Bulletins
August 7, 2016
Download the Bulletin as a PDFOur review of the liturgical history of the Kiss of Peace provided by the Jesuit theologian Rev. Josef A. Jungmann now addresses in details some Eastern variants on the pax as of 1950 and a matter of growing controversy of the last few centuries.
In all Christian liturgies in the course of time a certain stylizing was effected, in which only a discreet indication of the former kiss remained. Aside from the Byzantine liturgy where the kiss is executed in this restrained form only by the celebrant and deacon, and by no one else, this symbolic gesture has been retained also for the people in all the rites of the East. Among the East Syrians it is customary for each one to clasp the hands of his neighbor and kiss them. Among the Maronites the faithful clasp the neighbor's fingers with their own, then kiss the latter. Even more reserved are the Copts, who merely bow to their neighbor and then touch his hand, and the Armenians who are-partly-satisfied with a mere bow.
Such a stylizing is also found in the present Roman liturgy in the kiss of peace given within the ranks of the clergy at high Mass, the only time it is still practiced. Here it is a light embrace, sinistris genis sibi invicem appropinquantibus. A different stylization for the kiss of peace in the whole congregation had its origin in England, where the finer touch had also been shown in regard to the kissing of the Host. This is the kiss of peace given by means of the osculatorium, a plaque (often richly ornamented) called a pax-board or pax-brede. It put in a first appearance after 1248 in English diocesan statutes, then gradually spread to the continent where, however, the earlier manner of communicating the kiss long remained in vogue. Charles V, in his efforts for reform, had also determined on the renewal of the kiss of peace, ubi mos eius dandi exolevit, with the employment of the pax-board. The kiss of peace with the instrumentum pacis is also provided in the Missal of Pius V of 1570 and in the Ceremoniale episcoporum of 1600. In this way it can, at high Mass, be communicated also to the laity. Outside of high Mass, both at the Missa Cantata and the low Mass, this is the only manner of giving the kiss of peace that is considered, both for the clergy of all ranks and for the laity. Thus, the kiss of peace, like the incensation at solemn services, could in the last few centuries be regarded most often as a privilege of persons of rank. But precisely this restriction was the occasion for unedifying disputes about precedence (for the principle of handing it on from person to person involved a certain order or gradation), which was in direct contradiction to the very meaning of the ceremony.
(The Mass of the Roman Rite, pp. 328-329)
May the peace of the Lord be with you always!
Fr. Christopher J. Pollard
