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 hæc 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