Blessing of arms

A weapon blessing is a practice, documented in the Latin Church of the West since the 10th century, of having weapons blessed by a priest or bishop before handing them over to a candidate for knighthood .

history

In the Middle Ages , the Catholic Church practiced a blessing of arms called benedictio armorum as part of the sword line . According to the texts read with these blessings, weapons were supposed to protect justice . As benedictio vexilli bellici , the war flag was also blessed . The medieval sword line took place after the Gospel reading within a Holy Mass . After the blessing of the sword and other items of equipment, these were put on the young knight. The knight then drew the sword, swung it three times in the air, and put it back into its sheath. Then the bishop (or priest) kissed him and gave him the accolade. The knight was put on the spurs and the bishop (or priest) presented him with a war flag. Such blessings from this period are also known from the Orthodox churches .

Rituals for the blessings of swords have been found in the liturgical books of the Latin Church since the 10th century. In the oldest forms God was asked to protect the knight and to bless the sword, "in so far" as "churches, widows, orphans." and all who serve God “ would be defended against the Gentiles . The blessing of the sword (with the blessing of other items of equipment of the knight) was adopted from the medieval ritual collections in the liturgical reform after the Tridentine Council in 1596 in the Pontifical Romanum. A form similar to the ritual sequence of the sword line can also be found for the “blessing of a new soldier” according to the rituals of the consecration of the king and queen in the Roman Pontifical. Compared to originally shorter versions, the Roman Pontifical contains a delivery formula that complements the actual blessing formula (rubrics in italics):

About the blessing of a sword. When the bishop wants to bless a sword, he says to the person to whom it is to be given while kneeling in front of him, but he (the bishop) stands without a miter and while one of the assistants holds it (the sword) in front of him: V (= ruler, bishop): Our help is in the name of the Lord. R (= answer): Who created heaven and earth. V: The Lord be with you. R: And with your mind. V: Let us pray. We ask you, Lord, that you deign to bless this sword and this, your servant, who with your permission will receive it; you may protect him by the vigilance of your piety and keep him intact. Through Christ our Lord etc. R: Amen. He then sprinkles holy water on the sword . Then he sits down, takes the miter, hands it to whoever it is to be given, and says, while the same remains kneeling before him: Receive this sword in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and use it for yours Defense, and (in defense) of the holy Church of God, and to confuse the enemies of the cross of Christ and the Christian faith. And as far as human weakness allows, you may not injure anyone unjustly with it, what he himself may deign to grant you; he who lives and rules with the Father and the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. R: Amen.

In this form of the blessing of the sword, God is asked for the protection of the knight and the purpose of the sword itself is transformed into a warning speech to its bearer. The warning speech places very narrow limits on the future use of the sword.

The Pontifical Romanum was reprinted together with the blessing of the sword (and other equipment) before the Second Vatican Council in the 20th century. Ultimately, no substantial changes should be made to the book, even if the rituals of the knight promotion in the narrower sense were no longer used.

In 1614 the Catholic Church provided a uniform liturgical book with the Rituale Romanum . This ritual does not include a weapon blessing. The Benediction for the German-speaking Catholic dioceses from 1978 does not contain such a blessing either. The mere absence of the ritual in the #Rituale Romanum does not allow the conclusion that the ritual was no longer performed. It was still handed down - albeit in a different liturgical book (the pontifical ). Blessings of weapons and ammunition are documented for the Thirty Years' War and for a (Catholic) Basel agende from 1739, which allowed “the texts of the episcopal blessing of the sword and flag to be used for the blessing of guns and cannons, while for the blessing of Locking powder, balls etc. own prayer texts were provided. "

With the reforms after the Second Vatican Council , the blessing of arms in the Catholic Church is finally a thing of the past. Such formulas of blessing are no longer included in the new editions of the pontifical . The former German military bishop Walter Mixa also stated in 2001 that “such a blessing is inadmissible today and has not been carried out by the Catholics in either of the two world wars”.

Web links

Benedictio Armorum in: Documenta Catholica Omnia; Vetera Liturgia Alemannica, PDF, Latin (827 kB) = scan from Jacques Paul Migne : Appendix ad saeculum X … Paris, Migne, 1853 (Patrologia Latina 138), Sp. 1121–1124

literature

Adolph Franz : The Church Benedictions in the Middle Ages, Volume 2. Freiburg, Herder, 1909, pp. 289-300.
Andreas Heinz: “Weapon blessing” and prayer for peace. On the political dimension of the liturgy . In: Trier Theologische Zeitschrift No. 99, 1990, ISSN 0041-2945 , pp. 193-216.
Benedikt Kranemann : Liturgy between consecration of the sword and prayer for peace . In: Christoph Bultmann, Benedikt Kranemann, Jörg Rüpke (eds.), Religion, Violence, Nonviolence. Problems - Positions - Perspectives . Münster, Aschendorff, 2004, ISBN 3-402-03434-4 , pp. 17–34.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Univ.-Prof. Dr. Basilius J. Groen: God and violence in Southeast Europe - ritual-liturgical and interchurch and interreligious aspects ( Memento from December 8, 2014 in the web archive archive.today )
^ Adolph Franz: The church benedictions in the Middle Ages, Volume 2 Freiburg: Herder, 1909, p. 292
↑ Franz 1909, pp. 289f. For a sword blessing in the printed version of a monastic ritual (cf. Adolph Franz: Das Rituale von St Florian from the 12th century. Freiburg, Herder, 1904, p. 109 (= sheet 113v-114r of the manuscript))
^ Original Latin text reprinted from the Pontificale Romanum by Manlio Sodi and Achille Maria Triacca (eds.): Pontificale Romanum. Editio princeps (1595-1596). Città del Vaticano, Libreria editrice Vaticana; 1997 (Monumenta liturgica concilii Tridentini) Edition pp. 281–285, source pp. 274–278
↑ Sodi and Triacca 1997; Edition p. 541, source p. 536. Woodcuts from the post-Tridentine edition of the Pontifical Romanum are available online, e. B. the illustration of the blessing of the sword
^ Anthony Ward and Cuthbert Johnson (eds.): Pontificale Romanum. Reimpressio editionis iuxta typicam anno 1962 publici iuris factae, partibus praecedentis editionis from illa omissis, introductione et tabulis aucta… . Roma, CLV - Editzione Liturgiche, 1999, [no ISBN]; Edition p. 466, source p. 298; “De Benedictione Novi Militis” edition p. 515f, source p. 375f
↑ Source: Benediktionale. Study edition for the Catholic dioceses of the German-speaking area. Einsiedeln u. a., Benziger et al. a., 1978
^ Benedikt Kranemann : Liturgy between consecration of the sword and prayer for peace . In: Christoph Bultmann, Benedikt Kranemann , Jörg Rüpke (eds.), Religion, Violence, Nonviolence. Problems - Positions - Perspectives . Münster, Aschendorff, 2004, ISBN 3-402-03434-4 , pp. 17–34, esp. P. 23 and p. 266, note 35. Kranemann also quotes a prayer form with which “German imperial troops sent to China” 1900 were blessed: “Bless also, O Lord, the arms of our troops who fight in the Far East for the cause of the beloved fatherland and the atonement of the shed blood of his children, and give them victorious success so that they may after restoration of peace and unity return to the fatherland crowned with glory ”, p. 23f
↑ Walter Mixa: Bless the weapons? Legitimation of military operations by the armed forces and military pastoral care. Lecture at the leadership academy of the Bundeswehr in Hamburg on May 7, 2001. Cf. Arnold Vogt: Religion in the military. Pastoral care between the glorification of war and humanity. A study of military history (Europäische Hochschulschriften III, 253), Frankfurt a. M. et al., Peter Lang, 1984, ISBN 3-8204-5185-4 , p. 576f reports on a survey published in 1935 among military chaplains and their superior authorities in various warring parties, which shows that weapon blessings in the First World War from the Catholic. Church not allowed and not even done by priests on their own.

[uni-graz-1] Univ.-Prof. Dr. Basilius J. Groen: God and violence in Southeast Europe - ritual-liturgical and interchurch and interreligious aspects ( Memento from December 8, 2014 in the web archive archive.today )

[2] Adolph Franz: The church benedictions in the Middle Ages, Volume 2 Freiburg: Herder, 1909, p. 292

[3] Franz 1909, pp. 289f. For a sword blessing in the printed version of a monastic ritual (cf. Adolph Franz: Das Rituale von St Florian from the 12th century. Freiburg, Herder, 1904, p. 109 (= sheet 113v-114r of the manuscript))

[4] Original Latin text reprinted from the Pontificale Romanum by Manlio Sodi and Achille Maria Triacca (eds.): Pontificale Romanum. Editio princeps (1595-1596). Città del Vaticano, Libreria editrice Vaticana; 1997 (Monumenta liturgica concilii Tridentini) Edition pp. 281–285, source pp. 274–278

[5] Sodi and Triacca 1997; Edition p. 541, source p. 536. Woodcuts from the post-Tridentine edition of the Pontifical Romanum are available online, e. B. the illustration of the blessing of the sword

[6] Anthony Ward and Cuthbert Johnson (eds.): Pontificale Romanum. Reimpressio editionis iuxta typicam anno 1962 publici iuris factae, partibus praecedentis editionis from illa omissis, introductione et tabulis aucta… . Roma, CLV - Editzione Liturgiche, 1999, [no ISBN]; Edition p. 466, source p. 298; “De Benedictione Novi Militis” edition p. 515f, source p. 375f

[7] Source: Benediktionale. Study edition for the Catholic dioceses of the German-speaking area. Einsiedeln u. a., Benziger et al. a., 1978

[8] Benedikt Kranemann : Liturgy between consecration of the sword and prayer for peace . In: Christoph Bultmann, Benedikt Kranemann , Jörg Rüpke (eds.), Religion, Violence, Nonviolence. Problems - Positions - Perspectives . Münster, Aschendorff, 2004, ISBN 3-402-03434-4 , pp. 17–34, esp. P. 23 and p. 266, note 35. Kranemann also quotes a prayer form with which “German imperial troops sent to China” 1900 were blessed: “Bless also, O Lord, the arms of our troops who fight in the Far East for the cause of the beloved fatherland and the atonement of the shed blood of his children, and give them victorious success so that they may after restoration of peace and unity return to the fatherland crowned with glory ”, p. 23f

[9] Walter Mixa: Bless the weapons? Legitimation of military operations by the armed forces and military pastoral care. Lecture at the leadership academy of the Bundeswehr in Hamburg on May 7, 2001. Cf. Arnold Vogt: Religion in the military. Pastoral care between the glorification of war and humanity. A study of military history (Europäische Hochschulschriften III, 253), Frankfurt a. M. et al., Peter Lang, 1984, ISBN 3-8204-5185-4 , p. 576f reports on a survey published in 1935 among military chaplains and their superior authorities in various warring parties, which shows that weapon blessings in the First World War from the Catholic. Church not allowed and not even done by priests on their own.