called his chronicle, has an extract which I would quote: concerning a young man, who "was howsled and anelid and soo died, and a fewe daies after he apiered-and seid he was dampned, for he had will if he myght haue lyued to haue turned to his synne ageyn:—therefore, he sayd, alle my confession and all that I did in ressauying my sacramentis, it auayled me not;-for our Lord seyth in the gospel of John, qui manducat et bibit indigne judicium sibi manducat et bibit. etc." p. 223.

There are instances in which the term "viaticum" is not to be understood of the last communion of the sick. Thus, in the constitutions of Otho; "Prædictæ vero concubinæ clericorum, ab ingressu ecclesiæ, dum celebrantur divina, penitus arceantur, nec eis paschali tempore tribuatur viaticum, cum judicium sibi manducant et bibunt, qui illud indigne assumunt." Concil. tom. 2. p. 5. Compare also, the constitutions of archbishop Peckham, ibid. p. 52. in which our Blessed Lord is said to have given Himself, "infinito amore, in viaticum ecclesiæ."

During pestilence, permission was sometimes granted, to receive the viaticum at the hands of a deacon: but not extreme unction: "sacramentum eucharistiæ in absentia presbyteri poterit per diaconum ministrari. Si vero non sit presbyter, qui sacramentum unctionis extremæ ministret, debet, sicut in aliis, fides sufficere sacramenti." Ibid. p. 746. 746. See above, p. cix. and, vol. 1. p. 89.

The light, so frequently ordered in earlier times, was forbidden in 1549. "Item, that going to the sick with the sacrament the minister have not with him either light or bells." But, in the reign of Q. Mary, the old rules were enjoined once more, as appears from one of cardinal Pole's visitation articles, of 1557: "Whether

the sacrament be carried devoutly to them that fall sick, with light, and with a little sacring bell?" Ibid. tom. 4. p. 33. 170. Compare the 12th decree of Pole's Reformatio Angliæ.

At the administration of the communion to the sick a candle was to be always lighted, according to some constitutions of the diocese of Sodor, in 1291: and this is a rule which was, I have little doubt, generally observed, as appears from illuminations in manuscripts. "Cum ad infirmos accesserint, moneant eos salubriter, nec aliquos sine candela accensa de cera communicet." Concil. tom. 2. 175. Clergy, whilst carrying the Holy Eucharist to the sick, were privileged from arrest; and an infringement of this, formed one of the grounds of complaint of the convocation of 1399. Ibid. tom. 3. 245. Foreign canonists have extended this privilege so far, as to assert that persons might avail themselves of the protection of such a procession: "sacerdos eucharistiam deferens ad se confugientibus asylum præstat." Cf. Devoti. Instit. Canon. tom. 2. p. 333. Ferrarius. Bibliotheca. verb. Immunitas. Giraldus. Expos. Juris. pontif. 1. §. 637.

p.

P. ccxxxiv. l. 33. From a remark in Matthew Paris, Hist. p. 707, it would seem, that after the rite of extreme unction all ornaments were removed from the person and from the same author, that in some monasteries, certainly in S. Alban's, the sick members were conveyed to the infirmary to receive it. "Sustentantes eum hinc inde fratres, duxerunt eum prout præcepit in infirmariam, ubi solemniter super lapidem ad hoc consuetum, oleo sancto infirmorum est inunctus, et salutis viatico communitus." p. 1045.

P. ccxl. l. 5. A payment or fee was due for this. Lanfranc says, in an epistle to a bishop of Chichester: "Chrisma tamen a vobis accipiant, et ea, quæ antiqui

tus instituta sunt, in chrismatis acceptione persolvant." These fees were sometimes granted to the support of monasteries: "ego Ernulphus, episcopus, concessi in perpetuum ad ædificandas et sustentandas domos monachorum, denarios, quos presbyteri parochiani solent reddere, quando chrisma accipiunt." Textus Roffen. p. 192: and the same manuscript has an account of the various payments which were to be made by each parish and chapelry in the diocese. p. 228. A singular use also appears very anciently to have been made of these periodical attendances upon their diocesan by the parochial clergy. "We enjoin, that every priest be able to declare, when he fetches chrism, what he has done in prayers for king and bishop." Canons under K. Edgar. Thorpe. vol. 2. p. 259. Probably it was an opportunity for the purpose of making other enquiries, into the condition of the people and clergy. Hence, there were frequent rules passed for the residence of bishops at their cathedrals, on the stated times of the year for the consecration of chrism: compare the Concilia: tom. 2. p. 10. tom. 3. p. 613.

Monasteries frequently obtained the privilege of applying to any bishop, (to the prejudice of their diocesan) for chrism. See above, p. cxxvi, and Thorn's chronicle, Script. x. tom. 2. p. 1835.

P. ccxlj. l. 15. The penitential of archbishop Theodore says: "si quis sepulchrum violaverit. vij. annos, iij. in pane et aqua." Thorpe, Anglo-saxon laws. vol. 2. p. 28. And the excerpts of Egbert add to this rule; "Si clericus in demoliendis sepulchris fuerit deprehensus, a clericatus ordine pro sacrilegio submoveatur." ibid. p. 108. In later years, one of the canons under king Edgar, laid upon penitents the especial duty of burying the dead. ibid. p. 283. Compare the

laws of Keneth of Scotland, in 840: "Sepulchrum omne sacrum habeto, idque crucis signo adornato, quod ne pede aliquando conculces, caveto." Concil.

tom. 1. p. 180.

In the year 1518, some constitutions of the province of York, reenacting earlier canons, decreed: "Firmiter inhibemus, ne cuiquam communio corporis Christi, vel morienti ecclesiastica sepultura, prætextu cujuslibet debiti, denegetur." Concil. tom. 3. p. 672.

P. ccxlij. l. 4. Among the fragments and capitula of archbishop Theodore, is the following, both interesting and important: "Quæsitum est ab aliquibus fratribus, de his qui in patibulo suspenduntur pro suis sceleribus, post confessionem Deo peractam, utrum cadavera illorum ad ecclesiam deferenda sint, an non?" Thorpe. vol. 2. p. 73. And it is said, that the Holy Eucharist might be given, but nothing is decided as to burial: unless that might be supposed to follow, after reception of the communion, as a matter of course. Some centuries later, Elfric, in his homily of "the Greater Litany," laid down more strictly, "the possessions of no sinful man are to be received at his end, nor let his corpse be buried in a holy place." vol. 2. p. 345.

P. ccxliv. l. 29. It was usual to carry lighted candles, before the corpse, to the church; and omens were drawn from their continuing lighted. Many allusions to this occur in the chronicles: I take one from Matthew Paris: upon the burial of an earl of Salisbury, in 1226. "Contigit autem, quod dum de castello ad novam ecclesiam corpus ejus ad tumulandum portaretur, cerei qui cum cruce et thuribulo de more portabantur accensi, inter pluviarum effusiones, et ventorum tur

bines, lumen continuum in itinere ministrabant; ut aperte ostenderent comitem tam ardue pœnitentem, ad lucis filios pertinere." Hist. Angl. p. 277. Compare an order about the funeral taper, in the Concilia, tom. p. 567.

3.

P. cclv. l. 20. There was anciently a small fee attached to the hallowing of water: this was called the "beneficium aquæ benedictæ," and was usually given to some poor scholar or clerk. I have not met with a similar rule in foreign churches; and it seems to have been peculiar to England. Thus it was ordered in some constitutions of the diocese of Salisbury, in 1256: "Personæ vel vicarii dabunt beneficium aquæ benedictæ clerico pauperi scholari, ita quod veniat omnibus solennibus diebus ad ecclesiæ serviendum, de qua habet dictum beneficium. "Concil. tom. 1. p. 714. This disposal of it was occasionally disputed by the parishioners; and the synod of Exeter, 1287, repeats the order, adding, "si parochiani malitiose subtrahere velint eleemosynas consuetas, ad ipsas sibi largiendas solicite moneantur, et, si necesse fuerit, compellantur." ibid. tom. 2. p. 147. In a constitution of the diocese of Winchester, in the year 1308, it is spoken of as the "beneficium aquæ portandæ," which, in like manner, is to be applied to the support of poor scholars. ibid. p. 297. And from a decree of archbishop Courtney, in 1393, it would seem, that a part of the duties of these "clerici aquæbajuli," was to carry the holy water, into various parts of the neighbouring parishes: and sprinkle houses with it; that is, doubtless, if they were required to do so: as it is plainly expressed in a diocesan canon of the bishop of Coventry, in 1247; "quia plerique scholares carent necessariis, quorum scientia multi per gratiam Dei potuerunt ædificari;