Signum Crucis

About this prayer

The Sign of the Cross is the most ancient and familiar gesture of Christian prayer: the hand traces the cross upon the body, from forehead to breast and from shoulder to shoulder, while the lips name the three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity. In one act it professes the two chief mysteries of the Faith, the Trinity confessed in the words and the Redemption confessed in the sign of the Cross. Tertullian bears witness that already in the second century the faithful marked the cross upon their foreheads at every turn, going out and coming in, at table, and at the lighting of the lamps.

With it the Christian begins and ends his prayers, opens and seals the day, and arms himself in temptation, recalling that he was baptised in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. The Church makes constant use of it in her liturgy and her blessings, and numbers it among the sacramentals, the holy signs by which the ordinary moments of life are sanctified and the soul is disposed to receive grace. With these same words the priest begins the traditional Mass at the foot of the altar.