[Sidenote:  its ancient form.]

Anciently three masses used to be celebrated at Rome[57] on this day, as is evident from the sacramentary of pope Gelasius; and at all the three the Pope himself officiated.  At the first the public penitents were absolved:[58] at the second the oils were blessed; the last (ad vespertinum officium) was intended to commemorate the institution of the blessed Sacrament.  Public penance gradually declined in the western church after the seventh century; and the three masses are now reduced to one.  That of the Sixtine chapel, at which the Pope assists, differs very little from ordinary Masses celebrated there, and the concourse of persons is generally very great.

[Sidenote:  Blessing of the oils at S. Peter’s]

[Sidenote:  Communion under one kind.]

The oils are blessed in S. Peter’s during mass, by the Card. archpriest, or a Bishop in his stead.  They are three, viz. 1 the oil of catechumens, used in blessing baptism, in consecrating churches and altars, in ordaining priests, and in blessing and crowning sovereigns:  2 the oil of the sick used in administering extreme unction and in blessing bells:  3 sacred chrism, composed of oil, and balm of Gilead or of the west Indies[59]:  it is used in conferring baptism and confirmation, in the consecration of bishops, of patens and chalices, and in the blessing of bells.  The Roman Pontifical prescribes, that besides the bishop and the usual ministers, there should be present twelve priests, seven deacons, and seven subdeacons, all habited in white vestments.  After the elevation at those words of the canon, Per quem haec omnia etc. a little before the Pater noster, the Bishop sits down before a table facing the altar, and exorcises and blesses the oil for the sick, which is brought in by a subdeacon.  He then proceeds with the mass, and gives communion to the ministers and the rest of the under the form of bread alone[60].  Having received the ablutions, he returns to the table above mentioned, and awaits the coming of the procession of the priests, deacons, subdeacons etc.  In it, the balsam is carried by a subdeacon, etc. the oil for the chrism and that for the catechumens by two deacons:  and meantime the choir sings appropriate verses.  The bishop blesses the balsam, and mixes it with some oil; he then breathes three times in the form of a cross over the vessel of chrism, as do the twelve priests also.  Next follows the blessing, and then the salutation, of the chrism:  the latter is made 3 times by the bishop and each of the twelve priests in succession, saying, Hail holy chrism, after which they kiss the vessel which contains it.  The oil of catechumens is blessed and saluted in like manner:  and the procession returns to the sacristy; in the mean time the bishop concludes the mass; and thus this solemn rite terminates.

[Sidenote:  Origin of the blessing of the oils.]