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HARVARD

COLLEGE

APR 25 1888

LIBRARY

John Harvey Theat.

EDINBURGH:

PRINTED BY ANDREW JACK,
CLYDE STREET.

POPE URBAN VIII. TO POSTERITY.

If there is anything on earth plainly Divine, which the inhabitants of heaven might envy, if envy can enter their minds, it is surely the most holy sacrifice of the mass, through which men, as it were by anticipation, possess heaven on earth; whilst they see with their eyes and handle with their hands the very Creator of heaven and earth. For this reason the more care is needed, that this great privilege be guarded with due reverence and honour, and that we beware of offending the angels who are haters of negligence, and vie with us in lowly reverence. Care was had by our predecessors, Pius V. and Clement VIII., that the order and prayers of this sacred mystery should be diligently revised and restored. Walking in their steps, we have ordered it again to be examined, that if, as often happens, the course of time shall have corrupted anything therein, it may be restored. As lately the Breviary was reformed, to the increased beauty of the Divine office, so we have commanded the Missal to be corrected, for the ornament of the Divine sacrifice. These two books are as the wings which the priest, like the cherubim in the ancient mystic tabernacle, spread out towards the true mercy seat. It was meet that they should be as twins, of uniform character; and therefore we committed the care of this matter to learned and pious men, by whose diligence this work is so finished as leaves nothing to be desired. The rubrics, which had gradually degenerated from ancient usage, have been restored to their original state; what

1 The effect of "the course of time" on the Missal is here acknowledged. What a pity the same honest common sense had not been used by the Church of Rome in reference to the entire mass! yea, to everything pertaining to the Church, reforming and restoring all things as at the first, according to the pattern shown us and preserved, blessed be God, in perpetuity in the New Testa

ment.

Though Urban VIII., in his pride, does not allude to the Council of Trent in this Address to Posterity, yet it was in obedience to that council that this Pope appointed learned men to reform both the Missal and Breviary.

U

seemed to be obscure in them is explained more fully, and all Scripture quotations have been collated with the text of the vulgate edition of the Holy Scriptures, and whatever diversities had crept in have been corrected by its authority. But the diligence of the correctors had availed little, unless equal diligence had been shewn by the printer. Therefore, we committed it to our beloved son, Andrew Brogiotto, the head of our apostolic press, that he might give to the world a Missal, so free from errors, that no editions should henceforth be printed but in exact conformity therewith; and the permission to do so shall be first sought and had in writing of our beloved sons the inquisitors of heresy in the district, or if there should be none such, of the ordinary. And if, without such leave, any one should henceforth print a Missal, or any bookseller presume to sell it, printers and booksellers, if living without the bounds of our Ecclesiastical States, shall be subject to a sentence of excommunication from which they cannot be absolved, except by the Roman Pontiff, unless in the article of death. Those dwelling in the city of Rome, and other Ecclesiastical States, shall be fined five hundred ducats of gold to our chamber, and the loss of the books and of all the types to the aforesaid chamber, and that by the very fact, without any other declaration or remission of the same. And we interdict and prohibit, under the same penalties, the use, in any place or nation, of Missals so printed or sold without a license. But the inquisitors or ordinary may, as aforesaid, grant the requisite license and power. Missals printed by those having such license shall be diligently compared with the Missal which has received our sanction, nor shall it be allowed to add to or take from it. In the license itself, it shall be declared and attested by the hand of those giving it, that collation has been made, and that there exists an entire agreement,--a copy of which license shall always be printed either at the beginning or end of such Missal. But if this be neglected, the inquisitors shall be deprived of their offices as unqualified, and others placed in their room,-the ordinary shall be suspended from his Divine office, and interdicted from entering the church,—and if his vicar, he also shall be deprived of his offices and of his benefices, and declared unqualified, and another placed in his room, and in addition excommunicated, and that by the very fact, and without any other declaration being needed. But we permit and indulge poor churches, clergy, and ecclesiastical persons, printers, and booksellers, having grave

1 The ordinary is the bishop, or his representative.

2 The printing of the Missal in the original is thus a mortal sin, in any part of the world except in the city of Rome and Ecclesiastical States, where it may be covered by a pecuniary fine. What then must be the crime of "the son of perdition," as Pope Alexander III. denominated Voison, for daring to translate the Missal, not only “sini permissu superiorum,” but, in opposition to the bull of his Holiness, into the vulgar tongue!

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