What is the correct way of making the Sign of the Cross?

[romano]

Hi All:

What is the correct way of making the Sign of the Cross? How exactly is one supposed to do it? Is there a canonically approved method?

My thanks in advance for any information you can offer.

 

[shannin]

In the name of the Father (touch forehead) and of the Son (touch heart) and of The Holy (touch left shoulder) Spirit (touch right shoulder) Amen.

If this isn’t correct, please let me know.

 

[Trelow]

Reverently.

The physical procedure varies by rite and culture.

 

[theistgal]

shannin:

In the name of the Father (touch forehead) and of the Son (touch heart) and of The Holy (touch left shoulder) Spirit (touch right shoulder) Amen.

If this isn’t correct, please let me know.

That’s certainly correct, though in the Eastern Church you go from the right shoulder to the left instead.

I am a Western Catholic who attends a Byzantine Catholic Church, and I’m still not used to the difference. Sometimes I go from [forehead] to [heart] to [left shoulder] to [right shoulder] - and back to [left shoulder]!

“Covering all bases”, I believe it’s called.

 

[JDSinSA]

Orthodox also make the sign thrice, which I think is quite nice.

 

[ridesawhitehors]

theistgal:

That’s certainly correct, though in the Eastern Church you go from the right shoulder to the left instead.

I am a Western Catholic who attends a Byzantine Catholic Church, and I’m still not used to the difference. Sometimes I go from [forehead] to [heart] to [left shoulder] to [right shoulder] - and back to [left shoulder]!

“Covering all bases”, I believe it’s called.

Not to mention - the way your fingers are positioned in the Byzantine Church. Thumb and forefinger together (representing the 2 natures in Christ) and the other three open, (representing the Trinity), Please correct me if I messed this up - I’m not a Byzantanian.

Also - There are a LOT of latinos in our diocese and you see lots of fancy variations to the SOTC. In fact I have adopted the “kiss of the cross” at the end of the sign, and occasionally blow a kiss to Our Lady also - but not at Mass .

 

[ImperialPhoenix]

theistgal:

That’s certainly correct, though in the Eastern Church you go from the right shoulder to the left instead.

I am a Western Catholic who attends a Byzantine Catholic Church, and I’m still not used to the difference. Sometimes I go from [forehead] to [heart] to [left shoulder] to [right shoulder] - and back to [left shoulder]!

“Covering all bases”, I believe it’s called.

Would their be an easy way to remember that?

 

[theistgal]

JDSinSA:

Orthodox also make the sign thrice, which I think is quite nice.

Not only that, but they make the sign of the Cross every time the Trinity is mentioned during the Liturgy (or other prayers) - and always when something is repeated 3 times, out of respect for the 3 Persons of the Trinity.

 

[ames61]

ridesawhitehors:

Not to mention - the way your fingers are positioned in the Byzantine Church. Thumb and forefinger together (representing the 2 natures in Christ) and the other three open, (representing the Trinity), Please correct me if I messed this up - I’m not a Byzantanian.

Hmm. I learned thumb, forefinger, middle finger together for 3 persons, ring finger and pinky folded down for 2 natures of Christ. Go figure

 

[Patchunky]

ames61:

Hmm. I learned thumb, forefinger, middle finger together for 3 persons, ring finger and pinky folded down for 2 natures of Christ. Go figure

And you learned correctly.

We also bless our selves 3 times when entering the Church, when leaving the Church, when ever the Trinity is mentioned, i.e. Glory be to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit now and ever and forever, AMEN!

We bless ourselves before the reading of the Holy Gospel and after the reading of the Holy Gospel and at various other times during the Divine Liturgy.

Molitvamy Bohorodice, Spase Spasi Nas!

 

[romano]

Hi All:

Thank you for your various responses. I used to think making the Sign of the Cross was a simple matter, but I guess it isn’t so simple.

So is it the whole hand, or two fingers, or three fingers (counting the thumb as a finger)? And is it right to left or left to right?

I guess the ‘Roman’ Catholic way is whole hand and left to right, and the other variants are Orthodox. But I wonder if there’s a ‘best way’?

What is the symbolism in left (sinistra) to right, and right to left? Is symbolism even something we should be thinking about?

I’m also wondering whether the “little sign” (signaculum) that one traces on the forehead, lips, and breast (I think) is traced with just the thumb.

 

[MistyF]

I haven’t made the Sign of the Cross at Mass yet, because it has me so confused! I had finally started doing it at home, because I figured that He knows my heart, and won’t frown if I haven’t got it quite right. I almost had the courage up to start doing it at Mass, but after reading this I’m all confused again.

 

[jimmy]

romano:

Hi All:

What is the correct way of making the Sign of the Cross? How exactly is one supposed to do it? Is there a canonically approved method?

My thanks in advance for any information you can offer.

There is no exact way that is defined. There are two ways that are taught though.

First there is how we do it in the west. You go from the forehead to the chest, to the left shoulder, then to the right shoulder. It is normally done with an open palm, but it does not matter.

Second is how the Eastern Catholics do it. They go from the forehead, to the chest, to the right shoulder, then to the left shoulder. They do it with the thumb and the first forefinger touching at a point, with the other fingers bent into the palm.

 

[jimmy]

MistyF:

I haven’t made the Sign of the Cross at Mass yet, because it has me so confused! I had finally started doing it at home, because I figured that He knows my heart, and won’t frown if I haven’t got it quite right. I almost had the courage up to start doing it at Mass, but after reading this I’m all confused again.

Don’t worry, relax. There is no definate way to do it. Just touch your forehead, then your lower chest, then your left shoulder, then your right. There are no rules for the sign of the cross.

 

[Cradle]

When we were little our mom taught us to start at the forehead, where your brain is, for the Father knows all; then down to the abdomen (I guess in my culture we took it all the way down ), for the Son is the Fruit of the Womb; then left shoulder to right shoulder, for the Holy Spirit is your Shield; and finally the “kiss” that ridesawhitehors mentioned.

I don’t remember which way we were taught to hold the fingers, though… And since there was a time when we were less than stellar Catholics and rarely made the Sign of the Cross, I’m still confused as to how to go about it… The teachers didn’t even tell us in CCD, I suppose they figured we already knew…

So far I’ve taken to just doing the whole hand, but that feels so ungraceful, at least to me… And I KNOW this isn’t how we used to do it! (That Eastern way of two fingers with the other three open seems strangely familiar, though…)

 

[Kyenta]

I would just like to add to make the sign of the cross Slowly and reverently. We receive a lot of graces by making the sign of the cross.

“You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.”

 

[romano]

Kyenta:

I would just like to add to make the sign of the cross Slowly and reverently. We receive a lot of graces by making the sign of the cross.

Hi Kyenta:

Thank you for making this point. I think this is VERY IMPORTANT.

Yes. It’s not so much the mechanics of making the Sign of the Cross (hand, two fingers, left to right, right to left) as the manner of making it that is important…

It should be made SLOWLY, CAREFULLY, DELIBERATELY and with great REVERENCE.

I read somewhere that nothing pleases Satan more than a sloppily executed Sign of the Cross. To do it carelessly is an insult to the Trinity and we’d be better off not making it at all.

Perhaps it’s not altogether a coincidence that we’ve arrived at this point today, May 22nd, on Holy Trinity Sunday!

 

[romano]

jimmy:

Second is how the Eastern Catholics do it. They go from the forehead, to the chest, to the right shoulder, then to the left shoulder. They do it with the thumb and the first forefinger touching at a point, with the other fingers bent into the palm.

Hi Jimmy:

Thank you. This is interesting. I read somewhere that the ‘Orthodox’ used the “first three fingers” (counting the thumb as a finger), and that there is symbolism involved in this since 3 stands for the Trinity.

But whether it’s thumb and first finger with the other three folded into the palm, or thumb and next two fingers with the remaning two in the palm, we still end up with:

3 = the three Persons of the Holy Trinity.

2 = (I think) The two natures of Jesus, Divine and human.

 

[jimmy]

romano:

Hi Jimmy:

Thank you. This is interesting. I read somewhere that the ‘Orthodox’ used the “first three fingers” (counting the thumb as a finger), and that there is symbolism involved in this since 3 stands for the Trinity.

But whether it’s thumb and first finger with the other three folded into the palm, or thumb and next two fingers with the remaning two in the palm, we still end up with:

3 = the three Persons of the Holy Trinity.

2 = (I think) The two natures of Jesus, Divine and human.

I think it actually is the first three with the last two tucked into the palm. I think my post was wrong.

 

[Patchunky]

jimmy:

I think it actually is the first three with the last two tucked into the palm. I think my post was wrong.

Actually, the STARE VERI, the Old Believers in Russia use this form when they make the sign of the cross. They use the thumb and index finger and the other 3 fingers are tucked into the palm.

This form was changed during the reign of Peter the Great…

Hope this helps…