Over the last weeks I've caught some of the programmes in Radio 4's "History of the World in 100 Objects" series. Recently they've been appealing for people to put onto the BBC website things of their own which have some historical meaning. So I thought I'd have a go, and managed to put on there one of my special possessions - an altar missal printed in Antwerp in 1614. This was given to me by my parents when I was training to be a priest in the 70s. The missal is well used, especially the pages with the Canon of the Mass - what we would now call the Eucharistic Prayer. The picture shows the missal open at the Consecration, which you can see in large letters "Hoc est enim corpus meum" and "Hic est enim Calix sanguinis mei, novi et aeterni testamentum: mysterium fidei: qui pro vobis et pro multis effundetur in remissionem peccatorum".
I wonder how many priests in those dark times for the Catholic Church prayed those sacred words from this book. Perhaps one of the martyrs...
You can see the missal on the BBC site here. Click on "Explore", wait for the Flash video to load and find the year 1600. You'll see the same picture as on this posting, with more info.
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