In the 1962 Canon, the priest holds his hands spread out over the offerings during this prayer, a gesture that Prosper Guéranger likened to that of the Old Testament priest who thereby consecrated to God and removed from profane use an animal for sacrifice or laid on the scapegoat the iniquities of the people. Others also linked the "Hanc igitur" prayer to the scapegoat ceremony. Michael Witczak sees the gesture rather as indicating the object of an epiclesis. The gesture, whatever meaning it may have had, was a late introduction into the Canon, appearing for the first time in the fifteenth century and limited to the Roman Rite, not being accepted in the Carmelite Rite and the Dominican Rite. Its use at the "Hanc igitur" prayer was not carried over into the 1970 Canon, in which the chief celebrating priest says the prayer with hands extended as usual, and in which a similar gesture by all the celebrating priests occurs during the following "Quam oblationem" prayer.