Religious ceremony

“ In the science of religion, the study of ceremony has its 363strong and weak sides. On the one hand, it is generally easier to obtain accurate accounts of ceremonies by eye-witnesses, than anything like trustworthy and intelligible statements of doctrine; so that very much of our knowledge of religion in the savage and barbaric world consists in acquaintance with its ceremonies. It is also true that some religious ceremonies are marvels of permanence, holding substantially the same form and meaning through age after age, and far beyond the range of historic record. ”

“ Ceremonies, properly so called, will become more and more simple in religious or moral associations; the day will come, no doubt, when they will not be employed at all except to celebrate the three great events of human life: birth, marriage, and death; nay, perhaps they will disappear altogether as emotion becomes too profound to be translated by any objective device, by any conventional ceremony whatever. ”

“ At almost any time of the year a ceremony of some kind is going on in Cliff Palace. It may be only a simple bit of ritual occupying a single medicine man or it may be an elaborate 106 ceremony that occupies an entire religious society for many days. The priests of each society have a ceremonial calendar and as the seasons roll around they perform their ancient rituals. When, why and how those ceremonies originated they do not know. They learned them from their elders and they will pass them on to the younger men who will succeed them. ”

“ A kind of mystic ceremony substituted for religious worship, with what spiritual efficacy has not been determined. ”

“ Be that as it may, the fact is not a little significant that a religion which consists so largely in ceremonies should have been introduced most effectively into the country of its most extensive missionary triumphs under the influence of an impressive ceremony. ”

“ These ceremonies, so often repeated, have become a sort of mechanical exercise for most people, and the young priests despatch the service of great festivals with an activity and a dexterity little calculated to produce any religious effect. ”

“ Having wended our way through the centuries and arrived at the conclusion of our work, it is a pleasure to render our tribute of thanks and praise to the men who have in the past made this sphere of study their own.
The few writers of the Middle Ages who treated the Church’s year and the festivals of the saints in a comprehensive manner were entirely occupied with contributing to the correct performance of ecclesiastical ceremonies, and with explaining why each ceremony must be done in one way and not in another. ”

“ We have considered, as represented in poetry and liturgy, the strictly ecclesiastical festival, the commemoration of the Nativity as the beginning of man's redemption. We have seen how in the carols, the cult of the presepio, and the religious drama, the Birth of the King of Glory in the stable at midwinter has presented itself in concrete form to the popular mind, calling up a host of human emotions, a crowd of quaint and beautiful fancies. ”

“ The Lamb of God is united to his bride—the church—never more to be separated; and after all the persecutions, conflicts, and embarrassments which had existed, this long-desired union is consummated, and the glorious triumph of the church is described under the image of a joyous wedding ceremony. ”

“ By Religious Ceremonies we understand certain significant signs or actions, which the Church has established for the celebration of the Divine Service.
2. Why is the instruction on 'Prayer' and the 'Sacramentals' followed here by the explanation of 'Religious Practices and Ceremonies'?
1. Because Religious Ceremonies have been instituted to give praise and glory to God, no less than Prayer itself; and 2. Because they help us to raise our souls to God and to the contemplation of Divine things, and consequently to pray with attention and devotion. ”

“ When you think at all, you delude yourselves into imagining you are worshipping God, when you are taking a fitful interest in a ceremony which means no more to you than a ceremony. You come here for an hour in the morning of one day of the week, your minds full of worldly pleasures and the memories of your pleasant sins. ”

“ When a maiden has reached the age of nubility, or fifteen years, the father and mother adorn the two altars erected to the ancestors of their respective families, invite the near relatives, and select, as president of the ceremony, an aged lady, of high repute for virtue and good sense. While the lights are burning among perfumes, two masters of ceremonies, one at each end of the altar, call off the order fixed by the rites. ”

“ Identifying itself with the common events of life, such as birth, marriage, and death, the church has not only given a religious meaning to these occasions but has also sanctioned and even encouraged the festivities that accompany them. ”

“ Indeed, it may be said that organs and church bells had an equal share in raising the prestige of the ceremonial liturgy, which charmed and captivated both the senses and the souls of its hearers, by the display of its numerous officiating clergy, by the solemn gravity of its chants, by the noble simplicity of the vestments, and by the chaste and majestic arrangement of its ritual. ”

“ Mass is said in a low voice, during which the priest, or the rector, receives the promise of the wedded pair. With little exception, the ceremony is the same for all. Those who pay well are married at the high altar ”

“ THE Catholic Church in the celebration of Mass and in the administration of the sacraments employs certain forms and rites. These are called ceremonies. By these ceremonies the Church wishes to appeal to the heart as well as to the intellect, and to impress the faithful with sentiments of faith and piety.
What is more capable of raising the heart and mind of man to God than a priest celebrating Mass? What more inspiring than some of our sacred music? ”

“ Nothing against Epiphany, Lent, Ash Wednesday, Easter, Good Friday, Whitsuntide or Palm Sunday, if these symbols have behind them genuine repentance, holy reminiscence and Christian consecration.
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But ceremony is only the sheath to the sword; it is only the shell to the kernel; it is only the lamp to the flame; it is only the body to the spirit. The outward must be symbolical of the inward. Wash the hands, by all means; but, more than all, wash the heart.
Behold, also, as you see Governor Pontius Pilate thrust his hands into his wash basin, the power of conscience. ”

“ Once upon a time the people really believed in the ceremony, and what it was supposed to tell them. Even now many thousands of them have great faith in the acts that have been performed; but as education spreads, the belief in these quaint and picturesque ceremonies will die out. ”

“ The baptism or christening is performed according to the rites of whatever church the parents may be members of. If the ceremony is performed in church, personal fancy has very little play, though it is almost a law that flowers shall cluster about the place where little ones are brought for dedication. ”

“ All these acts of Our Saviour—the prostration in the Garden, the procession to Jerusalem, the touching of the deaf man's ears, the chanting of the hymn, the laying on of hands, the anointing of the sick—are but so many ceremonies serving as models of the ceremonies used by the Catholic Church in her public worship and in the administration of her sacraments. ”

“ Mass is beginning. At the head of the procession, emerging from the Sacristy, marches the Master of Ceremonies, a venerable man of patriarchal mien, clothed in quaint cassock of black velvet, richly trimmed with silver braid, resonantly striking the stone pavement with official staff and responding in aged, yet pleasing voice to the Gregorian Chant of Celebrant and Congregation. ”

“ It is extremely unbecoming for a gentleman of fashion to pay any regard to that old superstitious ceremony of what is commonly called 'going to church'—or, at most, of attending more than half a day in the week. ”

“ Representative rites and collective recreations are even so close to one another that men pass from one sort to the other without any break of continuity. The characteristic feature of the properly religious ceremonies is that they must be celebrated on a consecrated ground, from which women and non-initiated persons are excluded. ”

“ O ALMIGHTY and eternal God, who hast inspired thy Church to institute a festival in honor of the conception of the Mother of thy Son, grant that all who devoutly celebrate it on earth may eternally enjoy thy presence in heaven, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, world without end. ”

“ They joined their right hands, and I pronounced over them the sacramental words, after which the tali was blessed and given first to the bridegroom and by turn to the bride, but without being fastened about her neck, as that ceremony was to take place afterward at home. I began mass. In the lectern, two chanters were shaking the walls of the church with a clamor most delightful to Indian ears, for singing is valued here in proportion to the volume of voice brought to bear upon it. ”

“ But besides the observance of all these festivals, it has ever been a laudable custom for persons more especially consecrated to God, such as Religious, to choose one day in particular during the course of the year upon which to renew their vows, and by so doing to obey the great Apostle, who counsels us to confirm our vocation. ”

“ In view of the complicated arrangements made necessary for the proper carrying out of a fashionable church wedding, and in consideration of the large number of people involved in the ceremony and the necessity of each one being in the right place at the right moment, in order to prevent confusion, it will be seen that some preparation is necessary before all can act in concert. ”

“ That other religious ceremonies, repeated from age to age, have the same tendency as prayers to become dead forms from which the spirit of communion or devotion has departed—though under favourable conditions it may return from time to time—is too well known; and if in their emptiness they are still believed somehow to serve their purpose, it can only be as magical rites. ”

“ Blessed art thou, O Church, for behold the commemoration of thy sanctification has been celebrated: for the Father has had pleasure in thy sons and daughters, and the Son has renewed thy foundations, and the Holy Ghost the Comforter has descended and sanctified thee by His grace, and set up within thee priests to preach the true faith, and has delivered unto thee His sacraments as a pledge of the forgiveness of thy children. ”

“ The church of form, rituals and ceremonies attracts the passive who are willing to let the priest or pastor or prelate take charge of the religious work while they, the attendants or worshippers, sit quietly by and say amen and join in the responses. ”

“ In liturgical churches, where the entrance of the clergy and the choristers in processional is followed by a variety of consecutive and historic ceremonies, performed by rising, sitting, kneeling and going to the altar in turn, and concluding with the recessional of the celebrants, children who have been trained in churchly ways find a keen and lifelong delight. ”

“ But what, it may be asked by many, is the use of ceremonies? I shall answer in the words of the council of [pg 7] Trent. "Since the nature of man is such, that he cannot easily without exterior helps be raised to the meditation of divine things, the church as a pious mother has instituted certain rites, namely, that some things in the mass should be pronounced in a low voice and others aloud ”

“ Our harvest thanksgivings, and similar occasions, conducted as they have been, have taught those, to whom the lesson was perfectly new, to find in the Services of the Sanctuary, in worship, and attendance at the Holy Communion, a vent and expression for their sense of thankfulness. At such times the flower-wreath and the banner, the richly vested and decked altar, the Choral Service, the processional hymn, have been felt to be in place. And thus familiarised with them, our people come even to look for them as the natural attendants on high days of festival. ”

“ This day must be sanctified and consecrated to the love of our blessed Saviour by prayer, pious reading, visits to the blessed sacrament, and every good work; and therefore on the eve of this solemn day, prepare your heart by some act of penance or charity, for the reception of divine grace. On the festival itself, repair to the sacraments of penance and holy communion. At confession accuse yourself, and detest in a special manner your many ingratitudes and acts of disrespect towards the blessed sacrament. ”

“ Old Schwamelfuchs has made a portable canopy from green birch-boughs, that in celebrating this festival, we may carry the sacred relics out of the church in a fitting manner.
The procession in the bright sunshine is a festive one. And the people, finally freed from the hard winter, sing joyful hymns. We rest in the woods and the priest pronounces the benediction, sending the holy blessing to all parts of the world. ”

“ The same homage was paid to his mother, on which she delivered the image to another person, who preceded the bridegroom and his party to the church, where they met the bride and her attendants; and the couple were then led to the altar, and united in the holy bands of wedlock, by the Protopope, or Chief of the Clergy. The ceremony resembles that of the Catholic church, except that, towards the close, the priest places a hymeneal crown on the heads of the man and woman, and they walk three times round a table, where lie the cross and the Bible. ”