CANON
265
CANON
our prayers to Him (Tob.,xii, 12, etc.). We have al-
ready seen that the order and arrangement of our
Canon presents difficulties: this is a further case in
point. As for the vanished Invocation itself, it will
probably always remain a mystery what lias become
of it. Watterich (op. cit.. p. 142) thinks that it was
Gelasius himself who removed it from this place and
put it before the words of Institution. And indeed
the prayer "Quam oblationem" has a curious sugges-
tion of an Invocation in its terms. On the other hand
an Epiklesis before the words of Institution would be
an anomaly unparalleled in any rite in the v orld. To
come back to the rubrics, the celebrant has resumed
the normal attitude of standing with uplifted hands
after the " Unde et memores", except that now the
forefingers and thumbs remain joined; at the "Sup-
plices te rogamus" he bows deeply over the altar — a
ceremony obviously in accordance with the nature of
its first words — resting his joined hands on it; ami he
stays so to the words ex hac altaris participatione",
at which he kisses the altar, rises, joins his hands, and
makes the sign of the cross over the Host at "Cor-
pus", over the chalice at "Sanguinem", and on him-
self at "omni benedictione" (while he crosses himself,
the left hand is. as always in this case, laid on the
breast ). He joins his hands for " Per eumdem", etc.,
and lifts them up for the next prayer. The next two
prayers complete the Intercession, of which we have
the greater part before the Consecration.
CommemoraHo pro dejunctis. — The place of this prayer has often been changed (Ebner, Miss. Rom., 42H i. If we accept Drews' theory that an original memory of the faithful departed was once joined to what is now the second half of the "Hanc igitur", it would follow that this prayer must be a later one, introduced after the "Hanc igitur" had changed its meaning. This is confirmed by the fact that it is ab- sent from the Canon in the Gelasian Sacramentary (ed. Wilson, 235). Why ".Memento etiam"? Tin's would seem to refer to a commemoration of some one else, that should come just before. If we arrange the Canon as above, this prayer comes naturally just after the Commemoration of the Living and the "Com- municantes" (we have seen that such is the order of the Eastern liturgies), and then this "etiam" refers quite naturally to the parallel commemoration of the living. In any case it must always be a mystery that these two last prayers, obviously forming the conclu- sion of the Intercession, should stand out here by themselves. Gihr finds a mystic reason for this, be- cause the living offer with the priest, but the dead do not (Messopfer, 626). The ritual is the same as for the other Memento. The celebrant may not now say any names at the place marked "N. et N."; passing on, he reads "Famularumque tuarum, qui nos praces- serunt", etc.. and after "in somno pacis", folding his hands, he silent lv prays for anyone he likes. The diptychs of the dead of course once were read here. Now no names are ever read out at either Commemo- ration. Benedict XIV quotes a case in which names were read out at the " X. et X." in the sixteenth cent- ui. lie SS. Missae Sacr., 220). At the final clause, "Per eumdem", etc., the priest not only folds his hands but bows the head — a unique case in the Roman Rite, for which there has not been found any satisfac- tory explanation. Benedict XIV quotes from Cava- lieri a mysl ic reason — because Christ bowed His head when He died, and we here think of the dead (p. 219). The rubric occurs in Pius V's Missal.
Xobis quoque peccatonbus. — A prayer for ourselves that naturally follows that for the faithful departed, although the Commemoration for the Living has gone before. So the Eastern liturgies (St. James, Bright- man, 57; St. Mark, ib., 129). The parallel between this prayer and the latter half of the "Hanc igitur" has already been noticed. It is a petition that we too may find a good death and be admitted to the glorious
company of the saints. The names of saints that fol-
low are arranged rhythmically, as in "Communi-
cantes". Like the others they are all martyrs. First
comes St. John the Baptist, as Our Lady before, then
seven men and seven women. After the first martyr,
St. Stephen, St. Matthias finds here the place he lias
not been given among the Apostles in the other list.
The Peter here is a Roman exorcist martyred at Silva
Candida (now part of the Diocese of Porto, near
Rome). His feast with St. Marcellinus is on 2 June.
The female saints are all well known. Benedict XIV
quotes from Adalbert, "De Virginitate", that St.
Gregory I, having noticed that no female saints occur
in the Canon, added these seven here (p. 162). This
list of saints, like the other one, was subject to local
additions in the Middle Ages (ib., 223). The cele-
brant strikes his breast and slightly raises his voice
at the words: "Nobis quoque peccatoribus". This
rite (the only case of part of the Canon being spoken
aloud, if we except the " Per omnia saecula saeculorum "
that closes it) is a reminder to the assistants that he
has come to the prayer for all of those now present,
in which prayer they may join. There is no Amen
after the "Per Christum Dominum nostrum", since
now the following words, "Per quern", follow it at
once. Nevertheless after it comes a noticeable break
in the Canon.
Per quern hcec omnia, again a difficult text. It has no connexion with what goes before; the words "hasc omnia" refer to nothing in the former prayer. More- over, t he prayer itself is not easily explained. God is said to "sanctify, enliven, bless and give to us these good things". What good things? Such a form as applied to what is already the Blessed Sacrament is very strange. Duchesne notes that at this point fruits of the earth and various kinds of foods were brought up and blessed by the celebrant; thus the milk and honey once given to the newly baptized at Easter and Whitsunday, beans on Ascension day, grapes on the feast of St. Sixtus (6 August). And even yet at this point the Holy Oils are blessed on Maundy Thursday (Origines, 174-75). He sees in this prayer, then, an old blessing of such fruits; the " haec omnia bona" were once the good things of the earth. Now the form must be taken as again a dramatic represen- tation like the sign of the cross after the Consecration. Finally this prayer and the whole Canon ends with a stately doxology. The "Per omnia saecula saeculo- rum" is said aloud, or sung at high Mass. The an- swer. "Amen", of the people, closes the Canon. Signs of the cross are made at the three words: "Sanctificas, vivificas, benedicis", and the doxology has a special ritual. The celebrant uncovers the chalice and genu- flects, makes three signs of the cross with the Host over the chalice at the three forms: "per ipsum et cum ipso et in ipso", two more signs over the altar in front of the chalice at " Patri omnipotenti " and "Spiritus Sancti", and finally at "ononis honor and gloria" he slightly elevates the chalice with the left hand, holding the Host above it with the right. He then replaces both, covers the chalice (at high Mass the deacon always uncovers and covers the chalice), genuflects and with joined hands says: "Per omnia saecula saeculorum". So he goes on to the Embolism of the Our Father. This ceremony went through slight changes in the Middle Ages [St. Thomas Aqui- nas (d. 1274) notices it. II, Q. lxxxiii, a. 5, ad 3]; the essence of it is the Elevation, made to show the people the Blessed Sacrament. The reason why these crosses are formed with the Host is t hat it is just about to be elevated. The priest has already taken it up to elevate it (Gihr, 650, n. 2). This corresponds more or less to the point at which the Eastern Churches elevate (Antioch, Brightman, 61; Alexandria, bis It is the original Elevation of the Roman use, and till the heresv of Berengarius it was the only one. We note finally that at and after the Consecration the
