KISS. - In Catholic liturgy it is a frequently used gesture and takes on the character of veneration and homage, of affection and fraternal union, or else of subjection. A natural symbolism is linked to it to indicate love, respect, union, and it has come to form part of religious as well as civil ritual among very many peoples and has replaced that form of adoration called προσκύνησις. A distinction is made between the kiss of persons (kiss of peace) and the kiss of sacred things.
SUMMARY. - I. Il b. di pace. - II. The kiss of the foot of the Pope. - III. The kiss of the hand. - IV. The kiss of sacred things.
I. THE KISS OF PEACE
1. At Mass
It is customary to give the kiss of peace at Mass either by embracing one another or by presenting a tablet in the shape of a panel, called the "peace" (v.), to be kissed. The embrace is used among the clergy assisting at solemn Mass; the "peace" is used for the clergy at sung but non-solemn Masses and for the laity at solemn Masses. The kiss of peace is of very ancient use, and several times in the New Testament (Rom. 16:16; I Cor. 16:26; II Cor. 13:12; I Thess. 5:26; I Pt. 5:14) the faithful are enjoined to give it to one another. It is called φίλημα ἀγάπης (osculum pacis; I Pt. 5:14), φίλημα ἅγιον (osculum sanctum). From Justin (Apol. I, 65) there emerges a kiss at the conclusion of the litanic prayers before the eucharistic celebration. A similar kiss of peace before the eucharistic prayer is still common today in the Eastern liturgies; it appears in the same place also in the Traditio Apostolica of Hippolytus (3rd century), in the Gallican liturgy, in the Mozarabic and in the ancient Ambrosian.
ristic is still common today in the Eastern liturgies; it also appears in the same place in the Traditio Apost. of Hippolytus (3rd century), in the Gallican liturgy, in the Mozarabic and in the ancient Ambrosian.
It is certain that in the 5th century the current Roman use of giving the kiss of peace after the Canon was not yet in common use, as appears from the intervention of Innocent I (Ad Decent.: PL 20, 553). In Africa, from 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 seen that if oratio is not specifically the Oratio Dominica, it indicates the sacrificial prayer, and not the pre-sacrificial litanic prayer. St. Augustine (Sermo 227: PL 38, 1101) continues to testify in the sense of Tertullian: "Post ipsam (orat. Dominicam) dicitur: pax vobiscum: et osculantur christiani in osculo sancto."
Today the kiss of peace is omitted in 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 others the medieval authors found, and the moderns have repeated, various reasons, among which is that of avoiding an analogy with the kiss of Judas on Holy Thursday. The true reason is the one hinted at by Tertullian, who notes the fact (De oratione, 18, PL 1, 1178: "sic et die Paschae... merito deponimus osculum"), 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 signal from the deacon: ἀπέσπασθε ἀλλήλους (Constitutiones Apostolorum, VIII, 11,9): Pacem habete, etc. Perhaps at first in the kiss of peace the distinction of the sexes was not observed, as appears from the precaution noted in an agraphon cited by Athenagoras (Legatio pro Christianis, 32: PG 6,964). But already in the 3rd century, just as the kiss between the faithful and catechumens was forbidden, so too was it forbidden between Christian men and women (Hippolytus, Trad. Apost.) In the 4th century the Constit. Apost. (II, 57; VIII, 11,9), while simply advising the distinction of the 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 (pacem dare): v. LAPSI. The use of the kiss of peace by means of a mutual embrace was preserved in the West until the 13th century (In-
Innocent III, De Sacro altaris mysterio, 6, 5: PL 217, 909) and in some places until the 15th-16th centuries.
From the 13th century onward it came into use, first in England, to give the kiss of peace by having a tablet of wood, metal or stone kissed (Pax, Paciferum, Pacificale, Instrumentum pacis, osculatorium, tabula, asser ad pacem, cf. J. Braun, Das christliche Altargerät, Munich 1932, p. 560 ff.), kissed first by the priest celebrating Mass. The use was adopted by Pius V in the reform of the Missal (Ritus servandus in celebrat. Missae, 10, 5) as a general usage, until it declined around the 18th century.
Besides this kiss of peace common to all liturgies and which harks back to Mt. 5:23 ff., the kiss was widely used in the papal liturgy. At Mass, during the singing of the Introit, the Pontiff kissed some of his ministers; two of whom had already had their hands kissed by him (Ordo Rom., I, 11, 4, 5; V, 5, 6: PL 78, 941; 970, 986 ff.).
To this ancient usage is linked the kiss that the Pope receives on the face and breast from the three last cardinal priests before ascending the altar (Innocent III, De Sacro altaris mysterio, I, 11: PL 217, 805); in turn the Pope, after the kiss of the altar, kisses his deacons, who return it with a kiss on the breast (Innocent III, op. cit., 1, 15: PL 217, 807).
2. In the Sacraments
At the beginning, when Confirmation immediately followed Baptism, after the rite, the bishop kissed the neophyte (Hippolytus, Traditio Apost., Testamentum D. N. I. C., 2, 9).
In Penance the kiss was in ancient times a characteristic ceremony and was the clearest expression of the sense of readmission into the fraternity of the Church through the Sacrament.
A kiss of peace also existed in Ordination (Hippolytus, Trad. Apost., Constit. Apost., VIII, 5, 10).
In the Middle Ages this kiss perhaps took on the meaning that analogous uses of feudal investiture had. Today it still survives: twice, in episcopal ordination (Pontif. Rom.: De Consecr. electi in episcopum) and once in priestly ordination (ibid.: De consecr. presbyteri).
Extreme Unction too was accompanied by a kiss (Pseudo-Dionysius, Eccl. Hier., 7, 2: PG 3, 456). The Synod of Auxerre (578), can. 12, forbids the kiss to the dead.
In Matrimony the kiss at the end of the ceremony is still found among the Greeks, while among the Romans it seems to have constituted the legal act of marriage (C. Krüger, Codex Justin., in Corpus Juris Civilis, II, Berlin 1895, p. 194) and that for Tertullian (De Virginibus velandis, 11) it became part of the rite like the exchange of rings. In the Middle Ages the spouses gave each other the kiss of peace, which the bridegroom had received from the priest at the Pax Domini of the Mass.
Also in the administration of the Eucharist one notes the kiss that the celebrating Pontiff gave to the deacon after communicating him and that the deacon in turn gave to the subdeacon after presenting him the Holy 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 (today the ring) of the bishop.
The kiss of peace is also found in the blessing of the abbot, of knights, in the coronation of the king and queen (cf. Pont. Rom., respectively), in monastic profession.
In the blessing of abbesses, these, after the rite, receive the nuns for the kiss of peace (Pontif. Rom.: De bened. abbatissae).
In the Mozarabic liturgy the bishop kissed the abbess blessed by him. Another kiss of peace is used at the end of a Council among the participants (Caerem. Episcop., 1, 31, 19).
II. THE BACIO AT THE FOOT OF THE POPE
A kiss that has an altogether different meaning from that of peace is the kiss at the foot of the Pope, both in the liturgy and in the ceremonial of processions. The custom goes back to very remote times and has its roots in Eastern etiquette (J. Horst, Proskynein, in Neutestamentl. 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 clearly religious meaning. In this connection, note should be taken of the report 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 pontifical court in 847 those of Pope Leo IV, morem conservantes antiquum. This custom of kissing the foot of the Pontiff, already noted in the Ordo Rom., I, 11, has been preserved in the papal liturgy, in which the two subdeacons, Latin and Greek, kiss the foot of the Pontiff, as also in the rite of adoration of the newly elected pope, and in the ceremonial of private audiences.
III. THE BACIO OF THE HAND
The kiss of the hand also proves to be a very ancient custom, as a sign of love and respect. In the liturgy, those who kiss the hand are: the bishop-elect, after the examination, to the consecrator (Pontif. Rom.: De Consecr. electi in episcopum), the ministers to the Pontiff before leaving the sacristy, which is for this reason also called the Salutatorium; everyone to the Pontiff, to the bishop and to abbots when receiving communion from them (now the ring is kissed). The same custom prevails in the Greek liturgy. The kiss of the hand is generally used in the liturgy whenever something is received from the priest or given into his hand.
IV. THE BACIO OF SACRED THINGS
In antiquity,
the kiss signified not only love but also respect:
hence the kiss of sacred things. Among these kisses, note
that of relics, of the cross, of blessed palms and
candles, of sacred vessels and vestments, and above all
the kiss 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 by the Pontiff, 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. Durando, Rationale Divini Offic., IV,
39, 6 (Paris 1854); F. J. Dölger, Zu den Zeremonien der Messliturgie, II: Der Altarhuss, in Antike u. Christentum, 2 (1930), p. 190 ff.