# Low Mass Ceremonial (Burnett)/Directions for Serving

Concise Directions for Serving at Low Mass
If possible, the priest ought to be assisted at low mass by a server, man or boy, who should be a devout person and well instructed in the duties incumbent upon him at the altar. He should be tidy and clean, and if possible habited in cassock and surplice. In approaching the altar, the server walks a little in advance of the priest, and has his hands joined before his breast. If he carries the book he will hold it with his left hand so that it rests upon his left arm, and keep his right hand before his breast; or he may carry the book in both hands. At the altar steps the server moves a little to the Epistle-side so as to permit the priest to come directly to the midst. If he has carried the book he goes up the steps (after the priest has gone up to the foot-pace) and puts the book (closed) upon the desk, goes directly down again, makes the due act of reverence in the midst and kneels upon the floor a little to the left of the midst. If he has not carried the book he waits until the priest has gone up to the foot-pace and then kneels on the Gospel-side as above directed. If the priest, on coming to the altar, wears a biretta, the server, standing at the right of the priest, takes the biretta when it is handed to him, and lays it down to his right on the lowest step or he may carry it to the sedilia and put it down there. After the preparatory prayers he rises and kneels on the lowest of the three altar steps opposite the Gospel-side of the altar, until after the Epistle.
Throughout the mass, whenever he is not handling something, the server has his hands joined before his breast. The Epistle ended, the server rises, goes along the floor to the Epistle-side, up the steps to the altar, takes up, with both hands, the desk and book thereon, goes down to the floor, then to the Gospel-side, then up to the altar, sets desk down obliquely upon the altar, goes down to the next step at the Gospel-corner and faces toward the priest. Throughout the mass, as often as he passes the midst and whenever ​he leaves the altar to go to the credence, or elsewhere, and on his return to it, the server makes the due act of reverence, viz. bowing towards the altar (in the midst), or genuflecting (in the same place) if the Blessed Sacrament be thereon or in the tabernacle. When the priest says "The Lord be with you," the server responds "And with thy spirit;" and when the priest makes the sign of the cross at the announcement of the Gospel, the server signs himself in like manner, and then makes the response, "Glory be to thee, O Lord." Then he goes down the steps at the Gospel-corner, and along the floor to the Epistle-side where he stands facing towards the priest. The reading of the Gospel finished, the server makes response, "Praise be to thee, O Christ." Then he faces toward the altar, and joins with the priest in saying the Creed. After the Creed has been said, or, if it is not said, then at once after the Gospel, the server goes to the credence and brings to the priest at the Epistle-corner the box of altar-breads, which, as he stands before the priest on the step next below the foot-pace, he holds in his left hand, and removes the cover with his right hand. After the priest has taken the breads, the server, recovers the box, carries it to the credence, removes the stoppers from the cruets, takes up the wine cruet in his right hand and the water cruet in his left hand, and goes to the Epistle-corner. Kissing the wine cruet, the server then presents it to the priest. Putting the water cruet in his right hand, the server then receives the wine cruet with his left hand, and presents the water-cruet as he presented the wine.
If the people make offerings, the server brings them in the "decent basin," to the priest as he stands awaiting them on the Epistle-side of the altar, and then (after they have been presented) takes the basin (when the priest hands it to him) and puts it down on the credence. Then placing the lavabo-towel on his left arm and holding the bowl with his left hand, and the water cruet in his right, the server goes to the Epistle-corner and pours water, over the priest's finger-tips, into the bowl. That done, he returns to the credence, puts down cruet, bowl and towel, puts the stoppers in the cruets, and returns to his place opposite the Epistle-side of the altar, and kneels upon the step. He makes all ​the responses audibly, and joins with priest and people in saying the Confession, the Sanctus, and the Gloria in excelsis, or hymn. If a bell is used, he rings it, with a double stroke, three times at the Sanctus, and six times at the elevation, viz. each time the priest elevates the Sacrament, and each time he genuflects. If the server receives the holy communion he does so whilst kneeling on the foot-pace on the Epistle-side. If he does not communicate sacramentally, the server, when the priest turns to administer to the people, goes and kneels on the lowest step at the Epistle-end of the altar. When the priest covers the vessels with the veil, the server kneels again in his place opposite the Epistle-side of the altar. At the Gloria in excelsis, or at the hymn, the server stands. He kneels during the post-communion prayer, and the Blessing. Then he goes to the credence, takes the stoppers out of the cruets, takes up the wine-cruet in his right hand, and the water-cruet in his left, and goes to the Epistle-end of the altar. If the priest has drained the chalice the server advances at once to pour a little wine into the chalice which the priest will hold out to him; otherwise he kneels on the altar-steps facing the priest until that time comes. Having poured wine into the chalice, the server returns to the step below the foot-pace at the Epistle-corner, and there, when the priest comes, pours a few drops of wine, and a little water, over the priest's finger-tips, into the chalice. This done, (or when the priest shows he needs no further service at that point in the mass) he returns to the credence, puts down the cruets and puts in the stoppers. Then, if the priest has left the book open, the server moves it, (as at the Gospel in the Mass) from the Epistle to the Gospel-corner, and there awaits the priest. At the priest's salutation, and again after the announcement of the Gospel, the server makes response and signs himself as in the mass, and then goes on the floor to his place on the Epistle-side where he faces towards the priest. If the priest genuflect during the reading of the Gospel, the server does so simultaneously. When the priest has descended the steps the server hands him his biretta (if it has been worn on approaching the altar), makes the due act of reverence together with the priest, and precedes him to the sacristy.