unto my aid. Oh God), the Gloria Patri at the end of the psalms, the canticles and responsories are all taken away, and nothing left but what is essential to the form of the divine office; psalms, lessons and chants expressive of grief. Each canonical hour ends with the psalm Miserere, and with the commemoration of the Passion and Death of Our Saviour. No blessing is asked on the lessons. The celebrant lowers his voicetowards the termination of the prayers, and no "Amen" is said by the people.
The most striking feature of this singular office is the large triangular candlestick placed at the Epistle side of the Altar. At the apex of this triangle is a white candle with seven yellow candles on either side. At the end of each psalm or canticle one of these fifteen candles is extinguished, but the one at the apex remains lighted. During the Benedictus the six candles on the Altar are also put out. Then the sole remaining lighted candle is taken and hidden behind the Altar during the recitation of the "Miserere" and the prayer. At the conclusion of the prayer a slight noise being made, the candle is brought from behind the Altar, and remains burning even after Tenebrae is over.
The origin of this practice is hidden in obscurity. No doubt during the nightly celebrations of the Divine Office, necessity as well as choice compelled the use of lights, but the faithful so arranged them as to make them strikingly significant. The number of lights differed. One writer tells us that in his time the Church was lighted up with twenty-four candles which were gradually extinguished to show how the Sun of Justice had set.
Another writer tells us that in some Churches all the candles were extinguished at once, in several by a hand made of wax to represent that of Judas; in others they were all quenched by a moist sponge passed over them to show the death of Christ, and on the next day fire was struck from a flint by which
