After the Reformation.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 25, 19 June 1902, Page 1

After the Reformation.

Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth were all crowned in accordance with the old Catholic rite described above by the learned Redemptorist. • Since the Reformation,' he continues, 'the coronation has lost none of its splendor, though some consider it a mere religious pageant, imparting no sacredness. Many of the old rites have been retained, as the anointing, girding with the sword, crowning and enthroning. As regards the oil, it seems that a change has been made. There are animal, vegetable, and mineral oils of many kinds; but the Catholic Church knows only one for sacred purposes, that which was in use in Palestine in the time of Our Lord the oil of olives, which He sanctified (I may add) by His agony and sweat of blood in the olive-grove. The oil of catechumens and the oil for the sick are both the same in substance, but consecrated by the bishop with different prayers. Chrism is also olive-oil, but mixed with balsam. The Anglican bishops who prepared the oil for the coronation of Charles I. made a signal innovation. He was anointed with the oil of ben, made from the ben nut and mixed with many choice perfumes. This nut-oil was also used in the unction of the Catholic king, James 11., and he is said to have made a largess of £200 to the perfumer.' * ' I may say,' adds Father Bridgett, 'that, though English Catholics attached sacredness to the person of an anointed king, they did not consider that the coronation oath and anointing were necessary to his authority, or conferred on him an absolute immunity. The king had all his rights and duties from the moment of his accession or acceptation, and he thereupon entered into a tacit contract with his people. . . . Of course the Church does not admit a royal character, like the character of Baptism, Confirmation, and Order; nor is royal unction a sacrament.'