Churching of women
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In Christian tradition the Churching of Women is the ceremony wherein a blessing is given to mothers after recovery from childbirth. The ceremony includes thanksgiving for the woman's survival of childbirth, and is performed even when the child is stillborn, or has died unbaptized.
Although the ceremony itself contains no elements of ritual purification, its use has been attributed to Leviticus 12:2-8, where women are declared unclean after birth. In light of the New Testament, the ritual draws on the imagery and symbolism of the Purification of the Virgin (Luke 2:22-40), who though Christian tradition considers her to have borne Christ without incurring impurity, still came to the Temple in Jerusalem and underwent the requirements of the Law of Moses.
At one time the rite was imperative in both the East and the West. The custom is first mentioned in the pseudo-Nicene Arabic canons. The ceremony has been largely discontinued in the West, but is still practiced in some of the Eastern Churches.
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[edit] In the West
It was formerly regarded as unwise for a woman to leave her house to go out at all after confinement until she went to be churched. In the British Isles, new mothers who had yet to be churched were regarded as attractive to the fairies, and so in danger of being kidnapped by them. However, the origin of the church ritual is unrelated to these later local superstitions which were superimposed upon it.
In ancient times the ceremony was usual but not obligatory in England. No ancient form of service is known, and that which figures in the English prayer-book dates only from the Middle Ages. In Finland the custom was introduced in the late 17th century and abolished around the turn of the 19th century.
Custom differs, but the usual date of churching was the fortieth day after confinement, in accordance with the Biblical date of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus at the Temple. It was not unusual for the churching service to be said in private houses. In Herefordshire it was not considered proper for the husband to appear in church at the service, or at all events in the same pew. In some parishes there was a special pew known as the "churching seat". The words in the rubric requiring the woman to come "decently apparelled", refer to the times when it was thought unbecoming for a woman to come to the service with the elaborate head-dress then the fashion. A veil was usually worn, and in some parishes this was provided by the church, for an inventory of goods belonging to St Benets, Gracechurch Street, in 1560, includes "a churching cloth, fringed, white damask."
The "convenient place", which, according to the rubric, the woman must occupy, was in pre-Reformation times the church door. In the first prayer-book of Edward VI, she was to be "nigh unto the quire door". In the second of his books, she was to be "nigh unto the place where the Table standeth". Bishop Wren's orders for the diocese of Norwich in 1636 are that women to be churched come and kneel at a side near the Communion table outside the rail, being veiled according to custom, and not covered with a hat. In Devonshire churching was sometimes called "being uprose". Churchings were formerly registered in some parishes. In pre-Reformation days it was the custom in England for women to carry lighted tapers when being churched, in allusion to the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin (February 2nd), the day chosen by the Roman Catholic Church for the blessing of the candles for the whole year (see Candlemas). At her churching a woman was expected to make some offering to the church, such as the chrisom or alb placed on the child at its Christening.
[edit] In the East
In the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches of the Byzantine Rite, the tradition of the woman coming to church on the fortieth day after childbirth for special blessings is still observed in many jurisdictions. For forty days a new mother remains at home to recuperate and to care for her child. However, if the child has not survived, the woman still remains at home to heal physically and emotionally. During the time of her confinement, the woman does not normally receive Holy Communion, unless she is in danger of death. The service, as it is practiced in the Constantinopolitan Rite, involves both the blessing of the mother and the presentation of the child to God. The churching should be distinguished from two other brief rites that take place at childbirth: the Prayers on the First Day After Childbirth, and the Naming of the Child on the Eighth Day. These usually take place in the home. In some traditions, it is customary to baptize the child on the eighth day (following the example of the Old Testament rite of circumcision), in which case the Naming of the Child would take place in the temple (church building).
[edit] Churching of the Woman
On the fortieth day after childbirth, the mother is brought to the temple to be churched; that is to say, to receive a blessing as she begins attending church and receiving the Holy Mysteries (Sacraments) once again. The child (if it has survived) is brought by the mother, who has already been cleansed and washed, accompanied by the intended sponsors (Godparents) who will stand at the child's Baptism. They all stand together in the narthex (the entranceway) before the doors of the nave of the temple, facing east. The priest blesses them and says prayers for the woman and the child, giving thanks for their wellbeing and asking God's grace and blessings upon them.
[edit] Churching of the Child
Then, if the infant has already been baptized, he performs the churching of the child; if not, he does the churching immediately after the baptism.
Taking up the child, the priest lifts it up making the Sign of the Cross with the child before the doors of the temple, saying: "The servant of God (Name) is churched, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."
He then carries the child into the center of the nave, as he says, "I will go into Thy House. I will worship toward Thy Holy Temple in fear of Thee." Stopping in the center, he says, "The servant of God (Name) is churched, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. In the midst of the congregation I will sing praises unto Thee."
He then walks up to the Iconostasis, and stopping in front of the Holy Doors, he says, "The servant of God (Name) is churched, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."
If the child is a girl, he places it on the soleas in front of the icon of the Theotokos (Mother of God); if it is a boy, he carried it into the sanctuary and around the back of the Holy Table (altar) and out again onto the soleas.
He then chants the Nunc Dimittis and says a special apolysis (dismissal), after which he blesses the child with the Sign of the Cross on it forehead, mouth and heart, and returns it to its mother.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
- This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.
- A History of Women's Bodies, Edward Shorter, Penguin, New York, 1982
[edit] External links
- "Churching of Women" article in The Catholic Encyclopedia
- 1552 Book of Common Prayer "The Thankes Geuing of Women After Childe Birth, Commonly Called the Churchyng Of Women."
- The Thanksgiving of Women after Childbirth historical account
- Prayers for the Churching of a Mother and Child After Forty Days (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America)
