GENUFLEXION
426
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
