Cochem's explanation of the Holy sacrifice of the mass...

Preface

Having suggested the translation of Father Martin Cochem^s excellent book on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, it seems fitting that I should comply with the Publishers' request and introduce it to the American public.

This is a very old-fashioned book ; a book written with that sturdy faith and solid devotional feeling which knows no doubt, and acknowledges God's best work with a thankful heart. It will be refreshing reading to our nineteenth-century public, the majority of which lives and acts as if God were not nigh unto us and His saving Sacrifice were not the real immolation of His body and the actual spilling of His blood. In these days oC material wonders, we believe in the supernatural life of the Church just as a spoiled child believes in the love of its parents, viz., we take it for granted, and do not bother about it. Some men believe only in a general, abstract way, and go to Mass as a man without appetite goes to the table at the dinner hour — because it is customary.

To bring home to all the divine reality of the incomprehensible Eucharistic act which the Lord Jesus Christ daily reproduces through the ministry of His priests, let us recall, in the words of the Catechism of the Council pf Trent, the doctrine which all believing Catholics have

iii iv Preface,

to accept as of faith, relying on our pious author to stir up all the more successfully the generous belief of the heart.

" Of all the sacred mysteries bequeathed to us by Our Lord as unfailing sources of grace, there is none that can be compared to the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist."*

The circumstances of its institution by Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself are recorded in the gospels and in the inspired writings of St. Paul.

" The Eucharist was instituted by Our Lord for two great purposes : to be the celestial food of our soul, preserving and supporting spiritual life ; and to give to the Church a perpetual sacrifice, by which sin may be expiated and our heavenly Father, Whom our crimes have often grievously offended, may be turned from wrath to mercy, from the severity of just vengeance to the exercise of benignest clemency."

" The Sacrifice of the MaSs is one and the same sacrifice with that of the cross : the Victim is one and the same, Christ Jesus, Who offered Himself, once only, a bloody sacrifice on the altar of the cross. The bloody and unbloody Victim is still one and the same, and the oblation of the cross is daily renewed in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, in obedience to the command of the Lord : ^ This do for a commemoration of Me.' f The priest is also the same — Christ our Lord ; the ministers who offer this sacrifice consecrate the holy mysteries not in their own but in the person of Christ. This the words of consecration declare ; the priest does not say : This is the body of Christ, but, * This is My body'; and thus invested with the character of Christ, he changes the sub-

*Catech. of the Counc. of Trent. Part II., Of the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

f Luke xxii. 19; i Cor. xi. 24.

Preface. V

stance of the bread and wine into the substance of His real body and blood. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, therefore, is not only a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, or a commemoration of the Sacrifice of the Cross ; but also a sacrifice of propitiation, by which God is appeased and rendered propitious/* *

This is a mysterious and awe-inspiring teaching, even to the pious believer. Nor does the Catholic wonder at the hesitating surprise of our non-Catholic Christian brethren who, having been ruthlessly deprived of the life-giving mysteries of Christ, ignorantly believe that the Mass is a mediaeval innovation.

For their instruction, as well as for the information of our own people, we here reproduce from the Apostolical Constitutions the ceremonies attending the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as prescribed by the apostles themselves on the occasion of the consecration of a bishop. When we have called attention to the fact that these writings are acknowledged to be, at the very latest, of the third century of the Christian era y f that the translation here given is the work of a Protestant clergyman who, with the most learned Protestant authorities, acknowledges the genuineness of the original documents —we have given, even to our non-Catholic friends, the most evident proofs which the most exacting and fastidious critics could demand, for the existence of a Christian priesthood ordained for the purpose of offering sacrifice, and of the divine origin of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

The conclusion is rigorous and self-evident. A ministry which does not offer to Almighty God the Sacrifice

*Catech. Counc. of Trent. Part II.

f The learned Bunsen claims that the Seventh Book, from which we are to quote, was written not later than the first half of the second century.

vi Preface,

of the Mass Is not a genuine ministry^ is not the priesthood of Christ. A Christian Church which does not recognize the laying on of hands on men set apart to offer sacrifice, and which does not practise that essential act of Christian worship, the Sacrifice of the Mass, is not the true Church of Jesus Christ.

We shall copy only the main features, textually, however, of this apostolical rite, requesting our readers to compare it with the prayers and ceremonies of the Mass to be found in any modern Catholic prayer-book. Those who wish to read it in its entirety will find it in the Afite- Nicene Christian Library^ vol. xvii., page 212.* For the facility, of reference and comparison we shall divide the text into paragraphs corresponding to the usual way of printing the various parts of the Mass in the missals of the laity.

" After the prayer [of consecration of the new bishop] let one of the bishops elevate the Sacrifice upon the hands of him that is ordained, • . . .

Introit, Collects, Epistle, and Gospel.

And after the reading of the Law, the Prophets, and our Epistles, and Acts and the Gospels, let him that is ordained salute the Churchy saying : The grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. And let them answer : And with thy spirit.

Sermon.

And after these words let him speak to the people the words of exhortation. [Then follows the dismissal, so well known in the early Church, of unbelievers, the instruction and dismissal of the catechumens, energumens^

*T. & J. Clark, Edinburgh, 1880.

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they that are to be illuminated, and penitents. The bishop then prays and salutes the congregation, saying :] The peace of God be with you all. And let the people answer : And with thy spirit.

Offertory.

Let us stand upright before the Lord with fear and trembling to offer. When this is done let the deacons bring the gifts to the bishop at the altar; and let the presbyters stand at his right handy and on his left, as disciples stand before their master.

Let the high priest^ therefore^ together with the priests^ pray over the oblation^ that the Holy Spirit may descend upon it, making the bread the body of Christ and the cup the blood of Christ j * and prayers being endedy let him put on his shining garment ^ and stand at the altar ^ and make the sign of the cross upon his forehead with his hand^ and say :

The grace of Almighty God and the love of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.

And let all with one voice say : And with thy spirit.

The Preface.

The high priest : Lift up your mind.

All the people : We lift it up unto the Lord.

The high priest : Let us give thanks to the Lord.

All the people : It is meet and right to do so.

Then let the high priest say : It is very meet and right before all things to sing a hymn to Thee, Who art the true God, Who art before all things, " from Whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,*' f Who only art unbegotten, and without beginning, and without a ruler; . . . Who didst bring all things out of nothing

"^Coptic reading. f Ephes. iii. 15.

viii Preface.

into being by Thy only-begotten Son, God the Word, the living Wisdom, " the first-born of every creature, the Angel of Thy great counsel,'' * and Thy High Priest, but the King and Lord of every intellectual and sensible nature, Who was before all things, by Whom were all things. . . . For all these things, 'glory be to Thee, O Lord Almighty. Thee do the innumerable hosts of angels, archangels, thrones, dominions, principalities, authorities, and powers. Thine everlasting armies, adore. The cherubim and the six-winged seraphim, ... together with thousand thousands of archangels, and ten thousand times ten thousand of angels f incessantly, and with constant and loud voices, and let all the people say it with them :

Sanctus.

Holy, holy, holy. Lord of hosts, heaven and earth are full of His glory : Be Thou blessed for ever. Amen.

And afterwards let the high priest say : For Thou art truly holy, and most holy, the highest and most highly exalted forever. Holy also is Thy only begotten Son, our Lord and God, Jesus Christ. . .

Canon.

He [Jesus Christ] was pleased by Thy good will to become man. Who was man*s Creator ; to be under the laws. Who was Legislator ; to be a sacrifice. Who was an High Priest ; to be a sheep, Who was a Shepherd. And He appeased Thee, His God and Father, and reconciled Thee to the world, and freed all men from the wrath to come, and was made of a Virgin, Who was in flesh, being God the Word, the beloved Son, the first-born of the whole creation ; . . . and He was made in the womb of a Virgin, Who formed all mankind that are born into the

* Col. i. 15 ; Is. ix. 6. f Dan. vii. 10.

Preface, ix

world ; He took flesh, Who was without flesh ; He Who was begotten before time, was born in time ; He lived holily and taught according to the law ; . . . He finished the work which Thou gavest Him to do ; . . . He was delivered to Pilate the governor, and He that was the Judge was judged ; and He that was the Saviour was condemned ; He that was impassible was nailed to the cross ; and He Who was by nature immortal died ; and He that is the giver of life was buried ; . . . He arose from the dead the third day ; . . . He was taken up into the heavens, and is sat down on the right hand of Thee, Who art His God and Father.

Being mmdful, therefore, of those things that He endured for our sakes, we give Thee thanks, O God Almighty, not in such manner as we ought, but as we are able, and fulfil His constitution.

Consecration.

" For in the same night that He was betrayed. He took bread"* in His holy and undefiled hands, and looking up to Thee, His God and Father, '* He broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying : This is the mystery of the New Covenant ; take of it and eat.

This is My Body^ which is broken for many for the remission of sins.'* f

In like manner also " He took the cup " and mixed it of wine and water, and sanctified it, and delivered it to them, saying : " Drink ye all of this, for

This is My Blood

which is shed for many, for the remission of sins : Do this in remembrance of Me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show forth My death until I come.'*

* I Cor. xi. f Matt. xxvi. ; Mark xiv. ; Luke xxii.

k Preface.

After the Elevation.

Being mindful, therefore, of His passion, and death, and resurrection from the dead and return into the heavens, and His future second appearing, wherein He is to come with glory and power to judge the quick and the dead, and to recompense every one according to his works, we offer to Thee, our King and God, according to His constitution, this bread and this cup, giving Thee thanks, through Him, that Thou hast thought us worthy to stand before Thee, and to sacrifice to Thee ; and we beseech Thee that Thou wilt mercifully look down upon these gifts which are here set before Thee, Thou God, Who standest in need of none of our offerings. And do Thou accept them, to the honor of Thy Christ, and send down upon this sacrifice Thine Holy Spirit, the witness of the Lord Jesus' sufferings, that He may show this bread to be the body of Thy Christ, and the cup to be the blood of Thy Christ, that those who are partakers thereof may be strengthened for piety, may obtain the remission of their sins, may be delivered from the devil and his deceits, may be filled with the Holy Ghost, may be made worthy of Thy Christ, and may obtain eternal life upon Thy reconciliation to Them, O Lord Almighty. We further pray unto Thee, O Lord, for Thy Holy Church spread from one end of the world to another, which Thou hast purchased with the precious blood of Thy Christ, that Thou wilt preserve it unshaken and free from disturbance until the end of the world, for every episcopate who rightly divides the word of truth . . . ; and let all the people say : Amen.

Lord, I am not worthy.

Sanctify our body and soul, and grant us the favor to be "made pure from all filthiness of flesh and spirit,"*

^11 Cor. vii. I.

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and may obtain the good things laid up for us ; and do not account any of us unworthy, but be Thou our comforter, helper, and protector, through Thy Christ, with Whom glory, praise, and thanksgiving be to Thee and to the Holy Ghost forever. Amen.

And after all have said : Amen, let the deacon say : Let us attend.

Before Communion.

And let the bishop speak thus to the people : Holy things for holy persons. And let the people answer : There is one that is holy ; there is one Lord, one Jesus Christ, blessed forever, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.

" Glory be to God in the highest and on earth peace, good-will among men. Hosanna to the Son of David ! Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the Lord,*' being the Lord God Who appeared to us. " Hosanna in the highest ! " *

Communion.

And after that let the bishop partake, then the presbyters and deacons^ . . . and all the people in order ^ with reverence and godly fear. . . . And let the bishop give the oblation^ saying : The body of Christ. And let him that receiveth say : Amen. And let the deacon take the cup, and when he gives it say : The blood of Christ, the cup of life ; and let him that drinketh, say : Amen.

Post Communion.

And when all have partaken . . .let the deacon say : Now we have received the precious body and the precious blood of Christ, let us give thanks to Him Who has thought us worthy to partake of these His holy mysteries, and let us beseech Hira that it may not be to us for condemnation, but for salvation, to the advantage of

* Luke ii. 14; Matt. xxi. 9.

xii Preface »

soul and body, to the preservation of piety, to the remission of sins, and to the life of the world to come. . . .

The Blessing.

Let the deacon say : Bow down to God through His Christ, and receive the blessing. And let the bishop add this prayer^ and say : O God Almighty, the true God, . . . be gracious to me and hear me for Thy name's sake, and bless those that bow down their necks unto Thee, and grant them the petitions of their hearts, etc. For to Thee belongs the glory, praise, majesty, worship, and adoration, and to Thy Son Jesus, Thy Christ, our Lord and God and King, and to the Holy Ghost, now and always, forever and ever. Amen.

Ite, Missa Est.

And the deacon shall say : Depart in peace.

These constitutions concerning this mystical worship, we, the Apostles, so ordain for you, the bishops, presbyters, and deacons.

In this fashion the Apostles Peter and John, James and Andrew, and Paul celebrated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and expressed, in the most forcible and solemn language that man can utter, their belief in the real presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist,

Gentle reader, say with Peter : " Lord, to whom shall we go ? Thou alone hast the words of eternal life ! "

Believe ! And that your prayer and mine, " O Lord ! strengthen Thou my faith ! " be heard, read the book now thrust into thy hand with a request for a memento at the Holy Sacrifice.

►f Camillus Paul Maes,

Bishop of Covington,

Covington, Ky., Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 1896.

NOTICE.

T^HE writer of this book, the Rev. Father Martin von Cochem, of the Capuchin Order, is the author of several other erudite and edifying spiritual treatises, both in Latin and German. Not one of these, however, according to the opinion expressed at the time of their publication by his superiors, is equal in learning and in practical usefulness to his Explanation of the Holy Mass, which is compiled from the teaching of the holy Catholic Church, of the early fathers, of contemporary theologians and spiritual writers. It is, moreover, written in an agreeable and impressive manner, and the perusal of it cannot fail to give the reader a better acquaintance with the nature of the Mass, to inflame him with devotion for it, and greatly to increase his desire to lose no opportunity of celebrating the Holy Sacrifice or assisting at it, as the case may be.

Father Martin von Cochem was born at Cochem, on the Moselle, in the year 1625, and died at Waghausel in 17 1 2. Well-nigh two hundred years have now elapsed since his Explanation of the Holy Mass was first published. God alone knows how much good it has done to countless numbers of the faithful. Now, if at that time a book of this description was greatly wanted to bring Christians back to the true well-spring of grace, the right form of divine worship, the need for it is even more

xiii xiv Notice,

urgent in the present day, since, under existing circumstances. Catholics are exposed to still greater dangers than they then were, both in regard to faith and practice. The holy sacrifice of the Mass is, as Father V. Cochem rightly says, an inexhaustible treasury, whence we all, sinners as well as just, may draw the riches we stand in want of. It is the fount of which we all must drink if we would remain steadfast in the practice of virtue or be purged from our sins. But who can appreciate aright, or make any use of, that of which he knows nothing ? Wherefore it is to be desired above all things in our own day to make the inestimable treasures that lie hidden in the holy Mass more widely known; and no better means of doing this can be found than by placing within the reach of all this Explanation of the Holy Mass, by Father Martin von Cochem.

It is sincerely hoped that by the blessing of God this new issue may be for the consolation, edification, and eternal salvation of countless souls.

Contents

PAGE

Preface iii

Notice xiii

Appendix

Devotions for Mass 371

First Method of Hearing Mass : For Those Who Wish

to Unite Their Prayers with Those of the Priest.. 371 xviii Contents,

PAGE

Second Method : Of which the Principal Mysteries of

the Holy Sacrifice Form the Subject 382

Third Method: In Honor of Our Lord's Bitter Passion. 392 Fourth Method: For a Mass Offered on Behalf of the

Poor Souls 401

Before Confession 410

After Confession 413

Before Holy Communion 416

After Holy Communion 418

Prayers to Gain a Plenary Indulgence 422

1. For the Exaltation of the Catholic Church 422

2. For the Conversion of Unbelievers, Heretics, and

Sinners 423

3. For Concord amongst Christian Princes 423

4. An Offering of the Indulgence for the Souls in

Purgatory 424

EXPLANATION

OF THE

HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS.

Chapter I. The Nature Of Holy Mass

nPHE holy Mass is called in Latin sacrificium^ a sacrifice, by which word a thing far greater and higher than an offering is signified. A sacrifice, in its full and proper signification, is an offering external to ourselves, made to the most high God, and consecrated or hallowed in a solemn manner by a lawfully appointed and duly qualified minister of the Church, to recognize and testify to the supreme dominion of Almighty God over all creatures. From this definition it will be seen that a sacrifice is much more than a simple offering. It represents a lofty and sublime act of worship, due to the infinite God alone, and not to any creature;

That this solemn sacrifice may be offered to none other but God alone is proved by St. Augustine from the universal custom of all nations. Who, he says, has ever been found to assert that sacrifice should be offered to any one save the true God only, or to such false deities as are wrongfully held to be the true God ? And in another place he says: The devil would not require sacrifices from his votaries if he did not know this to be a prerogative of the divinity. Many of the great and powerful ones of the earth have arrogated to themselves other acts of homage which are of right paid to God alone; but few indeed have presumed to command that sacrifice should be offered to them. Those who did this desired to be regarded as gods. Hence it may be seen that the offering of sacrifice is an act of divine worship, which it is not fitting to pay to men, to the saints, or to the angels, but to God alone.

St. Thomas of Aquin says: " It is natural to mankind to make sacrificial offerings to the omnipotent God, and man is incited thereto by a natural instinct without an express command or special injunction. This we see exemplified in the case of Abel, Noe, Abraham, Job, and other patriarchs, who offered sacrifice, not in obedience to the law of God, but to the mere impulse of nature. And not only did those persons who were enlightened by God offer sacrifices to Him: the heathen also, simply following the light of nature, sacrificed to their idols, believing them to be true deities. In later times the law given by God to the children of Israel made it obligatory upon them to offer sacrifice to Him daily; on feasts a more elaborate ceremonial was to be observed. They were to offer to Him lambs, sheep, calves, and oxen; and these animals were not to be offered only, they were to be immolated by an anointed priest, with certain prayers and ceremonies. They were to be slaughtered, flayed, their blood was to be poured round about on the altar, and their flesh burnt upon the altar, amid the blowing of trumpets and chanting of psalms. These were the sacred oblations whereby the Jews were wont to pay to God the homage due to Him, and acknowledge Him to be the supreme Ruler over all creatures.

Inasmuch as the idea of sacrifice is so deeply rooted in human nature that all peoples and nations, besides serving God with prayers, hymns, almsgiving, and works of penance, offered some kind of sacrifice whereby they honored the true God or the false deities they venerated as such, it was meet, nay, it was even necessary, that Christ should institute in His Church a holy and divine oblation as a visible service, whereby the faithful should give to God the glory which is His due, and express their own subjection to Him. No sensible man could imagine that Christ, Who ordained everything in His Church in the most perfect manner, should have omitted this highest act of worship, and left it wanting in so allimportant a matter. Were it so, the Christian religion would be inferior to Judaism, for the sacrifices of the Old Testament were so glorious that heathens of distinction came from distant lands to assist at them, and some heathen kings, as we read in Machabees (11. iii. 3), even paid out of their revenues the charges belonging to the ministry.

The holy Catholic Church, in the CEcumenical Council of Trent, teaches us what manner of sacrifice or sacred oblation Christ has given to and ordained in His Church.

" Forasmuch as, under the former Testament, according to the testimony of the apostle Paul, there was no perfection, because of the weakness of the Levitical priesthood (Heb. vii. 11, 18), there was need, God, the Father of mercies, so ordaining, that another priest should rise, according to the order of Melchisedech, Our Lord Jesus Christ, who might consummate and lead to what is perfect as many as were to be sanctified. He, therefore, our God and Lord, though He was about to offer Himself once on the altar of the cross unto God the Father, by means of His death, there to operate an eternal redemption ; nevertheless, because that His priesthood was tiOt to be extinguished by His death, in the Last Supper, on the night in which He was betrayed — that He might leave to His own beloved spouse, the Church, a visible sacrifice, such as the nature of man requires, whereby that bloody sacrifice, once to be accomplished on the cross, might be represented, and the memory thereof remain even unto the end of the world, and its salutary virtue be applied to the remission of those sins which we daily commit — declaring Himself constituted a priest forever, according to the order of Melchisedech, He offered up to God the Father His own body and blood under the species of bread and wine; and under the symbols of those same things He delivered His own body and blood to be received by His apostles, whom He then constituted priests of the New Testament: and by those words, ^ Do this for a commemoration of Me* (St. Luke xxii. 19), He commanded them and their successors in the priesthood to offer them; even as the Catholic Church has always understood and taught." (Session xxii. ch. i.)

This, and mor-e besides, holy Church teaches us, and enjoins upon us to believe that in the Last Supper Christ did not only change bread and wine into His body and blood: He also offered them up to God the Father, and thus instituted and ordained in His own person the sacrifice of the new covenant. This He did in order to show Himself to be a priest according to the order of Melchisedech, of whom Holy Scripture thus speaks: "Melchisedech, the King of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, for he was the priest of the most high God, and he blessed Abram." (Gen. xiv. 18.) The text does not here expressly state that Melchisedech offered sacrifice to the most high God; but trom the first the Catholic Church has understood this to be meant, and the fathers have thus expounded it. David himself interprets it thus when he says: "The Lord hath sworn, and He will not repent: Thou art a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech." (Ps. cix. 4.) That both Christ and Melchisedech offered sacrifice is to be inferred from the words of St. Paul, writing to the Hebrews: " Every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices." (Heb. viii. 3.) " Every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in the things that appertain to God, that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices for sins." {Ibid, v. i.) And almost immediately after he adds: "Neither doth any man take the honor to himself, but he that is called by God, as Aaron was. So Christ did not glorify Himself, that He might be made a high priest, but He that said unto Him : Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee. . . . Thou art a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech." And again: "And being consummated, He became, to all that obey Him, the cause of eternal salvation, called by God a high priest according to the order of Melchisedech. Of whom we have much to •say, and hard to be intelligibly uttered; because you are become weak to hear." {Ibid, v. 4-6, 9-1 1.)

From these passages it is evident that, since Christ and Melchisedech were high priests, they both offered oblations to the true God. Melchisedech did not sacrifice victims, as did Abraham and the earlier adorers of the true God, but, acting by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and at variance with the custom of the times, he sanctified bread and wine with certain prayers and rites, raising them aloft, and offering them to God as a holy, acceptable offering. Thus he became a type of Jesus Christ, and his offering a type of the bloodless sacrifice i6 The Nature of Holy Mass,