th century appears to have been the only
bishop who preached in the Roman church for many Footnote: and it is
said that none of his successors until the time of Pius the fifth,
five hundred years afterwards, imitated his example". Orig. Liturg.
vol. II, p. 59. Bingham I. IV, c. Sec..3. Mr. Palmer forgot all the
homilies of Gregory the great, as well as the chronology of the Popes.
The latter might find in the multiplicity and importance of their
other occupations abundant motives for abstaining from preaching, a
duty to which so many of their clergy dedicate themselves. That the
early Popes however preached there can be no doubt, although most
of their homilies, if ever written, have not reached our time. Not
only the example of S. Peter who (whatever we may think of the local
tradition of Rocca S. Pietro above Palestrina) used certainly to
preach, as the Acts of the Apostles prove; but the general custom of
other cities would induce the zealous Bishops of Rome to exhort and
encourage their flock, particularly in time of persecution; and that
at a later period they were not unaccustomed to preach is evident
from the Ordo Romanus of Card. Gaetano published by Mabillon and from
a Vatican MS. no. 4231, p. 197; both these documents are quoted by
Cancellieri, _Descriz. delle Cappelle etc. p. 328_. See proofs that
the Popes preached drawn up in chronological order in Sala's notes to
Card. Bona, lib. 2. c. 7-]

[Footnote 12: S. Ambros. Ep. 13, serm. 34.]

[Footnote 13: Of the ancient offerings the following vestiges remain:
candles are offered by the clergy at their ordination, bread and wine
by bishops at their consecration, chalices and torches by the Roman
senate on particular festivals, and in fine bread, wine, water, and,
till lately, doves and other birds at the canonisation of the Saints.
On the ancient offerings see Cancellieri, de Secretaries, t. I, p.
181.]

[Footnote 14: "This custom prevailed universally in the Christian
church from the earliest period" Palmer Orig. Liturg. vol. 2, p. 75.]

[Footnote 15: As the ancient Roman houses had an _impluvium_ in the
midst of the _atrium_, so in the _atria_ annexed to the Christian
churches was one or more fountains (Eus. Eccl. Hist. l. X, c. 4) and
sometimes a well or cistern. In these the faithful used to wash their
hands (Tertull. De orat. Sec., De lavat. man.) Thus in the atrium of
St. Paul's basilica there was a cantharus, restored by Pope Leo I, of
which the saint