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HISTORY OF THE MANUAL SIGN OF THE CROSS

(A research by Dr. Oon, on the history of the Sign of the Cross first published in the Catholic News website 2007)

Have you been fascinated and wondered why Catholics and the Orthodox Christians make the Sign of the Cross ,by drawing the thumb and two fingers downwards from head to chest, and then horizontally from one shoulder to the othe r . “ Who started this sign? When was it started? Why was it started ? Who approved it?

Why did our beautiful Lady, in white and dressed with a blue sash, with yellow roses on her feet show Bernadette the Sign of the Cross at Massabielle in Lourdes at her first appearance to Bernadette on the 11 February 1858?

Researching into the history of this sign, I was helped greatly by Fr . Rene Nicholas from the MEP Mission House, who is our local Church Historian, who provided me with references in the Catholic Encyclopedia sign of the cross.mht website and other theologians.

Usage of the Sign .The manual sign of the Cross is made in so many situations and is both liturgical and devotional. It is used in Baptism, Confirmation, the Anointment of the Sick, by new Catechumens at the Rites of Christian Initiation for Adults, at Mass when it is made by the Priest on the of the , by the Parishioners when they hear the Word of God at Mass ( mark is made on the fore head, the lips, and the heart). I n supreme unction ( the ancient Anointment of the Sick) the sign of the cross was made over the sick organ(s) too. I t is made over the lips in the “Domine labia mea aperies” of the Divine Office and over the host and chalice after the words of consecration had been made at the Mass, when transubstantiation takes place to change the host and wine to the body and blood of .

But when did it arise? There is positive evidence that the early practiced this in the early second century, as Tertullian, born AD 150, noted ( De cor.Mil.,iii) said, “ In all our travels and movements, in all our comings in and out, in putting of our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lightning our candles, we mark our forehead with the sign of the cross.” He even spoke about the Christian woman who use this for “signing of her bed” , before retiring to rest. Epiphanus tells of a certain holy man (Adv. Haer.,xxx 12) called Josephus , who imparted on a vessel of water the power to overcome magical incarnations by “making over the vessel with his finger the sign of the cross” . St also of the early second century in his “Catecheses ( xiii, 36) remarks “ Let us not be ashamed to confess the crucified. Be the Cross our seal, made with boldness by our fingers on our brow; before we sleep; when we lie down, when we are traveling, and when we are at rest”

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Justin Martyr( died AD114), the first apologetic who refuted the Roman Emperor Adrianus, said that the symbols of the cross was in their belief of Christ and the Holy Spirit. who traveled with St. Paul after the death of Christ in AD 30 ( The Anti-Nicean Fathers Vol.1 Eerdmans Publ), described in his that the sign of the cross was prefigured in the Old Testament when water was used in the cleansing of sin, and that the Cross of Christ was frequently announced in the Old Testament and when used the bronze serpent on the pole to heal the Israelites . Indeed in the early church, the holy sign of the cross and it had been used in all exorcisms and as a weapon against the spirits of darkness.

Half a century later Sozomen, the church historian (VII , xxvi) described how Donatus when attacked by a dragon made a sign of the cross in the air and spat at a monster”. All this points to a larger cross being used , in the fourth century when the Universal church of Christ ( Catholus = universal) was one, before the schism of the Roman took place in the fourth century to form the Eastern (Orthodox) and the Latin ( Roman Catholic) churches.

When did the three fingers aris e ? The monophysite controversy in the second and third centuries , of one person holding divine and human nature led to the institution of the two natures and two wills of Christ in the sign of the cross.

The two natures and will of Christ were signified by the thumb, and the two fingers. The extended three digits, the thumb, the index finger and the middle finger denoted the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity. At the same time these three fingers were held to indicate the common abbreviation used for Christ, the common abbreviation I X C ( Iseous Christos Soter)…the forefinger signifying the ‘I ’ , the middle finger serving the ‘ C’ , the middle finger crossed with the thumb to signify ‘ X’.

Leo I V used the larger sign of the cross to sign onto the chalice and the host in the middle of the ninth century. The sign followed for many centuries was the “sign of Christ”, ‘the seal of the living God’, ‘ In the name of Jesus’’ In the name of the Holy Trinity’ and the sign is made today over holy items, such as rosaries, cups, bodies etc.

Who Introduced it? Was it a secret code used in the time of persecution of the early churc h ?

I f the sign was already in use in the early second century could it have been there from the time of by the early . The fish was first used as a sign of a Christian in the early Christian Community who suffered severe and extreme martyrdom by the Roman and Jewish persecutors. They were fed to the animals in the arena, crucified, stoned to death, beheaded, roasted on a pit or speared to death. Under such severe penalties of death to renounce their faith, the early Christian Communities went underground and worshipped in private homes and underground churches, some of which we see in Cappodocia in Turkey tod.ay

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Was this sign used then to identify the faithful Christian during the time of extreme persecution to distinguish the genuine from infiltrators who were hunting the early Christians like Saul ( Acts 9 )?

Unfortunately there are few records of those early first century years of the Apostolic fathers, as the Christian Faith under extreme martyrdom , was handed down by the word of mouth and became embedded in our Catholic tradition and teachings. Even the Book of Life ( Rev.20,12), which we use today for the elect ,was, if it got into the hands of the persecutors ( the Romans, the , other pagan believers)of the infant church would be the ‘Book of Death’. Could this simple identification sign used in the early church after Christ signify a secret code of a Christian disciple undergoing extreme persecution?

One ponders, could such an important sign be even be instituted by Jesus, the Christ, when He came back on resurrection ? He said “ “Receive the Holy Spirit”(John 20,21- 22). “ Go, then to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you .And I will be with you until the end of age( Matthew 28,19-20). The disciples were so petrified ,and hid themselves and Jesus chided them for their poor faith ( M ark 16, 14-17)

Would the simple disciples have asked Jesus, “Show us how to baptize?” just like they had asked Him “ Lord, teach us how to pray?”( Matthew 6,5-14). There w as at that time only the Baptism of John by water for the repentance of Sin . ( John 1,26, Mark 1,1-8). Could the Sign of the Cross, be the seal of Christ, the seal of the Holy Trinity, the Seal of God( accepted in the late second century) on the disciple as God’ s child, and Jesus gave this to His disciples before he sent them on their mission to be His apostles ( Gk for sent)?He sent them on their new mission to remind them too that they had to carry their Cross ( ,38-39), and the cross was now also the cross of His crucifixion ,which many of them had witnessed and would experience themselves. Under the severe persecution by the Romans for challenging their Emperor, who was their God and other pagan Roman and Greek Gods at that time, as well as the Jews rejecting the Jesus as the Messiah ( Mark,14,53-65),the early church went underground.

Under this severe persecution there were many martyrs of the early church, who refused to renounce their new Faith. First Stephen was martyred by being stoned to death ( Acts 7,54-60), then it was later James, the son of Zeberdee by Herod(Acts 12,1-5) .Even Peter was jailed but was saved by the ( Acts 12,4-5). In the Church of the Holy Apostles in Rome, one can see how the 11 apostles were martyred, except St. John who died in Ephesus. Peter was crucified upside down, Andrew sideways, Bartholomew sawn in half, Simon the Zealot skinned alife and St. Paul beheaded in AD 65 by Nero

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There was no record of the use of the Sign of the Cross in the first century, by the Roman Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus ( born AD 37), whose book the “The Jewish Antiquities( AD 70)” was authenticated by both Herod and Emperor Vespassian( his adopted Father) as accurate. Josephus reporte d “ There was a man , Jesus the Christ, who did phenomenal and astonishing deeds , but was put to death in AD 30, and reappeared to the joy of his followers and the sect of Christians lives to this day.”

Could this lack of a written record of the Sign of the Cross be purposely kept completely secret, to safeguard the early church undergoing severe martyrdom?

St. John said “ Now there are many other things that Jesus did. If they were all written down one by one, I suppose the whole world could not hold the books that could be written ( John 21,25)

Wouldn’t this wonderful seal of Faith handed down to us from the early times of Christ and by God, be a beautiful endowment to protect us from all our fears and enemies ( Luke 1, 67-79) and shouldn’t we treasure it even more?

Holy Trinity 3/6/2007 & updated 28/6/2007( Feast day of St. Iraneus, Bishop & martyr of 2nd century.

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