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DECORUM & REVERENCES

Excerpt from Appendix III of the manual prepared by the Rector and Staff of The Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham, approved on September 8, 2016, by the Bishop for use in the Parishes and Parochial Communities of The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter.

Decorum

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All your movements, gestures, and postures in the chancel and the sanctuary need to serve the purposes of the liturgy and embody the order, symmetry, and integrity of our worship. There should be nothing slovenly, casual, or idiosyncratic in anything you do while serving at the altar.

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Ceremonial actions and ritual gestures should be performed at a stately pace, neither too slow nor too quick, but with confident, composed ease.

  • Move with solemn dignity, even when things go wrong, and you find yourself out of place or taken by surprise. Graceful movements and quiet assurance can cover for a multitude of errors.

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Always keep your eyes focused ahead, paying attention to relevant liturgical action.

  • Always be aware of what is going on in the liturgy and anticipate what is going to happen next.

  • Unless carrying a liturgical implement or performing a particular action, always keep your hands folded at your breast in prayer.

  • Whenever you are carrying something or doing something with one hand, always place the other hand flat on your breast.

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When walking, hold yourself straight with your shoulders back and your head erect.

  • In procession, you should walk slowly but at the appropriate pace to maintain the formation clearly and tightly.

  • Keep a suitable distance from those ahead of you and those behind you.

  • When walking side-by-side, take special care to maintain symmetry and to move in unison with the server next to you, making the appropriate reverences at the same time.

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Corners should be turned squarely, without making it obvious or in a military fashion.

  • In general, you should move in the chancel and sanctuary at right angles and straight lines, turning corners crisply but gracefully.

  • Take particular care that your movements in the sanctuary and on the altar steps are undertaken with the utmost reverence for the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle.

  • Try to avoid walking backward, but do not unnecessarily turn your back to the Sacred Species exposed on the altar.

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When seated, have your feet flat on the floor, sit up straight, and keep your hands on your knees.

  • Never sit with crossed legs or knees.

  • During the readings and the homily, look straight in front of you and pay attention to the words.

  • When the entire altar party or more than one server goes to sit in the chancel, always sit down at the same time, and likewise rise together, as prompted.

Reverences

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Take care always to make the appropriate reverences in coordination with the other servers and the altar party, bowing, genuflecting, striking the breast, and signing the cross at the proper moments.

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When making a simple genuflection, hold your body steady and erect.

  • Hold the head straight - even at the name of Jesus - since the act of reverence is fully expressed by the bending of the knee.

  • Insofar as you are physically able, maintain the joined-hands position at the breast throughout the genuflection.

 

Genuflections are made whenever arriving at or leaving the foot of the altar, at the Incarnatus in the Creed, and whenever the missal stand is transferred from one side of the altar to the other.

 

The simple bow is an inclination of the head only. This bow is made:

  1. at the mention of the Name of Jesus, the name of Mary or the Saint of the Day;

  2. to the altar and cross;

  3. at certain points in the liturgy, most notably, we worship thee and receive our prayer in the Gloria; and

  4. when interacting with another person within the liturgy, such as censing or handing cruets.

  5. The inclinatio at the Name of Jesus or toward the altar is sometimes more pronounced; however, it should not become excessive to the point of distraction.

 

The profound bow is a deep bow from the waist, with hands lowered to the thighs if not holding anything.

  • We bow profoundly at the Gloria Patri and other such invocations of the Trinity, such as during the Introit.

 

It is customary to strike the breast with the right hand, either open or closed according to local practice:

  • during the General Confession;

  • thrice at the words "thought, word, and deed";

  • at the Agnus Dei, thrice at the phrase “the sins of the world”;

  • and at the Domine, Non Sum Dignus, with each refrain of "Lord, I am not worthy."

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