cannot be surprised, after this, that the sight of the element, that gave us our spiritual life, should excite us to joy, or that we should pay to this element an honour, which is referred to the Author of all the graces about to be bestowed.

The prayer used by the Bishop for blessing the Water, is so full of elevation of thought, energy of diction, and authority of doctrine, that we may, without hesitation, attribute it to the earliest ages of the Church. The ceremonies which accompany it bespeak its venerable antiquity. It is sung to the solemn tone of the Preface, which imparts such a lyric effect. The Pontiff first recites a preliminary prayer, and then begins his magnificent Blessing. He is filled with the holy enthusiasm of the Church. He turns to the Faithful, and they respond. He is going to lead them to such grand mysteries:-Sursum corda!

V. Dominus vobiscum.
R. Et cum spiritu tuo.

OREMUS.

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, adesto magnæ pietatis tuæ mysteriis, adesto sacramentis; et ad recreandos novos populos, quos tibi fons Baptismatis parturit, Spiritum adoptionis emitte: ut quod nostræ humilitatis gerendum est ministerio, virtutis tuæ impleatur effectu. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus,

Per omnia sæcula sæculorum. R. Amen.

V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.

LET US PRAY.

Almighty and Everlasting God, be present at these mysteries, be present at these sacraments of thy great goodness and send forth the spirit of adoption to regenerate the new people, whom the font of Baptism brings forth that what is to be done by our weak ministry, may be accomplished by the effect of thy power. Through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God,

For ever and ever!
R. Amen.

V. The Lord be with you.
B. And with thy spirit.
V. Lift up your hearts!
B. We have them fixed on
God.

V. Let us give thanks to the
Lord our God.

B. It is meet and just. It is truly meet and just, right and available to salvation, that we should always, and in all give thanks

V. Dominus vobiscum. B. Et cum spiritu tuo. . Sursum corda.

R. Habemus ad Domi

num.

V. Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro.

R. Dignum et justum est. Vere dignum et justum est, æquum et salutare; nos tibi semper, et ubique gratias agere, Domine sancte, to thee, O Holy Lord, Al- Pater omnipotens, æterne mighty Father, Eternal God, who by thy invisible power dost wonderfully produce the effect of thy sacraments: and though we are unworthy to administer so great mysteries: yet as thou dost not forsake the gifts of thy grace, so thou inclinest the ears of thy goodness, even to our prayers. O God, whose Spirit, in the very beginning of the world, moved over the waters, that even then the nature of water might receive the virtue of sanctification. O God, who by water didst wash away the crimes of the guilty world, and by the overflowing of the deluge didst give a figure of regeneration, that one and the same element might, in a mystery, be the end of vice and the origin of virtue. Look, O Lord, on the face of thy church, and multiply in her thy regenerations, who by the streams of thy abundant grace fillest thy City with joy: and openest the font of Baptism all over the world, for the renovation of the Gentiles that by the command of thy Majesty she may receive the grace of thy only Son from the Holy Ghost.

Deus, qui invisibili potentia, sacramentorum tuorum mirabiliter operaris effectum; et licet nos tantis mysteriis exsequendis simus indigni : tu tamen gratiæ tuæ dona non deserens, etiam ad nostras preces, aures tuæ pietatis inclinas. Deus, cujus Spiritus super aquas, inter ipsa mundi primordia ferebatur: ut jam tunc virtutem sanctificationis, aquarum natura conciperet. Deus, qui nocentis mundi crimina per aquas abluens, regenerationis speciem in ipsa diluvii effusione signastí; ut unius ejusdemque elementi mysterio, et finis esset vitiis, et origo virtutibus; respice, Domine, in faciem Ecclesiæ tuæ ; et multiplica in ea regenerationes tuas, qui gratiæ tuæ affluentis impetu lætificas Civitatem tuam, fontemque Baptismatis aperis toto orbe terrarum gentibus innovandis: ut tuæ majestatis imperio, sumat Unigeniti tui gratiam de Spiritu Sancto.

Here the Pontiff pauses a moment, and putting his hand into the Water, divides it in the form of a cross, to signify, that it is by the Cross that this element receives the power of regenerating the souls of men. This wonderful power had been promised to Water; but the promise was not fulfilled until Christ had shed his Blood upon the Cross. It is this Blood which operates by the Water, on the souls of men; and with the action of this precious Blood, is joined that of the Holy Ghost, as the Pontiff tells us in his Prayer, which he thus continues:

Qui hanc aquam regenerandis hominibus præparatam, arcana sui numinis admixtione fœcundet: ut sanctificatione concepta, ab immaculato divini fontis utero, in novam renata creaturam, progenies cœlestis emergat et quos aut sexus in corpore, aut ætas discernit in tempore, omnes in unam pariat gratia mater infantiam. Procul ergo hinc, jubente te Domine, omnis spiritus immundus abscedat procul tota nequitia diabolicæ fraudis absistat. Nihil hic loci habeat contrariæ virtutis admixtio non insidiando circumvolet, non latendo subrepat, non inficiendo corrumpat.

Who, by a secret mixture of his divine virtue, may render this water fruitful for the regeneration of men, to the end that those who have been sanctified in the immaculate womb of this divine font, being born again a new creature, may come forth a heavenly offspring: and that all that are distinguished either by sex in body, or by age in time, may be brought forth to the same infancy by grace, their spiritual mother. Therefore may all unclean spirits, by thy command, O Lord, depart far from hence may the whole malice of diabolical deceit be entirely banished: may no power of the enemy prevail here: may he not fly about to lay his snares: may he not creep in by his secret artifice : may he not corrupt with his infection.

After having thus besought God to protect the Water of the Font from the influence which Satan seeks to exercise over every creature, the Bishop puts

his hand upon it. The august character of a Pontiff or Priest is a source of sanctification: the mere contact of their consecrated hand produces a salutary effect, as often as they act in virtue of the Priesthood of Christ, which dwells within them.

May this holy and innocent creature be free from all the assaults of the enemy, and purified by the destruction of all his malice. May it be a living fountain, a regenerating water, a purifying stream: that all those that are to be washed in this saving bath, may obtain, by the operation of the Holy Ghost, the of a perfect purification.

grace

Sit hæc sancta et innocens creatura libera ab omni impugnatoris incursu, et totius nequitiæ purgata dicessu. Sit fons vivus, aqua regenerans, unda purificans : ut omnes hoc lavacro salutifero diluendi, operante in eis Spiritu Sancto, perfectæ purgationis indulgentiam consequantur.

Whilst pronouncing the following words, the Bishop blesses the Water, thrice making over it the sign of the cross.

Therefore I bless thee, O creature of water, by the living God, by the true God, by the holy God: by that God who in the beginning separated thee by his word from the dry land, whose Spirit moved over thee.

Unde benedico te, creatura aquæ, per Deum vivum, per Deum verum, per Deum sanctum : per Deum, qui te; in principio, verbo separavit ab arida cujus Spiritus super te ferebatur.

The Bishop next makes an allusion to the four rivers which watered the earthly Paradise. He again divides the Water with his hand, and sprinkles it towards the North, South, East and West, for the four parts of the World received the preaching of Baptism. Whilst performing this expressive ceremony, he continues his prayer as follows:

Who made thee flow from the fountain of Paradise, and

PASSIONTIDE.

Qui te de Paradisi fonte manare fecit, et in quatuor

2 R

Here the Bishop interrupts the solemn and triumphant tone of the Preface, and simply reads the following words. He has signed the Water with the sign of the Cross; he now invokes upon it the vivifying action of the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Ghost is called Spirit, which means a Breath he is the Divine Breathing, that mighty Wind, which was heard in the Cenacle. The Pontiff, to express this character of the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, thrice breathes, in the form of a cross, over the Water of the Font, and then continues in the same reading tone: