CHEMICAL PROCESS

IN THE FORM OF THE MASS

by Nicolas Melchior of Szeben Transylvain



Latin text from the 16th century French translation

dedicated to Ladislas, King of Hungary and Bohemia

Introit of the Mass

According to the intonation of the Gaudeamus etc., it will be necessary to sing:

Verily, the foundation of Art is the solution of bodies, which must not be resolved in rainwater, but in mercurial water, by which the true Philosophers' Stone is generated.

CHYMICAL PROCESSES

Verse: Introit of vitriol and vitreous salt, in equal parts, bearing witness to the solution: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, through the Holy Spirit.

Kyrie - Source of goodness, inspiration of the sacred Art, from which all goodness comes for the faithful - Eleison.

O Xrist, O Sanctissimo, blessed Stone of the Art of Science, you who, for the salvation of the world, inspired the light of Science, to extirpate the Turcoman - Eleison.

Kyrie - O divine fire, help our breasts, so that, for your praise, we may likewise pour out the sacraments of the Art - Eleison.

Gloria in excelsis: according to the double intonation, let it be sung to the strong God.

Collect - God, giver of all goodness, you who, especially at the end of time, only by your goodness and by your wisdom, to your servant NN, not for his previous merits, but by your ineffable pity and by your prevenient grace , inspire the light of the sacred Art of Alchemy, we ask you to ensure that he receives this as a gift from your majesty, and that it serves the health of his body and his soul. Mortify in himself all the vices and penetrate him with the grace of virtue, so that he faithfully spreads this sacred Art for the sole praise and for the sole glory of your name, as well as for the propagation of the Christian Faith , by Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Epistle - O altitude of the riches of GOD's wisdom and science!

Gradual - Arise, Aquilon, and you, come, Auster! Blow on my garden, and let its aromatics flow.

Verse: Let it fall like rain on a fleece, and like drops, dripping on the earth. Hallelujah.

O blessed founder of the Earth, whiter than snow, softer than sweetness, more penetrating than a balm at the bottom of a vase! O salutary Medicine of men, you who cure, in a short time, all languor of the body, and who give a long term of life, you renovate human Nature, you put poverty to flight, you distribute wealth, you calm the sadness and you keep your life safe and sound. O sublime fountain, from which, in truth, springs the true Water of Life, as a reward for your faithful - Alleluja.

Sequence of the Holy Gospel: according to the intonation Ave prae-clara, let it be sung; I want it to be called a testament to Art, because all chemical Art is hidden in these metaphorical words, and blessed is he who has the intelligence of this sequence.

Hail, oh glittering luciferous sky, radiant light of the world; that here, conjunct with the Moon, is the martial union, and then the conjunction of Mercury. That, above all, from these three, by the narrow bed of the river, is born this giant fort, which thousands of thousands, all seek with the magisterium of Art: that they themselves be dissolved, not in rainwater , because, by this, our gum is never amended; but, in mercurial water, let them be resolved, so that our blessed gum, dissolved by it, then bears the name of sperm of the Philosophers. Now the Lightbringer asks to be a husband, to be betrothed to the virgin bride, and to fertilize her in the bath by the temperance of fire. But the virgin is not suddenly impregnated if she is not given a kiss through frequent embraces. Then, in the womb, the happy embryo is conceived, and it is thus procreated, and this by the order of Nature. Then, at the bottom of the vase, the strong Ethiopian will appear, consumed, calcined, discolored, and dead to its core, deprived of life; he then asks to be buried, and to be put back upright by his mood, and to be gently calcined, until, by the force of the fire, he appears more than white. But often, he takes a drink beforehand, for which he ascends entirely towards the ether, while, by himself, he is thus already well washed in the perseverance of the fire. Now he is, finally, made pleasant, reborn with his own sweat, and his body, previously all dark, becomes purified by ablution.

See then the admirable regeneration or renovation of the Ethiopian, who now claims for himself, after the Baptism of regeneration, that which the Philosophers call the sulfur of Nature, and their son, which is the Stone of the Philosophers. But the darkness of the wisps means that they are deceived by their ignorance of natural philosophy and by various disagreements with regard to fire.

Thus, one is the thing, one the root, one the essence, to which nothing foreign is added, but from which much superfluity is found removed, by the magisterium of Art. At the end, he pretends to be comforted, to be inflated by his nature, to be straightened out by his mood and to be reduced in moderation, after he has drunk enough. And it is then that he begins to reign, and to fight against the force of fire, then he wants to be raised into the heavens and crowned with a diadem; then, he defeats all his enemies and rebels and submits them to his empire.

Such is the treasure of treasures, the high medicine of the Philosophers, the celestial secret of the Ancients. Blessed is he who discovers this!

He who experiences such things clearly writes and speaks, and I know that his testimony is true. May God be blessed forever and ever, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Let the Gospel according to Saint Matthew and Saint Luke, chapter X, be read. I confess to you, O Lord God, Father of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the learned and prudent of this world, and that you revealed to the little ones.

May the Creed always be recited in unum Deum. Offertory - The stone, which the builders cast aside, has become the cornerstone. This was accomplished by the Lord, and this is admirable in our eyes.

Secret - Omnipotent God, in diligently immolating the salutary victim to your majesty, we pray and beseech your clemency, so that our science, for the honor of your name and of the blessed art of Alchemy, may always be dedicated to your glorious name and dedicated to the salutary reformation of the universal Church, by Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Communion - Since our King comes from fire, illuminated and crowned with a diadem, honor him in perpetuity.

Compline - Lord of our salvation, we choose the help of good health, and we ask the active graces of your majesty, so that it may benefit us for the health of the soul and the body, and that it or the extirpation of the Turcomans, and may it serve to make the Christian faith stronger, through our same Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Ite Missa is. Hallelujah!


NOTICE
The author of this sort of syncretic ritual, as it is written, arouses too much interest and, at the same time, is too little known for us to fail to shed some light on his life and work.

Miklos (Nicolas) Melchior, originally from Szeben (or Nagyszeben, or Hermannstadt, today Sibiu), in Transylvania, was protected by various Magyar sovereigns, and, in particular, by Ladislas 11, whose chaplain and astrologer he was. (1490-1526).

Following the invasion of Hungary by the army of Suleiman II, called to the rescue by Francis I, King of France, to avenge the Treaty of Madrid and surprise Charles V in the heart of his empire, an invasion which took place concluded with the disaster of Mohàcs, a battle during which Ladislas II perished, with the flower of the Hungarian nation, Nicolas Melchior, like so many others, fled from Buda and found refuge in Prague.

Although he did not manage to be part of the court of Ferdinand I (15261564), he managed to associate with André Schampasa, a Bohemian nobleman, with whose help, according to the indictment, he would have minted money , to the point of striking “talers, which exceeded in value, even those of the king”. This ended up costing him the confiscation of his property (this is how, following the sequestration of all his papers and writings, the text of this “Mass” was discovered), and then his very life.

Indeed, according to document no. 11.133 (Med. 16 - Ch. XVII) from the National Library of Vienna, it is certain that he was condemned to death and beheaded.

This tragic destiny must have befallen him at a very advanced age, since there is evidence of his relationship with the young king Ladislas V (1445-1457). Nicolas Melchior was long confused, and by many authors, with Miklbs Olàh, primate of Esztergom (Strigonia), born to Romanian nobles, in 1493, and also with two Melchior cardinals, one of whom was Melchior of Brescia. His fame has been transmitted to us by numerous historians of Alchemy, such as Michael Maier (in Symbola Aurxe Mensv duodecim nationum, 1617), Daniel Stolcius (in Hortulus Hermeticus, 1627) - works from which we have extracted the engravings, illustrating this writing -, Athanasius Kircher (in Mundus Subterraneus, 1664), Nicolas Barnaud, Libavius, and others.