Note 167 — Chapter I · THE CHURCH’S YEAR
Reading edition
This view is maintained by Thomassin, 330 seq. Against this Binterim (Denkw., v. 214) rightly defends the opinion that the blessing of the new fire was unknown in Rome in the eighth century. This appears from the answer of Pope Zacharias to the inquiry of St Boniface on the point. It was only introduced at Rome by Leo IV. The ecclesiastical rite seems to have been moulded on the “Osterfeuer” in use among the Germans. The most ancient Roman sacramentaries know nothing of it.