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Question 31: Recently I was advised by a parish priest that I should not strike my breast during the Agnus Dei -- that it was liturgically incorrect. I have done this for years and I am sure I have seen this "rubric" somewhere. Has something changed or has it expressly been forbidden?
Answer: From a technical point of view the parish priest is correct. Striking one's breast is a gesture implying penance and admission of sinfulness.
In the present rite it is done, above all, within the context of the first form of rite of penance at the beginning of Mass when the "I confess" is used and by the priest when he uses the Roman canon (Eucharistic Prayer 1) at the words "though we are sinners."
Before the reforms of the Second Vatican Council it was also customary to do so at the "Lamb of God" and at the "Lord, I am not worthy," and this is probably where you get your custom.
The gesture is no longer prescribed at these latter moments and should not be fomented among younger Catholics. But it would be probably going too far to say it is forbidden to those who have been raised in this custom.
What motivated the removal of the gesture of striking the breast at the Lamb of God and the "Lord, I am not worthy" is not really known. This gesture entered into the Roman liturgy at these moments relatively late, the first notice of the gesture at the "Lamb of God" is from around 1311, and from a Spanish manuscript dated 1499 for the "Lord, I am not worthy."
I'd guess that the removal of these gestures was a consequence of the general desire for simplification of the rites. Then again, neither the "Lamb of God" nor the "Lord, I am not worthy" are, strictly speaking, penitential rites. They do not mention the personal sin of the individual but rather the sin of the world and a general state of unworthiness.
The "Lamb of God" is rather a hymn of praise for the work of redemption. And the petition of mercy asks for forgiveness of sin as well as for grace, which is a fruit of God's mercy.
Striking or beating the breast with the hand, and bowed head, is an ancient sign of sorrow and penitence (cf., Lk. 18:13; 23:48), survives as a liturgical gesture in the Latin rite. The gesture of beating the breast is carried out during the recitation the Confiteor: “I confess to Almighty God, and to you my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned through my own fault, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do...” Striking the breast at the words “through my own fault.” expresses our repentance physically, in body language.
The early Christians were familiar with the practice, as St. Augustine and St. Jerome testify. “No sooner have you heard the word “Confiteor, says St. Augustine, than you strike your breast. What does this mean except that you wish to bring to light what is concealed in the breast, and by this act to cleanse your hidden sins?”[i] “We strike our breasts”, declares St. Jerome, “because the breast is the seat of evil thoughts: we wish to dispel those thoughts, we wish to purify our hearts.”[ii] A justification for these statements is found in Psalm 51:17: “A broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”
The ancient Christians were accustomed to strike the breast when they heard mention of sensual sins and at the “forgive us our trespasses” of the Our Father.
Father Romano Guardini[iii] answers the question: How should this gesture be carried out?
“All its meaning lies in its being rightly done. To brush one's clothes with the tips of one's fingers is not to strike the breast. We should beat upon our breasts with our closed fists. In the old picture of Saint Jerome in the desert he is kneeling on the ground and striking his breast with a stone. It is an honest blow, not an elegant gesture. To strike the breast is to beat against the gates of our inner world in order to shatter them. This is its significance.
“The blow also is to wake us up. It is to shake the soul awake into the consciousness that God is calling, so that she may hear, and take his part and punish herself. She reflects, repents and is contrite.”
So when you strike your breast, do it like you mean it, so that the sound echoes.
1. St. Augustine, Sermo de verbis Domini, 13.
2. St. Jerome, In Ezechiel 100.18.
3. Guardini, Romano, Sacred Signs, tr. Grace Branham (St. Louis: Pio Decimo Press, 1956).
