The Imposition of Hands in the Sacrament of Order from the 10th Century to the Vaticanum II

Abstract

From a ritual and theological point of view, the imposition (laying on) of hands, the fundamental and essential gesture in the Sacrament of Order, has a rich and interesting history. The Second Vatican Council returned to the theological thought of Christian antiquity, treating the impositio manuum as the substantial gesture of the aforementioned sacrament. Together with the consecratory prayer this gesture constitutes the “form” and the “matter” of the sacrament. In the feudal-medieval era, especially from the 10^th century, the ritual is neglected and placed in the shadow of the ordination rite. The first place took traditio instrumentorum, which lasted until the 20^th century. Beyond these historical changes, the gesture of the imposition (laying on) of hands was always present within the rite of the priestly order, and for this reason, in the ordinate it is always stable sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit.