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 it (the bell meanwhile being rung). The same rite is observed when the chalice is consecrated. Immediately before the Lord’s Prayer, at the words “per ipsum et cum ipso et in ipso,” the sign of the cross is made three times over the chalice with the host, and towards the close of the “embolism” the fraction of the host takes place, After the words “Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum” the emission of the particle into the cup takes place with the words “Haec commixtio et consecratio,” &c. The celebrant then says the Agnus Dei three times.

5. While the choir sings the Agnus Dei and the Communion, the celebrant proceeds, still “secrete,” with the remainder of the office, which though printed as part of the canon is more conveniently called the communion and post-communion. After the prayer for the peace and unity of the Church (“Domine Jesu Christe, qui dixisti”) he salutes the deacon with the kiss of peace, saying, “Pax tecum”; the subdeacon is saluted in like manner, and then conveys the “pax” to the rest of the clergy who may be assisting. The celebrant then communicates under both species with suitable prayers and actions, and afterwards administers the sacrament to the other communicants if there be any. Then while the wine is poured into the cup for the first ablution he says, “Quod ore sumpsimus”; having taken it he says, “Corpus tuum, Domine.” After the second ablution he goes to the book and reads the Communion. Then turning to the people with “Dominus Vobiscum” he reads the post-communion (one or more); turning once more to the congregation he uses the old dismissal formula “Dominus vobiscum” (R. “Et cum spiritu tuo”), and “Ite, missa est” or “Benedicamus Domino,” in those masses from which Gloria in excelsis has been omitted (R. “Deo Gratias”). Bowing down before the altar he offers the prayer “Placeat tibi, sancta Trinitas,” then turning round he makes the sign of the cross over the congregation with the words of the benediction (“Benedicat”). He then reads the passage from the gospel of John beginning with “In principio erat Verbum,” or else the proper gospel of the day.

MISSI DOMINICI, the name given to the officials commissioned by the Frankish kings and emperors to supervise the administration of their dominions. Their institution dates from Charles Martel and Pippin the Short, who sent out officials to see their orders executed. When Pippin became king in 754 he sent out missi in a desultory fashion; but Charlemagne made them a regular part of his administration, and a capitulary issued about 802 gives a detailed account of their duties. They were to execute justice, to enforce respect for the royal rights, to control the administration of the counts, to receive the oath of allegiance, and to supervise the conduct and work of the clergy. They were to call together the officials of the district and explain to them their duties, and to remind the people of their civil and religious obligations. In short they were the direct representatives of the king or emperor. The inhabitants of the district they administered had to provide for their subsistence, and at times they led the host to battle. In addition special instructions were given to various missi, and many of these have been preserved. The districts placed under the missi, which it was their duty to visit four times a year, were called missatici or legationes. They were not permanent officials, but were generally selected from among persons at the court, and during the reign of Charlemagne personages of high standing undertook this work. They were sent out in twos, an ecclesiastic and a layman, and were generally complete strangers to the district which they administered. In addition there were extraordinary missi who represented the emperor on special occasions, and at times beyond the limits of his dominions. Even under the strong rule of Charlemagne it was difficult to find men to discharge these duties impartially, and after his death in 814 it became almost impossible. Under the emperor Louis I. the nobles interfered in the appointment of the missi, who, selected from the district in which their duties lay, were soon found watching their own interests rather than those of the central power. Their duties became merged in the ordinary work of the bishops and counts, and under the emperor Charles the Bald they took control of associations for the preservation of the peace. About the end of the 9th century they disappeared from France and Germany, and during the 10th century from Italy. It is possible that the itinerant justices of the English kings Henry I. and Henry II., the itinerant baillis of Philip Augustus king of France, or the royal enquêteurs of St Louis originated from this source.

See G. Waitz, Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte (Kiel, 1844); E. Bourgeois, Le Capitulaire de Kiersy-sur-Oise (Paris, 1885); V. Krause, Geschichte des Institutes der missi dominici in the Mittheilungen des Instituts für österreichische Geschichtsforschung, Band XI. (Innsbruck, 1880). E. Dobbert, Über das Wesen und den Geschäftskreis der missi dominici (Heidelberg, 1861); N. D. Fustel de Coulanges, Histoire des institutions politiques de l’ancienne France (Paris, 1889–1890); L. Beauchet, Histoire de l’organization judiciaire en France, époque franque (Paris, 1865).

MISSIONS (Lat. missio, a sending) the term used specially for the propagandist operations of the Christian Church among the heathen, the executants of this work being missionaries. Both “mission” and “missionary” have hence come to be used of similar works in other spheres. The history of Christian missions may, for practical purposes, be divided into three chief periods: (1) the primitive, (2) the medieval and (3) the modern.

There can be little doubt that the Christian Church derived its missionary impulse from the teaching of its founder. Even though we may feel some hesitancy, in the light of modern criticism, about accepting as authentic the specific injunctions ascribed to Jesus by Matthew (ch. xxviii. 19) and Luke (ch. xxiv. 47; Acts i. 8), it must be admitted that the teaching of Jesus, in the emphasis which it laid on the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, was bound sooner or later to break away from the trammels of Judaism, and assert itself in the form of Christian missions. The triumph of this “universalistic” element in the teaching of Christ is vividly portrayed in the Acts of the apostles. At the beginning of the Acts the Christian Church is a little Jewish sect; long before the end is reached it has become a world-conquering spiritual force. The transformation was due in its initial stages to broad-minded men like Stephen, Philip and Barnabas who were the first pioneers of missionary work. Their efforts, however, were soon completely eclipsed by the magnificent achievements of the apostle Paul, who evangelized a large part of Asia Minor and the most important cities of Greece. The success which attended the work of the great apostle to the Gentiles stamped Christianity as a missionary religion for ever. From this point onwards Christianity pushed its way into all the great centres of population. We know very little about the missionaries of the first three centuries. We suddenly find province after province christianized though there is nothing to show how and by whom the work was done. The case of Bithynia is an excellent illustration of this. When Pliny wrote his famous letter to Trajan ( 112), Christianity had taken such a firm hold of the province that its influence had penetrated into remote country districts, pagan festivals were almost entirely neglected, and animals for sacrifice could scarcely find purchasers. Yet the history of the conversion of Bithynia is absolutely buried in oblivion. By the time of Constantine, Christianity had practically covered the whole empire. Harnack has tabulated the results which our scanty data allow us to reach in his Expansion of Christianity. He divides the countries which had been evangelized by the close of the 3rd century into four groups: (1) Those countries in which Christianity numbered nearly one-half of the population and represented the standard religion of the people, viz. most of what we now call Asia Minor, that portion of Thrace which lay over against Bithynia, Armenia, the city of Edessa. (2) Those districts in which Christianity formed a very material portion of the population, influencing the leading classes and being able to hold its own with other religions, viz. Antioch and Coele-Syria, Cyprus, Alexandria together with Egypt and the Thebais, Rome and the lower parts of Italy, together with certain parts of middle Italy, Proconsular Africa and Numidia, Spain, the maritime parts of Greece, the southern coasts of Gaul.