What People are Commenting
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Bowing to Priests & Holy House of Loreto
Nodding the Head
Re: Is Bowing to the Priest Correct?
Thank you for addressing this question. For many years, I have gently nodded my head as a priest passes by as a personal piety, but, I agree that this idea seems to have gotten out of hand more recently. A simple head nod by a few has morphed into a wave of profound bows up and down the pews.
Alas, at the Latin Masses In my area, we have upped the ante by also genuflecting as the crucifix passes by in procession. Do you have any idea where this originated from? It doesn't strike me as being a traditional pious practice since genuflecting is generally reserved for actual persons (e.g., Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and bishops), and not images. I don't participate in it as it seems like innovation.
Where will it end?
Sincerely,
T.F.
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I Will Continue to Bow
Re: Is Bowing to the Priest Correct?
I can tell you that when I was growing up, my father, who was raised by Salesians in Tampa, genuflected when the priest processed in and out. He said it was because the priest, once the procession began, was in persona Christi and it was as if Jesus was processing. We weren't the only ones, the whole Church genuflected.
I still do it but I felt it was lost in the N.O. Mass. I will continue to do so as it is a custom. It might not be something attached to the Traditional Mass technically, but it is certainly part of our customs. As the Blessed Mother said our customs would be lost. So, I'll continue to hold tight to our customs of reverence towards our beloved priests.
L.C.
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In Persona Christi
Re: Is Bowing to the Priest Correct?
I understand the statement: "It is not sinful to bow or genuflect to a priest, but since it is a novelty, it is contradictory to our general counter-revolutionary position of rejecting novelties," though there is a space for a mistake - wouldn't be a proper thing to ask old people who remember times before VCII about this practice?
The priest enters the church "in persona Christi" - Roman Catholic doctrine states that ordained priests act in the person and authority of Jesus Christ, especially when administering sacraments like the Eucharist and Confession. The doctrine does not mean the priest is sinless or a perfect representation of Jesus; rather, it means Christ uses the priest as a human instrument.
In Persona Christi Capitis: Priests specifically act in the person of "Christ the Head," as they are configured to Christ the High Priest.
So, the priest serves as a servant rather than acting on his own behalf, offering his humanity to Christ.
The phrase "sacerdos alter Christus" (a priest is another Christ) appeared in the 19th century, particularly within the 1866 Council of Baltimore, and was later used frequently by popes like Pius X and Pius XI.
Doesn't that mean that we bow before Christ himself not a priest?
I would love you to reply to my email.
Thank you,
R.A.J.
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TIA responds:
Dear R.A.J.,
During her entire History before Vatican II, the Catholic Church knew very well that the priest acts in persona Christi when he says the Mass and distributes the Sacraments.
She established a proper ceremonial to deal with Popes, Cardinals, Bishops and Priests, each one receiving the honor due to his place in the Hierarchy of the Church. Such Hierarchy contemplates not only the power of orders, which is what you are addressing, but also the powers of teaching and government. The presence of different degrees of these powers in each rank of the Church’s Hierarchy gave birth to a wise ceremonial that ruled Catholic ceremonies for centuries.
We believe that instead of trying to apply free examination in judging for ourselves what we should or should not do, we would reveal more Catholic spirit if we would accept what the Church has already wisely established and obediently conform our wills to those ceremonies even if we do not understand.
Cordially,
TIA correspondence desk
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Feast of the Translation of the House of Loreto
I hope this message finds you well.
I am writing to you with sincere respect and appreciation for your work. I have been reading your articles regarding the Feast of the Translation of the Holy House of Nazareth to Loreto [here, here, here, here, here, here and here] and I find the topic very interesting.
However, I have been trying to locate this feast in an older edition of the universal traditional Roman liturgical calendar (prior to the post-Vatican II reforms), and so far I have not been able to find a clear reference in the general Roman calendar itself.
Would you kindly be able to provide a reference, citation, or link to an official edition of the traditional Roman calendar (with year if possible) where this feast appears as part of the universal liturgical calendar? I would greatly appreciate any guidance that could help me understand this historical point more precisely.
Thank you very much for your time and for any clarification you may be able to offer.
With kind regards,
V.S.
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TIA responds:
Dear V.S.,
We are glad that you found the articles on the Feast of the Translation of the Holy House of Nazareth to Loreto to be helpful. This feast gave honor to Our Lady and it is a tragedy that the Holy House of Loreto has been so maligned in these times.
The feast, however, was never instituted as a feast for the Universal Church, such as the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption. It is a rather recent feast: approved by the Holy See with a Proper Office and Mass in the year 1699. It was celebrated in some areas and by some religious congregations that had special devotion to the Holy House.
This is how many of the Church's feasts began. They were approved and said in certain regions, until the devotion to the feast spread to such an extent that the Holy See promulgated it for the whole Church.
The feast of All Souls Day on November 2 was added to the Church's Universal Calendar in this manner.
Unfortunately, the progressivist reforms of the liturgy prevented this organic propagation of the Feast of the Holy House to take place.
Dom Gueranger in Volume I of The Liturgical Year explains the status of this feast as follows:
"This feast is not one of those which is inserted in the universal calendar of the Church, but it is kept at Rome and in the Papal States, in Tuscany, in the Kingdom of Naples, in Spain, in Belgium, in a great many dioceses in all parts of the Christian world, and by almost all the Religious Orders. It was instituted in thanksgiving for the great favor bestowed on the Western Church, whereby God, to console Christians for the loss of the Holy Sepulcher, miraculously translated into a Catholic land the humble yet ever venerable House in which Mary received the message of the Angel, and where, by the consent of this Holy Virgin, the Word was made flesh and began to dwell among us.
“It is no unusual thing to meet with Catholics, who are sincerely devoted to their holy faith yet who have never heard of the House of Loreto. It is for their sake that we have resolved to take the opportunity of this Feast to give an exact and concise account of this wonderful event. We take it from the learned and judicious author of the Life of Olier."
If it was listed in a Missal or a Liturgical Calendar, it would be under the section entitled "Masses for Religious Orders," "Masses Celebrated in Some Places," or "Local Feasts". Pre-1955 Missals from Spain, Belgium, Naples, or Rome would include this feast in a section in the end for Supplemental feasts.
The Missale Romanum from 1920 includes this feast listed first in the section Missae Pro Aliquibus Locis in the back of the Missal after the Votive Masses. This missal is only in Latin, so the feast can be found under the Latin title "In Translatione Alm Domus B. Mari V." See page 1,125 of the PDF version of the above-mentioned Missal here.
May Our Lady of Loreto bless you and give to you the many graces that flow from devotion to her Holy House.
Cordially,
TIA correspondence desk
Posted April 28, 2026
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The opinions expressed in this section - What People Are Commenting - do not necessarily express those of TIA
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Re: The Great Inequality in the Choirs of Angels
Choirs of Angels: BEAUTIFUL ARTICLE.
Thank you!
Fr. T.J.H.