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Short Explanation of the Prayers of Mass. 4 1
for this reason have always been particularly honored in
the Church. During the first period of the Church there
were no other festivals than those of the mysteries of
Jesus Christ, those of the Blessed Virgin, and the anni
versaries of the martyrs. However, it is not to the saints,
but only to God that altars are erected, and,"
as St.
Augustine says, have not erected an altar to the
martyr, Stephen, but with the relics of the martyr Ste
phen we have erected an altar to God."
SECOND PART.
From the Introit to the Credo.
It is usually in the Introit that the Church proposes
the subject of the feast that is celebrated. Mention is
therein made of some divine mystery, of the Blessed
Virgin, or of some other saint whom the Church honors
on that day, so that we simply render this honor to the
saint, since the sacrifice, as we have said, is offered only
to God. It is asserted that the author of the Introit is
St. Gregory the Great, as may be seen in the works of
Benedict XIV. 3
Kyrie, eleison ; Christe, eleison. These are Greek words
that mean "Lord, or Christ, have mercy."
This prayer
is addressed three times to the Father, three times to
9
the Son, and three times to the Holy Ghost. Durand
says that Mass was begun to be said in Greek in the
Oriental Church at the time of the Emperor Adrian I.,
about the year 140. Pope St. Sylvester ordered that,
after the example of the Greeks, the Kyrie eleison should
be said in the Latin Church. According to Cardinal
Bellarmine 4
this custom was introduced into Italy about
" 1
2
Nos, in isto loco, non aram fecimus Stephano, sed de reliquiis
Stephani aram Deo." Scrm. 318, R. B.
c. I.
De Misses S. 1. 2, c. 4.
3
Ration. 1. 4,
4
De Miss. 1. 2, c. 16.