THE priest who wishes to say Mass should previously have recited at least Matins and Lauds, and this under pain of venial sin, according to the common opinion of theologians, against some who assert that it would be a mortal sin. This rule is founded on an ancient custom of the Church; for when Innocent IV. heard of the controversy raised on this point between the Archbishop of Nicosia and his Latin suffragans on the one side, and the Greek bishops of Cyprus on the other, he rendered this decision: “Sacerdos autem dicat Horas canonicas more suo; sed Missam celebrare, prius quam Officium matutinale compleverit, non presumat.”