APPARATUS USED AT THE FIRST MASS

Although neither Scripture nor history says anything definite about the apparatus or ceremonies employed by the Apostles in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, still it is most probable that such an august sacrifice was not offered without what was suitable and becoming. The Apostles knew too well with what a gorgeous display of ritual the sacrifices of the Mosaic law used to be offered, and how Almighty God himself expressly regulated the kind of garments the priests should use and the special ceremonies that were to be employed on every occasion; and if this were done where the sacrifice consisted of nothing but bulls and goats, how much more ought to be expected when the victim offered was none else than the Son of God himself? It is very likely, then, that the apparatus used in the first Mass, and the ceremonies observed thereat, were communicated orally to the Apostles by our Lord himself, and that they did exactly as he prescribed.

Cardinal Bona, in treating this question, says that, without a doubt, lights were used after the manner of the ancient Hebrews; that vestments also were employed different from those of every-day life; and he mentions the fact that St. Peter’s chasuble was conveyed from Antioch to the Church of St. Geneviève at Paris, and there carefully preserved (Rer. Liturg., p. 206).