Ceremony

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(Sanskrit,karman, action, work; fromkar orker, to make or create; Latincœremonia)

Ceremony in liturgy, an external action, gesture, or movement which accompanies theprayers and public exercise of divine worship. To these theCouncil of Trent (Sess. XXII, cap. v.) adds the things over which or with which theprayers are pronounced, e.g.blessings, lights,incense, vestments, etc. Ceremony is thenecessary outcome of the twofold nature of man,intellectual and sensible, on account of which, asSt. Thomas Aquinas says (Contra Gentiles, III, cxix), he must payGod a twofold adoration, one spiritual, which consists in the interior devotion of thesoul, the other corporal, which manifests itself in the outward form of worship, for there is no inward sentiment or feeling which man is not wont to express outwardly by some suitable gesture or action. Ceremonies are employed to embellish and adorn sacred functions; to excite in the faithful sentiments of respect, devotion, and religion, by which thehonour ofGod is increased and the sanctification of thesoul is obtained, since these constitute the principal object of allliturgical acts; to lead the illiterate more easily to aknowledge of the mysteries of religion; to indicate the dispositionsnecessary to receive thesacraments worthily; and to induce thefaithful to fulfil with greater docility theobligations which the reception of thesacraments imposes on them.

Some ceremonies owe their institution to purely physical reasons or necessity, e.g. the lights used in thecatacombs, which were retained by theChurch for the mystical reason that they representChrist, the Light of the World; others are founded on mystical or symbolical reasons, e.g. all the ceremonies atbaptism which precede the pouring of the water on theperson to bebaptized; many are founded on historical, natural, and mystical reasons at the same time, e.g. the mixing of wine and water at Mass recalls to our mind whatChrist did at theLast Supper, and represents the blood and water that flowed from His side on the Cross as well as the union of the faithful withChrist.Catholic ceremonies, therefore, are notsuperstitious practices, meaningless observances or relics ofheathen and Jewish customs, but regulations of Divine, Apostolic, andecclesiastical institution. They may be grouped, according to Francisco Suárez (De Sacramentis, Disp. lxxxiv) into three classes:

To these may be added another class which not only symbolize, but produce, spiritual effects, and obtainDivine grace, e.g. theimposition of the hands of thebishop together with the form of words by whichpriestly power and inward grace are conferred on the recipient ofHoly orders. The sum total of the ceremonies of an individual function is called a rite (ritus), e.g. the rite of Mass,baptism, extreme unction; the totality of the rites of religion is called its cult (cultus). (See RITE).

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