LITURGICAL QUESTIONS
(From M. Bouix's "Revue des Sciences Ecclesiastiques").
1. At Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, ought the profound inclination be made during the singing of the two verses Tantum ergo Sacramentum, Veneremur cernui, or only during the singing of the words Veneremur cernui?
2. What ceremonies are to be observed by the deacon, or by the assistant priest, when, acting on the permission given by the Decree of the 12th August, 1854, the deacon consigns the ostensorium to the celebrant before the Benediction, and receives it from him after the Benediction has been given?
3. What rule should a priest follow when he finds in the Ordo a regulation which he believes to be certainly incorrect?
1. It is beyond doubt, that the inclination ought to be made whilst the entire verses Tantum ergo Sacramentum, Veneremur cernui, are being sung; and if, in any church, custom has limited the inclination to the two last words, it has arisen from this, that whenever the celebrant intones the hymn, he makes the inclination only after the intonation. The ministers, however, are wrong in imitating him in this.
"Tum in officio divino", says Cavalieri, t. iv., c. viii., Inst. Clem., § 33, n. 49, "quam in precibus omnibus coram SS. Sacramento, dum praedictus versus Tantum ergo dicitur, ab omnibus omnino persistendum erit in inclinatione usque ad cernui. Haec est", says Gardellini (Inst. cl. ibid. n. 19), "praxis quae obtinet in majoribus Urbis basilicis".