and excluding the sequence preceding the Gospel). Therefore, after the reading of the Epistle and the chanting of the Gradual, the normal liturgy of the Mass was interrupted, and the specific ceremonies of the coronation were resumed, so that the delivery of the imperial insignia, including the emperor's actual coronation and enthronement, took place within the celebration of the Eucharist. Mass is interrupted: the investiture with the sword Once the Mass was paused after the Gradual, the emperor, who until then remained kneeling, reading and listening to the Mass together with his domestic chaplains under the canopy of the throne, stood and descended from the throne dais, and, accompanied by the assistant bishops, entered the presbytery and presented himself once more to the celebrating archbishop or bishop, kissing his hand. Meanwhile, the prelate had descended from the Episcopal cathedra and had sat once more at the faldstool at the centre of the altar. The emperor then knelt before the presiding prelate, to be invested with the imperial sword. The prelate stood to perform this ceremony. A deacon brought the sword from the altar in its scabbard, and presented it to the Minister of War, who removed it from its scabbard and delivered it to the celebrating archbishop or bishop, who took it by the blade and presented it to the emperor, who took it by its base, while the celebrating prelate pronounced the long and very ancient formula for the delivery of the sword, Accipe gladium de Altare sumptum per nostras manus..., in the following words: Receive from our hands that, though unworthy, have yet been consecrated to be in the place and discharge the authority of the holy Apostles, the sword brought from the Altar, which is given to you as emperor, and which, as ordained by God, is dedicated by our blessing (here a sign of the Cross was made) to the defence of the Holy Church of God; and be mindful of what the Psalmist prophesied, saying "Gird yourself with your sword upon your thigh, O most mighty one", that by it you may exercise the force of equity, mightily destroy the growth of iniquity, protect and advance the Holy Church of God and its faithful people; no less than you shall pursue and disperse the false faithful and the enemies of the Christian name; mercifully help and defend widows and orphans, restore those things which have