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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Ceremony</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03538b.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="In liturgy, an external action, gesture, or movement which accompanies the prayers and public exercise of divine worship"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="03538b.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/c.htm">C</a> > Ceremony</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Ceremony</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>(Sanskrit, <em>karman</em>, action, work; from <em>kar</em> or <em>ker</em>, to make or create; Latin <em>c&oelig;remonia</em>)</p> <p>Ceremony in liturgy, an external action, gesture, or movement which accompanies the <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a> and public exercise of divine worship. To these the <a href="../cathen/15030c.htm">Council of Trent</a> (Sess. XXII, cap. v.) adds the things over which or with which the <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a> are pronounced, e.g. <a href="../cathen/02599b.htm">blessings</a>, lights, <a href="../cathen/07716a.htm">incense</a>, vestments, etc. Ceremony is the <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> outcome of the twofold nature of man, <a href="../cathen/08066a.htm">intellectual</a> and sensible, on account of which, as <a href="../cathen/14663b.htm">St. Thomas Aquinas</a> says (Contra Gentiles, III, cxix), he must pay <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> a twofold adoration, one spiritual, which consists in the interior devotion of the <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a>, the other corporal, which manifests itself in the outward form of worship, for there is no inward sentiment or feeling which man is not wont to express outwardly by some suitable gesture or action. Ceremonies are employed to embellish and adorn sacred functions; to excite in the faithful sentiments of respect, devotion, and religion, by which the <a href="../cathen/07462a.htm">honour</a> of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> is increased and the sanctification of the <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a> is obtained, since these constitute the principal object of all <a href="../cathen/09306a.htm">liturgical</a> acts; to lead the illiterate more easily to a <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">knowledge</a> of the mysteries of religion; to indicate the dispositions <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> to receive the <a href="../cathen/13295a.htm">sacraments</a> worthily; and to induce the <a href="../cathen/05769a.htm">faithful</a> to fulfil with greater docility the <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obligations</a> which the reception of the <a href="../cathen/13295a.htm">sacraments</a> imposes on them.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>Some ceremonies owe their institution to purely physical reasons or necessity, e.g. the lights used in the <a href="../cathen/03417b.htm">catacombs</a>, which were retained by the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> for the mystical reason that they represent <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a>, the Light of the World; others are founded on mystical or symbolical reasons, e.g. all the ceremonies at <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptism</a> which precede the pouring of the water on the <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">person</a> to be <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptized</a>; many are founded on historical, natural, and mystical reasons at the same time, e.g. the mixing of wine and water at Mass recalls to our mind what <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a> did at the <a href="../cathen/14341a.htm">Last Supper</a>, and represents the blood and water that flowed from His side on the Cross as well as the union of the faithful with <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a>. <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> ceremonies, therefore, are not <a href="../cathen/14339a.htm">superstitious</a> practices, meaningless observances or relics of <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">heathen</a> and Jewish customs, but regulations of Divine, Apostolic, and <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> institution. They may be grouped, according to Francisco Suárez (De Sacramentis, Disp. lxxxiv) into three classes:</p> <div class="bulletlist"><ul><li>(a) Some invest a function with decorum, dignity, and reverence, e.g. washing the hands, striking the breast, approaching the altar with downcast eyes.</li><li>(b) Others serve as external acts of worship, e.g. bending the knee, bowing the head.</li><li>(c) Many are prescribed for a moral and mystical signification, e.g. elevating the <a href="../cathen/01349d.htm">bread</a> and <a href="../cathen/01358a.htm">wine</a> at the <a href="../cathen/11217a.htm">Offertory</a> of the Mass, raising the hands and eyes, giving the <a href="../cathen/11595a.htm">kiss of peace</a>, frequently making the <a href="../cathen/13785a.htm">sign of the cross</a>.</li></ul></div> <p>To these may be added another class which not only symbolize, but produce, spiritual effects, and obtain <a href="../cathen/06689a.htm">Divine grace</a>, e.g. the <a href="../cathen/07698a.htm">imposition of the hands</a> of the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> together with the form of words by which <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priestly</a> power and inward grace are conferred on the recipient of <a href="../cathen/11279a.htm">Holy orders</a>. The sum total of the ceremonies of an individual function is called a rite (<em>ritus</em>), e.g. the rite of Mass, <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptism</a>, extreme unction; the totality of the rites of religion is called its cult (<em>cultus</em>). (See RITE).</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes">MENGHINI, <em>Elementa juris liturgici</em> (Rome, 1906); COPPINSTIMART, <em>Sacræ liturgiæ compendium</em> (Tournai, 1903). STELLA <em>Institutiones liturgicæ</em> (Rome, 1895); MAGAÑA <em>Sagrada liturgia</em> (Pamplona, 1905); VAN DEE STAPPEN, <em>Sacra Liturgia</em> (Mechlin, 1904), I.</p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Schulte, A.J.</span> <span id="apayear">(1908).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Ceremony.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03538b.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Schulte, Augustin Joseph.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Ceremony."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 3.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1908.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03538b.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Douglas J. Potter.</span> <span id="dedication">Dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ.</span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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