33. The book of the Gospel is fixed on the altar, because the Gospel hath Christ for its author, and beareth witness, to Him. Which book is therefore adorned on his outside, for the cause that we shall make mention of hereafter. Next, the vessels and utensils in the house of the Lord had their origin from Moses and Solomon: which in the Old Testament were many and diverse, as it is written in Exodus, and having divers significations, concerning which, for the sake of brevity, we will not in this place treat.
34. Now all things which pertain to the ornament of a church, must be removed or covered over in the season of Lent: which according to some taketh place on Passion Sunday, because after that time the Divinity of Christ was hidden and concealed in Him. For He gave Himself up to be betrayed and scourged, as if He were only man, and had not in Him the virtue of divinity: whence in the Gospel of this day it is written, 'But Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple.' [Footnote 314]
[Footnote 314: S. John viii, 59.]
Then therefore the crosses are covered, that is, the virtue of His divinity is hidden. Others do this from the first Sunday of Lent: because after that time the Church beginneth to treat of His Passion. Whence in that time the cross must not be borne in procession [{61}] from the church, except it be covered; and, according to the use of some places, two coverings or curtains are then only retained: of which the one is hung all round the choir, the other is suspended between the altar and the choir: that those things which be within the Holy of Holies may not appear. In that the Sanctuary and Cross are then veiled, we be taught the letter of the Law, that is, its carnal observance, or that the understanding of Holy Scriptures before the Passion of Christ was veiled, hidden, and obscure: and that in that time there was a veil: that is, men had an obscurity before their eyes. It signifieth also the sword which was set before the gate of Paradise: because the carnal observance we have spoken of, and this obscurity, and the sword at the gate of Paradise, were removed by the Passion of Christ. Therefore the curtains and veils of this kind are removed on Good Friday. But in that in the Old Testament, there were beasts that chewed the cud, and cleft the hoof, as oxen used in ploughing, that is discerning and spiritually perceiving the mysteries of Scripture: therefore in Lent only a few priests, to whom 'it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God' [Footnote 315] go behind the veil.
[Footnote 315: St. Matthew xiii, 11.]
35. Concerning this it is to be noted that there be three kinds of veils which be hung in churches: that which concealeth the mysteries: that which divideth the sanctuary from the clergy: that which divideth the clergy from the laity. The first denoteth the law: the second denoteth our unworthiness, in that we are unworthy, nay unable to behold things celestial. The third is the coercion of our carnal pleasures. The first, namely, the curtain that is hung from each side of the altar, when the priest goeth into the holy place, is typified by that which is written in Exodus. [{62}] 'Moses put a veil over his face, for the children of Israel could not sustain the brightness of His countenance.' [Footnote 316] And as the Apostle saith, 'Even to this day is this veil over the hearts of the Jews. [Footnote 317] The second, namely the curtain that in the office of the Mass during Lent is suspended before the altar, was set forth by the veil which was hung up in the tabernacle, and divided the Holy of Holies from the holy place, as shall be declared in the proeme to the fourth part: by which the ark was concealed from the people: and it was wrought cunningly, and adorned with a fair variety of devices. This was it that was rent in the Passion of the Lord: and after its pattern, the curtains at this day are cunningly wrought with divers patterns. Concerning the aforesaid veil, and of what sort the curtains ought to be, it is written in Exodus. The third kind of veil deriveth its origin from thence, that the peribolus in the primitive Church, or wall which encompasseth the choir, was only raised as far as the elevation of the choir; [Footnote 318] which even to this day is observed in some churches: which was done that the people [{63}] seeing the clergy singing psalms, might follow their good example. But at this time as it were a veil or wall is suspended or interposed between the clergy and the laity, that they may not be able to behold each other: as if to say, in very deed, 'turn away mine eyes, lest they behold vanity.' [Footnote 319]
[Footnote 316: Exodus xxxiv, 33.]
[Footnote 317: 2 Corinth, iii, 15.]
[Footnote 318: There is much difficulty in this passage. We conceive that Durandus while writing it had in his mind's eye the arrangement of many of the Basilican churches, in which the choir was raised over the crypt (called Confessio, or Martyrium), in which the ashes of the saints were laid, and was detached from the nave by two flights of steps, one on each side of the descent to this undercroft. In this case the appodiation would mean the elevation of the choir, itself considered as a sufficient distinction from the nave. The usual representations of Basilican churches, however, always show some rails, or cancelli, besides this appodiation. The learned Father Thiers devotes the third section of his 'Dissertation sur la Clôture du Choeur des Eglises' to the consideration of this passage. 'Guillaume Durand, Evêque de Mande, assure que dans la Primitive Eglise, le choeur etait séparé de la Nef par une muraille d'appui, afin que le peuple voiant la Clergé chanter les louanges de Dieu en fût édifié. Mais comme il parle d'un fait beaucoup éloigné de son tems, et qui n'est attache par aucun ancien auteur, je ne pense pas que l'on doive faire grande fonds sur son temoignage.' We suspect that Thiers is wrong in construing appodiatio by muraille d'appui: the latter would well express the real Basilican arrangement, with which the translator was probably acquainted. Durandus, therefore, is wrong in his fact; and Thiers wrong in his understanding of Durandus, as well as in the theory stated in the next section, that 'Depuis Constantin le choeur de quelques Eglises etoit distingue de la Nef par des tapisseries ou des voiles.' For he grounds this chiefly on the next assertion of Durandus about the use curtains, 'hoc tempore, vers la fin du 13 siecle.' If we did not know from facts that before this time roodscreens were in ordinary use, the words of Durandus velum aut murus would show us that he means the wall to be taken metaphorically for a veil. And so Thiers may have seen, since he concludes his section thus—' Mais peut être que Theodoret parle des tapisseries et Durand des voiles qui convroient la Clôture du Choeur par le dedans, et que sous ces tapisseries et ces voiles il y avoit une veritable clôture de balustres, ou de muraillcs pleines.']
[Footnote 319: Psalm cxix (Beati immaculati), 37.]
36. But on Holy Saturday all the curtains are taken away, because on the Passion of the Lord the veil of the temple was rent: and by that thing the spiritual intelligence of the Law was revealed unto us, which till that time lay hid, as is said afore: and the door of the kingdom of heaven is opened, and power was given unto us, that we cannot be overcome of our carnal concupiscence, unless we ourselves do yield. But the veil which separateth the sanctuary from the choir, is drawn or lifted up at vespers on every Saturday of Lent: when the office of the Sunday is begun, that the clergy may be able to look into the sanctuary: because the Sunday commemorateth the Resurrection.
37. This therefore is done on the six Sundays of Lent: because there was no age in which joy, and that joy eternal, was not made in some sort manifest, that joy which is concealed in heaven, as is signified by that veil. Thence is it that we fast not on the Sundays, and this on account of the glory of the Resurrection. For the first Sunday signifieth the joy which our parents enjoyed in the Paradise before the fall. [{64}] The second Sunday signifieth the joy of the few who were preserved in the ark of Noah, when all else were drowned in the deluge. The third, the gladness of the children of Israel, when in the time of Joseph others were afflicted with famine. The fourth, their joy when they lived with all peace under Solomon. [Footnote 320] The fifth, their gladness when returning from the Babylonian captivity. The sixth, that of the disciples from the Resurrection to the Ascension: when the bridegroom was with them in presence.
[Footnote 320: 3 Kings iv, 20.]