COMMUNION.

Lux æterna luceat eis, Domine, * Cum sanctis tuis in æternum, quia pius es.

V. Requiem æternam dona eis Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis. * Cum Sanctis.

May light eternal shine upon them, O Lord: * With thy saints for ever, because thou art merciful.

V. Eternal rest give to them, O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon them. With thy saints.

*

Such, however, is the impenetrable and adorable mystery of God's justice, which baffles all human conception, that for some souls the expiation must still be prolonged. The Church, then, without growing weary or losing hope, prolongs her prayer also in the Postcommunion. Moreover, at every Hour of the daily Divine Office, and at every Mass offered throughout the year, the faithful departed are remembered by their Mother.

POSTCOMMUNION.

Animabus, quæsumus, We beseech thee, O Lord, Domine, famulorum famu- that the prayer of thy suplarumque tuarum oratio pliants may benefit the souls proficiat supplicantium: ut of thy servants; that thou eas et a peccatis omnibus mayest deliver them from all exuas, et tuæ redemptionis their sins, and make them facias esse participes. Qui partakers of thy redemption. vivis. Who livest.

In Masses in which the Gloria in excelsis is omitted, Benedicamus Domino is said instead of Ite missa est, but in Masses for the Dead the following petition is substituted.

Requiescant in pace,
B. Amen.

May they rest in peace,
B. Amen.

THE ABSOLUTION.

After Mass, the Clergy preceded by the Cross range themselves round the catafalque, which is placed in the nave of the church, to represent the dead, at the very spot where their bodies once rested before the altar of God. The cantors intone the ninth Responsory of Matins; it is followed by the Prayers said at the conclusion of the Office, during the singing of which, the Priest honours the dead with holy water and incense, as on each one's funeral-day. This rite is called Absolution from the Prayer Absolve, the one most frequently used, although, as to-day, the Collect of the Mass may be chosen instead, or some other Prayer according to circumstances.

RESPONSORY.

Libera me, Domine, de morte æterna, in die illa tremenda: * Quando cœli movendi sunt et terra: * Dum veneris judicare sæculum per ignem.

. Tremens factus sum ego, et timeo, dum discussio venerit, atque ventura ira, * Quando.

7. Dies illa, dies iræ, calamitatis et miseriæ, dies magna et amara valde. * Dum veneris.

V. Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis.

*

Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death, in that dreadful day, when the heavens and earth are to be moved, * when thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.

. I tremble and do fear, when the examination is to be, and thy wrath to come. * When the heavens and the earth are to be moved.

. That day is the day of anger, of calamity, and of misery, a great day, and very bitter, when thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.

*

. Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine on them.

The Missal of Marmoutier offers us the following Sequence wherewith to honour the Saints, whose Octave is celebrated side by side with the Commemoration of the Dead.

NOVEMBER 3.

THIRD DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE
OF ALL SAINTS.

HAD we Angels' eyes, we should see the earth as a vast field sown with seed for the resurrection. The death of Abel opened the first furrow, and ever since, the sowing has gone on unceasingly the wide world over. This land of labour and of suffering, what treasures it already holds laid up in its bosom! And what a harvest for heaven, when the Sun of Justice, suddenly darting forth his rays, shall cause to spring up as suddenly from the soil the elect ears ripe for glory! No wonder that the Church herself blesses and superintends the laying of the precious grain in the earth.

But the Church is not content to be always sowing. Sometimes, as though impatient of delay, she raises from the ground the chosen seed she had sown therein. Her infallible discernment preserves her from error; and, disengaging from the soil the immortal germ, she forestalls the glory of the future. She encloses the treasure in gold or precious stuffs, carries it in triumph, invites the multitudes to come and reverence it; or she raises new temples to the name of the blessed one, and assigns him the highest honour of reposing under the Altar, whereon she offers to God the tremendous Sacrifice.