In  this  it  is  distinctly  prescribed  that  even  in
Solemn  Mass  the  priest  is  to  give  the  blessing
with  one  sign  of  the  cross  only.  The  blessing-
was  in  ancient  times  given  with  the  thumb  and
first  two  fingers  of  the  right  hand  extended,  as
may  be  seen  in  ancient  pictures.  This  was  to
symbolize  the  Trinity  of  Divine  Persons.  The
Greeks  give  the  blessing  with  three  fingers
extended,  and  the  thumb  and  little  finger
crossed.  They  make  the  sign  of  the  cross
from  right  to  left ;  while  we  make  it  from  left  to
right.  Our  Bishops  at  the  present  day  give
their  blessing  with  the  whole  of  the  right  hand
open  and  extended.
12.
For  the  Papal  blessing,  as  it  is  a  blessing,
and  this  is  its  intrinsic  effect,  no  condition  is
required.  Parents  efficaciously  bless  wicked
children,  and  that  even  if  these  children  ex-
plicitly despise  paternal  power.  To  obtain  the
extrinsic  effect  of  Papal  blessing,  which  is  the
Indulgence  attached  to  it,  certain  conditions  are
required,  and  must  be  fulfilled.  Conditions,  in
the  strict  sense  of  the  term,  are  to  be  distin-
guished from  dispositions.  The  conditions  are
certain  works,  prescribed  by  him  who  grants  the


494  URBS    ET    ORBIS.
Indulgence,  to  be  done  by  him  who  has  the  will
to  gain  it.  The  dispositions  required  in  the
gainer  suppose  that  he  should  be  proximately
capable  of  gaining  it,  or  that  all  hindrances
in  him  to  gaining  it  should  be  removed.  His
necessary  dispositions  are  intention  and  the
state  of  grace.  He  must  have  the  will  to  gain
the  Indulgence,  and  he  must  be  in  the  state  of
grace.
