[Footnote 17: See ancient inscriptions from the catacombs, containing prayers for the dead in Bock's Hierurgia (vol. 2, ch. 7), also in Annali delle Scienze Religiose, Luglio 1839, as also in the well-known works on the catacombs. Bingham admits that the eucharistic sacrifice was offered for S. Augustine, S. Monica, the emperors Constantine and Valentinian at their funerals. (S. Ambrose prayed for Valentinian Gratian and Theodosius.) "In the communion service" says he "according to the custom of those times, a solemn commemoration was made of the dead in general, and prayers were offered to God for them". Bingham, Antiq. l. 23, c. 2. "The custom of praying and offering up sacrifice for the faithful departed most evidently appears to have prevailed in the church even from the time of the apostles", says the Protestant bishop Milles, Opera S. Cyrilli. p. 297. "In primitive times" says Palmer "these commemorations (in the mass) were accompanied by prayers for the departed". Origin. Liturg. vol. 2, p. 94. With these Protestant admissions before us and many others collected in the Annali delle Scienze Relig. Luglio 1839, we opine that the Rev. Mr. Breeks ought to have been solicitous for his own soul rather than for that of Mrs. Wolfrey, whose inscription was dictated by the spirit of primitive Christianity. The following is the inscription on Thorndike's tomb at Westminster "Tu lector, requiem ei et beatam in Xto resurrectionem precare". On Bp. Barrow's tomb at S. Asaph's "O vos transeuntes in domum Domini, domum orationis, orate pro conservo vestro ut inveniat requiem in die Domini". Both were written by their own direction: other Protestant testimonies may be seen ap. Srett. o. 462.] [Footnote 18: Pope Vigilius (A.D. 538.) in his epistle to Profuturus, bishop of Braga in Spain, says, that the canon never varied, but that on particular festivals "we make commemoration of the holy solemnity, or of those saints whose nativities we celebrate".] [Footnote 19: "The bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ". 1 Cor. X, 16.] [Footnote 20: This custom we may consider with Palmer as a memorial of an ancient mode of communicating under both kinds united, which is still observed in the oriental churches: Vol. 2, p. 146; or with Le Brim as a record of the practice of sending the particle to the priests of titular churches, T. 4. Micrologus and others consider this mixture as a representation of Christ's resurrection. It is very ancient, as Sala shews.]