Page:Raccoltaorcolle00raccgoog.djvu/184

Rh vii. to all who carry this Rosary with them, if, at the tolling of the bell for a passing soul, they kneel down and pray for that soul. Benedict XIV.

viii. , to all who carry this Rosary, whenever they make examination of conscience, and say three Pater noster and three Ave Maria. Ben. XIV.

ix. to all who carry this Rosary whenever they hear Mass (feast-day or ferial), or assist at a sermon, or accompany the Most Holy Viaticum, or bring back any sinner to his way of salvation, or do any other good work in honour of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin, or St. Bridget, provided they say also three Pater noster and three Ave Maria. Benedict XIV., as before.

The Litanies commonly called "Litanies of our Lady" received the name of Litanies of Loretto in the Constitutions of several Sovereign Pontiffs—viz. Reddituri, of Sixtus V., July 11, 1687; Sanctissimus, of Clement VIII., Sept. 6, 1601; and In supremo, of Alexander VII., May 28, 1664—by reason of their being sung with great solemnity every Saturday in the Holy House of Loretto. They are made up of humble supplications and devout prayers to Almighty God (for this is the meaning of the word "Litanies"), offered up through the intervention of our Blessed Lady, whose most sacred person is especially honoured by the application to her of the mystic figures, high titles of honour, and glorious appellations whereby she is invoked in them. That these litanies might always, when said by the faithful—in church in public, or at home in private—remain word for word exactly as they have been handed down to us from ancient tradition, Pope Alexander VII., in the Constitution above named, strictly forbade the making of any alteration in them.

That the faithful might the more frequently have recourse to the intercession of most holy Mary in their behalf with Almighty God, doing her honour at the same time, Pope Sixtus V., in the above-named. Constitution, granted—