4, c. XXV, and lib. 1,
c. I, art. 18). Palmer, wishing to defend the liturgy of the church
of England, maintains the antiquity of litanies, but pretends that the
invocations of saints were not originally contained in them, but were
added to them in the west about the eighth century (vol. I, p. 289).
From a passage in Walafridus Strabo he is led to admit that at _his_
time (the ninth century) "these invocations must have been _for
some time_ in use, and accordingly manuscript litanies containing
invocations have been discovered by learned men, which appear from
internal evidence to be as old as the eighth century". He attempts
however by _negative_ arguments to shew, that these invocations
are not more ancient than that period; although at the same time he
confesses that "we have no _distinct account_ of the _nature_ of the
service which was used on occasions of peculiar supplication during
the earliest ages". p. 272. To his arguments we may oppose the
_positive_ testimony of Walafridus Strabo, who says "The litany of the
holy names is believed to have come into use after Jerome, following
Eusebius of Cesarea, had composed the martyrology". A long time,
about three centuries, elapsed before the _canon_ of the scriptures
was determined; and it is not therefore surprising if the _canon_
of saints, (if such it may be called), who died at considerable
intervals, required some time for its formation. Invocations of the
saints in ancient litanies may be seen ap. Martene (lib. 4f c. 27
and lib. 1, c. 1, art. 18). One would conceive from Palmer's account
of the Ambrosian litany that it did not contain invocations of
the saints, p. 276; yet in the Ambrosian processional, to which he
alludes, we read as follows "Afterwards they go to the altar, were the
litanies are recited on bended knees, in reciting which the _names
of the saints_ without _Intercede pro nobis_ are sung aloud by the
provost and clergy of the first collegiate church; and by the other
clergy with _Intercede pro nobis_ and this rite of singing the
_litanies_ and antiphons is observed in every other stational church".
ap. Martene lib. 4, c. 28. In the Ordo Romanus also De Benedictione
Ecclesiae these invocations are found. The question however concerning
their antiquity _in the litanies_ is of minor importance. Even Palmer
admits, that "Catholic fathers in the 4th century invoked the saints"
p. 292, though he gravely assures his readers, that "they were too
well in