Hand Position & Sign of the Cross

[DL82]

There seem to be several versions of this:

Open hand, all fingers extended - the norm in the Latin Church

Cross first finger & thumb, make sign of cross then kiss cross - done by some Latin American Catholics

Two fingers extended to represent incarnation, 3 fingers together to represent trinity - done by Byzantine Catholics

There may be others I haven’t seen.

I don’t really have a question, I was just interested to find out what different people do and what you think of/pray about when making the sign of the cross.

 

[japhy]

There seem to be several versions of this:

Open hand, all fingers extended - the norm in the Latin Church

Cross first finger & thumb, make sign of cross then kiss cross - done by some Latin American Catholics

Two fingers extended to represent incarnation, 3 fingers together to represent trinity - done by Byzantine Catholics

There may be others I haven’t seen.

I don’t really have a question, I was just interested to find out what different people do and what you think of/pray about when making the sign of the cross.

I’m Latin Rite, and I’ve recently taken to holding my thumb, index, and middle fingers together (representing the Trinity) and keeping my ring and pinkie fingers tucked into my palm (representing the Incarnation).

When Eastern Rite Catholics (and Orthodox) clergy give blessings, they use a similar gesture (found in icons of the Pantokrator), although with different fingers together: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/ChristPantocratorStCatherines.jpg/180px-ChristPantocratorStCatherines.jpg

This (Orthodox) page explains several such arrangements: unicorne.org/ORTHODOXY/hiver2004/hands.htm

 

[Ignatius]

There seem to be several versions of this:

Open hand, all fingers extended - the norm in the Latin Church

Cross first finger & thumb, make sign of cross then kiss cross - done by some Latin American Catholics

Two fingers extended to represent incarnation, 3 fingers together to represent trinity - done by Byzantine Catholics

There may be others I haven’t seen.

I don’t really have a question, I was just interested to find out what different people do and what you think of/pray about when making the sign of the cross.

I was taught that the proper way is to hold the thumb and first two fingers together to remind us of the Trinity and the last two fingers to remind us that Jesus is both true God and true man.
I am a Latin Rite Catholic, so I don’t think that’s exclusively an Eastern practice.

 

[DaveBj]

Careful with this–at one time in the past, there was a split in the Russian Orthodox Church over whether one should cross himself with two fingers or with three

DaveBj

 

[John_Lilburne]

“When making the sign of the cross, he holds the palm of the right hand turned toward himself, with all the fingers joined and held straight, and makes the sign of the cross by moving this hand from head to chest and from left shoulder to right.”
The 1984 Ceremonial of Bishops quoting the 1962 Missale Romanum (Ritus servandus in celebratione Missae, III, 5).

The Ceremonial of Bishops also has that the bishop should “place his left hand on his breast, unless he is holding something” (n. 108).

From Ceremonial of Bishops, Liturgical Press, 1989, ISBN 0-8146-1818-9, page 44.