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 BREAST

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BREBEUF

of blessing bread on certain feast days, as for instance on the feasts of St. Genevieve, of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and others.

Bread is also used in the rite of ordination of priests, as a Host is placed upon the paten which the candi- dates touch, in order to signify that power is given to them to consecrate bread into the Body of Christ. It is also sometimes prescribed in the rubrics that the bishop, after using the Holy Oils, as for example at confirmation and ordination, shall cleanse his fingers with crumbs of bread. Such, in the Christian liturgy, are the more important and general uses of bread, which, it will be seen, are confined principally to the Holy Eucharist. With the exception of some few blessings of bread for special purposes, most of these customs are closely connected with the Eucharistic sacrifice, and generally derive their origin from cere- monies practised with the Eucharistic bread. (See

AnTIDORON, Azi-ilES, EUCHARLST, EdLOGI.^.)

Missale Romnnum, Rituate, Pontijicale; Migne, Encyc. Thiol. (Paris, 1847). XVI. c. 1119; Do Cange. Glossarium media; et infimiE latinitatia (Niort, 1886), VI; Krads, Real-Encyk. (Freiburg. 1880), I, 172, 451; Scudamore in Diet, of Christ. .\niiq. (London, l'"33), I, 600. 628; Neale, History of the Holy Eastern Church (London, 1850); Le Vavasseur, Ceremonial selon le rit romain (Paris, 1902), I, 460.

J. F. GOGGIN.

Breast, Striking of the, as a liturgical act is prescribed in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass during the Confiteor at the phrase "Through my fault" (three times), at the Nobis Quoque Peccatoribus (once) , at the Agnus Dei (three times), and at the Domine, Non Sum Dignus (three times). With bowed head, except at the Nobis Quoque Peccatoribus, moderately and without noise, the celebrant strikes his breast with the right hand, the fingers being held closely together and curved or fully extended, as the rubrics are silent on this point; after the consecration, however, ivith the last three fingers only, since the thumb and index finger, which are joined, must not come in contact with the chasuble. At the Agnus Dei in requiem Masses the striking of the breast is omitted, to show that the celebrant is thinking of the departed more than of himself. The faitliful are accustomed to this practice as well as the priest.

The early Christians were familiar with the prac- tice, as St. Augustine and St. Jerome testify. "No sooner have you heard the word 'Confiteor' ", says the former, "than you strike your breast. What does this mean except that you wish to bring to light what is concealed in the breast, and by this act to cleanse your hidden sins?" (Sermo de verbis Domini, 13). "We strike our breasts", declares St. Jerome, " because the breast is theseatof evil thoughts: we wish to dispel these thoughts, we wish to purify our hearts " (In Ezechiel, c. xviii). A warrant for these statements is found in the Psalmist: A contrite and hiunbled heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise (Ps., 1, 19). The petitioner at the Throne of Mercy would chasten his heart and offer it as a sacrifice to God, who healeth the broken of heart and bindeth up their wounds (Ps. cxlvi, 3). The ancient Chris- tians were accustomed to strike the breast when they heard mention made of sensual sins; at the "Forgive us our trespasses" of the Pater Noster; and in detestation of the crime of the Jews, at the words of the Gospel, "Thou hast a devil", apphed to Christ.

Seisenberger in Kirchenler,; A. Carpo, Compendiosa Bihlio- iheca Liturgica (Bologna, 1885), s. vv. Confiteor, Nobis quoque peccatoribus, Agnus Dei, Domine non sum dignus.

Andrew B. Meehan.

Brebeuf, Jean de, Jesuit missionary, b. at Cond^- eur-Vire in Normandy, 2.5 March, 1593; d. in Canada, near Georgian Bay, 16 March, 1649. His desire was to become a lay brother, but he finally entered the Society of Jesus as a scholastic, 8 November, 1617. .According to Ragueneau it was 5 October.

j£AN DE Br±BEUF, S. J.

Though of unusual physical strength, his health gave way completely when he was twenty-eight, which interfered with his studies and permitted only what was strictly necessary, so that he never acquired any extensive theological knowledge. On 19 June, 1625, he arrived m Quebec, with the Recollect, Joseph de la Roche d'.4illon, and in spite of the threat which the Cal- vinist captain of the ship made to carry him back to France, he remained in the colony. He over- came the dislike of the colonists for Jes- uits and secured a site for a residence on the St. Charles, the exact location of a former landing of Jacques Cartier. He immediately took up his abode in the Indian wigwams, and has left us an ac- count of his five months' experience there in the dead of winter. In the spring he set out with the Indians on a journey to Lake Huron in a canoe, during the course of which his life was in constant danger. With him was Father de Node, and they established their first mission near Georgian Bay. at Ihonatiria, but after a short time his companion was recalled, and he was left alone.

Brebeuf met with no success. He was sum- moned to Quebec because of the danger of extinc- tion to which the entire colony was then exposed, and arrived there after an absence of two years, 17 July, 1628. On 19 July, 1629, Champlain sur- rendered to the English, and the missionaries re- turned to France. Four years afterwards the colony was restored to France, and on 23 March, 1633, Brebeuf again set out for Canada. While in France he had pronounced his solemn vows as spiritual coadjutor. As soon as he arrived, viz.. May, 1633, he attempted to return to Lake Huron. The Indians refused to take him, but during the follow- ing year he succeeded in reaching his old mission along with Father Daniel. It meant a journey of thirty days and constant danger of death. The next sixteen years of uninterrupted labours among these savages were a continual series of privations and sufferings which he used to say were only roses in comparison with what the end was to be. The details may be found in the " Jesuit Relations ".

In 1640 he set out with Father Chaumonot to evangelize the Neutres, a tribe that Uved north of Lake Erie, but after a winter of incredible hard- ship the missionaries returned unsuccessful. In 1642 he was sent down to Quebec, where he was given the care of the Indians in the Reservation at Sillery. About the time the war was at its height between the Hurons and the Iroquois, Jogues and Bressani had been captured in an effort to reach the Huron country, and Brdbeuf was appointed to make a third attempt. He succeeded. With him on this journey were Chabanel and Garreau, both of whom were afterwards murdered. They reached St. Mary's on the Wye, which was the central station of the Huron Mission. By 1647 the Iroquois had made peace with the French, but kept up their war with the Hurons, and in 1648 fresh disasters befell the work of the missionaries — their establishments were burned and the missionaries slaughtered. On 16 March, 149, the enemy at- tacked St. Louis and seized Brebeuf and Lallemant,