This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible. http://books.google.com .9f.::. ,'y union v^ fW THEOLOGICAL v SEMINARY ^6W YO^S THE Sacred Vestments AN ENGLISH RENDERING OF THE THIRD BOOK OF THE 'RATIONALE DIVINORUM OFFICIORUM' OF DURANDUS, BISHOP OF MENDE WITH NOTES BY THE REV. T. H. PASSMORE, M.A. LONDON SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY LIMITED St, Shinstan'B t?ou»e FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET. E.C. 1899 LIBRARY OF THE Union Tlieoiogloal Seminary NEW YORK CITY PRESENTED BY Samuel Macculey Jackson JUL 23 1912 PRINTED nV SFOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STHfET SQUAKE LONDON 6X C~OZ£Z]^ Was, .mi 13 FOREWORD With the exception of Neale and Webb's ' Symbolism,' which is an edited translation of its first Book ' Of the Church and its Parts,' the eight Books of the Rationale Divinorum Ofp.ci- orum of Durandus have not, so far as I know, been rendered into English. This means that the greatest and most beautiful, perhaps, of ancient works on the worship of the Catholic Church is inaccessible to any but readers of the Latin tongue. What herein follows is an attempt in part to supply this defect. In making it I have felt that should the work fail to find readers (which would appear unlikely in days when the mind of all England is strained upon matters litur gical) the blame will attach to the inefficient interpreter, not to the pious and gifted author, of an illustrious book. For the Catholic Revival, under God, in'our viii ube Sactefc Vestments English Church has not yet brought us to that degree of liturgical perfection, that we can afford to turn a deaf ear to those great voices of the past which being dead yet speak to us of ' the sacred mysteries, and the virtues which they signify.' The lore of the sanctuary and the cunning of holy rite can hardly be called strong points with the English clergy, concede to them what we will of piety and reverence in heart. ; Nor is the cause far to seek, when we consider ' how sadly deficient is the ordinary course of English clerical training as regards that most necessary instruction in the externals of worship, without which it is impossible to enter with ! fitness upon the holiest of callings. The present ; writer may recall, without any invidious feeling whatever, the utter ignorance of the details of the offering of the. Holy Sacrifice, in which he entered upon his ministry in the Church, after having received excellent instruction in both doctrinal and pastoral theology both at Cam bridge and at one of the best of our Theological Colleges. One has heard it put forth indeed almost jforeworfc ix as a boast by many a good priest, that he is ' no ritualist.' Yet it may be thought strange that a craftsman should arrogate to himself either ignorance or inefficiency in any department of his craft, however subordinate, as a thing to be vaunted. If ' Priestcraft,' which is the craft of common business of a Priest, were less anathema tised and more studied, the Church would be a gainer at large. Surely it is the solemn duty of ever)' Priest to be a ' Ritualist,' in so far as touches the competent and careful discharge of his dread office in the sanctuary. There is a tendency even in Catholic minds, especially in times of ' Crisis ' — which seem perennial — to think and speak Df Ritual a little slightingly, as though it were the rival of interior or practical piety, rather than its correlative and helpmeet. We are reminded of words uttered by a dignitary of the Church some few years ago, ' We want happy homes, not frequent services' But why not both ? Shall we the better proclaim the precepts or shepherd the lambs of God, by attending, with sloven attitude and scanty shift of service, His awful courts of praise? Shall we take the Ube Sacrefc Vestments spikenard, due to Him, of the beauty that He loves, and sell it for three hundred pence ? Nay, let us bestow all our goods to feed the poor ; but never rob the sacred treasuries of Him Who said, ' Ye shall reverence My Sanctuary : I am the Lord.' ' For this ought ye to have done, and not to have left the other undone.' The great motive assigned by Almighty God to the ancient Pontiff for the reverent offering of the shadowy sacrifices of the Law was this, ' that he die not' What shall we say of the Oblation of the Lamb that taketh away the sin of the wOrld ? Yet by God's grace the picture has a brighter side. And now that the Sacred Vestments of the Church, in common with many other features of Christian ceremonial, are by His goodness so widely revived amongst us (et attendat studiose sacerdos tit signum sine significato non ferat) it may surely be supposed that many, both clergy and laity, will be glad to hear their story and learn their symbolism, from one of the greatest and holiest Ritualists that ever lived. The works of Durandus are always rare and expensive, and arc for the most part ancient IforeworO ri editions printed in Gothic letter, which with its blackness and frequent abbreviation is dazzling to the eye, and ill-adapted to a hurrying age. The mediaeval mysticism of Durandus is not calculated to be acceptable to all. It has indeed been objected that he sets out with the deliberate intention of ' finding a meaning for everything.' But is not this a laudable inten tion ? Has not the poet immortalised the spirit which • Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in storjes, and good in everything ' ? I will add here, as Shakespeare adds, ' I would not change it' Such a mind at least compares favourably with the spirit — alas ! all too prevalent even among the pious — which is content to take all things on trust ; which can look unmoved upon earthly and heavenly mysteries, and ask no question, feel no ' Divine curiosity,' as to their birth or message ; which can accept with grateful calm the immense heritage of the Faith, but never cares to scrutinise the golden coins tha't bear the superscription of the King. Unfortunate 1 xii Zbc SacreO Vestments were that owner of a vast and beautiful estate, who should fulfil punctiliously the duties of the manor's lord, but never open a book in his library, nor muse before a picture on his gallery- walls, nor gaze with thoughtful wonder into the chalice of a single flower in- his bright and wide parterres. Quite true it is, that many a rite and instru ment of worship has been born of utility and new-born, of symbolism. The very word ' Use,' in liturgical phrase, testifies to this. Candles were burnt for their light, before ever men saw in them the emblem of the Light of Light. A maniple was employed for the meanest of uses, before ever it suggested the righteous ' portantes manipulos suos.' But this is no argument against symbolism. It is rather a witness to its heavenly character. For if men devise a rite with a definitely symbolic purpose in the first instance, the charge of human invention will have an air of plausibility. But if, passing into it impercep tibly and naturally for its usefulness' sake, they realise afterwards that it is big with heavenly meaning, then all who behold it will be fain to I foreword *m cry out, 'A Domino factum est istud, et est mira- bile in oculis tiostris,' All along the range of religious experience the principle holds good. It is often not until later life that men begin to trace an ordered design in the seemingly fortuitous happenings of earlier days. A common stone served Jacob for pillar at Luz, before ever he saw in it Beth- El, the House of God. It was a natural thing that One should ride into Jerusalem on an ass ; so natural, that His disciples, paying little heed, ' understood not these things at the first ; byt when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they.' So the innumerable things and uses which were prest quite naturally into the service of the early Church were like obscure seeds cast into the ground ; but it was holy ground, and sanctified the germs it nourished ; and these sprang up in God's hour into beautiful flowers, brightening all the soil and sweetening all the air around the Tree of Life. ' For lo, the winter ' of obscurity ' is past, the rain ' of persecu tion ' is over and gone, and the flozvers appear on the earth' But men perceived neither fragrance xiv Ube SacrcO Vestments nor beauty, until the ' north wind azvoke, and the south came, and blew upon My garden, that the spices thereof might flow out ' ; and then they discerned that the thing was from the Lord. Yet it is not true of our Bishop, that he is doggedly determined ' to find or invent a mean ing for everything.' He is willing to leave much unexplained but by the primary principle of utility. ' It must carefully be noted,' he says in his general Procmc, ' that in the divine offices there be many customary rites which have, from their institution, respect neither unto a moral nor a mystical meaning. Of these, some are known to have arisen of necessity ; some of congruity ; some of the difference of the Old and New Testaments; some of convenience; and some for the more honour and reverence of the offices themselves ; whence saith blessed Austin, "so many things are varied without number by the divers customs of divers places, that seldom or never can those causes be found out, which men followed in ordaining them."' His prin ciple of finding symbolic reasons for long- established usages he justifies as follows : 'The jfovcworfc xv professors of the arts liberal, and of all arts beside, if there be aught baldly and unadornedly set forth therein, do give diligence to clothe, support, and adorn it with causes and with reasons.