Oct

5

Sign of the Cross

October 5, 2009 | 1 Comment

The reverent forming of the Sign of the Cross in the Carthusian manner.

One of the first things a Postulant learns in the Charterhouse is the Carthusian Sign of the Cross: following the most ancient custom of the Church, the little finger and ring finger of the right hand are joined together and bent down to touch the thumb, leaving the index finger and the pointer finger joined together in an outstretched upright position. (This forms the ancient Christogram IX XC with the fingers: the little “pinkie” finger being the I, the ring finger and thumb being the C, and the index and pointer fingers forming the X.)

When tracing the cross on the body, the hand in this finger position first strikes the above the forehead, then drops slowly and solemnly below the navel, then strikes the outside of the left shoulder, and finishes by striking as close to the outside of the right shoulder as possible. This make a rather large cross on the mass of the body, expressing the total involvement of the body in the blessing, protection and work of the Holy and Life-giving Cross, through which Joy has come into the world.


Comments

1 Comment so far

  1. Jeffrey Pinyan on October 5, 2009 2:21 pm

    Just a slight correction: the Christogram is IC XC (not IX XC), standing for IESOUS CHRISTOS, where the ‘CH’ is represented by the Greek letter Chi (X) and the trailing ‘S’ is represented by the sigil ‘C’.

    The index finger is the “I”, the middle finger is slightly bent to form the first “C”, the right finger bends towards the palm so that the pinkie (straight, but at a slant) crosses behind it forming the “X”, and the thumb touches the ring finger as the second “C”. That’s how I’ve seen it depicted in iconography and explained.

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