THE ANGELUS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1265, 28 May 1896, Page 42

THE ANGELUS.

Tho Angelas is tho name given to tho Catholic practice of reciting at morning, noon and evening three Hail Marys, together with sentences and a collect, expressive .of rejoicing trust in the mystery of the incarnation. The first sentence of tho collect begins “Angelas Domini nuntiavit Marine” (The angel of the Lord announced to Mary). Hence the name of the devotion. In Catholic countries a boll called the Angelus rings at the several hours—o a m., 12 in. and 0 p.m. The evening Angelas was tho earliest. Introduced by Pope John XXII., in 1326, it ordered that tho church bolls should sound at tho hour of curfew and that parishioners at this bell stroke should, on bended knees, repeat three times tho angel’s salutation to tho Virgin Alary, thus gaining ten days’ dispensation. In 1369 it was ordained that at dawn (in aurora diei) thero should bo tlireo boll strokes, and that whoever bearing said three aves and as many paternosters should obtain 20 days’ indulgence. In 1472 Louis XL ordered tho Angelus to bo repeated tlireo times a day, and obtained a Papal decree that whoever obeyed tho order should thereby acquire 300 additional days of indulgence. This threefold daily Angelus had also been recommended as early as 1423 in Main/, and Cologne; in Breslau in 1416, Ac. It has continued with only slight modification in tho order of the prayers up to the present day. Alillet’s famous picture represents the evening Angelus.