PACE, INSTRUMENT OF. — A liturgical instrument, mentioned in the Roman Missal (Ritus servandus in celebr. Missa, tit. X, n. 3, n. 8); in the Caerimoniae episcoporum (I, 24, 2, 6, 7); and in the Pontificale Romanum (part 1, De bened. et consacr. regis) for carrying the *pax*, that is, for the kiss before Communion, to the choir and to certain persons present at Mass. St Charles Borromeo prescribed for every cathedral, parish, or collegiate church at least two *tabulae pacis offerendae* (Acta eccl. Mediolanem., Milan 1599, pp. 609, 610, 611).
The instrument of *pax* generally consists of a kind of oblong, oval, or round tablet, bearing a sacred image (Crucifix, Madonna, saints), sometimes containing a sacred relic. On the back it has a handle for holding it, and often also a foot, giving it somewhat the appearance of a monstrance. The types are very varied, ranging from simple pieces of marble or other stone, with a cross or other sacred object engraved upon them, to wooden tablets artistically carved and painted, and to metal tablets of the most diverse forms and decorations according to the various epochs (Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque): instruments of the *pax* that are extremely simple, almost rough, and others, the majority, of artistic merit even very notable. Among the latter may be mentioned: the *pax* of Duke Orso in the Museum of Cividale (11th–12th cent.; V. BARBARICA ARTE); the *pax* with aedicula, with or without a door, in S. Petronio at Bologna (15th cent.), in the Poldi-Pezzoli collection and in the Treasury of S. Ambrogio at Milan (15th cent.); those wonderful for richness and elegance in the Louvre (15th cent.) and in the church of the Assumption at Cividale (Grimani *pax*); the famous “Pace of Siena” donated by Pius II to the Sienese in 1464 and by them, in 1709, to the Aretines, who preserve it in the Duomo of their city; the *pax* in the Treasury of S. Marco at Venice, by M. Finiguerra in the Bargello at Florence and in the Vatican, and that attributed to Sansovino in the Treasury of the Duomo of Palermo, all of the 16th century.
Its use has never been obligatory; its origin is English and dates only from the latter part of the 13th century, and it was introduced to replace the kiss of peace, the embrace of peace, and the subsequent kiss of the paten or the Missal, in order to avoid the inconveniences and discomforts that arose from these. For England, the statutes of Archbishop Walter Gray of York, about 1250, speak of it in the section devoted to church furnishings, where he also lists the *osculatorium* (Mansi, XXIII, 793); a Synod held at Exeter in 1287, in canon 12, in giving the list of sacred furnishings indispensable for every church, also mentions the *asser ad pacem* (Mansi, XXIV, 80). At the beginning of the 14th century the use of the instrument of *pax* had already crossed the Channel and appeared in France. The Council of Bayeux of 1300, in canon 10, treating of church furnishings, also speaks of the marble *ad osculandum* (Mansi, XXV, 63); the Provincial Synod of Melun, held by the Archbishop of Sens, Stephen Bécard (1300), refers in various places to the *tabula pacis*, the *osculare* or *osculatorium* necessary for every church (Mansi, XXV, 6). Other innumerable sources may be cited: synodal acts, inventories of churches, statutes and rules of religious families and the like, which show the extraordinary diffusion, between the 15th and 18th centuries, of this instrument, which is called by the most varied names, such as, for example, *lapis pacis*, *pacificae*, or *pax*; in French *la paix*; in the Germanic countries often *Paxbrettl* (cf. J. Braun, *Das christl. Altargerät* [Munich 1932], pp. 557–72, tavv. 116–20).
A first rapid diffusion of the instrument of *pax* took place through the great Orders, Franciscan, Dominican, Carmelite, Carthusian, Camaldolese, later Capuchin and others, and it is especially in these Orders that the use still endures today, whereas in parish churches it has almost disappeared.