church at Kildare, early in the sixth century, there was a celebration on Sundays and on the vigils of the feasts of Apostles'. In the mother church of every Irish monastery in the eighth century there was an offering upon every altar on Sundays and solemnities 2.

St. Gall ordered a special celebration in commemoration of St. Columbanus on receiving intelligence of his death 3, and no doubt from that day forward the festival of St. Columbanus was added to the Kalendar of St. Gall.

§ 29. HOURS OF CELEBRATION.-Mass was always celebrated at an early, generally at a very early, hour of the day. The Mass of St. Columbanus was celebrated by St. Columba at Iona in the morning,' by St. Gall in Switzerland 'at daybreak ".' That of St. Brendan at Iona was 'in the very early morning".' The solemn Mass of St. Baithene was sung at the later hour of noon". An early hour was ordered in the continental Irish monasteries under a heavy penalty 8.

In all these passages, as usually in the language of the seventh century, the word 'Missa' means the Liturgy proper, and such phrases as 'Missarum sollennia' and 'sacra Eucharistiae ministeria' are used as synonymous expressions, but the word Missa is also used occasionally to denote any sacred office. The last service at which St. Columba was present is called the vespertinalis Dominicae noctis Missa".' This service was evidently not an evening communion, but 'Vigiliae nocturnae' or 'nocturns.' The word 'Missale' or 'Missal' was also used to denote not only the text of the Mass itself,

1 'In solemnitatibus Domini et vigiliis Apostolorum.' Cogitosus, Vit. S. Brig. • Rule of Culdees, p. 94.

cap. 29.

Walafrid Strabo, Vit. S. Galli, tom. i. part ii. c. 27.
Mane.' Adamnan, Vit. S. Columbae, iii. 12.

• Prino diluculo.' Walafrid Strabo, Vita S. Galli, cap. xxvi.
Mane primo.' Adamnan, Vita S. Columbae, iii. 11.

7 Ib. ii. 45.

Obliviscens oblationem facere usque dum itur ad officium centum per

cussionibus.' Reg. Columban. cap. iv.

• Adamnan, Vit. S. Col. iii. 23. So in the Regula Caesarii Arel. cap. xxi, the word 'Missa' is used as equivalent to Lectio.' Migne, Bibl. Pat. Lat. Lxvii. p. 1162.

but also other Office Books. The book which in the Irish life of St. Columba is called the Book of the Gospels, but which is no longer extant, is called by Colgan in his Latin translation Missarum Liber.'

§ 30. DUPLICATING.-Priests were allowed at Iona, in the seventh century, to celebrate twice, and by implication, as a general rule, not more than twice on the same day'.

§ 31. PATEN AND CHALICE.-The paten (called 'discus' or patena, 'patinus 3') and chalice (called Calix Domini',' vas", laguncula,' 'coilech,' 'cailech') were probably originally made of glass. A stone altar with four glass chalices upon it is mentioned by later writers as having been discovered by St. Patrick in a cave, and as evidence of the existence of Christianity in Ireland before the arrival of that saint. The cups and patens brought by that saint on his arrival from beyond the sea were possibly of the same material 10, for there is testimony as to the early use of glass chalices in Gaul 11. Bronze chalices were used at a little later period, in the Irish continental monasteries, St. Gall refused to use silver vessels for the altar, saying that St. Columbanus was accustomed to offer the sacrifice in vessels of bronze, in memory of the fact that his Saviour was fastened to the cross with brazen nails 12.

A golden chalice, a relic of Iona, perhaps coeval with St. Columba himself, once existed, but has in recent times been

'Cuminii De Mensura Poenitentiarum, cap. xiv.

St. Evin, Vita S. Patricii, ii. 54.

Book of Armagh, fol. 8, 11. • Wal. Strabo, Vit. S. Galli, i. 17. 7 chalice. Leabhar Breac, fol. 31 b. • F. cvi.

⚫ Adamnan, De Locis Sanctis, i. 8.

• Ib. i. 19.

=

• St. Evin, Vita S. Patricii, ii. 35. The story is copied in other and still later biographies. Glass as well as wooden chalices were forbidden by later Irish authority: Nullus presumat missam cantare in ligneo vel in vitreo calice.' Leabhar Breac, p. 248. col. i.

10 Scholiast on St. Fiacc's Hymn, seventh century. The original Irish, with a translation, is given in Dr. Todd's Life of St. Patrick, p. 411.

"St. Hilary of Arles possessed 'patenae et calicos vitrei.' Honorati, Vita S. Hilarii, ap. Bolland. Acta SS. ad v. Maii, tom. ii. p. 28.

13

Praeceptor meus B. Columbanus in vasis aeneis Domino solet sacrificium offerre salutis.' Walafrid Strabo, Vit. S. Galli, 1. 19.

unfortunately lost1. A similar fate has attended the relics of St. Kieran (sixth century). When his gravé was opened A.D. 1791 his relics comprised beads strung on brass wire, a crozier, a hollow brass ball which opened, resembling the ball (possibly a pome) in the hands of one of the figures on the Breac Moedog (Archaeol. xliii. pl. 18), and a paten and chalice 2.

§32. FAN.-The only evidence for the use of this wellknown Eastern accessory of liturgical worship is derived from illuminations in ancient books. There is a flabellum' or fan represented in the right hand of St. Matthew in a Hiberno-Saxon MS. of the Gospels (eighth century) at Treves3, also in the hands of the angels in the monogram of the Book of Kells (sixth century, Irish), where they seem to be constructed of thin plates of metal surrounded by little bells like. those used by the Maronites*.

Plentiful evidence of the early use of the flabellum in Western Christendom is adduced by Gerbert 5, and especially as to Gaul in Smith's Dictionary of Christian Antiquities o. In a thirteenth-century illumination in a French MS., a facsimile of which is given in Bastard's Peintures et Ornements, a priest vested in an ample chasuble is represented in the act of consecration at Mass. Behind him stands the deacon in a dalmatic, waving a flabellum composed of peacocks' feathers.

Knife. A knife is depicted in the left hand of St. Matthew in the Treves Gospels, and in the right hand of the righthand figure in the monogram of the Garland of Howth. It

1 The circumstances attending its loss are recorded in Wilson's Archaeology of Scotland, pp. 668-9.

* There are early and frequent allusions to golden chalices in Gaul; Greg. Tur. De Glor. Confess. clxii; Hist. Franc. lib. iii. cap. 10; lib. vii. cap. 24. For information as to other countries, see Scudamore, Notit. Eucharist., second edit. p. 558. 3 Westwood, J. O., Facsimiles, &c., plate xx. Ib. plate liii. No. 7; Todd, J. H., Descriptive Remarks, &c. Liturg. Aleman, i. 228. Sub voc. Flabellum.

• Westwood, J. O., Facsimiles, &c., plate xx.
• Todd, J. H., Descriptive Remarks, &c., plate iii.

7 Tom. iii.

is impossible without further evidence to decide for what purpose this knife was employed, although its character as a sacred symbol is evident. It may have been used as the holy spear (λóyxn) is used in the Eastern Church, for the ceremonial piercing of the Amnos and severing the host into portions during the Liturgy1, or as the knife specially set apart in the Anglo-Saxon Church for the purpose of cutting up the Eulogiae 2.

§ 33. SIGN OF THE CROSS. Frequent mention is made of the use of the sign of the cross for various purposes by the Scottish monks at Iona and by Irish monks under St. Columbanus. It was the sign ordinarily attending the sacerdotal act of benediction. We may infer therefore that it was employed in every Celtic act of consecration, although there is no direct evidence extant to that effect. There are directions for its use once over the chalice in St. Gall MS. 13943; once in the Rite of Unction in the Book of Dimma3, and in the Stowe Missal; once in the Ordo Baptismi, and five times in the Gelasian Canon in the latter volume. Instances of its use at Iona have been collected by Dr. Reeves in his edition of Adamnan 5. It was made over the pail before milking, over tools before using them", over a spoon, over a lantern". It was considered effectual to banish evil spirits 10, to restrain a river monster 11, to stop a wild boar 12, to unlock a door 13, to endow a pebble with healing virtue 14, or bread 15, or water 16, or salt 17. It deprived a spear 18 or a dagger 19 of its power of hurting, etc. etc. In the first eight of these instances the sign of the cross is mentioned, in the latter seven it is implied in the word 'benedixit.' It was made 'extensa,' or 'elevata manus,' or 'manus protensione.' There are numerous allusions to its use in all the later lives of the saints.

1 There

slight evidence in favour of the use of a knife in the early Gallican Liturgy in the account of the vision recorded by Germanus Paris. in the Expos.

Missae, Mart. i. p. 168. col. 2.

3 Ch. iii. §§ 6, 9.

7 Ib. ii. 29.

10 Adamnan, ii. 17.

14 Ib. ii. 33.

18 Ib. ii. 25.

• Ib. § 14.

2 Rock, D., Church of our Fathers, i. 36.

Reg. Columban. cap. i.

• Ib. cap. ii.

11 Ib. ii. 27.

12 Ib. ii. 26.

13 Ib. ii. 35.

15 Ib. ii. 4. 19 Ib. ii 29.

§ 34. FASTING.-There is no direct evidence of the practice of fasting reception of the Communion, but we may infer it from the early hour at which the Eucharist was celebrated1, and from the prominent position assigned to fasting generally in the regulations of the Celtic Church.

Wednesday and Friday were observed as fast-days at Iona, but a dispensation was granted by the abbot in the case of the reception of strangers2, &c.; also at Lindisfarne, where the Celtic custom of fasting till three o'clock (except in Eastertide) had been introduced by St. Aidan from Iona3. The Rule of St. Columbanus prescribed the same custom for the Irish continental monasteries1. In the Rule of the Irish Culdees (eighth century) skimmed milk was allowed on St. Patrick's Day even if it fell on a Wednesday or Friday 5. The noneating of flesh on Wednesdays and Fridays was one of the customary laws by which the soul-friend (an mcara) bound the Irish people".

Lent (dies quadragesimales) was observed at Iona as a season of preparation for Easter 7. The severity of the Lenten Rule may be gathered from the statement of Bishop Cedd that the strict rule which he observed had been learned by him in the Columban monastery in which he had been brought up.

The three Rogation Days, before the Feast of the Ascen

1 p. 142. Adamnan, Vit. S. Col. i. 26. ''Per totum annum, excepta remissione quinquagesimae paschalis, quarta et sexta sabbati jejunium ad nonam usque horam protelare.' Bede, H. E. iii. 5. * 'Si quis ante horam nonam quarta sextaque feria manducat, nisi infirmus, duos dies in pane et aqua.' Cap. xiii. p. 23.

3 p. 84. In the Black Book of Caermarthen (Welsh, twelfth century) this charge is brought against an irreligious person: Thou respectedst not Friday, of thy great humility,' &c.; v. 30.

• Senchus Mor, iii. 15.

'Adamnan, Vit. S. Col. ii. 39.

• 'Diebus cunctis, excepta Dominica, jejunium ad vesperam usque juxta morem protelans, ne tunc quidem nisi panis permodicum, et unum ovum gallinaceum cum parvo lacte aqua mixto percipiebat. Dicebat enim hanc esse consuetudinem corum, a quibus normam disciplinae regularis didicerat.' Bede, H. E. iii. 23 The rule of St. Benedict was the same as to the hours of food both on Wednesdays and Fridays and in Leut, and it appears to have been still more strict as to quality (cc. 39, 41,.49).