Ariosto could listen with approval to the researches of Flavio or the sublime theories of Copernicus. The Pope during the middle ages was the great high priest of literature, of science and of art, enthroned by the suffrage of Europe; the learned of the age paid to him the tribute of their grateful affection; and the office of his secretary was for centuries regarded as the prize of genius, which the first scholars of the age claimed as the reward of their intellectual greatness. LITURGICAL QUESTIONS. Our reverend correspondents on liturgical subjects will hold us excused if we are not able to answer the several questions kindly forwarded to us, as we deem it our duty, in compliance with the request of several friends, to treat of some questions in connection with the ceremonies of Holy Week, which may be deemed useful for the guidance of the clergy in carrying on the solemn functions of that week. The following questions have been proposed: 1. Can a low Mass be said on the three last days of Holy Week? 2. Can a low Mass be said on Holy Thursday or on Holy Saturday? 3. What is to be done in the country parishes where there is not a sufficient number of priests to have high Mass, and where the other ceremonies cannot be observed? In reply to the first question we beg to say that low Masses are strictly forbidden on the three last days of Holy Week. When there is a sufficient number of priests, the rubrics require that a solemn high Mass be celebrated, and in those churches not having a sufficient number of priests for high Mass the Memoriale Rituum of Benedict XIII. must be used, which prescribes certain solemnities to be observed by one priest, and requires that he be attended by at least three clerics in surplices, in performing the functions of Holy Week. This ceremonial of Benedict XIII. is to be observed only in case there is a deficiency of priests, and hence it presupposes that a solemn Mass is to be said with deacon and sub-deacon when they can be had, as the Memoriale Rituum was published by order of Benedict XIII. solely with the view of enabling the clergy in the smaller churches to carry out the ceremonies of Holy Week, and accordingly, in reply to various questions as to private Masses on those three days, we find that the answer invariably was, that the ceremonies were to be carried out "servata forma parvi Ritualis S. M. Benedicti XIII., ann. 1725, jussu editi". 2. Thus the following answer was given by the Sacred Congregation of Rites (4904): 1. "An in Ecclesiis Parochialibus in quibus nullus extat clerus sed solum Parochus, possit vel debeat iste facere Benedictionem Candelarum, Cinerum, Palmarum, novi ignis, Cerei Paschalis, Fontis Baptismalis et coeterorum hujusmodi, necnon instituere officium Feriae quintae in Coena Domini et Feriae sextae in Parasceve sine cantu et solum privata voce prout celebratur Missa privata?