soon as possible after his decease; for a grand anniversary High Mass on the 14th November, the commemoration of all the deceased parents, relations, and friends of the Order of St. Augustine.

If any surplus remains on hands, it shall be spent in purchasing ornaments for the altar of the Confraternity, or in manner as the Very Rev. President, Rectors, and the Council shall think fit, provided it be for the adornment of the altars or sanctuary.

RULE V.

Members in Benefit-their Privileges.

All Members are in benefit that do not owe more than six months' subscription, and are entitled to the following privileges:-To walk in procession; to vote at elections; to participate in all the Masses, Offices, and Prayers all over the world; to be appointed on the Council or nominated as candidate for the Rectorship; when in real distress to have a collection made to provide for their present wants, and if they should die in that state, to be decently interred out of the funds of the Confraternity; when in sickness and in danger of death, to have every spiritual assistance given them, both by Rectors in reading for them, and by the Very Rev. Director in conferring on them the general absolution of the Order: besides the other privileges explained beneath.

On Subscribing Members.

It will be seen by the above that the subscribing Members enjoy some privileges over and above the nonsubscribing Members. Perhaps a few explanatory remarks upon this point may be useful.

No Members should be in any way coerced to become subscribing Members. When the Holy See sanctioned the erection of the Archconfraternity, and more evidently, when the Roman Pontiffs opened the Treasury of the Church and granted Indulgences and conferred privileges upon the Cincture, money had no place amongst conditions. Some funds are, of course, neces

sary for the current expenses of a Confraternity, but these will be ever forthcoming in sufficient quantity from the voluntary subscribing Members for all practical purposes.

However, those who do generously and spontaneously subscribe should receive some encouragement; and this is given by extra privileges, namely:

1. To have four Masses at least, and an Office said at death, if the deceased Member has been a full year in the Confraternity, and if all arrears are paid up at the time of death. For every three years of membership during life, to have an extra Mass at death, subject to the same condition concerning arrears.

2. To be entitled to vote in the annual elections, and to be eligible for the same.

3. To have the right to participate, if dead, in the Office for the Dead, recited, at least once a month, by the Brothers, on some appointed day; and, whilst living, to be able to include, in all such Offices (not specially reserved) and suffrages, one's deceased parents, relatives, and friends.

N.B.-Non-subscribing Members share in all the Masses of the Confraternity, in the Office of November 2nd, in a Quarterly Office said for the deceased Brothers and Sisters, if dead; and, if living, to have the right to include their deceased parents, relatives, or friends. Besides this they are, of course, sharers in all the indulgences, and privileges, and good works of the whole Augustinian Order, the same as the subscribing Members.

Hence, while non-subscribing Members are deprived of nothing, those who become subscribers of 4s. per annum, or 4d. per month, enjoy several and important extra privileges.

RULE VI.

Though not an essential part of the nature or organization of our holy Confraternity, a laudable custom has for many years in Ireland sanctioned a certain more active co-operation and official position in our churches of the habited Brothers. They have come to be looked

upon by the Friars as most trustworthy assistants in taking up the collections, in preserving order at the church doors, and in forming a sanctuary choir in our churches.

The Constitutions of the Archconfraternity make no provision nor offer any Rules of guidance for what we may call the "inner circle" of the Confraternity; but the fact of this custom existing and of the desirability of perpetuating it, involves some necessity of adding to our Rules one specially framed for the general guidance of the Council in directing this useful part of our Confraternity.

Much latitude, however, must be left to the local Directors, Rectors, and Council; hence this Rule will not deal with details or minor points-matters which must be left to the wisdom and prudence of local Superiors, who are evidently best qualified to understand the necessities of the respective branches, and to legislate for the well ordering and government of the habited Brethren.

This Rule particularly requires that:

1. Each member take care to set good example to his Brethren by strict attention to his religious duties, and especially by being seen at Holy Communion on the Fourth Sunday of every month, and on the great fes-tivals of the Order; by attending the Processions, whenever ordered, by fidelity to the Offices for the Dead, and to the collections appointed to him every month.

In assigning penalties for non-compliance with these duties, one month's non-compliance (without excusing cause) should disqualify a member from being eligible for any office in the Council for the ensuing year; while three months' non-compliance in succession should be sufficient cause for expecting his resignation in the Council as a habited Brother, and sufficient reason for the Council to call upon him to withdraw from the inner circle of the Confraternity.

2. Each Member, when appointed, collect at the church door in his turn on Sundays and Holidays; or, foreseeing he cannot, get á Brother in his stead; other

wise he be subject to such penalties as the Council deem proper to inflict.

3. If any habited Brother should in any way scandalize the public or his Brethren by gross misconduct, and private advice has been lost upon him, the Rev. Director and Council should promptly remove and expel him, never more to be readmitted into the inner circle.

4. At the funeral ceremony of any Brother, as many of the Brethren as possible attend in that decency of deportment and good order as become so solemn an occasion; and that each Member offer his next holy Communion for the repose of the soul of his deceased brother, together with the Coroncina for that day.

5. Each Member hang his habit and surplice (to be worn in procession) in the place appointed; and that he never use another's without permission. In the case of his appointment to carry the cross or a banner in the processions, he should be careful to have clean white gloves.

Obs. Any minor rule or regulation further than this may be made by the Director with the consent of his Council; but no important or general Rule without the approbation of the majority of the Confraternity: and should any such rule be made, it should be duly registered and signed by the whole Council.

General Monitions.

I. On all occasions of Public Offices the Brethren, in their habits, are to go in procession from the confraternity room, and especially both morning and evening of the Fourth Sunday, in the following order :-First, cross-bearer (being a Brother) and acolytes; second, the junior members; third, the senior Brethren; fourth, Members of the Council; and lastly, the Rectors, whose place is at the Epistle side of the altar.

As attendance at the Procession in honour of our Sacred Cincture is one of the essential conditions for gaining the Three Plenary Indulgences on the fourth Sunday of every month, it is evidently a matter of

paramount importance that this procession take place wherever the Confraternity is established.

*

In St. Augustine's, Rome, a small statue (about 18 inches high) of the Virgin and Child, each holding the Cincture, is carried by the priest (in Cope), after it has been incensed with two double swings upon the altar. Meanwhile the Ave Maris Stella [p. 296], or Litany of the B. V. Mary [p. 76], is chanted. The Procession of the Most Holy Sacrament cannot, of course, supply for this procession; but any procession in which the Cincture is ostensibly carried would be sufficient.

2. As it is morally impossible to please God or persevere in virtue to our last end without approaching often, and worthily receiving the Lord of Glory in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, all the members shall, at least, on the Fourth Sunday of every month, acquit themselves of this duty.

3. When any member falls sick, he shall cause it to be made known to the President or Rector, who shall visit, or cause to be visited, his afflicted brother, and have such spiritual comfort administered as he shall deem proper. If the sickness be dangerous, he shall have the Sacraments timely administered, and use all' the means in his power, by his own prayers and the prayers of the members, to obtain for his sick Brother the grace of a happy death.

4. Nor should the Rev. Director, or Rector, fail to remind the dying Brother or Sister of the great privilege and indulgence granted by the Holy See to those who ask to be buried in the Augustinian habit. (See No. 49, Table VII., page 49.)

5. Four Offices are to be said annually, as follows:

(a.) In February, soon after the Feast of St. Agatha (5th), for the deceased fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, relatives, and friends of the Order.

(b.) In July, on the 8th, or soon after, for all the benefactors of our Order.

*This little Statue is in wood, gilded, and has a handle fixed behind it for the priest to hold conveniently.