A reverend correspondent has taken occasion from our remarks in the last number of the _Record_, to ask a question about the custom prevalent in Ireland of reciting the _De profundis_ after mass. We will quote his own words: “In reading the liturgical questions in your last number of the _Record_, it occurred to me to inquire on what authority is founded the practice of reciting the _De profundis_ after mass, whether it can be omitted _ad libitum, secluso scandalo_, and whether it should be said at the altar, or when the priest descends, or when going into the sacristy”. The practice of reciting the _De Profundis_ after each low mass, we believe, exists in all Ireland, without any exception of diocese or district, and has existed for a long period. It is the opinion of many well versed in Irish ecclesiastical matters, that it was introduced and authorised by the Holy See as a substitute for the numerous masses and suffrages for which innumerable endowments were founded by the piety of the faithful in former times, and which were taken away from the Catholic Church at the time of the Reformation. It is more than probable that a rescript from the Holy See authorised this practice, in order that the pious intentions of the founders of such endowments might not altogether be frustrated by the rapacity of the reformers. It is difficult to understand how, under other circumstances, the practice could have become so universal in Ireland. Indeed we have heard it remarked, that possibly a rescript of an old date bearing on this subject might be found; and if any of our readers could aid us in getting authentic documents on the matter, we need scarcely say how anxious we would be to insert them or any information connected with this subject in the _Record_. While writing these lines we have been informed that in the Irish College, Paris, there is a rescript authorising the recital of the _De profundis_ after the community mass in the college. Apart, however, from this consideration we may reply that the recital of the _De profundis_ cannot be omitted _ad libitum_. Whatever may have been its origin, it has become a usage with the force of law, against which no individual is at liberty to act. Even if the Holy See did not authorise the practice in the commencement, it must necessarily have been introduced by the bishops of the day, and its continuance for so long a period throughout the entire Irish Church without any reclamation from ecclesiastical authority, would be quite sufficient to show that all should conform to such a practice, which in itself is so holy and useful, and calculated to confer such advantages on the suffering souls in Purgatory.