From a reader…
QUAERITUR:
Finally I got my first Latin Mass and it was wonderful. I want more more more and I can’t understand why the Pope doesn’t want us to have it. I know he doesn’t like things he says are fussy, like lace. I saw during the Latin Mass the servers were kissing things and kissing the priest’s hand when giving things to him. Maybe that’s the sort of thing that Pope Francis doesn’t like? I have to ask why the kissing stuff is in the Latin Mass. I get the idea that things are not done by accident. It must have a point.
If you noticed that, which can happen rather quickly, you were probably sitting close and paying attention. Good for you. I recommend, however, at first, not to get too bogged down in the details. Take it in. Get used to it. That said, I won’t let you hang.
What you saw are the famous oscula, “kisses”, solita oscula, “the usual kisses”. These may be applied to objects handed to the priest, and the priest’s hand itself. They serve to show respect to the priest who is alter Christus… another Christ. They show respect to the sacred things being used and the One to whom they refer us. They show joy in the occasion and action, and to lend decorum and solemnity to the moment. Objects include the chain of the incense thurible, the spoon for the incense, his hat, cruets with wine and water, etc.
Also, it is not done everywhere. However, according to the rubrics, they are to be done.
For those who don’t know about this, in the Vetus Ordo of the Roman Rite, always in Pontifical and Solemn Masses and sometimes at Low Masses, objects are kissed as they are given to the celebrant, as is his hand. The rule is when giving, kiss the object first, then the celebrant’s hand and when getting kiss the hand first, then the object. However, when receiving a sacramental, such as a blessed palm on Palm Sunday or a blessed candle at Candlemas, you kiss the sacramental first, and then the hand.
Also, because the kiss is a sign of joy, the solita oscula are omitted on Good Friday and during Requiem Masses. Our Church is very cool. We had/have it all worked out.
The kissing of objects and hands surely spread to Holy Mass from and in a courtly context.
There’s nothing wrong with that, by the way. Critics of the traditional Roman Rite throw various accusations at it, like, “That’s just a remanent of an imperial court and it has nothing to do with Christ because Christ was humble. We need pottery and simplicity.” To which we respond: “That’s the spirit, Judas!”
There is nothing wrong with respect and decorum. Think of Luke 7 and the woman with the precious ointment.
She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment.
Sounds like a ritual to me.
Liberals accuse traditionalists of clinging to the useless bowing and scraping of ancient court practices. They won’t kneel! No! They’ve evolved beyond all that. They’re all grown up now. Liberals would rather have us, as they do, kneel and bow and scrape to the world, the flesh and the Devil.
The liturgical spirit of Judas.
The giving of solita oscula ties into the style and quality of vestments and vessels and music used for Holy Mass, as well as the music and the architecture and how congregants comport themselves. It’s all a whole.
Be clear about something! All you who attend the Traditional Latin Mass… attend!
When we dress our priests and bishops in gold and lace, and place gold on them and into their hands, we aren’t honoring the priest or bishop the man, however worthy and admirable he may be.
We kiss their hands because they were anointed to serve us.
You can hear them squeal, “But Father! But Father! I won’t do THAT! We are beyond that now! We are modern! We won’t crawl before some potentate or kneel down or receive on the tongue. This is now and all that frippery of a bygone era isn’t like the pristine early church of an Alleluia people. But you cling to that patriarchalism and backwardism because YOU HATE VATICAN II!”
It isn’t a humiliation for us to behave with decorum. We honor them, giving our best, because we honor Christ at work in them. We are grateful for the merits of the Cross and our pathway to heaven. You kiss when you love.
The priest and bishop are our mediators for the one Mediator. They are, during Holy Mass, both the priest who offers the Sacrifice, and also the Sacrificial Victim. The lambs prepared for the day of sacrifice were taken great care of and fussed over… right up to the time the knife slashed their throats open.
When you see the priest and bishop in fine vestments, remember the love and gratitude and care with which we treat sacred things and persons and places. We look to them and through them as Moses looked, straining, to glimpse the Mystery as God passed by on the other side of the cleft in the rock (cf Exodus 33).
These things and gestures are signs that facilitate the encounter with mystery that is simultaneously frightening and alluring, hard to prepare for and yet vital for our spirits. They help us to prepare, through their beauty and challenge for our own deaths.
It is wrong for a priest or bishop to refuse the kissing of his ring and hand. Acceptance of a gift honors the giver. People want to give honor and show love for Jesus, the King and Eternal Priest present before them in their person. They instinctively, and also by instruction, seek to reverence what brings them the ordinary means of salvation.
Also… and this is important… you remind the priest of who he ought to be. In a sense, to kiss the priest’s hand – as is common in some cultures – is the opposite of being subservient to him. By kissing his hand, you exert a measure of control because you underscore his reason for living: your salvation.
You kiss the priest’s hand and you are saying: “You will account.”
The kissing of the priest’s hand is an elegant, meaningful, helpful practice.
I am reminded of a poem from yesteryear which, though to our ears today it rings a bit saccharin and sentimental….
There’s nothing wrong with sentimental! There’s nothing wrong with yesteryear’s flowery language! Let us not be cynical like the interiorly withered liberals who in their faux sophistication place themselves above such things in sniffy joylessness.
Here’s the poem. It conveys perennially valuable clues about the attitude we should adopt in the present of the Lord’s anointed.
Think about the moments that the poem describes:
The Beautiful Hands of a Priest
We need them in life’s early morning,
We need them again at its close;
We feel their warm clasp of true friendship,
We seek them when tasting life’s woes.
At the altar each day we behold them,
And the hands of a king on his throne
Are not equal to them in their greatness;
Their dignity stands all alone;
And when we are tempted and wander,
To pathways of shame and of sin,
It’s the hand of a priest that will absolve us,
Not once, but again and again.
And when we are taking life’s partner,
Other hands may prepare us a feast,
But the hand that will bless and unite us
Is the beautiful hand of a priest.
God bless them and keep them all holy,
For the Host which their fingers caress;
When can a poor sinner do better
Than to ask Him to guide thee and bless?
When the hour of death comes upon us,
May our courage and strength be increased,
By seeing raised over us in blessing
The beautiful hands of a priest.
Hence… kissing the priest’s hand and objects during Holy Mass.
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When you got to “Sounds like a ritual to me,” it reminded me of the wonderful book by Thomas Edward Bridgett, The Ritual of he New Testament. It can be found on internet archive here:
https://archive.org/details/RitualOfTheNewTestament
“Liberals accuse traditionalists of clinging to the useless bowing and scraping of ancient court practices. They won’t kneel! No! They’ve evolved beyond all that. They’re all grown up now. Liberals would rather have us, as they do, kneel and bow and scrape to the world, the flesh and the Devil.”
I hadn’t thought of it in quite that light before. But it’s quite true: if we are not willing to make acts of love for that which is good, we will end up making them for that which is evil. Neglecting acts of love for the good leaves us without the ability to distinguish between good and evil.
Beautiful post Fr.The poem is wonderful.I am 71 yrs of age and i thank God for the Latin Mass.You write well Fr.
“That’s just a remanent of an imperial court…”
Sold! I’ll take a double order, please!
Thank you Fr Z.
Then there’s the scene of Pope Francis violently ripping his hand away from the faithful attempting to kiss it.
How paradoxical that the Judas liturgical mindset isn’t the one WITH the kissing, given how Jesus was arrested!
Dear Father, thank you for addressing this question and bringing in the additional context! Your line “It is wrong for a priest or bishop to refuse the kissing of his ring and hand. Acceptance of a gift honors the giver.” put me in mind of my senior capstone philosophy professor at Ave Maria U: trained in personalist philosophy, she stressed to us that the gift of the self must be properly received, not rejected, by the intended recipient in order to recognize and honor the dignity of the giver. To reject the gift is to reject the one who gives it! She was speaking specifically in the context of the mutual self-gift which Pope St. John Paul II so often taught, but I feel like you have, in this post, brought this reality into the liturgical realm, which is fantastic!
I also had the following thought: I would much rather bow and bend the knee before the Lord and His altar and ministers than stand alongside Satan and his minions in rebellion!
Here in Vancouver, Filipinos are the heart and soul of the archdiocese. We would not have full churches without them. They will greet a priest by bowing and taking his hand to their forehead. This happens in and outside church upon meeting a priest. From them I also learned, as a young convert years ago, the devotional practice of kissing statues and icons both at church and at home.
It isn’t a humiliation for us to behave with decorum.
It also isn’t humiliation for us to behave with humility. Christ did that before us, we should be imitating him. Mary was chosen to be the Mother of God, in part because of her humility.
Furthermore, humiliation is a natural and appropriate part of leaving behind sin and turning to the Lord. When you have sinned, admitting your sins and accepting penance is, per se, humiliation: your admission of being in the wrong, and of needing to give satisfaction, constitutes your humiliation of yourself. Undertaking penances to bring unruly passions into control is humiliating your deficient faculties so that they become biddable to reason and to charity. That’s called discipline, i.e. discipleship. Such humiliation is merely the virtue of humility itself, as applied to past your sinfulness.
To refuse humiliations is to refuse to admit being a sinner.
Fr Z I have three things to write about here.
First, Ss.Trinita looks stunning. I have, when in Rome, many times made it a point to attend Mass there. The schola takes the summer months off so I try to be in Rome in May or June or September to appreciate the music during Holy Mass.
I made a major life decision while sitting in Ss Trinita. Congratulations to the parish on the restoration of the facade. I’ve read your name on one of the pews.
Second, the poem “Hands of A Priest”… when I first read it many years ago I was moved to tears. The last stanza has a punch. I have since given a copy to many priests. When my mother was passing away and the chaplain was giving her a final blessing the poem snapped immediately to my mind. Powerful. And so true.
Third, are you still considering or searching for a place in Rome? You haven’t said anything about this project of late.
Wonderfully done, Father. Thank you.
“monstrance says:
19 April 2024 at 1:31 PM
Thank you Fr Z.
Then there’s the scene of Pope Francis violently ripping his hand away from the faithful attempting to kiss it.”
To which I respond, “I take it Francis doesn’t want to allow the faithful to give the adoration due to Christ (given that he’s there as the vicar and in persona christi).”
Hey, Papa Frank!… it ain’t always about YOU, buddy!
Thank you Fr. Z. kissing the hands that serve me my Lord.
Not that I would ever be Pope (God Forbid) but if I was, I would want the Papal Crown and to be carried by the Swiss Guard. If they could carry Pope John XXIII, I would be a piece of cake.
remember this?:
…The Pope turned to the beggar and said, “Would you hear my confession?” The beggar replied, “but I am not a Priest anymore!” The Pope then told him, “once a Priest, you are always a Priest.” But the beggar told the Pope that he was out of good standing with the church. The Pope replied, “I am the Bishop of Rome, I can reinstate you right now,” which he then does.”…
https://www.worksbyfaith.org/the-beggar-and-pope-john-paul-ii/
In this day & age, religious rituals are quaint and unnecessary. But the secular rituals people have for sports games or award ceremonies or even family events are a-okay apparently!
I absolutely love the rituals in the TLM. I admit I’m still learning/noticing what happens. But it draws me in because it tells me this is important.
Maybe that’s the sort of thing that Pope Francis doesn’t like?
There are many things that the Pontiff dislikes including Latin. A fault he shares with the prince of darkness.
“That’s just a remanent of an imperial court and it has nothing to do with Christ because Christ was humble. We need pottery and simplicity.” – People who bring up that old and worn out argument show their lack of belief in the Kingship of Christ. We should (in this case I don’t hesitate to say that) admonish them for that.
@grateful:
That’s a beautiful story, I had never heard of it before and it brought tears to my eyes. There is no doubt in my mind that St. John Paul II would have done something like that.
A very thoughtful and inspiring article. Thank you for it.
One of the many aspects of the Vetus Ordo that my wife, I, and many others value is the care dictated by the Rite of the priest’s hands that will hold our Lord. When it is necessary for us to attend the new Rite, we wince at the manner in which He is treated. The (mis) handling by the non-extraordinary extraordinary ministers is hard to take.
Excellent overview Fr. Z!
For those who are interested in a defense of the royalism or courtliness of the TLM, see this lecture, published at NLM:
https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2022/05/enter-his-courts-with-praise-liturgical.html
Regarding why we use things like the cappa magna to honor Christ in His ministers, see this:
https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2016/01/the-cappa-magna-in-light-of-nature.html
It seems more likely that medieval court rituals were based on the Mass, rather than the other way around. That reminds me of this article about how the Japanese tea ritual may be based on the Mass: https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/tea-and-christianity