Excerpt from The Sacrifice of the Mass: An Explanation of Its Doctrine, Rubrics and Prayers<br><br>Hours and the various Offices of the Church? Benedict XIV., a safe authority, gives the reason. He informs us (the Mass, bk. Ii. P. 113) that the Creed with the Pater noster were among those prayers never recited in the public Services of the Church at which pagans and catechumens assisted. Both pagans and catechumens had left the Church at the Pater noster, hence there was no reason for saying the Pater noster inaudibly; but as pagans and catechumens were allowed to be present at Prime, Vespers, Matins, &amp;c., the Pater noster in their presence was said in secret. And the custom lives to this day.<br><br>Let us take a few more instances. The priest's berretta at Mass dates from about the tenth century. Before that time the amice served as a covering for the head. Even at the present time many Religious wear the amice over the head until the beginning of Mass, when they cast it back between the shoulders.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.