At the Elevation

[NPC]

Does anybody know why, at a Tridentine Mass, the server lifts up the back of the celebrant’s chasuble at the Elevation of the host and the chalice. I know all the numerous bows and genuflections in the TLM have a specific reason behind them, but this is one I have been wondering about for a long time! Thanks.

 

[Pax_et_Caritas]

Does anybody know why, at a Tridentine Mass, the server lifts up the back of the celebrant’s chasuble at the Elevation of the host and the chalice. I know all the numerous bows and genuflections in the TLM have a specific reason behind them, but this is one I have been wondering about for a long time! Thanks.

I believe it comes from the days when the chasible was thicker and heavier, which made it difficult for the Priest to raise his hands.

 

[NicPais83]

I believe it comes from the days when the chasible was thicker and heavier, which made it difficult for the Priest to raise his hands.

The Chasible was originally a very large vestment like a poncho, and the priest didn’t really have use of his arms unless someone held up the back, to give him a better range of motion. I think it’s interesting how over the course of 2000 years, there have been a lot of ways of dealing with the problem. In the Roman Rite, we cut away large portions of the chasible and stiffened it to make the fiddleback, which does not restrict the priest’s arms. The gothic chasible, likewise, is closer to the original form, I believe, but smaller and allows the priest to move his arms. In the Byzantine Rite, the front of the “chasible” (since I can’t recall the name that’s used for it) is cut away, so it looks like a cloak. In the Antiochene Rite, they cut away the front so much that it looks like a cape, and very much resembles the Roman cope, although the cope is a completely different vestment.

 

[totus_tuus2009]

It also symbolizes the grace from the sacrament going to the congregation.

 

[Miserissima]

Oy. This reminds me…I can’t find the link to the specific thread here, but…someone here at the forums had a pic of the elevation in the EF in their signature tag (similar to the pic I have attached to this post), but in black and white.

Another forum member here, clearly in reference to the recent Church scandals posted something about the signature tag, wrote, “That’s disgusting and offensive! Where on earth did you get that pic? Why would you show that?”

Heh.

The poster with the pic in her signature tag apologized and took the pic down. I PM’d the offended party to privately explain it what it was, but didn’t hear back.

NicPais83 - the phelonion is the Byzantine Rite vestment that corresponds to the Latin Rite chasuble.

 

[jmdsc]

Originally the chasubles were “conical”. Meaning that it was a half circle of fabric, brought together at the straight edges, thus making a “cone” shape! (Think about walking around inside a bell-like shape.)

This was not easy to move around in, nor to lift the hands…gotta have assistance for that!

Hope that helps!

 

[NPC]

Thanks everyone for the responses! As I said, I had been wondering about this for some time, but had never put much thought into it, but the answers are all very logical!

 

[cam100]

It is always interesting to delve into the historical background of the mass. Some people are surprised to find that many of the gestures and articles used in traditional mass have very practical origins. Over time, they have also acquired symbolic meanings, and have therefore been retained over the ages.

 

[lizaanne]

Another forum member here, clearly in reference to the recent Church scandals posted something about the signature tag, wrote, “That’s disgusting and offensive! Where on earth did you get that pic? Why would you show that?”

Idiots abound in this world of ours. Glad you tried to educate them!

~Liza

 

[Claire_from_DE]

Oy. This reminds me…I can’t find the link to the specific thread here, but…someone here at the forums had a pic of the elevation in the EF in their signature tag (similar to the pic I have attached to this post), but in black and white.

Another forum member here, clearly in reference to the recent Church scandals posted something about the signature tag, wrote, “That’s disgusting and offensive! Where on earth did you get that pic? Why would you show that?”

Heh.

The poster with the pic in her signature tag apologized and took the pic down. I PM’d the offended party to privately explain it what it was, but didn’t hear back.

NicPais83 - the phelonion is the Byzantine Rite vestment that corresponds to the Latin Rite chasuble.

Thanks for the picture. Does it bring back memories! I had forgotten all about the altar boys doing that.

 

[patrick457]

Does anybody know why, at a Tridentine Mass, the server lifts up the back of the celebrant’s chasuble at the Elevation of the host and the chalice. I know all the numerous bows and genuflections in the TLM have a specific reason behind them, but this is one I have been wondering about for a long time! Thanks.

The practice had its origins back in the days when chasubles still looked like huge ponchos, thus necessitating the wearer to draw it up on their sleeves.

http://www.maderuelo.com/images/historia_y_arte/historia/capucha.gif

The paenula (aka the planeta), the ancestor of the modern-day Chasuble



A 6th-7th century mosaic from the Church of Agios Demetrios in Thessaloniki (aka Thessalonica or Salonica), Greece depicting St. Demetrius with donors (one of the few works of Byzantine art to have survived the Iconoclast Controversy). Note particularly the attire of the Bishop on the left, which shows him in a planeta that covers his arms and hands.

http://www.ladysmaidjewels.com/Blog/justinian.jpg

Emperor Justinian I (482 or 483-565) with his court; note the Deacons wearing Dalmatics and Bishop Maximianus (the one holding a Cross) wearing a chasuble (planeta), which is drawn up over his right arm.

Interestingly, though, the Elevation of the Host was only introduced in the Middle Ages by the 12th-13th century; the Elevation of the Chalice only slightly later.

The practice of elevating the Host came as a form of protest when some theologians argued that the Transubstantiation only took place when the Priest had said the words of the Consecration on both the Host and Chalice (i.e. If the Priest said the words of the Consecration on the Host or Chalice alone, then the Transubstantiation did not happen).

 

[patrick457]

Oy. This reminds me…I can’t find the link to the specific thread here, but…someone here at the forums had a pic of the elevation in the EF in their signature tag (similar to the pic I have attached to this post), but in black and white.

Another forum member here, clearly in reference to the recent Church scandals posted something about the signature tag, wrote, “That’s disgusting and offensive! Where on earth did you get that pic? Why would you show that?”

Um, why would someone get scandalized at that, even calling it disgusting and offensive?

 

[lizaanne]

Um, why would someone get scandalized at that, even calling it disgusting and offensive?

Because the image “appears” to have the boys with their hands under the priest’s vestments. Obviously the mind of a very sick person to even think that it would be an image of something inappropriate.

~Liza