from his wounds. The ringing of the bell denotes the earthquakes and other signs which happened at his death. The five crosses formed over the oblation, signify the five principal wounds in his body. The time from the elevation to the communion corresponds to the three hours he hung alive on the cross. The _Memento_ for the dead denotes that whilst he was thus elevated between heaven and earth, he prayed as a powerful mediator for the whole world, even for his enemies and crucifiers. The conversion of the thief on the cross, on one side of him, is represented by the priest striking his breast, and saying, _nobis quoque peccatoribus_. The seven petitions of the _Pater Noster_ remind us of Christ's last words on the cross. The breaking of the Host is used in imitation of his having broken it before he gave it to his disciples at his last supper. The breaking of it in three parts represents his mystical body, or the church in three states: the blessed in heaven, the souls in purgatory, and the faithful on earth; this great sacrifice being offered for the whole church, triumphant, suffering, and militant; in honour of the first, that is, in thanksgiving to God for all the graces bestowed upon them, and for all the happiness they enjoy; for the relief of the second, to obtain a speedy admittance for them into eternal glory; and for the benefit of the last, according to the four great ends of sacrifice. The breaking of the Host also represents the death of Christ on the cross, and is a figure of his soul being separated from his body after he bowed down his sacred head. The mixing a particle of the Host with the sacramental species in the chalice, represents the descent of his soul into _Limbo_, or the prison of the Fathers of the old testament." {380} Prayer At The Canon Of The Mass.