that no day might pass without the reception of the sacrament, besides other practices contrary to the approved usage of the Church, they held that the Holy Eucharist ought to be received, and in fact administered it, even on Good Friday.
Under these circumstances the Holy See did not fail in its duty of vigilance. For, by a decree of this Sacred Congregation, which begins with the words Cum ad aures, issued on February 12, 1679, with the approbation of Innocent XI, it condemned these errors, and put a stop to such abuses; at the same time declaring that all the faithful of whatsoever class, merchants or tradesmen, or married persons not excepted, might be admitted to frequent communion, according to the devotion of each one and the judgment of his confessor. And on December 7, 1600, by the decree of Pope Alexander VIII, Sanctissimus Dominus, the proposition of Baius, postulating a perfectly pure love of God, without any admixture of defect, as requisite on the part of those who wished to approach the Holy Table, was condemned.
Yet the poison of Jansenism, which, under the pretext of showing due honor and reverence to the Holy Eucharist, had infected the minds even of good men, did not entirely disappear. The controversy as to the dispositions requisite for the lawful and laudable frequentation of the sacrament survived the declarations of the Holy See; so much so, indeed, that
