for every cause? Who answering said to them: Have ye not read, that he who made man from the beginning, made them male and female? And he said: for this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be in one flesh." Therefore now they are not two, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

V OFFERT. Ps. xxx.-In thee, O Lord, have I put my trust: I have said: thou art my God; my life is in thy hands.

SECRET.-Receive, we beseech thee, O Lord, the offerings we make for the sacred law of wedlock: and as thou wast the author of this work, be also the regulator thereof. Thro',

9.

The NUPTIAL BLESSING. After the Pater noster, the Priest standing on the Epistle side, turns towards the Bridegroom and Bride kneeling before him and says :

Let us pray. Propitiare.

MERCIFULLY give ear, O Lord, to our prayers, and let thy grace accompany this thy institution, by which thou hast ordained the propaga tion of mankind, that this tie, which is made by thy authority, may be preserved by thy grace. Thro'. R. Amen.

Let us pray. Deus, qui potestate.

God, who, by the power of thy might, didst create all things out of nothing: who, at the first forming of the world, having made man to the likeness of God, didst, out of his flesh, make the woman, and give her to him for a helpmate; and by this didst inform us, that what in its beginning was one, ought never to be separated. Ŏ God, who by so excellent a mystery, hast consecrated this union of the two sexes, and hast been pleased to make it a type of the great sacrament of Christ and

his Churci. O God, by whom woman is joined to man, and that union, which was instituted in the beginning, is still acompanied with such a blessing, as alone, neither in punishment of original sin, nor by the sentence of the deluge, had been recalled; mercifully look down upon this thy handmaid, who, being now to be joined in wedlock, earnestly desires to be taken under thy protection: may love and peace constantly remain in her: may she marry in Christ faithful and chaste: may she ever imitate the holy women of former times: may she be pleasing to her husband, like Rachael: discreet, like Rebecca: may she, in her years and fidelity, be like Sarah: and may the first author of all evil, at no time, have any share in her actions. May she remain attached to the faith and the commandments, and, being joined to one man in wedlock, may she fly all unlawful addresses: may a regularity of life and conduct be her strength against the weakness of her sex: may she be modest and grave, bashful and venerable, and well instructed in heavenly doctrine. May she be fruitful in her offspring, approved and innocent: and may it be at length her happy lot to arrive at the rest of the blessed in the kingdom of God: may they both see their children's children to the third and fourth generation, and live to their wished-for old age. Thro'. R. Amen.

COMM. Ps. cxxvii.-Thus shall every man be blessed that feareth the Lord: mayest thou see thy children's children: peace be to Israel.

P. COMM. Quæsumus. Mercifully accompany, O Lord, we beseech thee, what thy providence hath instituted; and preserve in length of peace those, whom thou lawfully joinest together. Thro'. Before the Priest gives the Blessing to the People, he turns to the Bridegroom and Bride, and says: MAY the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob be with you: and

may he fulfil his blessing in you: that you may see your children's children to the third and fourth gene ration: and afterwards enter into the possession of eternal life, through the assistance of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Ghost, liveth, &c. R. Amen.

Then he exhorts them to observe an inviolable fidelity toward each other; to practise continence at the times of Prayer, (especially on Fast-days and great! solemnities) and to persevere in the fear of God...

A VOTIVE MASS for the SICK.

INTROIT. Ps. liv.-Hear, O God, my prayer, and despise not my supplication: be attentive to me, and hear me. Ps. I am grieved in my exercise: and am troubled at the voice of the enemy, and at the tribulation of the sinner. V. Glory.

COLLECT. Omnipotens.-O Almighty and everlasting God, the eternal salvation of them that be lieve in thee; hear us in behalf of thy servants, who are sick, for whom we humbly crave the help of thy mercy, that their health, being restored to them, they may render thanks to thee in thy Church. Thro'.

If the sick person be near the point of Death.

COLLECT. Omnipotens.-O Almighty and merciful God, who hast prepared for mankind the means of salvation, and the rewards of eternal life: look down, in thy mercy, on thy servant now labouring under the calamity of sickness, and be thou the comfort of his or her soul, which thou hast created: that, at the hour of death, it may be presented to thee, by the hands of the angels, without spot. Thro'.

EPISTLE. James v. 13. 16.-Brethren: Is any of:: you sad? Let him pray. Is he cheerful in mind? Let him sing psalms. Is any man sick among you? Let

him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith shall save the sick man; and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess therefore your sins one to another: and pray one for ano ther, that you may be saved.

GRAD. Ps. vi.-Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak: heal me, O Lord. V. All my bones are troubled, and my soul is troubled exceedingly. Alleluia, Alleluia. V. Hear, O Lord, my prayer: and let my cry come to thee. Alleluia.

After Septuagesima, instead of the Alleluias and V. following, is said the

TRACT. Ps. xxx.-Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am afflicted: my eye is troubled with wrath, my soul, and my belly. V. For my life is wasted with grief; and my years in sighs. V. My strength is weakened through poverty, and my bones are disturbed.

GOSPEL, Matt. viii. 5. 13. At that time: When Jesus had entered into Capharnaum, there came to him a Centurion, beseeching him, and saying: Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, and is grievously tormented. And Jesus saith to him: I will come and heal him. And the Centurion making answer saith: Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof: but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man subject to authority, having under me soldiers: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth, and to another, Come, and he cometh, and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. And Jesus hearing this, marvelled: and said to them that followed him: Amen, I say to you, I have not found so great faith in Israel. And I say to you that many shall come from the East and the West, and shall sit

down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven: but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said to the Centurion: Go, and as thou hast believed, so be it done to thee. And the servant was healed at the same hour.

OFFERT. Ps. liv.-Hear, O God, my prayer, and despise not my supplication: be attentive to me, and hear me,

SECRET.-O God, by whose pleasure the moments of our life are numbered, receive the prayers and sacrifices of thy servants, for whom, in their sickness, we implore thy mercy; that we may rejoice in the health of those, whom we now apprehend to be in danger. Thro'.

If the sick Person be near the point of Death.

SECRET.-Receive, O Lord, the sacrifice we offer for thy servant, who is near the end of his [or her] life and grant, that by it, all his or her sins may be cleansed away, that he or she who is chastized by thy appointment in this life, may obtain eternal rest in that which is to come. Thro'.

COMM. Ps. xxx.-Make thy face to shine upon thy servant, save me in thy mercy, save me: Lord, let me not be confounded O Lord, for I have called upon thee.

P. COMM. Deus, infirmitatis.-O Lord, the singular aid of human weakness, shew the power of thy help to thy sick servant: that being assisted by thy mercy, he may come in health again to thy holy Church. Thro'.

If the sick Person be near the Point of Death.

P. COMM. Quesumus.-We beseech thy mercy, O Almighty God, that thou wouldst please to strengthen with thy grace thy servant by the efficacy of these mysteries, that the enemy may not prevail against him or her at the hour of his or her death,