Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

346 CHANGES OF DISCIPLINE.
high treason for a layman to touch even the box or
vessel ''which the precious Sacrament is in,"1 and
Henry VII. provided by will pyxes of silver and gilt
for every parish church " within this our realm,
every of the said pyxes to be of the value of four
pounds ".2 Old wills furnish abundant testimony to
the same devotion. Edmund Verney, dying in 1494,
orders his executors to cause a lamp to be continually
maintained burning in the chancel of the Friar
Preachers' church at Warwick before the Host.
John, Duke of Exeter (1447), bequeaths to the high
altar of St. Katherine's church beside the Tower,
"
a cup of berill, garnished with gold, pearls, and
precious stones, to put the Holy Sacrament in " ;
also
"
a gold chalice and other ornaments ". 3_^^H
Changes of discipline in three out of the seven
Sacraments are noticeable. In the first place, Confirmation
was administered when practicable immediately
after baptism up to the thirteenth century.
The Synod of Worcester (1240) required parents to
see that their children were confirmed in the year of
their birth, and the Synod of Oxford (1287) imposed
a fast every Friday on bread and water upon parents
of children who had completed their third year
without having been confirmed.4
I have spoken, in another place, of the gradual
1 Bridgett, ii. p. 101.
- Test amenta Vetusta, i. p. 35.
3 Ibid., pp. 421 and 256.
4 Chardon, Histoirc des Sacrcmcnts, p. 175.