Past Tradition?

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JanetMCA

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:confused: I was told that in the 1950s (before I was born), women who had recently given birth had to be spiritually cleansed before they could re-enter the Church. I have never heard any mention of this prior to today. Is this true?
 
The question was asked, “Where did you hear this?”

My answer: This was told to me by a female family member who is Catholic. She did not experience this personally, but spoke with a woman in her parish who did. Not knowing the background of the woman who experienced this, I find that she may be an unreliable source.
 
JanetMCA said:
:confused: I was told that in the 1950s (before I was born), women who had recently given birth had to be spiritually cleansed before they could re-enter the Church. I have never heard any mention of this prior to today. Is this true?
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It’s an ancient tradition of Blessing a new mother and giving thanks for a safe and successful birth. It has it’s roots in Jewish custom.
 
Br.Rich_SFO said:
It’s an ancient tradition of Blessing a new mother and giving thanks for a safe and successful birth. It has it’s roots in Jewish custom.
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Yes, I can very much see the Jewish roots it has. To me it seems like a beautiful ritual, but to my female family member, it seemed as though Catholic women were being made to do this (prior to re-entering their churches) because they were unclean. Was this a tradition throughout the Catholic church in America?
 
JanetMCA said:
Yes, I can very much see the Jewish roots it has. To me it seems like a beautiful ritual, but to my female family member, it seemed as though Catholic women were being made to do this (prior to re-entering their churches) because they were unclean. Was this a tradition throughout the Catholic church in America?
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It may have been a tradition in certain cultures.
 
It certainly wasn’t the tradition everywhere. I hadn’t hear of it until about 10 years ago when I moved to my present parish and heard some of the older women talking about it. One commented that she had had to be ‘churched’ after every child until the last. When she approached the priest the last time he didn’t know what she was talking about. Obviously, it hadn’t been something he’d done before in his ministry. My mom never mentioned having had that done in our New Brunswick Acadian parish so I doubt that it was something done in our French tradition.
 
Phemie said:
It certainly wasn’t the tradition everywhere. I hadn’t hear of it until about 10 years ago when I moved to my present parish and heard some of the older women talking about it. One commented that she had had to be ‘churched’ after every child until the last. When she approached the priest the last time he didn’t know what she was talking about. Obviously, it hadn’t been something he’d done before in his ministry. My mom never mentioned having had that done in our New Brunswick Acadian parish so I doubt that it was something done in our French tradition.
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I recall that my mother always approached the priest for “the after child-birth blessing”. It was blessing that she very much appreciated. She also received a blessing before childbirth.
 
The Roman Ritual has a very good explanation of this blessing sanctamissa.org/en/resources/books-1962/rituale-romanum/49-blessings-of-persons.html. I’ve pasted the text here:

This blessing is often referred to as the churching of women, but the Roman Ritual more appropriately calls it simply the blessing of a woman after childbirth. The practice of “churching a woman” developed out of a related practice in the Old Testament (cf. Lev 12.1-8). According to the Mosaic Law a woman incurred legal uncleanness in childbirth and remained unclean until her legal purification. This view, that a woman incurs some kind of defilement in childbirth, persisted even in Christian times, especially in the East, but in the West too, despite the opposition of Pope Gregory the Great (d. 604). The sufferings of childbirth were looked upon as part of the penalty imposed on Eve and on all her daughters. Yet it must be understood clearly that the Jews did not say there was actually any stain of sin on the mother in consequence of giving birth to a child, but merely a restriction imposed by law. With Christ’s coming womankind was elevated and ennobled, and motherhood too was more clearly seen as something honorable, deserving a blessing rather than a purification. The exact time of origin of this sacramental is not known, except that it is very ancient, and dates possibly from the first half of the fourth century.}
  1. After giving birth to a child a mother may wish to give thanks to God in church for a safe delivery, and to obtain the Church’s blessing. This has long been a devout and praiseworthy practice. The priest, vested in surplice and white stole (assisted by a server who carries the aspersory), goes to the threshold of the church. The woman kneels there, holding a lighted candle.
{The very fact that the priest goes to meet her and escort her into the church is in itself a mark of respect for the mother, and puts one in mind of a bishop who meets a royal personage or anyone of high rank when the latter comes to a cathedral to attend a solemn function. The rest of the rite speaks for itself; but it may be pointed out that psalm 23, which the priest recites over the woman, is a psalm of majesty, praise, and gratitude
 
My mom never mentioned having had that done in our New Brunswick Acadian parish so I doubt that it was something done in our French tradition.
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Actually, the French were very big into it. In fact, French traditionalists today (both SSPX and FSSP) still do it frequently.

Even Anglicans did it. Book of Common Prayer had the form included, too.
 
Fr. David, thank you. I appreciate having the additional information.
FrDavid96 said:
The Roman Ritual has a very good explanation of this blessing sanctamissa.org/en/resources/books-1962/rituale-romanum/49-blessings-of-persons.html. I’ve pasted the text here:

This blessing is often referred to as the churching of women, but the Roman Ritual more appropriately calls it simply the blessing of a woman after childbirth. The practice of “churching a woman” developed out of a related practice in the Old Testament (cf. Lev 12.1-8). According to the Mosaic Law a woman incurred legal uncleanness in childbirth and remained unclean until her legal purification. This view, that a woman incurs some kind of defilement in childbirth, persisted even in Christian times, especially in the East, but in the West too, despite the opposition of Pope Gregory the Great (d. 604). The sufferings of childbirth were looked upon as part of the penalty imposed on Eve and on all her daughters. Yet it must be understood clearly that the Jews did not say there was actually any stain of sin on the mother in consequence of giving birth to a child, but merely a restriction imposed by law. With Christ’s coming womankind was elevated and ennobled, and motherhood too was more clearly seen as something honorable, deserving a blessing rather than a purification. The exact time of origin of this sacramental is not known, except that it is very ancient, and dates possibly from the first half of the fourth century.}
  1. After giving birth to a child a mother may wish to give thanks to God in church for a safe delivery, and to obtain the Church’s blessing. This has long been a devout and praiseworthy practice. The priest, vested in surplice and white stole (assisted by a server who carries the aspersory), goes to the threshold of the church. The woman kneels there, holding a lighted candle.
{The very fact that the priest goes to meet her and escort her into the church is in itself a mark of respect for the mother, and puts one in mind of a bishop who meets a royal personage or anyone of high rank when the latter comes to a cathedral to attend a solemn function. The rest of the rite speaks for itself; but it may be pointed out that psalm 23, which the priest recites over the woman, is a psalm of majesty, praise, and gratitude
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In the Orthodox tradition, women are supposedly exluded from attending church or receiving the mysteries for 40 days after childbirth.

This is more a dispensation. They have enough to do. At one point, it was the custom in Greece for the other women to assist and pamper the new mother.

This is another reason why Orthodox wait 40 days until Baptism of the baby–so the mother can be present after the prayers are read over her.
 
My girlfriend told me of her “churching” after her three children were born. This was in the 1970’s and she belonged to a Polish parish. She had to be “churched” before she could attend Mass again. This was not a custom in my parish, and I had never heard of it.

Today, however, women are up and about and out of the house much sooner than they used to be, and return to Mass much earlier if they’ve had a normal childbirth.

Not too long ago I saw a woman in the grocery store trailed by 4 or 5 kids and in the cart was a very tiny infant. I asked her how old the baby was, and she said “Three days”:eek: Amazingly, she did not look one bit worse for the wear!
 
CB_Catholic said:
Not too long ago I saw a woman in the grocery store trailed by 4 or 5 kids and in the cart was a very tiny infant. I asked her how old the baby was, and she said “Three days”:eek: Amazingly, she did not look one bit worse for the wear!
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She was the babysitter. 😃
 
Chatter163 said:
Actually, the French were very big into it. In fact, French traditionalists today (both SSPX and FSSP) still do it frequently.

I guess I should have said ‘French Canadian’ not just French. There’s a big difference.

Even Anglicans did it. Book of Common Prayer had the form included, too.

Yes, I noticed that the last time I was at the local Anglican Church.
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