with, should one genuflection, or two, be made before the priest goes up to the altar to unfold the corporal and open the tabernacle?

Fr. Moran. That's an easy one, I should say. He makes only one, of course.

Fr. Higgins. 'Tis yourself that's easy, Father Dan. He makes two, one before kneeling on the lowest step of the altar for a brief prayer, and another, after that prayer, before going up to the altar. Isn't that so, Father Downey? Fr. Downey. Absolutely not, Father Higgins. No genuflection is needed after the brief prayer said on his knees. The ceremonials say: "The priest rises, goes up to the altar," etc., with no mention of a genuflection between the two acts. Fr. Ferguson. And now, on arriving at the altar, should he genuflect at once, or only after opening the tabernacle?

Fr. Browning. At once, I hope; otherwise, my practice is wrong.

Fr. Downey. Your hope is vain, Father George. The first genuflection to be made on the platform of the altar follows the unfolding of the corporal and the opening of the tabernacle. Fr. Ferguson. And yet three of the four who gave Benediction during the retreat followed the incorrect practice of Father Browning.

Fr. Crossway. Well, even so; there was no harm done. Genuflecting is an act of devotion, a good thing, and I fail to see why the pious sentiment that prompts the additional genuflection should be condemned.

Dean Patterson.

You are surely not serious,

Father Crossway. You can scarcely be presumptuous enough to advocate the setting aside of prescribed rubrics, or the performance of additional ceremonies, at the discretion of the individual priest. Such a principle would be utterly subversive of all order and harmony in the celebration of Holy Mass and other divine services. The pious sentiments of yourself and other priests of your way of thinking will be best displayed by your thorough knowledge and exact observance of all the rubrics which, as an accredited minister of God's altar, you are supposed to know.

Fr. Ferguson. There's still another genuflection about which some variety of practice obtains, at least in this diocese of ours. When the Blessed Sacrament is taken from the tabernacle and placed in the monstrance, some priests, myself among the number, genuflect before putting the monstrance in the place of exposition; others omit that genuflection, contenting themselves with genuflecting (as I also do) after exposing the Blessed Sacrament, before descending the altar steps. Is the genuflection immediately before the exposition superfluous?

Fr. Downey. Not at all; it is prescribed, and its omission is reprehensible.

Fr. Temple. Since we are on the subject, I should like to ask just how the Benediction proper, the actual blessing of the people with the monstrance, should be performed. I never entertained any doubts as to the correctness of my own method until one evening last month when

I attended Benediction in a church at Port Mayne. The officiating priest, turned towards the faithful, raised the monstrance as high as the full reach of his arms permitted, lowered it below his waist-line, raised it to the height of his breast, turned not only the monstrance but his body in a half circle towards the Epistle side, swung around in an almost complete circle to the Gospel side, came back to the center facing the people, and finally turned to the altar by his left, towards the Epistle side. Is there any authority for making the sign of the cross with the monstrance in that fashion?

Fr. Doyle. No; I don't think there is. Apart, however, from his last act, turning to the altar by the Epistle side, a positive error, his movements were exaggerations of the correct rites rather than out-and-out mistakes. The Baltimore Ceremonial is sufficiently explicit on the subject. After stating that the priest, having covered his hands with the extremities of the veil, takes hold of the monstrance at the highest part of its foot with his right hand, and at the lowest with his left, it continues: "Then he turns to his right on the Epistle side towards the people, raises the monstrance as high as his eyes, brings it down lower than his breast, then raises it in a straight line as high as his breast, afterwards brings it to his left shoulder, and completes the circle, turning himself to the altar to his right, on the Gospel side."

Fr. Ferguson. Pardon me, Father Doyle, but is there not authority for one variation from that

form? A good many priests, after turning the monstrance from the left shoulder to the right one, bring it back in front of the breast before completing the circle by turning to the altar on the Gospel side; and I fancy they have the sanction of some rubricists for the practice. Fr. Doyle. You are quite right; they have. Wapelhorst says that the movement may be completed as described in the Baltimore Ceremonial, "vel potest ostensorium a dextro rursus reducere ante pectus ibique aliquantulum sistere, tunc gyrum perficiens super Altare collocare." And in support of his contention he cites a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites.

Fr. Moran. Before we finish with Benediction, will some member of our Bureau of Information kindly inform me whether there is any one definitely prescribed method of incensing, any exclusively correct way of swinging the censer? So far as my observation has gone, there is perhaps less uniformity with regard to that act than respecting most other of our doings at the altar.

Fr. Harris. Well, if you ask me, I must say that I have read more directions about how not to incense than about the way to do it properly. For the incensation of the sacred offerings, the cross, and the altar at High Mass, there are of course detailed instructions in the various ceremonials, with accompanying plates to lend additional clarity to the text; but not all rubricists tell us just how we should manipulate the

censer at Benediction. Wapelhorst states that we should swing the censer, not six or nine times, but only thrice, with a slow movement, and with the briefest of pauses after each swing; but, so far as I know, he does not describe the process by which the swing, or throw, of the censer is effected. The Baltimore Ceremonial is more specific. In a footnote to its article on the functions of the censer-bearer, it explains the manner of incensing practiced in Rome and throughout Italy, "in well-regulated churches.' While the instructions concern the censerbearer in particular, I take it that they apply equally to all who do the incensing-among others, to the priest incensing the Blessed Sacrament at Benediction. Let me quote: "To incense in a proper manner, having lowered the cover of the censer, he takes the top of the chains in his left hand, and brings it to his breast; with the fingers of his right hand he takes the chains close to the cover and brings it as high as his eyes; then he lowers it, and stretches his arm while he raises it again towards the one whom he is incensing, causing the censer to swing forward; and then lowers it again towards himself. He will repeat the same as often as he is to give throws, or swings." Fr. Temple. That may be the Roman manner, but 'tis not the French one, or at least not the manner described in a French ceremonial we used in my time at Laval. We were told to place the left hand holding the top of the chains on the breast, to raise the censer with the right