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The canon or most solemn part of the mass has been preserved inviolate ever since, as appears from the Ordines Romani written shortly after the time of S. Gregory, and also from the explanations of it written by Florus and Amalarius. The Ambrosian and African liturgies also were evidently derived at a very remote period from that of Rome. From such considerations as these Mr.

For Hugo of Saint Victor the clapper is the tongue of the officiating priest, which strikes the two sides of the vase and announces thus, at the same time, the truth of the two Testaments. Finally, if we consult Fortunatus Amalarius, perhaps the most ancient of the liturgists, we find simply that the body of the bell denotes the mouth of the preacher and the hammer his tongue."

They were lighted, as S. Jerome observes, in the day time "not to drive away darkness, but as a sign of joy": and therefore the custom of gradually extinguishing them at the office of Tenebrae we may justly consider with Amalarius as a sign of mourning, or of the sympathy of the church with her divine and suffering Spouse.

In order to sanctify the water still more, the Cardinal now pours into it, in the form of a cross, oil of catechumens and chrism; and mixes them with the water of the font, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This last ceremony is intended to signify, according to mystical interpreters, such as Amalarius, Honorius, Durandus, etc.