ANNER OF BAPTIZING AN INFANT BY A LAY PERSON IN

CASE OF DANGER OF DEATH.

Any person, whether man, woman, or child, may baptize an infont, în case of danger of death.

Take common water, pour it on the head or face of the child. and ahile you are pouring it, say:

“ Í BAPTIZE THEE IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY GROST AMIR"

PREFACE.

ST. JOHN'S MANUAL is, it is hoped, the most complete and accurate prayer-book ever offered to the Catholic community in the United States. Many of the present books of devotion being reprints of European works, are far from conforming to the Roman office books as authorized for use in this country, and are devoid of such explanations as to enable the uninstructed to follow our service. The St. John's Manual conforms strictly to the rules of the Holy See in this regard. It gives ample prayers for morning and evening, the Ordinary of the Mass, with full and comprehensive explanations never before introduced, and the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels for all the Sundays and holidays of the year; a variety of devotions for Mass; ample instruction and prayers for the Sacraments of Baptism, Penance, the Holy Eucharist, Confirmation, Extreme Unction, and Matrimony, and the order of administering each, the order of the Visitation of the Sick, Burial of the Dead, and the Itinerary.

Under the head of General Devotions, are comprised a selection from the best and most approved sources, of Devotions to the Holy Trinity, Our Lord, His Blessed Mother, the Angels and Saints, with many Litanies, including the beautiful ones of Pope Pius VI.,

never before given in English. The prayers for the dif ferent states of life, for various seasons and circumstances, and especially the prayers for the use of the sick, have been compiled with the utmost care from the works of canonized Saints and approved ascetical writers.

In order to avoid the necessity of recurring to other books, it includes the Office of Holy Week, the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin, of the Immaculate Conception, and of the Dead.

In a word, the compilers have conscientiously endeavored to draw from the holy service books of the Church, as published by the authority of the Councils of Baltimore, from the works of her canonized Saints and approved ascetics and theologians, such prayers and instructions as may meet the wants of the faithful, and render this Manual the best and most complete Catholic Prayer Book for devotional and family use yət published.

The Calendar.

THE Calendar is a table of the feasts of the year. Of these there are two sorts: some affixed to certain days, and called IMMOVABLE; others which vary according to certain rules, and are called MOVABLE.

The IMMOVABLE FEASTS are found in the Calendar, properly so called. Holy days of obligation, as the EPIPHANY, are printed in large capitals; holy days of devotion, such as the PURIFICATION OF THE B. V. MARY, are in smaller capitals; the festivals of Saints, where not of obligation or special devotion, in ordinary type

The MOVABLE FEASTS are found in a table by themselves. This table shows, in three columns, the Dominical Letter, the Golden Number, and the Epact. These are the means of computing the time when Easter falls in each year. The Church, in the first Council of Nice, decided that the festival of Easter should be celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox. By the last cor rection made in the Calendar, by Pope Gregory XIII., in 1582, this vernal equinox is considered as falling on the 21st of March. Easter may consequently fall on any day between March 22d and April 25th.

The DOMINICAL LETTER marks the Sunday: the Calendar has a letter opposite each day, and the days with the dominical letter of the year are Sundays. In leapyears there are two letters, the first of which answers till the 25th of February, the other for the rest of the year.

The EPACT is the moon's age on the first of January or of March in each year. By this, Easter is easily found. Thus, in 1857, the Epact is 4; that is, the moon will be four days old on the 1st of March, and there will be a new moon on the 27th; the full moon will fall 14 days later on the 10th of April. The dominical letter of the year is d. Look, then, in the Calendar for the first d after this date, and you find it on April 12th, which is Easter Sunday in that year.

The GOLDEN NUMBER, shows the order of the Epacts, which are the same every nineteen years.