BACIO

KISS. In Catholic liturgy, kissing is a gesture frequently used and carries the character of veneration and homage, affection and fraternal union, or even reverence. It is linked to a natural symbolism indicating love, respect, and union, and has become part of both religious and civil ritual among many peoples. It has replaced the form of *adoration* known as *προσκύνησις*. A distinction is made between the kissing of persons (the kiss of peace) and the kissing of sacred objects.

OUTLINE.

I. The kiss of peace

II. The kiss of the Pope’s foot

III. The kiss of the hand

IV. The kiss of sacred objects.

I. THE KISS OF PEACE

1. *At Mass.* — The kiss of peace is given at Mass either by mutual embrace or by presenting a tablet in the shape of a picture, called the “pax” (v.), to be kissed. The embrace is used among the clergy assisting at a solemn Mass; the “pax” is used for the clergy at non-solemn sung Masses and for the laity at solemn Masses. The kiss of peace is of very ancient usage, and in several places in the New Testament (Rom. 16:16; 1 Cor. 16:20; 2 Cor. 13:12; 1 Thess. 5:26; 1 Pt. 5:14) the faithful are exhorted to give it to one another. It is called *φίλημα ἀγάπης* (osculum pacis: 1 Pt. 5:14), *φίλημα ἀγνόν* (osculum sanctum). From Justin (Apol. I, 65) we learn of a kiss of peace concluding the litanies before the Eucharistic celebration. A similar kiss of peace before prayer is still common in Eastern liturgies; it also appears in the same place in the *Traditio Apostolica* of Hippolytus (3rd century), in the Gallican, Mozarabic, and ancient Ambrosian liturgies.

It is certain that in the 5th century the present Roman custom of giving the kiss of peace after the Canon was not yet in common use, as is evident from the intervention of Innocent I (Ad Decent.: PL 20, 553). In Africa, as early as the beginning of the 3rd century, Tertullian (De oratione, 18) speaks of a kiss of peace *quod est signaculum orationis*, after the “oration,” where it is clear that if *oratio* is not specifically the *Oratio Dominica*, it refers to the sacrificial prayer, not to the litanic prayer. St. Augustine (Sermo 227: PL 38, 1101) also bears witness in Tertullian’s sense: “After the *Oratio Dominica* is said: *Pax vobiscum*: and Christians kiss one another with the holy kiss.”

Today the kiss of peace is omitted at Requiem Masses, on Holy Thursday, and on Holy Saturday (Easter Mass).

The omission of the first is explained by the votive and therefore private origin of such Masses; in the other cases, medievals found, and moderns have repeated, various reasons, including the avoidance of an analogy with Judas’ kiss on Holy Thursday. The true reason is that noted by Tertullian, who observes the fact (De oratione, 18, PL 1, 1178: “so also on Easter Day... we rightly omit the kiss”) namely, the penitential character that fasting gives to such Masses, whereas the kiss is a sign of fraternal joy.

The kiss of peace was given among the faithful at a sign from the deacon: *ἀσπάσασθε ἀλλήλους* (Constitutiones Apostolorum, VIII, 11,9): *Pacem habete*, etc. Perhaps at first the kiss of peace did not observe the distinction of sexes, as is evident from the precaution noted in an *agraphon* cited by Athenagoras (Legatio pro Christianis, 32: PG 6,964). But already in the 3rd century, as it was forbidden to kiss between the faithful and catechumens, so it was forbidden between Christian men and women (Hippolytus, Trad. Apost.). In the 4th century the *Constitutiones Apostolorum* (II, 57; VIII, 11,9), while simply advising the distinction of sexes in church, expressly inculcate it in exchanging the kiss of peace, from which the excommunicated and public penitents were excluded; their reconciliation took place precisely with the kiss of peace (to give peace): V. LAPS. The use of the kiss of peace by mutual embrace was preserved in the West until the 13th century (Innocent III, De Sacro altaris mysterio, 6, 5: PL 217, 909) and in some places until the 15th–16th centuries.

Even in the administration of the Eucharist, we note the kiss that the celebrating Pope gave to the deacon after communicating him, and the deacon in turn gave to the subdeacon after presenting him with the Precious Blood (Innocent III, De Sacro altaris mysterio, 6, 9; PL 217, 911; Caerem. Episcop., 2, 29, 3). The other communicants, as well as the deacon, before receiving communion kissed the hand (now the ring) of the bishop.

The kiss of peace also occurs in the blessing of an abbot, of knights, in the coronation of a king and queen (cf. Pont. Rom., respectively), and in monastic profession.

In the blessing of abbesses, after the rite, they receive the nuns for the kiss of peace (Pontif. Rom.: De bened. abbatissae).

In the Mozarabic liturgy the bishop kissed the crosier he had blessed. Another kiss of peace is used at the end of a Council among the participants (Caerem. Episcop., 1, 31, 19).

II. THE KISS OF THE POPE’S FOOT

A kiss that has quite a different meaning from that of peace is the kiss of the Pope’s foot, both in liturgy and in court ceremonial. The usage goes back to very ancient times and has its roots in Eastern etiquette (J. Horst, *Proskynēin*, in *Neutestament. Forschungen*, 3rd series, 2 (Gütersloh 1932), p. 55 ff.); it is known in the Old and New Testaments (Ps. 71:9–11; Is. 49:23; Lk. 7:38–45, 15:20; Mt. 26:49) and does not always have a distinctly religious sense. In this regard, we should note the account in the *Liber Pontificalis* (ed. Duchesne, Paris 1886–92, I, pp. 275, 391; II, p. 107) according to which the Emperor Justin kissed the feet of Pope John I, Justinian II those of Pope Constantine, and the papal court in 847 those of Pope Leo IV, *morem conservantes antiquum*. This usage of kissing the Pope’s foot, already noted in the *Ordo Rom.* I, 11, has been preserved in the papal liturgy, in which the two subdeacons, Latin and Greek, kissed the Pope’s foot, as well as in the rite of adoration of a newly elected Pope and in the ceremonial of private audiences.

III. THE KISS OF THE HAND

The kiss of the hand also appears to be a very ancient usage as a sign of love and respect. In the liturgy, the following kissed the hand: the elected bishop, after examination, to the consecrating bishop (Pontif. Rom.: *De Consacr. electi in episcopum*), the ministers to the Pope before leaving the sacristy, for which reason it is also called the *Salutatorium*; all to the Pope, the bishop, and abbots when receiving communion from them (now the ring is kissed). The same usage prevails in the Greek liturgy. The kiss of the hand is generally used in the liturgy whenever something is received from or given into the hand of the priest.

IV. THE KISS OF SACRED OBJECTS

In antiquity, kissing signified, besides love, also respect: hence the kissing of sacred objects. Among these, we should note the kissing of relics, the cross, blessed palms and candles, sacred vessels and vestments, and especially the kissing of the Book of the Gospels and of the altar.

The *Ordo Rom.* I, 8, prescribes a kiss of the sides of the altar by the assisting deacons (*salutare* = to kiss), and of the Pope who repeats the gesture at the Offertory. In the time of Innocent III the altar was kissed only three times; but a century later nine such kisses were noted. Cf. G. Durandus, *Rationale Divini Officii*, IV.