Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Tears at the altar


Here's an interesting little tidbit from St. Alphonsus de Liquori. The doctor of the Church says that the maniple, that little piece of cloth that priests place over their left arm during Mass "was introduced for the purpose of wiping away the tears of devotion that flowed from the eyes of the priest; for in former times priests wept continuously during the celebration of the Mass."

From the Duties and Dignity of the priest, By
St. Alphonsus de Liquori p 217

9 comments:

jim klasz said...

my parish priest would probably use it to wipe the sleep out of the congregants eyes during his sermons,er homilies.
However a beautiful thought and yes I have known priests who fully partake of both the sorrow and joy of the mass.


On another note I want to tell you that I really appreciate and enjoy your site.I tell people I know that it is truly the "ordinary catholics" site.
Itis a bit of everything and what one hopes to see in a website,neither dominated by politics nor embroiled( I almost wrote "embalmed" )in the arcania of Theology.
Thax,
Jim Klasz

paramedicgirl said...

Thanks Jim! :}

AquinaSavio said...

Wow...that is a very interesting piece of information. Awesome. :)

Anita Moore said...

I need some sort of a vestment to wipe the tears from my eyes every time I have to listen to Bernadette Farrell's execrable (and doctrinally questionable) "Bread of Life" at Mass, in which the loud and consistently flat person right behind me feels obliged to join after Communion, thereby destroying my ability to pray.

Either that or industrial-strength ear plugs.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing that! I usually bring tissues to Mass and have even been known to go without mascara just in case....

Michele said...

good to know. thanks.

Anonymous said...

If I were to post this on CAF, I'd probably be banned, but I, as a layman, could use a maniple myself to wipe away MY tears of disgust at some of the shenanigans proposed to encourage greater audience participation, er, I mean, participation of the laity in the liturgy (yeah, I'm sure that's what I meant)....

Mark said...

Is this book online, or do you have a copy? I did a search and didn't find it... :(

paramedicgirl said...

Mark, it's a really old book, the publisher's date is 1927. I think Tan may have it. It is an incredible book. I will mail it to you after I'm done reading it, if you like. then you can lend it Anita before you send it back. :}