[THE sermons which follow, on the gospels of the office of the Commune Sanctorum, are thirty-one in number. The order of the feasts, and the gospels themselves, appear to have been taken by the writer from the Sarum missal. Every separate office in|cluded in that missal is dealt with by the writer of the sermons except those for 'Many Virgins' and 'Holy Women not Virgins;' and for this omission there is an obvious reason, viz. that the gospels for those offices are the same as those for 'One Virgin not Martyr,' and 'One Virgin and Martyr,' and had therefore already formed the subjects of sermons. With one exception, all the gospels correspond with those in the Sarum missal. This exception is in the office for 'One Apostle.' Two gospels for this office are treated of by the writer, Hoc est praeceptum, (John XV. 12) and Haec mando vobis, (John XV. 17). The latter one of these gospels alone is given in the Sarum missal. But the Hoc est praeceptum is the gospel for the 'Vigil of an Apostle' in the present Roman missal.
Although of course there is a general agreement, the office of the Commune Sanctorum in the Sarum missal differs considerably from that of the present Roman missal. In one direction it is fuller, in another not so full. It is fuller, in that it has a greater number of distinct offices or masses, there being twenty-nine in the Sarum, and only twenty-four (including that for the anni|versary of the Dedication of a Church) in the Roman. It is less full, because, though it has more offices for several of the feasts, certain festivals are not represented in it at all, e.g. those of 'One Martyr not a Bishop,' and of a 'Martyr not Virgin.'
Out of the thirty-one gospels treated of by the writer, twenty|one are also found in the Commune Sanctorum of the Roman missal, and ten are different.]
