his angel to consecrate them, that they may become a wholesome remedy to all such as shall call upon the sacred name of God, aud confess their manifold sins and transgressions; and that they who, whilst they are calling on his name, shall sprinkle themselves with the ashes for the expiation of their sins, may obtain health of body, and salvation of their precious and immortal souls.

After this prayer the bishop takes the salt and mingles it with the ashes in the form of a cross. A handful of this composition he throws into the water, blessing it three times; and then he blesses the wine and mingles it with water. He delivers discourse to the people on the virtues of things consecrated to the service of God, but this does not end the whole of the ceremony, there being still several other parts remaining.

From the altar the bishop proceeds a second time to the church door, and with his pastoral staff crosses it at the top and bottom, repeating a prayer to God, that the sign of the cross may prove invincible, and be the means of driving away devils: and he likewise prays, that such as visit this church may be blessed, and abound in all manner of good things, prosperity in time, and happiness in eternity. He then returns to the place where he consecrated the holy water, and looking towards the high altar, uncovered, exhorts the people to beg of God to bless and keep this place, by the aspersion of water mingled with wine, salt, and ashes, through the merits of Jesus Christ. An authem is then sung, by the choir, and at the beginning of it, the bishop standing before the altar, dips the thumb of his right hand into the water that had been consecrated before, and makes the sign of the cross in the middle of the altar table, consecrating it in honour of God Almighty, of the blessed Virgin Mary, and of all the saints; in commemoration of the saint to whom it is dedicated, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Besides the cross in the middle, he makes one at each corner, two at the epistle side, and two at the gospel side; after which he repeats a prayer, and walks seven times round the altar, sprinkling it with holy water.

This part of the ceremony concludes by the bishop's passing behind the altar, and from thence walking round the inside of the church a second time, sprinkling the bottom of the walls with holy water. He then sprinkles the middle of the pavement before the altar, and from thence proceeds to the great gate and continues the ceremony crossways, from one end of the wall to the other. He turns his face to the four quarters of the world, and. then turning towards the great gate, repeats a prayer, laying his hands upon his breast, and pouring holy water upon the cement of the stones, under which the relics are deposited.

The next part of this ceremony consists in the procession of the relics, which proceeds in the following order: The bishop, with his clergy, preceded by the cross, carried by a sub-deacon between two torch-bearers, goes and fetches the relics with much ceremony. The chrism is carried to the entrance of the church, and at going into the tent where the relics are deposited, an anthem is sung, together with the ninety-fourth psalm. The bishop having repeated several prayers, the procession begins a second time, and is conducted as follows:

The cross-bearers march first with wax tapers in their hands, and the clergy follow them, singing as they go along. Behind them march several priests, bearing the relics on a litter, with the incense-bearer by the side of it, who takes care to perfume the relics as they pass along. There are several wax candles carried on each side, and behind the relics comes the bishop with his assistants, singing an anthem, in which they are joined by the choir; after which the whole procession goes round the church, and the bishop makes an oration to the people; which consists chiefly in celebrating the character of the saint to whom the church is dedicated at the same time he exhorts them to treat the sacred edifice and the name of the saint with all becoming respect, and contribute cheerfully towards the support of the ministers who officiate in it. Lastly, the priests take the litter upon their shoulders, and enter the church in procession, followed by all the people present, while an anthem is sung in honour of the relics, and of the saints to whom they belong. The procession, in the mean time, continues walking on and when they are come to the altar, where the relics are to be deposited, a great number of tapers are lighted up, and the choir sings an anthem, which is given out by the bishop.

Before they are deposited in the sepulchre, the bishop touches the vessel with his mitre, and then seals up the relics, but he must take care that four signs of the cross he made on the four sides of the sepulchre, each in the name of the three persons in the ever blessed Trinity. He then deposits the vessel containing the relics, in the sepulchre, with every mark of respect and adoration, in order to make a more lasting impression on the minds of the people.. All this time the choir sings, and continues till the bishop has laid a stone on the mouth of the sepulchre, which contains the relics, when he dips his thumb in the sacred oil, and makes the sign of the cross upon it. The masons conclude this part by closing up the sepulchre, so that the relics cannot be afterwards exposed to public view without the consent of the bishop. This, however, is not the case universally, because in some churches they are permitted to show the relics of saints; and the author of this has been shown some of a very extraordinary nature:

nay, he has seen three or four of the same, atlas many different places, and each of them are looked upon by the people as genuine.

The stone being fixed, blessed and signed with the cross, the altar must be incensed, which the bishop performs, by making the sign of the cross and pouring the incense upon it, beginning at the right hand, and going round; during which time the choir sings an anthem suitable to the occasion..

- After it is incensed, the bishops repeat a prayer, while his assistants rub the table of the altar with a very clean cloth. The table must be in the form of a cross, and the bishop must incense all the four

sides.

The bishop then makes five crosses with the sacred oil, and incenses the whole again, while the anthem is sung by the choir, and that is followed by another anthem. Twelve crosses are made upon the walls of that part of the church next to the altar; and these being incensed, the bishop returns again to the altar, and having repeated another prayer, gives out au anthem which is sung by the choir.

He again makes five signs of the cross upon the altar, and kneeling down, prays that all true Christians that come to the altar, may be protected from the suares laid for them by the devil. At Rome, on Thursdays and Fridays in Passion Week, the altars: are stripped of their ornaments, and washed with wine and water; but this seems rather to be a custom peculiar to the place, than an established ceremony, because we do not find it attended to in other countries, where the Roman Catholic religion is professed.

Such is the manner in which the people in Roman Catholic countries, dedicate and consecrate their churches, and to those who peruse this impartial account with the least degree of attention, it will appear, that the ceremonies are equally heavy and burthensome with those in the law of Moses. It

the word itself being the Lamb of God. This picce of devotion is much esteemed by the devotees of the church of Rome, and the preparing of the Agnus Deis cuts out much employment for such of the pope's chaplains as act under his chamberlain of the household. The wax of which they are made, is taken from the remains of the candles used on the preceding Easter; but as that is not always sufficient to answer the end, they are allowed more out of the apostolical chamber.

The ceremony is performed on Easter Tuesday in the following manner. The pope's chief sacristan blesses the water; and then the pope, dressed in his robes, blesses it a second time. This water is put into a large silver basou, and the pope repeats a prayer, begging that God would give his blessing. to the water appointed to cleanse sinners from their impurities. After this, he takes some balm, and pours it into the water, adding thereto the holy oil, which he likewise pours in, in the form of a cross. During this ceremony he offers up several prayers to God, and then turning to the Agnus Deis, blesses. and incenses them, imploring God to grant them all the virtues generally ascribed to them. After this follow several other prayers, and then his holiness sits down in an easy chair prepared for him, with a napkin girt round him in the form of an apron, and his mitre on. The gentlemen of his chamber. present him with the Agnus Deis, in silver basons, one after another, and the pope throws them into the holy water. The cardinals in their linen robes take them out with spoons made for that purpose, and afterwards day them on a table covered with a clean white cloth, and then wipe them with a napkin, which they wear in the form of an apron, and the assistant prelates: range: them on a table, where they remain till they are thoroughly dry. After this part of the ceremony, the holy father rises up, and in a prayer addresses himself to the Holy Ghost, beseech

tion to Jesus Christ. After this they are again put into basons, and the holy father takes the cardinals. along with him to dinner. The same: ceremony is resumed on the Thursday following, and continued. till they are all blessed, which is on Friday, and dur ing that time foreign ambassadors, and all sorts of strangerss then at Rome are permitted to be present.

On the Saturday following, mass is sung by a car dinal priest, at which his holiness assists, dressed in his robes, and as soon as the Agnus Dei is sung, an apostolic sub-deacon, dressed in his robes, with the cross-bearer and two taper-bearers walking before him, goes to the pope's sacristan, and takes from him a bason full of those Agnus Deis lately blessed, and wraps them up in a party-coloured china cotton. The sub-deacon is followed by a clerk of the cere monies, with two chaplains in their surplices; when

they have come to the door of the chapel they all kneel, while the sub-deacon sings the following words, "Holy Father, these are the new lambs, who have sung their Hallelujahs to thee. They drank not long ago at the fountain of holy water; they are now very light or very much enlightened, praise the Lord." To which the choir answers, "God be praised, Hallelujah." After this the sub-deacon advances towards the altar, and when he comes so near as to touch the rails, he again repeats the same words; and a third time when he approaches the throne of the holy father.

Two auditors present the Agnus Deis to the two cardinal deacon's assistants, who lay them in a decent manner on his holiness's knees, and the two auditors hold the two ends of the napkin, whilst the holy father blesses the sacred college. The cardinals having shown the utmost respect to his holiness, take off their mitres, and holding them with the points or horns downward, receive into them as many of the Agnus Deis as be chuses to bestow. After the cardinals have had their share, the remainder are distributed among the foreign ambassadors, nobles, and prelates, who happen at that time to be in Rome. The ceremony concludes by the pope's washing his hands; and he and all the cardinals unrobing themselves.

As it frequently happens that many of these Agnus Deis are not distributed, in such cases, those that are left are given to the prelate who is the keeper of the pope's wardrobe, who distributes them among pilgrims, or such other foreigners as happen to visit Rome.

This practice of blessing the Agnus Deis took its rise about the seventh or eighth century: for as it was common in those ages to make thousands and ten thousands of converts in a day, by only marking them with the sign of the cross after baptism, so, in order to distinguish them from the heathens, they were ordered to wear about their necks pieces of white wax, with a figure of a lamb upon them.— This was done in imitation of the heathen practice of hanging amulets around their necks, as preservatives against accidents, diseases, or any sort of infections; many of these amulets are to be met with in the cabinets of the curious, and they are still frequently found in Wales, and in the northen parts of Britain. They are in the form of rings of a deep azure colour, interspersed with most beautiful white spots; and the substance of them resembles transparent glass, and undoubtedly they have in them something of that nature.

The next thing to be attended to, is the canonization of saints, and a solemn ceremony it is, especially when we consider, that by the pope's single act he can make men or women who have been long

consigned to their graves, objects of divine worship and mediators between God and sinners.

When a person is to be canonized, the pope holds four consistories; in the first of which, he causes the petition of those who solicit for the canonization. to be examined by three auditors of the rota, and directs the cardinals to revise all the instruments relating thereto. In the second, the cardinals make their report; and in the third, which is held in public, the cardinals pay their adoration to the pope, after which an advocate makes a pompous oration in praise of the person who is to be made a saint.—He expatiates at large on the miracles he has wrought and even pretends to know from what motives he acted. In the fourth consistory, the pope, having summoned all the cardinals and prelates together, orders the report concerning the deceased to be read, and then takes their votes, whether he is to be canonized or not.

On the day of canonization the church of St. Peter is hung with rich tapestry, with the arms of the pope embroidered upon it, together with the arms of the prince who desires the canonization.-The church is most pompously illuminated, and filled with thousands of devout Catholics, ready to attend to the ceremony of the saint's being conducted to paradise. It gives them some encouragement to attend to the ceremony, when they consider, that the more respect they show to the saint, the more ready he will be to hear their prayers, and offer them up before God. During this ceremony, the pope and all the cardinals are dressed in white; and it costs the prince who requests the canonization a vast sum of money, for all the officers belonging to the church of Rome must have their fees; but this is only a trifle, when it is considered that the saint will intercede for his subjects, in heaven, who indeed, poor as they are, generally pay all the expenses attending the the ceremony.

That the ceremony of the canonization may be conducted in the most magnificent manner, an elegant theatre is erected in St. Peter's church. But that the reader may be enabled to form a proper idea of all the different parts of the ceremony put together, we shall here present him with an exact account of the canonization of four persons, not longer ago than the year 1712. These persons were pope Pius V. Andrew d'Avellino, Felix de Cantalice, and Catherine de Bologna.

On the twenty-second day of May, 1712, the procession began in the following order: the charity boys of the apostolic hospital of St. Michael walked first with lighted tapers in their hands. They were followed by all the orphans in the city maintained at the public expense; by the fathers belonging to the convent of miracles of the third order; the bare