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 GENUFLEXION

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GENUFLEXION

present, who are supposed to be standing, to pray for some intention which he specifies. Thereupon, the deacon in attendance subjoins: "Flectamus genua" (Let us kneel down). He is obeyed. Anciently a pause more or less long, spent by each one in private and silent prayer, ensued. This ended at a sign given by the celebrant, or for him by some inferior minister, who, turning to the people with the word "levate", bade them stand up again. They having done so, the celebrant summed up, as it were, or collected their silent petitions in a short prayer, hence called a collect. "Cumis quiorationemcollecturus est e terra surre.xe- rit, omnes pariter surgunt" (Cassian, Instit., II, vii). The stress j)ut in the early Church upon the due per- formance of this ceremonial e-xplains why, before receiving baptism, a catechumen was required to rehearse it publicly. He is standing before the bishop who addresses him: "Ora, electe, flecte genua, et die Pater noster". This is the " Oremus, flectamus genua" of the liturgy. The direction to say the Lord's Prayer in preference to any other, or at least previously to any other, is very natural. A glance at the Roman liturgical books will show what other prcces were usually added — Kyrie eleison (repeated several times) and certain Psalm verses concluding, as a rule, with " Domine exaudi orationem meam. Et clamor mens ad te veniat" (Ps., ci, 1). Then the catechumen is told: "Leva, comple orationem tuam, et die Amen". The words of the prayer in which the officiating priest will collect his supplications and those of the rest of the faithful are omitted, as it is only the catechumen's part in the common prayer which is being dealt with. The catechumen rises and says "Amen". This is gone through three times and the catechumen having shown that he has learned how to comport himself during the "oratio fidelium" of the liturgy in which he will henceforth take part, the baptismal ceremony is proceeded with (See Roman Ritual, De Baptismo Adultorum; and Van der Stappen, IV, Q. cxvii).

Of silent kneeling prayer the characteristic example is the group of prayers for all conditions of men in our Good Friday liturgy. They have retained the name "Orationes solemnes" (usual prayers) because, in primitive ages, gone through in every public Mass. They are the Latin "Oratio Fidelium", and their place in the daily liturgy is still marked by the "Oremus " invitation at the Offertory (Duchesne, Origines du culte Chretien, ch. vi, art. 5). The same form of prayer obtains at ordinations and in some few other rites. But it has long since been shorn of its most striking feature. The faithful are indeed bidden to kneel down ; but straightway follows the order to stand up again, the impressive pause being suppressed. Again, nowadays, the object of the prayer is mostly no longer announced. The single word "Oremus" uttered by the celebrant is followed immediately by "Flectamus genua", with its momentary genuflexion, "Levate", and the collect (see, in the Roman Missal, the ember-day Masses, etc.). The learned Bishop Van der Stappen (Sacra Liturg., II, Q. Ixv) is of opinion that anciently on all days alike, there was a pause for silent prayer after every "Oremus" intro- ducing a collect; and that on Sundays and other non- penitential days this same silent prayer was made by all standing and with hands raised to Heaven. The invitation Flniamux genun merely reminded the faith- ful that the day was one of those on which, by the custom of the Church, they had to pray kneeling. The rubrics for the Pentecost ember-days which occur in paschal time, and that prefixed to the last collect in the blessing of candles on the feast of the Purification, strengthen this view. Another instance of kneeling prayer (probably replaced by one said standing, on Sundays and in pasclial time) is that of the benedic- tions or short eolleels which, in early ages, it was usual to add after the recitation of each psalm, in public, and often in private, worship. The short prayers called

"absolutions" in the Office of Matins are a survival of this discipline. (For a complete set of these prayers see Mozarabic Breviary in P.L., LXXXV). These collects were said kneeling, or at least were preceded by a brief prayer gone through in that attitude. They are probably the "genuflectiones", the multiplicity of which in the daily life of some of the earlier saints astonishes us (see for instance the Life of St. Patrick in the Roman Breviary, 17 March). The kneeling posture is that at present enjoined for the receiving of the sacraments, or at least confirmation. Holy Eu- charist, penance and Holy orders. Certain exceptions, however, seem to show that this was not always the case. Thus, the supreme pontiff, when solemnly celebrating, receives Holy Communion in both kinds, seated; and, remaining seated, administers it to his deacons who are standing. In like manner, should a cardinal who is only a priest or deacon be elected pope; he is ordained priest (if he has not yet taken the step) and consecrated bishop, while sitting on his faldstool before the altar. It seems reasonable to suppose that at the Last Supper the Apostles were seated roimd the table when Christ gave them His sacred Body and Blood. That, in the early Church, the faithful stood when receiving into their hands the consecrated particle can hardly be questioned. Cardinal Bona indeed (Rer. Liturg., II, xvn, S) hesitates somewhat as to Roman usage ; but declares that in regard to the East there can be no doubt whatever. He inclines moreover to the vie\y that at the outset the same practice obtained in the West (cf. Bingham, XVI, v). St. Dionysius of Alexandria, writing to one of the popes of his time, speaks emphatically of "one who has stood by the table and has extended his hand to receive the Holy Food" (Euseb., Hist. Eccl., VII, ix). The custom of placing the Sacred Particle in the mouth, rather than in the hand of the communicant, dates in Rome from the sixth, and in Gaul from the ninth century (Van der Stappen, IV, 227 ;cf. St. Greg., Dial., I, III, c. iii). The change of attitude in the communicant may perhaps have come about nearly simultaneously with this. Greater reverence was being insisted upon; and if it be true that in some places each communicant mounted the altar-steps, and took for himself a portion of the consecrated Eucharist (Clem. Alex., Strom., I, i) some reform was sorely needed.

II. A Geisture of Reverence. — This is peculiar to the Roman Rite, and consists in the momentary bending of one or both knees so as to touch the earth. Genuflecting, understood in this sense, has now al- most everywhere in the Western Church been sub- stituted for the profound bowing down of head and body that formerly obtained, and that is still main- tained in the East as the supreme act of liturgical reverence. It is laid down by modern authorities that a genuflexion includes every sort of inclination, so that any bowing while kneeling is, as a rule, superfluous (Martinucci, Man. Sacr. Caerem., I, i, nn. 5 and 6). There are certain exceptions, however, to this rule, in the liturgical cultus of the Blessed Sacrament. The practice of genuflecting has no claim to antiquity of origin. It appears to have been introduced and gradually to have spread in the West during the later Middle Ages, and scarcely to have been generally looked upon as obligatory before the end of the fif- teenth century. The older Roman Missals make no mention of it. " Father Thurston gives a.d. 1502 as the date of the formal and semi-official recognition of these genuflexions. Even after it became usual to raise the consecrated Host and Chalice for the adora- tion of the Faithful after the Consecration, it was long before the priest's preceding and following genu- flexions were insisted upon (see Thurston in "The Month", Oct., 1897). The genuflexions now indi- cated at such words as "Et incarnatus est", "Et Verbum caro factum est", and the like, are likewise