Asperges me, Domine, hyssopo et mundabor.
Whenever I see a reference to "Asperger's Syndrome," that's what I think of.
Do they [the Catholics] still church women, by the way?
Sad emo moment of the day: young lady asking for good ways to make bruising go down, "especially on the cheek and jaw bones." And here I was complaining about my head producing and leaking too much goo.
posted by Mr. G. Z. T. @ 16.12.05
8 Comments:
It's official, sir. You're weirder than I am.
I don't think so, sadly... although my copy of the Book of Common Prayer has a churching rite, last I checked. So... better luck with the Episcopalians? You don't know how much it kills me to say that.
Actually, my Opus Dei-produced prayerbook has a blessing for mothers before & after childbirth... but it also has a blessing for a Christmas tree (watch me roll my eyes)... so it doesn't mean that people go around doing it.
Alice, you must have a 1928 Prayer Book (or earlier) if it still refers to the "Churching of Women." The 1979 Prayer Book has a "Thanksgiving for the Birth of A Child" which is somewhat discordant with the old rite. On the other hand, I now have remedied my ignorance of the purpose of the rite, since its meaning was distorted. I always was taught it was some sort of misogynistic purification rite as under the Old Law, but it seems more like a genuine act of thanksgiving of returning to worship after needing to stay home and rest up from labor, like the end of maternity leave from Divine Service.
Oh... Since Alice gave a backhand compliment. Bwahahaha.
1968, it says. I don't know... it's printed by Cambridge. Bought it in London.
You're right. "The Thanksgiving of Women after Childbirth." Pppth. I retract some of my backhanded complement.
Alice, you surely have a 1662 English Prayer Book (the printing rites are vested in Cambridge UP in perpetuity), which you will note says at the beginning of the rite, "The Thanksgiving of Women After Childbirth, Commonly Called Churching of Women."
I can't believe I put "rite" for "right" in the last comment.
I guess I'm late to this party, but I just noticed that my 1962 missal does have a rite for the churching of women.
I don't think there's been one at my parish.
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