Processional Cross
processional cross
A crucifix carried on top of a staff at the head of most liturgical processions, symbolizing that the faithful are followers of Christ. Usually the cross is carried with the figure of Christ upon it facing forward, but if it is the cross of the pope, or of his legate, or of an archbishop, it is borne with the figure turned toward him. The cross-bearer, preferably a cleric, leads the procession, unless there is a censer-bearer. In more solemn processions the cross-bearer is a subdeacon, clothed in amice, alb, and tunic; in less solemn, a cleric wearing a cassock and surplice.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Processional Cross
A processional cross is simply a crucifix which is carried at the head of a procession, and which, that it may be more easily seen, is usually mounted upon a long staff or handle.
From an archaeological point of view this subject has already been briefly dealt with under Cross. It will suffice to note here that the processional cross does not essentially differ from what may be called the cross of jurisdiction which is borne before the pope, his legates, and metropolitans or archbishops. The pope is entitled to have the cross borne before him wherever he may be; a legate’s cross is used only in the territory for which he has been appointed, and that of an archbishop within the limits of his province. All these crosses, including that of the pope, have in practice only one bar. The double-barred cross is a sort of heraldic fiction which is unknown in the ceremonial of the Church. It is supposed that every parish possesses a cross of its own and that behind this, as a sort of standard, the parishioners are marshalled when they have to take part in some general procession. It is usual also for cathedral chapters and similar collegiate bodies to possess a processional cross which precedes them in their corporate capacity; and the same is true of religious, for whom usage prescribes that in case of the monastic orders the staff of the cross should be of silver or metal, but for the mendicant orders, of wood. In the case of these crosses of religious orders, confraternities, etc. it is usual in Italy to attach streamers to a sort of penthouse over the crucifix, or to the knob underneath it. When these crosses are carried in procession the figure of Christ faces the direction in which the procession is moving, but in the case of the papal, legatine, and archiepiscopal crosses the figure of our Saviour is always turned towards the prelate to whom it belongs. In England, during the Middle Ages, a special processional cross was used during Lent. It was of wood, painted red and had no figure of Christ upon it. It seems probable that this is identical with the “vexillum cinericium” of which we read in the Sarum Processional.
Processional Canopies
As, according to the requirements of the Caeremoniale Episcoporum, the altars of a church and especially the high altar should be covered by a baldacchino, and the bishop’s throne etc. should be honoured with the same mark of respect, so canopies are used in processions and solemn receptions not only for the Blessed sacrament but also under certain circumstances for bishops, legates, and princes of the blood royal. The principal occasions on which a bishop has the right to use a canopy are at his solemn reception in his own cathedral city, and when he makes his first pastoral visitation to any town or parish within his jurisdiction the Caeremoniale Episcoporum (I, ii, 4) directs that in these receptions the bishop is to ride on horseback wearing his mitre, and under a canopy which is in the first instance to be carried by some of the principal magistrates of the town. Excepting in the rare case of separate portions of the True Cross or of the instruments of the Passion, relics borne in procession are not to be carried under a canopy. In processions of the Blessed Sacrament the colour of the canopy must always be white. For transporting the Blessed Sacrament from one altar to another or for taking the Holy Viaticum, to the sick, it is customary in many places, e.g. in Rome, to use an umbrella, or ombrellino, as it is called in Italian, which is simply a small canopy with a single staff.
Processional Banners
Processional banners have also been in common use in the Church since medieval times. In England before the Reformation they are frequently referred to, though it does not seem clear that these vexilla were floating draperies, such as we are now accustomed to understand by the name. The woodcuts which appear in some early editions of the Sarum Processional rather suggest a rigid frame of wood or metal. In the Rogation processions and some others two special vexilla were carried, representing the one a lion, the other a dragon (Rock, “The Church of Our Fathers”, 1904, IV, 292). The use of a number of richly embroidered banners in religious processions of all kinds is now customary in most parts of the Church, but the Rituale Romanum (tit. IX, cap. i, 4, 5) seems to contemplate only a single banner. “At the head of the procession let a cross be carried, and where the custom obtains a banner adorned with sacred devices (sacris imaginibus insignitum), but not made in a military or triangular shape”.
Processional Hymns
We may recognize a particular class of hymns which in the early Middle Ages were specially composed to be sung in processions, as distinct from the breviary hymns. These processional hymns were nearly always provided with a refrain. England was specially rich in such hymns, and several are to be found in the Sarum Processional. In the Roman liturgy we still retain the “Gloria, laus et honor” sung in the procession on Palm Sunday, and in the ceremony of the consecration of the oils on Maundy Thursday we have the hymn “O Redemptor, sume carmen temet concinentium”. Both these have a refrain, as has also the Easter hymn “Salve festa dies”, which in different forms appears in the Processionals of both Sarum and York. The hymns “Vexilla Regis” and “Pange lingua”, though sung in processions, lack a refrain and are less properly processional hymns.
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BARBIER DE MONTAULT, Traite pratique de la Construction etc. des Eglises, I (Paris, 1878), 382-499; ROCK, The Church of Our Fathers (2nd ed., London, 1904), II, 337 sq., IV, 262 sq.; WORDSWORTH, Salisbury Ceremonies and Processions (Cambridge, 1901).
HERBERT THURSTON Transcribed by Herman F. Holbrook
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIICopyright © 1911 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, June 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Processional Cross
or CROSS OF THE STATION (crux gestatoria, or stationaria), is the cross carried in the ecclesiastical processions spoken of under PROCESSIONS. It was carried as early as the 4th century and in the 5th century both in the East and in the West. It is mentioned by Socrates, Nicephorus, Cassiodorus, in the Life of St. Porphyry by Durand, and by Baronius under the year 401, and in the Canons of Cleveshoe in 747, when regulating the rogations. A cross made of ash, silver-plated, engraved or enamelled, without a crucifix, was at an early date, after the introduction of the labarum of Constantine, carried in processions by the staurophoros. The evangelistic symbols were usually set at the ends of the arms, which terminated in fleurs-de-lys. In the 4th century it had short handles, and candles were attached to the arms. Charlemagne gave such a cross, of pure gold, to the church of Constantine at Rome. In the 12th century at Rome a subdeacon (regionarius) carried down the cross, inclined so that the faithful might kiss it, from the altar to the porch, where he held it upright in his hands during the processions. In England, at Durham, the chief cross was of gold, with a silver staff, and the cross used on ordinary days was of crystal. A novice followed it, carrying a benitier. A cross of the 15th century is still preserved in St. John’s Lateran; another, of the time of St. Louis, is at St. Denis; a third, of silver and beautiful designs, with statues and evangelistic symbols, at Conques; and another at Burgos. In England, no doubt, many were destroyed during the War of the Roses and at the Reformation. At Chichester the ambry for the cross remains. In England, from Easter to Ascension, the cross was of crystal or beryl, but in Lent of wood. painted blood-red. No parish could carry its cross into a monastic church; and in funerals, in a collegiate church, the cross of the latter only is set before the bier. We append an illustration of the cross now usually carried by Romanists in their processions.