f daybreak, as ushering in the dawn of a new
era. The closing verse speaks of the light which the announcement of the
Messiah shed upon the nations 'sitting in darkness and in the shadow of
death'" (Dom Cabrol, Introduction to _Day Hours of the Church_).

"This Canticle of Zachary (St. Luke i. 68-79) naturally falls into two
parts. The first (verses 68 to 75, 'Benedictus Dominus ... diebus
nostris') is a song of thanksgiving for the fulfilment of the Messianic
hopes of the Jews, to which is given a Christian sentiment. The power,
which was of old in the family of David for the defence of the nation,
is being restored, and in a higher and more spiritual sense. The Jews
mourning under the Roman yoke prayed for deliverance through the house
of David. The 'deliverance,' a powerful salvation ('cornu salutis
nobis') was at hand so that the Jews were seeing the fulfilment of God's
promise made to Abraham, and this deliverance, this salvation was such
that 'we may serve Him without fear in holiness and justice, all our
days' (St. Luke i. 75).

"The second part of the canticle (verses 76-80, 'Et tu puer ... ad
dirigendos pedes nostros') is an address by Zachary to his own son, who
was to take an important part in the scheme of the powerful salvation
and deliverance by the Messiah. This canticle is known as the canticle
of joyous hope, hence its use at funerals at the moment of interment,
when words of thanksgiving for the Redemption are specially in place as
an expression of Christian hope" (_Catholic Encyclopedia_, art.
"Benedictus").

_Oratio_ (Title XXX.). The word _oratio_ has various meanings. In the
liturgy it is translated by the word "collect." The word "collect" means
either that the priest who celebrates Mass collects in a short form the
needs, the thanksgivings and the praises of the people, to offer them up
to God; or most probably "the original meaning seems to have been this:
it was used for the service held at a certain church on the days when
there was a station held somewhere else. The people gathered together
and became a collection at the first church; after certain prayers had
been said they went in procession to the station church. Just before
they started, the celebrant said a prayer, the _oratio ad collectam_
(_ad collectionem populi_), the name would then be the same as _oratio
super populum_, a title that still remains in our Missal, in Lent, for
instance, after the Post-Communion. This prayer, the col