Reading Nine (Mass)

At the end of Terce and with the sounding of the bells quiet, the cantor shall begin the office of the mass. When the priest says the Domine vobiscum , the sub-deacon, with his knees bent, should gently draw the chasuble. The deacon should lay the Host on the paten and put the wine and water in the chalice. The priest can sit, if he so wishes, at the Epistle , at the Gradual and at the Alleluia . Then the sub-deacon should prepare the pulpit and the book of the Gospel, and, when the things, which are to be said by the choir are said, the deacon shall receive a blessing from the abbot, if he is present, or from the priest; and when the candelabra have been arranged together with the censer, the subdeacon exiting back (from the pulpit) and the priest standing next to the altar, he (the deacon) shall read the Gospel. After it has been read, the subdeacon shall proffer it to the abbot and to the priest to be kissed, after this, the deacon shall take the chalice to the priest to administer the wine, the water and the Host (attended by the wine, the water and the host), the censer with a candlestick preceeding him, and he shall present it to him by saying Immola Deo sacrificium laudis et cetera; the hand of the priest shall be kissed.

Next the deacon presents the priest with the censer by kissing his hand, as he is holding back a little the chasuble with his left hand. When this has been done, the deacon, receiving the censer, shall cense the priest and, rising, he shall go to the altar of the blessed Mary and to the relics of the saints and to the other altars, then to the choir by each one of the brothers, first to the abbot then to the cantor, if he is in the middle of the choir, then to the prior. If either of them is absent - to the sub-prior, and if he is absent - the deacon shall always go to the part of the choir; and afterwards he shall return to the altar. After the Gospel has been read, the sub-deacon shall spread around the hanging curtains around the altar. When they have reached the time for the Sanctus the deacon and sub-deacon coming up to him shall say the Sanctus with the priest. And the deacon, receiving the paten, shall hand it over wrapped to the sub-deacon, who shall go behind the deacon to the usual place.

Lectio nona.

Cantor, finita hora tertia et sedato classico, missae incipiat officium. Cum sacerdos dicit Dominus uobiscum, subdiaconus flexis genibus casulam debet leniter trahere. Diaconus debet hostiam super patenam et uinum et aquam in calicem ponere. Ad epistolam sacerdos, si uoluerit, et ad responsum, et Alleluia potest sedere. Tunc subdiaconus pulpitum et euangelicum librum debet praeparare, et dictis quae in choro dicenda sunt, diaconus ab abbate, si praesens est, uel a sacerdote benedictionem accipiat ; et dispositis cum thuribulo candelabris subdiacono retroexistente sacerdote iuxta altare stante legat euangelium. Quo lecto, illud porrigat abbati et sacerdoti ad osculandum subdiaconus, post haec diaconus afferat sacerdoti calicem administratum uino et aqua et hostia, thuribulo cum candelabro praecedente et offerens ei dicendo Immola Deo sacrificium laudis et cetera ; manus eius osculetur.

Deinde thuribulum offert ei manum eius osculando, manu sinistra casula aliquantulum retinente. Quo facto, diaconus, accipiens thuribulum, sacerdotem incenset et surgens uadit ad altare beatae Mariae et ad reliquias sanctorum, et ad alia altaria post in chorum per singulos fratres, primo ad abbatem, deinde ad cantorem, si in medio choro stet, deinde ad priorem. Si uterque defuerit ad suppriorem, qui si defuerit, semper ad partem chori, post redeat ad altare. Subdiaconus, lecto euangelio, cortinas pendentes, circa altare expendeat. Cum uentum fuerit ad Sanctus, diaconus et subdiaconus accedentes cum sacerdote dicant Sanctus. Et accipiens diaconus patenam tradat subdiacono inuolutam, qui uadat retro diaconum ad locum consuetum.