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PONTIFICALE ROMANUM,

CLEMENTIS VIII. AC URBANI VIII. PONT. MAX.

JUSSU

RESTITUTUM ATQUE EDITUM.

THE

ROMAN PONTIFICAL RESTORED AND EDITED

BY ORDER OF

CLEMENT VIII. AND URBAN VIII. SUPREME PONTIFFS.

PREFIXED to the edition is, Sanctiss. D.N.D. Clementis divina Providentia Papæ VIII. constitutio super novi Pontificalis editione.

Ad Perpetuam rei memoriam.

The Constitution of our most holy Lord, Lord Clement VIII. by Divine Providence, Pope, upon the edition of the new Pontifical.

For the perpetual memory of the thing,

[This Constitution says, after the preamble, &c.] "By these our presents we suppress and abolish all and singular the Pontificals in use in all parts of the world unto this day. and we interdict and prohibit their use, and command this our Pontifical, so restored and reformed, to be received and observed in all churches of the whole world: decreeing that the aforesaid Pontifical must never, at any time, be altered, in whole or in part, nor any thing at all added to, or detracted from, the same; and that all whosoever have a right to exercise the Pontifical functions, or otherwise to do and perform the things contained in the said Pontifical, are bound to do and perform the same according to the prescription and method of this Pontifical; and that no one can satisfy the duty imposed upon him of performing these functions, but by observing the formulæ contained

in this same Pontifical. Therefore we order and command all and singular, the patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, &c. &c. to receive this our Pontifical, and to use the same henceforth for ever, rejecting all others, &c.

Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, under the ring (seal) of the Fisherman (sub annulo Piscatoris), this 10th day of February, MDXCVI., the fifth of our Pontificate."

PONTIFICALIS PARS PRIMA.

PONTIFICAL.

FIRST PART.

Of Persons going to be Confirmed-De Confirmandis, p. 1.

RUBRIC.

THE Pontiff about to confirm infants, children, or other baptized persons,* having put on his vestments, goes to a faldstool prepared for him in front of the altar, and sitting thereon, with his pastoral staff in his left hand, and his mitre on, admonishes the people, who stand up in his presence:

That no one but a bishop only, is the ordinary† minister of confirmation.

That no one that has been confirmed, ought to be confirmed again.

That no one that has not been confirmed can be a sponsor in confirmation; neither can a father, nor mother, nor husband, nor wife.

That no one that is excommunicate, or under an interdict, or convicted of any of the more grievous offences; or not well instructed in the rudiments of the Christian faith, thrust himself forward to receive this sacrament, or to be sponsor for one about to be confirmed.§

* Pontifex infantes, pueros, vel alios sacri Baptismatis unda perfusos, confirmare volens.

+ Quod nullus alius nisi solus Episcopus Confirmationis ordinarius minister est. [Ordinary, because in case of need, a priest deputed by the bishop can confirm. Maynooth Text-book, Tract. de Confirm. p. 162.] Potest esse in Confirmatione patrinus.

Nullus excommunicatus, interdictus, vel gravioribus facinoribus alligatus, aut Christianæ fidei non edoctus, ingerat se ad percipiendum hog sacramentum vel ad tenendum confirmandum,

That adults are bound first to confess their sins; or at least to be grieved for the sins which they have committed,* and then to be confirmed.

By this sacrament is contracted a spiritual kinship, hindering the contracting of matrimony, and breaking it off if already contracted; which kinship does not go beyond the confirmer and the confirmed, and the father and mother, and the sponsor of the same.†

Let no sponsor present more than one or two.

Those that are about to be confirmed, must be keeping fast.

The forehead of every one that is confirmed must be tied up, and remain so, until the chrism be dried up or wiped off.

Wherefore let every one going to be confirmed, carry a clean linen fillet, wherewith to tie up his head.‡

Let infants be held by the sponsors on their right arms, before the Pontiff confirming them. But adults and other more grown persons must lay each his foot on the right foot of his sponsor, and therefore neither ought males to be godfathers to females, nor females godmothers to males.

All being arranged in order before him, the Pontiff, still sitting, washes his hands; then having put off his mitre, he rises, and with his face turned to the persons to be confirmed, kneeling before him with their hands before their breast, he says:

Let the Holy Ghost come down into you, and the power of the Most High keep you from sin. R. Amen.

Spiritus sanctus superveniat in vos, et virtus Altissimi custodiat vos a peccatis. R. Amen.

Then signing himself with the sign of the cross from the forehead to the breast with his right hand, he says: V. Our help is in the name of the Lord, &c.

Vel saltem peccata quæ admiserunt doleant.

+ Hoc sacramento contrahitur spiritualis cognatio, impediens matrimonium contrahendum et dirimens jam contractuin: quæ cognatio confirmantem et confirmatum, illiusque patrem et matrem ac tenentem non egreditur. It is evident that this rubric is older than the celibacy of the priesthood, since if it were made after that practice came into vogue, no mention would be made of the confirmer.

+ Confirmato debet ligari frons, et sic manere quousque Chrisma desiccetur, vel extergatur. Proinde unusquisque confirmandus portet lineam vittam mundam, cum qua ligetur caput.

And then, with his hands stretched out towards those to

be confirmed, he says:*

Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, who didst vouchsafe to regenerate these thy servants of water and the Holy Ghost, and who hast given them the remission of all their sins; send forth into them the sevenfold Spirit thy holy paraclete from heaven. A men.

R.

The spirit of wisdom and of understanding. R. Amen. The spirit of counsel and of fortitude. R. Amen. The spirit of knowledge and of piety. R. Amen.

Fill them with the spirit of thy fear, and seal them with the sign of the Cross of Christ, being made propitious (to them) unto life eternal. Through the same our Lord, &c.

Oremus.

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus qui regenerare dignatus es hos famulos tuos ex aqua et Spiritu sancto; quique dedisti eis remissionem omnium peccatorum; emitte in eos septiformem Spiritum tuum sanctum paraclitumt de coelis. R. Amen.

Spiritum sapientiæ et intellectus. R. Amen.

Spiritum consilii et fortitudinis. R. Amen.

Spiritum scientiæ et pietatis. R. Amen.

Adimple eos spiritu timoris tui et consigna eos signo Crucis Christi, in vitam propitiatus æternam. Per eundem Dominum, &c.

Then the Pontiff sitting on the aforesaid faldstool, or, if the multitude of those that are to be confirmed requires it, standing, with his mitre on, confirms them row after row. And he inquires the name of each one individually, as the godfather or godmother, on bended knees, presents each to him; and, having dipped the extremity of his right-hand thumb in the chrism, he says:

N. I SIGN THEE WITH THE

N. SIGNO TE SIGNO CRU+

*Tunc extensus versus confirmandos manibus, dicit. It is to be noted that in the Roman Confirmation there is no imposition of hands. In its stead is used the conjured oil, called, "The Chrism of Salvation."-Vide Chrism, in index.

+ This word is so written all through the Pontifical.

Et Pontifex inquirit sigillatim de nomine cujuslibet confirmandi, sibi per patrinum vel matrinam, flexis genibus, præsentati, et summitate pollicis dextræ manus Chrismate intincta.

SIGN OF THE + CROSS. While he says this he draws with his thumb the sign of the cross on the forehead of that one: and proceeds

AND CONFIRM THEE WITH THE CHRISM OF SALVATION. In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy

Ghost.

Then he gives him a gentle slap (box) on the cheek, saying, PEACE BE WITH THEE.

CIS: quod dum dicit, producit pollice signum crucis in frontem illius; deinde prosequitur.

ET CONFIRMO TE CHRISMATE SALUTIS. IN NOMINE PA + TRIS, ET FI + LII, ET SPIRITUS + SANCTI. R. Amen.

Deinde leviter eum in maxilla cædit dicens, PAX TECUM.

All being confirmed, the Pontiff wipes his thumb and hand with a bit of bread, and washes them over a basin. Which done, let the water of ablution be poured into the piscina of the sacrarium.

Afterwards, joining his hands, and all the confirmed devoutly kneeling, he says:

Let us pray.

O God, who didst give the Holy Ghost to thy Apostles, and didst will that by them and their successors the same should be delivered to the rest of the faithful: look propitiously upon the service of our humility; and grant that the same Holy Ghost, coming down upon those whose foreheads we have anointed with the sacred chrism, and signed with the sign of the cross, may make the hearts of the same a perfect temple of his own glory, by vouchsafing to dwell therein. Who, with the Father and the same Holy Ghost, livest, &c.

Next he says:

Lo! thus shall every one be blessed who feareth the Lord.

Ecce sic benedicetur omnis homo qui timet Dominum.

And turning to the confirmed, and making the sign of the cross upon them, he says:

The Lord bless you out of Sion, that you may see the good things of Jerusalem all the days of your life, and have eternal life. R. Amen.

Benedicat vos Dominus ex Sion, ut videatis bona Jerusalem omnibus diebus vitæ vestræ, et habeatis vitam æterR. Amen.

nam.

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