ul
historical paintings of the loggie di Raffaello. Hence may we judge of
the versatility of his talents.]

[Footnote 113: Why does a deacon perform this ceremony? since other
benedictions are reserved to bishops and priests. Rupert assigns as a
reason, that Christ's body was wrapped in spices by his disciples, and
not by the apostles whose successors are bishops and priests: besides,
the hymn sung by the deacon is the praeconium Paschale, or announcement
of the Resurrection, which was first made by inferiors to their
superiors, by the women to the apostles. We may add that both the fire
and the 5 grains of incense are previously blessed by the priest, and
in the praeconium itself there is not any form of blessing, strictly
speaking. In the church of Ravenna however the bishop used to
bless this candle (S. Gregory ep. 28, lib. 9). In the Roman church,
according to cardinal Gaetani, the last of the Cardinal priests
usually blessed the fire, and the last Card. deacon lighted the _lumen
Christi_, or triple candle, and the Paschal candle. The deacon used
to bless the latter either at the steps of the presbytery, or from the
ambo; and hence we find a marble column, intended to support it, fixed
to the ambo in S. Clement's S. Laurence's, and S. Pancras' churches
at Rome. See another marble column destined for the same use ap.
Ciampini, Vet. mon. cap. 2.]

[Footnote 114: Martene (De antiquis Eccl. rit. lib. 4, c. 24)
maintains that this hymn was composed by S. Augustine, and this
opinion is adopted also by Baillet and Benedict XIV, and confirmed by
a MS. pontifical of the church of Pavia of the 9th century, and other
documents cited by Martene, ibid: it was corrected by S. Jerome, if
we may believe an ancient Pontifical of Poitiers (quoted ibid.) The
_chant_ of this beautiful hymn is very ancient. "I have seen," says
Baini "in many manuscripts both anterior and posterior to the 11th
century the melodies of the preface, of the _Pater noster_, of the
_Exultet_, and of the _Gloria_ precisely such as the modern" (T. 2,
p. 92). In a splendid roll of the Minerva (signed D. 1. 2) of the 9th
century, are contained the _Exultet_, the solemn benediction of the
baptismal font, and the administration of all the ecclesiastical
orders. Nor is this the only roll containing the chant precisely
similar to the modern. D'Agincourt left another to the Vatican
library. See also MS. no. 333 of the Barberini library, of the year
1503.]

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