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The great mystery being now accomplished on the
et memores.
altar, the priest resumes his prayer : Unde
In the name of all the faithful, as in his own, he declares
that he performs this thrice holy act in commemora
tion of the Passion, Resurrection and Ascension of our
divine Saviour ; that therefore this pure, holy, and
immaculate Host may be accepted of God, as in the
Old Law He accepted the sacrifice of Abel, of Abraham,
of Melchisedech, Supra quce pwpitio ac sereno vultu.
The divine messenger, spoken of in the prayer, Supplices
te, the angel of the sacrifice who is to bear our
victim to the throne of God, is regarded by many
liturgists, as being the Holy Ghost, the third Person of
the adorable Trinity, through whose operation the
mystery of the Eucharist is accomplished
they say, the heavenly Victim is offered to God.
; by Him,
Like the Memento of the living which precedes the
consecration, the Memento of the dead now again inter
rupts the priest s prayer. Here once more are renewed
the intentions formed at the moment of the offering.
The Church suffering, equally with the Church militant
and the Church triumphant, must have part in the
Sacrifice. The Church militant and the Church trium
phant are afterwards joined together in the invocation,
Nobis quoque peccatoribus. In this prayer some of the
saints are specially named, John the Baptist the Pre
cursor, Stephen the first Martyr, Mathias and Barna
bas who although, not among the twelve, are yet num
bered in the apostolic college; finally some other mar
tyrs who are the objects of special devotion in Rome.
The formula, Per Christum Dominum already heard
at the end of the Supplices te, is now used again as the
ending of the Canon. This ending is in perfect keeping.
It reminds God the Father that, through Jesus Christ