Accipe annulum fidei scilicet signaculum, quatents Dei sponsam, sanctam Dei videlicet ecclesiam, inteme rata fide ornatus, illibate custodias. Et repetatur pro quolibet si plures sint. Benedictio mitræ. Deus, cujus providentia statuit ut mitra pontificis caput ornaret, misericordiæ suæ dono concedat, ut hoc capitis ornamentum ministerio bonorum operum ad ornatum animæ convertatur. Per Dominum. Cum datur mitra,39 dicat ordinator: 39 This ceremony is of very late introduction: Catalani supposes that there is no trace of it in any pontifical before the 12th century; but as the reader has already seen, note 33, the Winchester MS. has a reference to it, but without an express prayer: "Hic imponatur mitra capiti ejus." The benediction and prayer both occur in the Bangor pontifical. I do not think it requisite to enter here into the controversy, as to the date at which mitres began to be used in the Western Church. The great authorities for an extreme antiquity are Saussajus, Panoplia Episcopalis, lib. 1. and Joseph Vicecomes, de app. Missa. cap. xxix. Cardinal Bona takes a middle view of the question, by drawing a distinction between the mitre, properly so called, and some other ornament of the head, which, of some kind, was always worn from the primitive ages. Rerum lit. lib. 1. cap. xxiv. Martene, de ant. ecc. rit. lib. 1. cap. iv. following Mabillon. Præf. Sæc. iv. Bened. p. II. clxxxij. takes another ground: that the mitre was always an episcopal ornament, but that for many centuries it was made the subject of an especial grant and privilege from the Pope. Lastly Menard, in his notes to the Sacramentary of S. Gregory, declares that it was not introduced until the 10th century; and he relies upon the fact that there is no mention made of it in the ancient pontificals, nor in the ritualists before that time; either by Alcuin, or Amalarius, etc. This is undoubtedly a very powerful argument, and the only fact by way of evidence which is brought upon the other side, is an account of the examination of some supposed remains of pope Leo the Great: "in quibus super ejus caput mitræ genus inventum est." Georgius. tom. 1. p. 231. So that the question, as regards facts, is still where Menard has left it. The most Deus qui mitræ pontificalis honore te voluit insigaire clementer annuat, ut quæ per mitræ cornua figu-antur, ad tutelam et salutem animæ fortiter et prulenter corde tractes et ore. Per Christum. Et repetatur pro quolibet si plures sint. probable opinion seems to be that of cardinal Bona. But I would add an extract from Innocent III. as to the mystical meaning and signification of the mitre. "Mitra pontificis scientiam utriusque testamenti significat: nam duo cornua, duo sunt testamenta, duæ fimbriæ spiritus, et litera: circulus aureus, qui anteriorem et posteriorem partem complectitur, indicat, quod omnis scriba doctus in regno cœlorum de thesauro suo nova profert, et vetera. Caveat ergo diligenter episcopus, ne prius velit esse magister, quam norit esse discipulus, ne si cæcus cæcum duxerit, ambo in foveam cadant." Lib. 1. cap. xliv. The student can consult also the "Gemma Animæ," cap. 214. Hugo Victorinus, de sacr. lib. 1. cap. 55: both these in the Auctarium to the Bibl. Patrum. tom. 1. And Durandus. lib. 3. cap. xiij. 5. The mitre is a very frequent item in the old English invento ries. 40 There is not any notice of this ceremony in the Anglo-saxon pontificals: the unction, the ring, and the staff are appointed in all of them, but not the mitre or the book of the Gospels. None, also, of the earlier ritualists mention it : Isidore, or Alcuin, or Amalarius: and as it is not enjoined in the Winchester MS. although we find it in the Bangor, we may conclude that it began to be generally adopted in England, soon after the mitre, in the 12th or 13th century. Some writers of the Roman communion have argued that this delivering of the Gospels is "pars materiæ episcopatus:" to this Morinus objects, that the new bishop is after the unction, styled by the rubrics "consecratus," and not "electus." De sacr. Ordin. p. 18. And Catalani agrees with him: Comment. tom. 1. p. 210. But as far as the argument is concerned, it is somewhat curious, that in this particular place, the rubric of the Sarum pontifical does call the bishop, "electus." Nevertheless we may consent to the judgment of Catalani, (however he may have arrived at it, or to serve what end) that all these parts of the ordinal, the staff, ring, mitre, &c., are neither necessary, Accipe evangelium, et vade, prædica populo ti commisso potens est enim Deus augere tibi gratian suam, qui vivit et regnat Deus, per omnia sæcula s culorum. Pax tibi. Resp. Et cum spiritu tuo. Et repetatur pro quolibet si plures sint. Et dominus metropolitanus, vel consecrator, peragat missam. 41 Electus autem juxta præscriptum ordinem consecratus, inclinet se metropolitano vel consecratori gratias referendo, quem duo episcopi adducant in locum ubi provisum est, ubi missam de sancta Maria celebret. Secretum, cum secreto de die: Suscipe, Domine, munera quæ tibi offerimus pro famulo tuo, ut propitius in eodem tua dona custodias. Per Dominum nostrum. Infra canonem. Hanc igitur oblationem servitutis nostræ, sed et cunctæ familiæ tuæ, quam tibi offerimus, etiam pro famulo tuo quem ad episcopatus ordinem promovere nor essential; to use his words, resting on his argument from the term consecratus, “Quod quidem indicium est minime obscurum, nostrum Romanum pontificale, traditiones illas baculi, annuli, et evangelii habere, ut meras cæremonias consecrato episcopo accedentes." Ibid. 41 The rubric in this place of the Exeter pontifical throws some light upon that in the text, but it does not specify the mass which was to be said. ex "Et tunc legatur evangelium ; quo lecto, episcopus novus more Romanæ ecclesiæ ex institutione papa Melchiadis habet offerre duos magnos panes, duas amphoras vini, et duos magnos cereos, sed istas oblationes non observat ecclesia Anglicana: sed lecto evangelio, recedat episcopus, de novo consecratus, quem deducant duo episcopi ad locum ubi missam est celebraturus. Postea dominus consecrator inceptam missam peragat.” ignatus es, quæsumus Domine, ut placatus accipias, t propitius in eo tua dona custodias; ut quod divino unere consecutus est, divinis effectibus exequatur : iesque nostros: Et cætera omnia sicut continentur in anone missæ. Postcommunio. Plenum, quæsumus Domine, in nobis remedium tuæ niserationis operare; et tales nos esse perfice propiius, et sic foveri, ut tibi in omnibus placere valeamus. Per Dominum. Alia missa in ordinatione episcopi. Deus, qui ad ineffabilis observantiam sacramenti famulorum tuorum præparas voluntates, donis tuis corda nostra purifica, ut quod sancta est devotione tractandum, sinceris mentibus exequamur. Per. Secretum. Hæc hostia, quæsumus Domine, emundet nostra delicta et sacrificium celebrandum subditorum tibi corpora mentes sanctificet. Per Dominum. Infra canonem. Hanc igitur. Post communio. Hæc nos communio, Domine, purget a crimine, et cœlestis remedii faciat esse consortes, per Dominum. Item alia missa episcopi pro se in die ordinationis suæ. Oratio. Deus, qui non propriis suffragantibus meritis sed sola ineffabilis gratiæ largitate me familiæ tuæ præesse voluisti: tribue me tibi digne persolvere ministerium sacerdotalis officii et ecclesiasticis convenienter servire mysteriis, plebemque mihi commissam, te in omnibus protegente, gubernare concede. Per Dominum. Secretum. Ad gloriam, Domine, tui nominis, annua festa re petentes sacerdotalis officii, hostiam tibi laudis offerimus, suppliciter exorantes, ut cujus ministerii vice tibi servimus immeriti, suffragiis reddamur accepti. Per Dominum. Infra canonem. Hanc igitur oblationem quam tibi offero ego famulus tuus et sacerdos, ob diem in qua me dignatus es in ministerio sacro constituere sacerdotem, obsecro, Domine, placatus accipias, unde majestatem tuam exoro ut quod in me largiri dignatus es, propitius custodire digneris diesque nostros. Benedictio super populum. Deus, qui me indignum et peccatorem ad pontificale officium dignatus est promovere, sua vos illustret atque sanctificet benedictione. Amen. Donet mihi per gratiam suam bene operandi facultatem: et vobis sui famulatus promptissimam obeditionem. Amen. Sicque vos doctrinis spiritualibus et operibus bonis repleri in præsenti vita concedat: ut ad pascua vitæ æternæ cum cæteris ovibus suis vos pariter introducat. Amen. Quod ipse præstare dignetur. Postcommunio. Repleantur consolationibus tuis, quæsumus Domine, tuorum corda fidelium, pariterque et de ecclesiæ præsule, et de suorum votorum plenitudine, gratiarum tibi referant actiones. Officium. Sacerdotes Dei benedicite Dominum: sancti et humiles corde laudate Deum. In tempore paschali: Alleluia. Psalmus. Benedicite omnia opera Domini Domino : laudate et superexaltate eum, in sæcula. |