In some churches two eggs of ostriches and other things which cause admiration, and which are rarely seen, are accustomed to be suspended: that by their means the people may be drawn to church, and have their minds the more affected.
43. Again, some say that the ostrich, as being a forgetful bird, 'leaveth her eggs in the dust': [Footnote 330] and at length, when she beholdeth a certain star, returneth unto them, and cheereth them by her presence. Therefore the eggs [Footnote 331] of ostriches are hung in churches to signify that man, being left of God on account of his sins, if at length he be illuminated by the Divine Light, remembereth his faults and returneth to Him, Who by looking on him with His Mercy cherisheth him. As it is written in Luke that after Peter had denied Christ, the 'Lord turned and looked upon Peter.' [Footnote 332] Therefore be the aforesaid eggs suspended in churches, this signifying, that man easily forgetteth God, unless being illuminated by a star, that is, by the Influence of the Holy Spirit, he is reminded to return to Him by good works.
[Footnote 330: Job xxxix, 14.]
[Footnote 331: Perhaps this custom was introduced by the Crusaders. 'As the ostrich is good for food, so, it seems, are its eggs: to say nothing of their being objects of attention, as being used much in the East by way of ornament; for they are hung up in their places of public worship, along with many lamps.' Harmer's 'Observations,' vol. iv, p. 336, who refers to Pococke's 'Travels,' vol. i, p. 31, and imagines that Dr. Chandler, in his travels in Asia Minor, was mistaken when he supposed that the Turkish Mosque of Magnesia was ornamented with lamps pendent from the ceiling intermixed with balls of polished ivory, p. 267. Ostrich eggs might easily be mistaken for ivory balls. The following passage from De Moleon is curious: 'At the conclusion of matins,' he says, speaking of the rites of S. Maurice at Angers on Easter Day, 'two chaplains take their place behind the altar curtains. Two corbeliers (Cubiculares) in dalmatics, amices, and mitellae, with gloves on their hands, present themselves before the altar. The chaplains chant. Quem quaeritis? The corbeliers representing the Maries, reply, Jesum Nazarenum Crucifixum. The others answer, Resurrexit, non est hic. The corbeliers take from the altar two ostrich eggs wrapped in silk, and go forth, chanting, Alleluia resurrexit Dominus, resurrexit Leo Fortis, Christus, Filius Dei.'—Voyag. Lit. p. 98.]
[Footnote 332: S. Luke xxii, 61.]
44. Now in the Primitive Church, the sacrifice was offered in vessels of wood, and common vests: for then were 'chalices of wood, and priests of gold': whereof the contrary is now. But Severinus, Pope, decreed that it should be offered in glass: [Footnote 333] but because such vessels were easily broken, therefore, Urban, Pope, and the Council [Footnote 334] of Rheims decreed that gold or silver vessels should be used: or on account of poverty, tin, which rusteth not: but not in wood nor in brass. Therefore it might not be in glass on account of the danger of effusion: nor of wood since being porous and spongy, it absorbeth the blood: nor of brass nor of bronze, the rust of which is unseemly.
[Footnote 333: See Martene, Tom. IV, ii, 9; the Ducretum, fol. 395.]
[Footnote 334: 'A.D. 874, Vid. Concil. Coll. Reg. Tom. I. p. 288.' See also P. Tunoc. iv, Ep. ad Otton. Carel. xiii Hardouin vii, 365.]
45. And note that the name of chalice is derived from the Old Testament: whence Jeremiah, 'Babylon is a golden chalice that maketh drunk the nations.' [Footnote 335] And David: 'In the hand of the Lord is a chalice, and the wine thereof is red': [Footnote 336] and in another place, 'I will receive the chalice of salvation, and will call on the name of the Lord.' [Footnote 337] Again, in the Gospel: 'Are ye able to drink the chalice that I shall drink?' [Footnote 338] And again, 'When He had taken the chalice He gave thanks.' [Footnote 339] A golden chalice signifieth the 'treasures of wisdom that be hid in Christ.' [Footnote 340] A silver chalice denoteth purity from sin. A chalice of tin denoteth the similitude of sin and punishment. For tin is as it were halfway between silver and lead: and the Humanity of Christ, albeit it were not lead, that is, sinful, yet was it like to sinful flesh. And therefore not silver: and although impassible for His own sin, passible He was for ours: since 'He thus took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.' [Footnote 341] Concerning the Chalice and the Paten we shall speak hereafter.
[Footnote 335: Jeremiah li, 7.]
[Footnote 336: Psalm lxxv (Confitebimur), 8.]
[Footnote 337: Psalm cxvi (Dilexi), 13.]
[Footnote 338: S. Matthew x, 22.]
[Footnote 339: S. Matthew xxvi, 27. ]
[Footnote 340: Coloss. ii, 3.]
[Footnote 341: S. Matthew viii, 17.]