The sign of the cross for lefties

[carol_marie]

So we’re trying to teach our two year old to make the sign of the cross and since he’s left handed, is that the hand he uses or is it supposed to be made with the right hand regardless? Thanks. CM

 

[annemjones96]

This is a good question, but I don’t know the answer. I’m interested in a response as I have a lefty as well.

 

[mommy]

My husband is a lefty, he uses his right hand for the sign of the cross. When my son was in his first year of CCD I tagged along to some of the classes til he was comfortable, and they taught all the kids to do it with their right hand, they didn’t even discuss the lefty righty thing.

 

[Shiann]

I had my lefty do it with her right hand but either way it should be done:

forehead
chest
person’s left shoulder
person’s right shoulder

 

[rosamundi]

It depends! I am very strongly left-handed, and if I cross myself, for instance just quickly if I hear sirens go past, then I use my left hand. I often have to really think to remember to use my right hand.

Deborah

 

[kaygee]

I had my lefty do it with her right hand but either way it should be done:

forhead
chest
person’s left shoulder
person’s right shoulder

Unless, of course, you’re one of the Eastern Rite Catholics. Still done with the right hand but it goes right shoulder first.

The earliest known rubric in the liturgy for making the sign of the cross says one uses one’s hand and goes from one shoulder? to the other?

 

[jlw]

Right hand only…Something about “The right hand of the Father” apparently…What about kneeling?? When you kneel and genuflect before entering a pew, do you touch the right knee to the ground???

 

[Shiann]

kaygee:

Unless, of course, you’re one of the Eastern Rite Catholics. Still done with the right hand but it goes right shoulder first.

The earliest known rubric in the liturgy for making the sign of the cross says one uses one’s hand and goes from one shoulder? to the other?

So true

LOTS OF INFO ABOUT SIGN OF THE CROSS

The Sign of the Cross is made thus: First choose your style:

Option A. Hold your index finger and middle finger of your right hand together to signify the two natures of Christ, and tuck your thumb slightly towards the palm of your hand. This is the most typical Western Catholic practice.

Option B. Hold your thumb and index finger of your right hand together to signify the two natures of Christ

Option C. Hold your thumb, index finger, middle finger of your right hand together (signifying the Trinity) while tucking the ring finger and pinky finger (signifying the two natures of Christ) toward your palm. This is the typically Eastern Catholic practice.

Option D: Hold your right hand open with all 5 fingers – representing the 5 Wounds of Christ – together and very slightly curved, and thumb slightly tucked into palm
Then:

**touch the forehead as you say (or pray mentally) “In nomine Patris” (“In the name of the Father”)

touch the breastbone or top of the belly as you say “et Filii” (“and of the Son”)

touch the left shoulder, then right shoulder, as you say “et Spiritus Sancti” (“and of the Holy Ghost”). ** Note that some people end the Sign by crossing the thumb over the index finger to make a cross, and then kissing the thumb as a way of “kissing the Cross.”

An optional prayer to pray after signing yourself in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is this one, said to be favored by St. Benedict:

By the Sign of the Cross, deliver me from my enemies, O Lord.

Note that Eastern Catholics (and Orthodox) go from right shoulder to left and end sometimes by touching their right side, above the hip, to symbolize Christ’s being pierced by the sword. The Bridgettine nuns in their Myroure of our Ladye write of the mystical reasons for the Latin practice, and how it summarizes the Incarnation, the Passion, and the Ascension:

 

[Meggie]

** “et Spiritus Sancti” **

that translates to Holy SPIRIT…not holy ghost

 

[Shiann]

jlw:

Right hand only…Something about “The right hand of the Father” apparently…What about kneeling?? When you kneel and genuflect before entering a pew, do you touch the right knee to the ground???

left knee for feudal allegiances or for honoring

right knee for God

 

[Shiann]

** “et Spiritus Sancti” **

that translates to Holy SPIRIT…not holy ghost

copied from the site I linked to… sorry. Maybe let that guy know he’s in error as well.

 

[kaygee]

or, if you happen to be eastern (wish I had a greek font):

doxa Patri kai Huiou kai Hagia Pnemnati, kai nin kai aiee kai tous aonos ton aonon amin.

 

[SnorterLuster]

** “et Spiritus Sancti” **

that translates to Holy SPIRIT…not holy ghost

Probably more than you want to know, but:

**Holy Ghost and Holy Spirit – ** Here’s an interesting question a parishioner had. As you may have noticed, I’m in the habit of referring to the Third Person of the Trinity both as Holy Spirit, which is nowadays more usual, and as Holy Ghost, which prevailed a few generations ago. I remember how my grandmother always said “Holy Ghost” during the Apostles’ Creed when we would say the rosary. That, and the fact that I read many older books from a young age, has given me a fondness for the less common usage. They both mean the same thing, of course, but there’s an interesting linguistic rationale behind the dual form.

In each of the other Western European languages, there is only one way of translating the Latin Spiritus Sanctus. English, though, is special. Although a Germanic language, English nevertheless has – thanks to the invasion of French-speaking Normans in 1066 – an enormous Latinate vocabulary. Quite often we have Anglo-Saxon words with equally valid Latinate synonyms, and the spirit/ghost pair is one such case.

Spirit is a Latinate word, derived from the Latin spiritus, -us, m.: a breath, a breeze, and (by extension) the breath of life. The English words respire, expire, inspire are all etymologically related to this word, which the Church used to translate the Greek pneuma, pneumatos, n., which means the same thing (think pneumatic tires and pneumonia). And this, in turn, is an attempt to translate the Hebrew ruah, f., which is similar in meaning.

Ghost is a Germanic word, derived from the Old English gast, and related to the modern German word Geist (recall here that the German for Holy Spirit is Heilige Geist). It’s tempting to suppose that it’s also related to the modern English word “gust,” but that seems to be a false etymology. At any rate, the same notion of breath and wind is present here and, by extension, can also mean the life principle. This is the native English way of translating spiritus/pneuma/ruah. Although nowadays “ghost” mainly refers to the disembodied spirit of a dead person, you can find reference in Shakespeare to a “ghostly father,” which refers not to one’s dead dad, but rather to a priest, who is a “spirit”-ual father. Occasionally, I still hear a penitent in confession address me as “you, my ghostly father,” which is pretty cool. It is this old context that gives us “Holy Ghost.”

In Sacred Scripture, that which we have come to call “spirit” is often connected to wind or breath. When the Lord God creates man from the dust of the earth, He brings him to life by “breathing into his nostrils” – giving him divine “breath,” which in Hebrew is ruah, “spirit.” The manifestations of the Spirit of the Lord are often accompanied by winds, and in the Old Testament the “personhood” of the Holy Spirit isn’t at all clear, even though there are numerous references to Him. In the New Testament, too, that notion of the unseen, mysterious, breathlike identity of the Spirit turns up: the Biblical saying that “the spirit [pneuma] bloweth where it listeth,” or when the Risen Christ breathes upon the Apostles, telling them, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost,” or when on the day of Pentecost the Spirit comes upon the Apostles like fire, but also with the sound of “a rushing mighty wind.” Likewise, when Christ dies, the Scriptures say that He “surrenders His spirit,” which older Bibles translate into the hallowed phrase, “He gave up the ghost.”

The English tongue is one of the most poetic and nuanced languages in human history, combining in a unique way the Germanic force of our Anglo-Saxon roots with the classical erudition of Latin. And it’s wonderful to be able to refer to the Paraclete both as the Holy Spirit and as the Holy Ghost, using our twin linguistic heritage to praise Him Who makes all languages one.
donjim.blogspot.com/2005_04_01_donjim_archive.html#111300674348680535

 

[rcn]

Shiann:

The Sign of the Cross is made thus: First choose your style:
Option A. … This is the most typical Western Catholic practice.
Option B
Option C
Option D

I don’t know where this guy got his information, but I’d be really, really surprised if more than 1% of Catholics followed **any **of these options. Seems like a classic example of putting too much thought into something simple.

 

[Shiann]

I’m an option D girl.

 

[Evan]

** “et Spiritus Sancti” **

that translates to Holy SPIRIT…not holy ghost

Also Sancti does not translate (if you want to use Latinate words) as Holy but as Saint. So translate to Latinate words as Saint Spirit, or to Germanic words as Holy Ghost.