Chapter I. Of the Sign of the Cross
Q. Why do you treat of the sign of the cross, before you begin to speak of the sacrament?
A, Because this holy sign is made use of in all the sacraments, to give us to understand, that they all have their whole force and efficacy from the cross, that is, from the death and passion of Jesus Christ. What is the sign of Christ, says St. Augustin,1 which all know, but the cross of Christ;- which sign if it be not applied to the foreheads of the believers, to the water with which they are baptized, to the chrism, with which they are anointed, to the sacrifice with which they are fed, none of these things is duly performed.
Q. But did the primitive Christians only make use of the sign of the cross in the administration of the sacraments?
A, Not only then, but also upon all other occasions at every step, says the ancient and learned Tertullian,2 at every coming in and going out, when wo put on our clothes or shoes, when we wash, when wa sit down to table, when we light a candle, when wo go to bed — whatsoever conversation employs us, wo mprint on our foreheads the sign of the cross.
Q. What is the meaning of this frequent use of the sign of the cross?
A. It is to show that we are not ashamed of the cross of Christ; it is to make an open profession of our believing in a crucified God; it is to help us to bear always in mind his death and passion; and to nourish thereby in our souls the three divine virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity.
Q. How are these three divine virtues exercised in the frequent use of the cross?
A. First, faith is exercised, because, the sign of the cross brings to our remembrance the chief article of the Christian belief, viz. The Son of God dying for us upon the cross. Secondly, our hopo is thereby daily nourished and increased; because this holy sign continually reminds us of the passion of Christ, on which is grounded all our hope for mercy, grace and salvation. Thirdly, charity, or the love of God is excited in us by that sacred sign; by representing to us the love which God has showed us in dying upon the cross for us.
Q. In what manner do you make the sign of tho cross?
A. In blessing ourselves, we form the sign of the cross by putting our right hand to the forehead, and so drawing as it were, a line down to tho breast or stomach, and then another line crossing the former from the left shoulder to the right: and the words that we pronounce at the same time are these, Mn the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;' by which we make a solemn profession of our faith in the blessed Trinity. But in blessing other persons or things we form the cross in the air with the right hand extended towards the thing we bless.
Q. Have you any thing more to add in favour of the cross, and the use of signing ourselves with the sign of the cross?
A, Yes, the cross is the standard of Christ, and is called by cur Lord himself, St. Matt. xxiv. 30. the sign of the Son of Man. It is the badge of all good Christians, represented by the letter Tau,3 ordered to be set as a mark upon the forehead of those that were to escape the wrath of God, Ezekiel ix. 4. It was given by our Lord to Constantino, the first Christian emperor, as a token and assurance of victory; when he and his whole army in their march against the tyrant Maxentius saw a cross formed of pure light, above the sun with this inscription, 'By this conquer;' which account the historian Eusebius, in his first book of the life of Constantino, declares he had from that emperor's own mouth. To which we may add that the sign of the cross was used of old by the holy fathers, as an invincible buckler against the devil, and a powerful means to dissipate his illusions; and that God has often made it an instrument in their hands of great and illustrious miracles, of which there are innumerable instances in ancient church history, and in the writings of the fathers, which it would be too tedious here to recount.
Footnotes
Chapter 2 of 29