ng to the ritual, "the Bishop takes the book (the New
Testament), and places it upon the head of the candidate," while the
other "good men" present impose hands upon him, saying: "Holy Father,
accept this servant of yours in all righteousness, and send your
grace and your Spirit upon him." The Holy Spirit was then supposed to
descend, and the ceremony of the _consolamentum_ was finished; "the
Believer" had become one of "the Perfected."

However, before the assembly disposed, "the Perfected" proceeded to
carry out two other ceremonies: the vesting and the kiss of peace.

"While their worship was tolerated," writes an historian, "they gave
their new brother a black garment; but in times of persecution they
did not wear it, for fear of betraying themselves to the officials of
the Inquisition. In the thirteenth century, in southern France, they
were known by the linen or flaxen belt, which the men wore over their
shirts, and the women wore _cordulam cinctam ad carnem nudam subtus
mamillas_. They resembled the cord or scapular that the Catholic
tertiaries wore to represent the habit of the monastic order to which
they belonged. They were therefore called _haeretici vestiti_, which
became a common term for 'the Perfected.'"

[1] Jean Guiraud, _Le consolamentum ou initiation cathare_, loc.
cit., p. 134.

The last ceremony was the kiss of peace, which "the Perfected" gave
their new brother, by kissing him twice (on the mouth), _bis in ore
ex transverso_. He in turn kissed the one nearest him, who passed on
the _pax_ to all present. If the recipient was a woman, the minister
gave her the _pax_ by touching her shoulder with the book of the
gospels, and his elbow with hers. She transmitted this symbolic kiss
in the same manner to the one next to her, if he was a man. After a
last fraternal embrace, they all congratulated the new brother, and
the assembly dispersed.

The promises made by this new member of "the Perfected" were not all
equally hard to keep. As far as positive duties were concerned, there
were but three: the daily recitation of the Lord's Prayer, the
breaking of bread, and the _Apparellamentum_.

Only "the Perfected" were allowed to recite the Lord's Prayer. The
Cathari explained the esoteric character of this prayer by that
passage in the Apocalypse which speaks of the one hundred and
forty-four thousand elect who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth,
and who sing a hymn which only virgins can sing.[1] Thi