Pinching one's canonicals

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mercygate

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This is a take-off thread from the one on veiling the chalice.

How many of you know priests, who “pinch their canonicals” (hold the thumb and forefinger of each hand joined – kind of like an OK sign) while celebrating the Mass of Paul VI?

I know one.
 
It’s not for the entire Mass, but after the consecration and elevation.

The priest says the words of consecration, and elevates the host and then lays it back onto the corporal at which point he is to not disjoin his forefingers and thumbs, except when the Host is to be handled, until after ablution of his fingers.

I have not heard of it called Pinching the canonicals, can I ask where you got this term?
 
gelsbern said:
It’s not for the entire Mass, but after the consecration and elevation.

The priest says the words of consecration, and elevates the host and then lays it back onto the corporal at which point he is to not disjoin his forefingers and thumbs, except when the Host is to be handled, until after ablution of his fingers.

I have not heard of it called Pinching the canonicals, can I ask where you got this term?
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I guess I should have specified that it’s just for the Canon and handling the consecrated Host.

The two (four) fingers were called “canonicals” because they were the only part of the hand allowed to touch the consecrated Host according to canon law. You will recall that when St. Isaac Jogues lost the use of his “canonicals” he had to get a special dispensation to be allowed to say Mass without them.

As for the term, “pinching one’s canonicals” – I made it up. The technical term, I believe, is simply that one’s hands are “closed.” But that hardly gives an idea of what it is to anybody who does not already know.
 
The more irrereverent used to term that “sticky fingers”.A picture:




(See the fingers before the chalice)

Link

Seen it with one priest, but the others tend the rub their fingers over the paten before genflecting.
 
Karin said:
yup the priests at our parish do this (bergen county) and even the parish we go to in Essex county do this:)
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Oooooh! PM me if you’re willing to share the name of the parish. I’m in Bergen county. I haven’t seen anybody do this in my diocese. I don’t get out much.
 
mercygate said:
Oooooh! PM me if you’re willing to share the name of the parish. I’m in Bergen county. I haven’t seen anybody do this in my diocese. I don’t get out much.
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YOU GOT IT…Also as a side note…if you need a ride to mass etc. let me know I would be more than happy to take you with us.
 
Yes my pastor does. According to the rubrics of the 1962 Missal this posture of the hands was taken by the priest from the moment he touched the consecrated Host in the minor elevation and was continued until the oblutions where his fingers would be cleansed. The purpose for this was so that every particle of the Sacred Species was cared for delicately. I wish it were taught to seminarians in their mass practicums but at this point I don’t know of any ordinary seminary that does this type of instruction.
 
I think most priests of Opus Dei do this. I knew one that didn’t, though, because he had pretty bad arthritis in his hands. Aside from the pain issues, he really couldn’t be sure of not dropping the chalice or host if he held his fingers in that manner. So let’s be careful not to be hard on priests who don’t-- they may never have been taught to, or they may not be able to…

Margaret
 
The proper term is conjoining the fingers. It was prescribed by the rubrics until 1967.
 
I do this when I am called to be an Extraordinary Minister or when I bring Holy Communion to the sick. I keep my right thumb and forefinger pinched after touching the Sacred Host until I can purify them.
 
mercygate said:
So the liturgy police won’t come out and arrest somebody who persists in this beautiful custom?
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Tres Abhinc Annos only said that it was no longer required, and that priests should rub their fingers over the paten. So I think priests can still do it if they wish. Morover, in the ‘Novus Ordo’ actions are not so strictly rubricated as in the Missals from 1965 and before, which had instructions upto what height the priest is to raise his hands with saying ‘Dominus Vobiscum’.
 
I understand that the rubric was often not followed in some cultures where it is esentially identical to an obscene gesture. Personally, as a deacon I follow the practice after touching the Host.
 
The former associate pastor at the Cathedral in Austin did this and he always said the Canon. Words could not describe the reverence that rediated from this good man. He has since been moved to Waco where the good people there get to have him say Mass. His humble reverence is missed.
 
Before I came into the Church, as a High Church Episcopalian, I was very concerned about how to cope with the revolving-door school of Sacramental Confession. When I attended Mass near my office and saw that the priest was a finger-conjoiner, I asked him to be my Confessor. He declined, but for me it was a signal – same observation that you have made about this devoted Priest. People who do it are sending a message.
 
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