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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture An interesting question came up in a discussion I had recently, and I thought someone here might be able to point me toward some resources. The question is, what do we know about exactly _how_ someone in, for instance, England of the 1480s would have gone about the sequence of gestures we call "making the sign of the cross" -- and how do we know it? And under what circumstances would they do it? There seems to be plenty of modern anecdotal evidence (mostly people saying "it's always been done this way") but I haven't the least idea where to start looking for actual source material. Pointers toward where to find this sort of thing would be much appreciated. I suspect it's one of those things that historically, nobody bothered to write down because everyone knew it. (I'm sure we all have times when we wish we could joggle our ancestors' elbows and whisper, "Write it down, dammit!" ) I'm referring here specifically to the sequence of gestures used in blessing _oneself_ -- not the gesture someone like a priest might use when invoking blessing upon someone or something else. I do know that in modern times it's not necessarily the same in all cultures -- I seem to recall that in the Eastern Christian traditions the right shoulder is touched before the left, while in the West it's more often the reverse. I've seen people from Hispanic cultures kiss their thumbnail at the end of the sequence. But that's about all the information I presently have. Some of the detail questions I'd love to find answers to include: which hand makes the gesture, and if not the whole hand, which fingers? What parts of the body are touched and in what sequence? What words are said (to oneself or aloud) while the gesture is being made? Is there more than one version common at a particular time and place? And on what occasions is the sign made? I know (because I see it all the time) that modern Roman Catholics routinely make the sign of the cross at the beginning and end of an interval of prayer. I seem to recall that "traditionally" it used to be common to make the sign when the dead are mentioned, or as a quick ritual prayer against harm. But finding these things out about a particular time and place in history seems to be much more difficult. The immediate occasion where this came up -- just for context -- was in discussing a passage from _The Babees Book_ that describes grace before and after meals. The edition we were looking at was at Google books, and I notice that at the head of the "Latin Graces" section it says this is from the Balliol MS. 354, leaf 2 -- which I don't know anything about, including the date. The sign of the cross is not mentioned anywhere in the process -- but it's not clear whether that's because it wasn't used (for instance, if this text dates to after the Reformation, in which case what's "Ave Regina Caelorum" doing in there at Easter?), or because everyone knew when and how to do it so no one wrote it down. The Google books link (watch the wrap...): <http://books.google.com/books?id=3X0NAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Babees+Book:+Aristotle% 27s+A+B+C,+Urbanitatis,+Stans+Puer+Ad+Mensam#PPA382,M1> (BTW, even the grace before meals in "ordinary time" given here seems to be an extraordinary mishmash of texts. I was quite startled to see the "Kyrie Eleison" in the middle of it!) ____________________________________________________________ 0 Chris Laning | <[log in to unmask]> + Davis, California http://paternoster-row.org - http://paternosters.blogspot.com ____________________________________________________________ ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html