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1 2 Preface.
the double function with which they are specially charged
;
namely, to offer the holy Sacrifice and to celebrate the praises,
of God in the name of the Church. We add, that this is a fit
ting conclusion of the volume for the first ; part of it is, as it
were, the peroration or natural conclusion, and the second may
serve as a preface or as a transition to the following volume,
which has as its object the Divine Office.
II.
Zeal of St. Alphonsus in Regard
to the Celebration of Mass.
These different writings give evidence of the zeal that ani
mated our venerated author in regard to the divine Sacrifice
on our altars. From his childhood he was admired for the
tender devotion with which he attended Mass, received Com
munion, or spent his time in adoring the Blessed Sacrament.
This virtue only grew and became more perfect as he advanced
in age. Even in the midst of the world, notwithstanding the
occupations and the cares of the profession which he at first
embraced, he went every day to visit his dear Lord exposed
in
one of the churches of Naples, and there on his knees and im
movable, he spent long hours before the altar, contemplating
the object of his affection with so humble and so recollected an
attitude, that he appeared to be out of himself; all persons that
saw him were profoundly edified. Such piety was to receive its
"
reward ;
for thus we read in his I
writings feel myself bound,
:
at least out of gratitude to my Jesns in the Holy Sacrament, to
declare that by means of this devotion of visiting the Most
Blessed Sacrament, which I
practised, though with so much
tepidity and in so imperfect a manner, I abandoned the world,
in which, unfortunately, I lived until six-and-twenty years of
age."
1
Such were his dispositions in the world ;
but one cannot
imagine with what respect, with what care, with what dignity
and with what fervor he celebrated the holy mysteries when he
had the happiness of ascending the altar as a priest of the Most
High, to consecrate and to hold in his hands the body and the
blood of his well-beloved Jesus, and to be nourished every day
with this heavenly food. Moreover, we can hardly picture to
1
Visits* Introd. Vol. VI. page 117.