The Churching of Women

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Anyone know if this rite is still conducted for new mothers?
newadvent.org/cathen/03761a.htm
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A blessing given by the Church to mothers after recovery from childbirth. Only a Catholic woman who has given birth to a child in legitimate wedlock, provided she has not allowed the child to be baptized outside the Catholic Church, is entitled to it. It is not a precept, but a pious and praiseworthy custom (Rituale Romanum), dating from the early Christian ages, for a mother to present herself in the Church as soon as she is able to leave her house (St. Charles Borromeo, First Council of Milan), to render thanks to God for her happy delivery, and to obtain by means of the priestly blessing the graces necessary to bring up her child in a Christian manner. The prayers indicate that this blessing is intended solely for the benefit of the mother, and hence it is not necessary that she should bring the child with her; nevertheless, in many places the pious and edifying custom prevails of specially dedicating the child to God. For, as the Mother of Christ carried her Child to the Temple to offer Him to the Eternal Father, so a Christian mother is anxious to present her offspring to God and obtain for it the blessing of the Church. This blessing, in the ordinary form, without change or omission, is to be given to the mother, even if her child was stillborn, or has died without baptism (Cong. Sac. Rit., 19 May, 1896).
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The churching of women is not a strictly parochial function, yet the Congregation of Sacred Rites (21 November, 1893) decided that a parish priest, if asked to give it, must do so, and if another priest is asked to perform the rite, he may do so in any church or public oratory, provided the superior of said church or oratory be notified. It must be imparted in a church or in a place in which Mass is celebrated, as the very name “churching” is intended to suggest a pilgrimage of thanksgiving to the church, and as the rubrics indicate in the expressions: “desires to come to the church”, “he conducts her into the church”, she kneels before the altar", etc. Hence the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore (No. 246) prohibits the practice of churching in places in which Mass is not celebrated.
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The mother, kneeling in the vestibule, or within the church, and carrying a lighted candle, awaits the priest, who, vested in surplice and white stole, sprinkles her with holy water in the form of a cross. Having recited Psalm 23, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof”, he offers her the left extremity of the stole and leads her into the church, saying: “Enter thou into the temple of God, adore the Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary who has given thee fruitfulness of offspring.” She advances to one of the altars and kneels before it, whilst the priest, turned towards her, recites a prayer which expresses the object of the blessing, and then, having sprinkled her again with holy water in the form of the cross, dismisses her, saying: “The peace and blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, descend upon thee, and remain forever. Amen.”
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Well, we do it at my parish. I’ve never heard of modern Catholics doing it though.
 
The Orthodox do, but I never heard of any Roman Catholic parishes doing it nowadays.
 
Rawb said:
The Orthodox do, but I never heard of any Roman Catholic parishes doing it nowadays.
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Hi Rawb,

Is it done similarly to what is described in the encyclopedia?

By the way, I had never heard of it until I saw the rite in my 1962 missal.

The foreword in the missal says that the ceremony is done in memory of the compliance of the Virgin-Mother with the Jewish law of Purification after childbirth, and that the rite is one of blessing and Thanksgiving.
 
Is this a throw-back to some OT ritual of purification of a woman after childbirth, do you suppose?

I’ve never heard of it.

I think the safe delivery of the child and recovery of the mother is vitually a miraculous blessing of God.
 
Crumpy said:
Is this a throw-back to some OT ritual of purification of a woman after childbirth, do you suppose?
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Yes, it is. I edited post # 5 to say that.
I think the safe delivery of the child and recovery of the mother is virtually a miraculous blessing of God.
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As a mother. I agree. 🙂
 
TrueLight said:
Hi Rawb,

Is it done similarly to what is described in the encyclopedia?

By the way, I had never heard of it until I saw the rite in my 1962 missal.

The foreword in the missal says that the ceremony is done in memory of the compliance of the Virgin-Mother with the Jewish law of Purification after childbirth, and that the rite is one of blessing and Thanksgiving.
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I’m not sure, I only saw it done twice - once I didn’t know what was going on, and the other I was too far away to hear. I don’t recall there being anything before the altar (or Iconostasis in our case) but there are definitely prayers in the vestibule.

It’s done to welcome the mother back into the parish after giving birth; during the 40 days after the child is born she’s relieved of all religious (and, where Orthodoxy dominated it used to be secular) duties. The Churching is not a ‘purification’ but a ‘welcome back’. It’s done after 40 days both to honor the Purification of the Theotokos and because children are baptized in Orthodoxy on the 40th day after birth, so the rituals are sort of connected now.

Some say the woman is mandated to stay in the house and not go out during the 40 days, but not many follow that anymore; in contemporary times when it doesn’t take so long to heal after birth it’s not so necessary. I do know one woman at my parish who followed that and said while with her first and second staying at home all day drove her nuts, with the third it was a great bonding time and she really appreciated being relieved from every duty and obligation.
 
TrueLight said:
Thanks for the link.

It’s a beautiful ritual. Another beautiful ritual left behind?
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I don’t think it’s fair to say it was “left behind”.

When I learned of this rite in my sacramentology class, I asked my older friends & relatives if they had ever heard of it.
None had, except for one woman who was not brought up in the US.
Apparently it is not something that was done with any regularity in my neck of the woods, even in the “good ol’ days”.:rolleyes:

One of my pregnant classmates, who found the ritual very beautiful, asked her priest about it, and he was more that happy to learn more about it and help her and her family to celebrate the rite.
 
Aside from the parishes that FSSP and other traditional priests staff, I do know a few parishes where the priest uses the old ritual for Churching Women, as well as the old rite for blessing Holy Water etc. The priests there are younger men, who do not celebrate the EF (yet) but prefer the rituals of the old Rituale Romanum. They use the old ritual for the Blessing of houses, and a dozen other rites that do not appear in the modern ritual. Now that the Roman Ritual (an old bi-lingual Latin-English) has been reprinted it is slowly being re-discovered by some younger priests who have become quite involved in brining back some of the older practices that have lapsed since the 1970’s.
 
TrueLight said:
Anyone know if this rite is still conducted for new mothers?
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Its still done in the Eastern Rites. At least at my parish we do it, I’ve seen it done in both baptisms I’ve attended in the last year.
 
I had never heard of this ritual until the late 90s when some women in my present parish mentioned it. I doubt that it was a common ritual where I grew up in a French parish in Eastern Canada, even before Vat. II. Had it been you can be sure my mother would have at least hinted that I have it done after the kids were born since I returned to Mass within 2 weeks.

I suppose, like ‘Solemn Communion’, it was a regional thing, even if a Church ritual.
 
I asked my mom if she had to have it done after she gave birth to my siblings and I in the 50’s. She never heard of it. But she did remind me that she didn’t go to any of our baptisms for the custom was for the mom to stay home and for the godparents to take the child to church for baptism. I asked about guests at the baptism and she said no one else went. I think my father went to my sister’s baptism. But back then the font was usually in a tiny alcove in the back of the church in the narthex and there wasn’t much room, especially if a number of children were being baptized.
 
Joannm said:
I asked my mom if she had to have it done after she gave birth to my siblings and I in the 50’s. She never heard of it. But she did remind me that she didn’t go to any of our baptisms for the custom was for the mom to stay home and for the godparents to take the child to church for baptism. I asked about guests at the baptism and she said no one else went. I think my father went to my sister’s baptism. But back then the font was usually in a tiny alcove in the back of the church in the narthex and there wasn’t much room, especially if a number of children were being baptized.
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I know that Mom never saw us baptized, but my brother and I were at our baby brother’s baptism, along with Dad and the godparents. In our church the baptistry was a large railed-off space in the sacristy, a large room which also had an altar area for the celebration of daily Mass in the winter as well as the counter/cupboard which held all the vessels and vestments.
 
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