Sign of the cross

patate · #1 Jul 22, '12, 8:28 am

Can somebody explain to me when the sign of the cross was first done? When did this tradition start? If possible, who was the first to teach it? Thank you and I will wait patiently for answers...

englishredrose · #2 Jul 22, '12, 10:24 am

have you googled it at all?

Our priest included this into a Sermon though sadly I don't hear very well always so missed the information on all that. I keep hoping he will begin sending me a copy and may be one day he will if I can convince him I wont ask too much on it..

if that is why he is stalling. Because he always says yes but doesn't materialise.

Gorillaman · #3 Jul 22, '12, 10:29 am

Yeah I wanna know too...good question!

Celtic Maiden · #4 Jul 22, '12, 10:52 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gorillaman

Yeah I wanna know too...good question!

Tertullian the writer wrote before the year 200 A.D that we Christians wear out our foreheads with the sign of the Cross. Hope this helps.

:signofc ross:

StLudmilla · #5 Jul 22, '12, 11:24 am

I know a little history about the sign of the cross. When Christians were being martyred in the Roman coliseum, the next day's line up of condemned Christian prisoners were forced by the soldiers to go out and clean up the remains of their fellow Christians. They burned the bodies and used the ashes to make a large sign of the cross on themselves as a kind of silent protest for the next days events.

JGMendes4049 · #6 Jul 22, '12, 12:23 pm

From Wikipedia:

The Christian sign of the cross was originally made in some parts of the Christian world with the right-hand thumb across the forehead only. In other parts of the early Christian world it was done with the whole hand or with two fingers. Around the year 200 in Carthage (modern Tunisia, Africa), Tertullian says: “We Christians wear out our foreheads with the sign of the cross.” Vestiges of this practice remain: some Christians sign a cross on their forehead before hearing the Gospels during Mass; foreheads are marked with an ash cross on Ash Wednesday; holy oil (called chrism) is applied on the forehead for the sacrament of Confirmation (in the East, the Holy Mystery of Chrismation, as Orthodox call the Sacraments by the name “Holy Mystery”). By the fourth century, the sign of the cross involved other parts of the body beyond the forehead.

Hope this helps!

E_7 · #7 Jul 22, '12, 12:30 pm

http://www.osv.com/tabid/7621/itemid...the-cross.aspx

DaveBj · #8 Jul 23, '12, 4:15 am

I still use my right thumb to trace a cross on my forehead when I'm in a physical position that makes the more modern "sign of the cross" impractical (like lying in bed, f'r-instance).

patate · #9 Jul 24, '12, 7:05 pm

Thanks for the great answers!

**Bookcat** · #10 Jul 24, '12, 7:10 pm

Very early on....but on the forehead and as + etc

"Be the cross our seal, made with boldness by our fingers on our brow and in every thing; over the bread we eat and the cups we drink, in our comings and in goings; before our sleep, when we lie down and when we awake; when we are travelling, and when we are at rest". St. Cyril of Jerusalem

(in the early Church the did a + on the forehead) I still use this personally in addition to the common form now....

I quote this to show how often at this point it was used!

"Making the sign of the cross -- as we will do during the blessing -- means saying a visible and public "yes" to the One who died and rose for us, to God who in the humility and weakness of His love is the Almightly, stronger than all the power and intelligence of the world."

-Pope Benedict XVI
Angelus
September 11, 2005

he also talks about it when he was Cardinal in the Spirit of the Liturgy...as a renewal of baptism...as a shield...etc...go read that chapter