Rome. I will now give this Preface in full, not even omitting the opening and closing words that we are all familiar with :— Vere dignum et justum est, aequum et salutare, nos tibi semper et ubique gratias agere, Domine sancte, Pater omnipotens, aeterne Deus, per Christum Dominum nostrum. In quo nobis spem beatae resurrectionis concessisti: ut dum naturam contristat certa moriendi conditio, fidem consoletur futurae immortalitatis promissio. Tuis enim fidelibus, Domine, vita mutatur, non tollitur, et, dissoluta terrestris hujus habitationis domo, aeterna in coelis habitatio comparatur. Et ideo cum Angelis et Archangelis, cum Thronis et Dominationibus, cumque omni militia coelestis exercitus, hymnum gloriae tuae canimus sine fine dicentes : Sanctus, etc. In Australia and in some dioceses of Ireland such as Tuam, and no doubt in many other places, priests have the privilege of saying two dead Masses each week, even when semi-doubles do not occur. For these and for priests whose black Masses are somewhat rarer it would surely be a help to devotion to repeat these words which express so tersely and so beautifully the relation of life and death, of time and eternity. This Praefatio pro Defunctis would be very effective when sung to the Church's sweet and solemn music, especially as the celebrant of High Mass on such occasions is generally able to sing, however it may be with the subdeacon. How simply and how skilfully the sonorous Latin words are arranged, and how clearly the meaning is brought out by their collocation! "Through Christ our Lord. In whom Thou hast granted to us the hope of a blessed resurrection, so that, when the certainty of dying saddens nature, faith may be consoled by the promise of future immortality. For to Thy faithful, O Lord, life is changed, not taken away, and the house of this earthly habitation being dissolved, an everlasting habitation is prepared in heaven. And therefore with Angels and Archangels," etc. Those beautiful words, vita mutatur, non tollitur, are an echo of what we read in the Breviary, August 22, Octave day of the Assumption. The youth Symphorian, who was martyred at Autun under the Emperor Aurelian, gave his neck courageously to the executioner while he heard his mother crying out: "Son, son, remember the life eternal, look up to heaven and behold Him who is reigning there; for life is not snatched away from thee but changed into something better." Tibi vita non eripitur 66 sed mutatur in melius. Changed for the better," not "for a better," which would be in meliorem. In the Tablet of November 26, 1903, "A Hedge Priest proposed the following as an improvement on the translation that I have given: "Through Christ our Lord. In whom Thou hast given us the hope of a glorious resurrection; that, while the immutable condition that we die makes nature sad, the promise of future immortality may be the consolation of our faith. For to Thy faithful ones, O Lord, life is transformed and not destroyed, and with the dissolution of this house of earthly habitation, a habitation is acquired eternal in the heavens, And therefore," etc. Perhaps some reader of this page may at some time be in a position to procure for himself and others the right to preface with these consoling words the Canon of the Missa pro Defunctis. If so, it will be a good work sent before him against the day when this Preface will be sung at the altar before which his mortal remains are halting on their way to a newly-opened grave. But at least I hope I have succeeded in making some of my brother priests wish for this little addition to the Liturgy of the Dead. The other act of piety towards the souls in Purgatory which I presume to recommend, is of a different nature. It only involves a slight change in a priest's private, unofficial prayer, and can therefore be adopted by anyone who thinks the change desirable. For is it not indeed an astonishing omission in the Directio Intentionis ante Missam that we are asked to think only of the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant, ignoring utterly the Ecclesia Patiens? I take for granted that every priest is familiar with the Declaration or Protestation (so it is also called) which begins Ego volo celebrare Missam, and which is, I suppose, found in nearly every sacristy of Christendom and every manual of priestly prayer. What is known about its authorship? Does it date much further back than the pontificate of Gregory XIII, who enriched it with an indulgence of fifty days-not fifty years, as has sometimes been stated erroneously? The latest edition of the Raccolta (1898) gives "cinquanta giorni." This indulgence would not be lost, I hope, by the additions that I dare to suggest, as it would no doubt be lost by the omission which I have noticed in some sacristytablets, in which the little prayer that this Directio Intentionis ends with was left out. Besides the insertion of a distinct reference to the souls in Purgatory, there are two slight changes I should like to make in this "protestation " before Mass. Curia coelestis means "the court of heaven," and this accounts for totius curiae triumphantis ; VOL. XXXVI.-No. 415. but is it well to call God's Church on earth curia militans? Is it not better to speak of the threefold Church as Ecclesia militans, patiens, triumphans ? And, lastly, the comprehensive little petition which is added to the declaration of the priest's sacrificial intention might be made still more complete, more satisfying, if it went beyond even the crowning grace of final perseverance to the reward and crown thereof, life everlasting. By the way, is it not strange and very suggestive that the first grace that all priests, young and old, strong and infirm, grave and gay, are taught to pray for here is gaudium cum pace? Not peace merely, but joy !—joy, even in this vale of tears. "Rejoice in the Lord always." I will now embody these suggestions in a transcript of this authorized formulary, interpolating the modifications I should like to make in it, but underlining the words for which I am responsible, in order that these may reappear italicized after going through the transfiguration of print : Ego volo celebrare Missam et conficere Corpus et Sanguinem Domini Nostri Jesu Christi juxta ritum Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae ad laudem omnipotentis Dei totiusque Eccleriae triumphantis, ad solatium animarum pro quibus nunc volo orare totiusque Ecclesiae patientis, ad utilitatem meam totiusque Ecclesiae militantis, pro omnibus qui se commendaverunt orationibus meis in genere, et in specie pro [N. N.] ac pro felici statu Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae. Amen. Gaudium cum pace, emendationem vitae, spatium verae poenitentiae: gratiam et consolationem Sancti Spiritus, perseverantiam in bonis operibus usque ad finem, et tandem felicem mortem vitamque aeternam tribuat nobis omnipotens et misericors Dominus. Amen. This little discussion will at least, I trust, have the effect of fixing the mind of some priests more closely on the intentions they form before beginning to vest for Mass; and it may sometimes make them think more compassionately of the poor souls in Purgatory who are here (where does that hackneyed phrase come from?) conspicuous by their absence.* M. R. * That wonderful little book, Who said That? (published by George Routledge & Sons) answers the question put in the last parenthesis. In a letter to the electors of London, April 6, 1859, Lord John Russell said of Lord Derby's Reform Bill : Among the defects of the Bill, which were numerous, one provision was conspicuous by its presence and one by its absence." This gave rise to the phrase conspicuous by its absence." A FAMOUS TRIFLE IN Hermes for October, 1907, a writer who calls himself "Crom," assigns to Alfred de Musset this little lyric: La vie est vaine : Un peu d'amour, La vie est brève : But "Crom" not only attributes it to the wrong authorhe quotes it wrongly. I have given it correctly in Hermes amour " and "haine," which evidently pair together, are placed in different quatrains. It is an error, as I have said, to attribute this famous trifle to De Musset; it is by a Belgian poet, Leo Montenaeken, as Mr. William Sharp showed in the Nineteenth Century, September, 1893. IN THE IRISH MONTHLY, Vol. 29, page 139 (1901), a few pages are devoted to it under the title, "Peu de Chose: Eight Versions of Eight Lines"whereas there are only six versions given, the other quotations being parallel passages, for which I was indebted to the curious learning of my friend, Mr. John MacCarthy, son of the sweetest of our Irish poets. It was he also who furnished me with another parallel passage, too late to be used in the article referred to. I will quote it now. George du Maurier concludes Trilby with these lines: A little work, a little play To keep us going-and so, good day! A little warmth, a little light Of love's bestowing-and so, good night! A little fun to match the sorrow Of each day's growing-and so, good morrow! A little trust that, when we die, We reap our sowing! And so-good-bye! In this appendix to our 1901 article I have revealed the name of one who is there merely described as a friend who knows many things that nobody else knows, and who is more ready to employ for others than for himself his hereditary literary gifts.' I will hide in this obscure corner another reve |