Download PDF - Saints' Books

14 Preface.
At the altar he resembled an angel rather than a human being
;
after Communion his countenance appeared transformed, and
all on fire. 1
He made it a rule for the priests of his religious Institute to
celebrate Mass every day, and to employ in it
saying half an
hour, after having devoutly prepared themselves ;
they had
then to make at least half an hour s thanksgiving. He per
mitted the shortening of the time of thanksgiving only in case
of necessity, as when many confessions had to be heard, and
there were only a few confessors ;
they had, however, to make at
least a quarter of an hour s thanksgiving. He required that on
retreat days, besides the half-hour s ordinary meditation, the
proximate preparation for Mass should last at least half an
hour, and the thanksgiving a whole hour. He enjoined upon
the members of his Institute the exact observance of the cere
monies of Mass, and in order that they might notfail in this, he
wished them carefully to study the Rubrics for this ;
purpose he
established a special conference for the exercise of the Rubrics
to be held on the first Monday of every month.
Obliged by obedience to assume the office of bishop in 1762,
when he was sixty-six years of age, and bowed down by the
weight of innumerable labors and grave infirmities, he at once
made exact inquiries regarding the manner in which the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass was celebrated in his diocese ;
he himself
examined the priests on the subject about which he had his
serious doubts, and he did not hesitate to suspend from the
celebration of Mass those whom he found deficient in this
respect, until they had duly corrected themselves. He more
over watched specially over the manner in which the churches
were kept. In the course of his first pastoral visit he fell
dangerously ill, received Extreme Unction, and hovered for
several weeks between life and death. When he was hardly
convalescent and still bedridden, an altar was erected in his
room, where every day Mass was said, during which he com
municated ;
he would then send for the priests whom he wished
to examine, and made them go through the exercises of the
Rubrics in his presence. As for priests newly ordained, he did
not grant them permission to say Mass till he became certain
1
Tannoia and V^lleco^^rt , 1. iii. ch. xliv,