Wearing gloves during mass

[allaussie]

Good evening everyone, I’m new to this forum and I have a question that has been at the back of my mind for some time. In the winter I often wear gloves on the way to mass and I really would appreciate the warmth of gloves during mass too as my church is pretty cold too (right now I usually take them off as I enter and don’t put them on again until I leave) but I’m not sure on the proper rules (if there are any hard and fast rules) about whether gloves should be worn during mass or which parts of mass they should be worn for. I know that in the past gloves were standard wear for women and my Mum (born in the early 1950s so she wore gloves regularly as a child and teenager) says she remembers there was a particular point during mass when everyone took their gloves off, but doesn’t remember what part of mass that was. So does anybody know of rules or standard conventions on when it’s appropriate to take your gloves off or put them on? To my mind the times that it would be essential to take gloves off would be blessing oneself as you walk in, greeting people (as it’s usually polite to take gloves off to shake hands), and when recieving the eucharist but beyond that I really don’t know.
thanks
Elizabeth

 

[burnside]

I was born in 1942 and i don’t remember any rules concerning the wearing of gloves.However,i can imagine some difficulty with gloves if you take Communion in the hand as i do nowadays.
Back in the 1950’s,everyone received on the tongue so there was not a problem with gloves.Perhaps it was the norm to take off your gloves to bless yourself.

 

[puzzleannie]

you must remove your gloves if you receive communion in the hand, otherwise you can keep them on. Whether or not you remove them when shaking hands is a matter of etiquette not church discipline.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

Good evening everyone, I’m new to this forum and I have a question that has been at the back of my mind for some time. In the winter I often wear gloves on the way to mass and I really would appreciate the warmth of gloves during mass too as my church is pretty cold too (right now I usually take them off as I enter and don’t put them on again until I leave) but I’m not sure on the proper rules (if there are any hard and fast rules) about whether gloves should be worn during mass or which parts of mass they should be worn for. I know that in the past gloves were standard wear for women and my Mum (born in the early 1950s so she wore gloves regularly as a child and teenager) says she remembers there was a particular point during mass when everyone took their gloves off, but doesn’t remember what part of mass that was. So does anybody know of rules or standard conventions on when it’s appropriate to take your gloves off or put them on? To my mind the times that it would be essential to take gloves off would be blessing oneself as you walk in, greeting people (as it’s usually polite to take gloves off to shake hands), and when recieving the eucharist but beyond that I really don’t know.
thanks
Elizabeth

You should not receive Holy Communion in your hand if wearing gloves. Either remove them during Holy Communion or receive in the mouth. Other than at that time gloves are find liturgically.

 

[stbruno]

We have a lady in our church who suffers from Raynaud’s disease which makes her extremities cold. She keeps them on all the time( summer we have a/c in the church) and accepts communion only on the tongue. No reason you cannot do the same.

 

[Brendan]

yes, gloves may be worn at Mass ( except, as noted above, when one desires to recieve Communion in the hand)

At our parish, our altar boys wear gloves if they are going to touch any of the precious vessels.

 

[Mintaka]

Emily Post says that only men take off gloves to shake hands. Women should keep them on. Of course, this was talking about kid gloves, but the same principle applies for hand shaking purposes.

But you definitely should take off your gloves to receive communion in the hand.