It is indubitable, and we have seen in the plenary sense, that folk-lore provided its elements as the crude matter of the scheme of the Holy Graal. It is true, and also indubitable, that many accidentals of the Celtic Church became accidentals of the literature; they were worked into the Graal cycle as well as the pre-Christian elements, the process arising in the most natural of all possible manners. It was not exactly that the most early romancers took the matter which was nearest to their hands, but
As regards the hypothesis put forward in the previous sub-section, it is observable that we have not been invited to consider in the Celtic Church any traces of a particular theological or doctrinal tradition--such as might, for example, be inferred from the Johannine Rite--or of an evasive or concealed claim; it is not suggested that in Wales, Scotia or Ireland there is any trace of an ecclesiastical legend concerning a relic which at any distance might be held to offer a real correspondence with that of the Holy Graal or its companion Hallows, because the essential condition of the analogy must be indubitably the existence of memorials of the Passion of our Lord. Of these it is certain that there were none, because otherwise it is certain that they would be adduced. We are asked, on the contrary, to assume that a variant liturgical So far as regards the really trivial question of tense. The mode of consecration by Epiclesis, or the Invocation of the Holy Spirit, may be unknown to some of my readers, and I extract it therefore from the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. THE PRIEST (saith).--Blessed art Thou, Christ our God, who didst fill the fishermen with all manner of wisdom, sending down upon them the The Deacon, pointing to the Holy Bread, saith in a low voice: DEACON.--Sir, bless the Holy Bread. The Priest standeth up, and thrice maketh the sign of the Cross on the Holy Gifts, saying: PRIEST.--And make this bread the Precious Body of Thy Christ. I believe that in the Mozarabic Rite, which is thought to be in near consanguinity with the Celtic, the Epiclesis formula is used on occasions only. It is missing altogether from the so-called Liturgy of St. Dionysius, which only survives in the Latin. I should add that the existence of the clause in the Celtic Rite--whatever the strength of the inferences--is a matter of speculation, for the simple reason that no such liturgy is extant. The other analogies and possibilities are a little attractive on the surface, and are of the kind which are caught at rather readily; but they seize upon a single point where they can be made to apply, and the other issues in a long sequence are ignored. The name Cadwaladr naturally suggests that of Galahad, and on the appeal to certain laws of permutation, it seems for a moment justified; but it is not justified in the legends. The last King of the Britons had indeed the hallows of his family by the right of inheritance, but there was no antecedent keeper whom he was required to heal, and there was no
DEACON.--Amen. Sir, bless the Holy Cup.
PRIEST.--And that which is in this Cup the Precious Blood of Thy Christ
DEACON.--Amen. (And pointing with his stole to both the Holy Things) Sir, Bless.
PRIEST.--Changing them by Thy Holy Ghost.
DEACON.--Amen, Amen, Amen.
PRIEST.--(after a pause) So that they may be for purification of soul, forgiveness of sins, communion of the Holy Ghost, &c.