are discourses preached on the occasion of the first mass of an incipient priest. Their aim is to call the attention of both ecclesiastics and laymen to the dignity and importance of the sacerdotal state, and the duties which it imposes on both classes. Therefore the object of the sermon can only be some truth which relates to the clerical state: e.g. the dignity, the importance, of the priestly career; the priesthood of the Romish Church, its destination, or the duties arising from it, etc. According to the theme chosen, the sermon enlarges upon the object of the priestly functions, or the qualities, conditions, mode of action of the priesthood, or its duties and beneficial influences, etc. At the end of the sermon there may be a prayer, or an exhortation to prayer.