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Lavabo July 2
Lavabo July 2
Lavabo July 2
A lavabo is a device used to provide water for the washing of hands. It consists
normally of a ewer or container of some kind to pour water, and a bowl to catch the
water as it falls off the hands. In ecclesiastical usage it refers to both the basin in which
the priest washes his or her hands and the ritual that surrounds this action in the
Eucharist. In secular usage, it refers to a sink for washing hands; the room in which it is
kept is the lavatory.
The name Lavabo ("I shall wash") is derived from the words of Psalm 26:6 (KJV—in the
Septuagint it is Psalm 25): "I will wash my hands in innocency, so will I compass thine altar,
O Lord". The washing of the celebrant’s hands during the recitation of these psalm verses is
of very ancient usage in the Christian church:
"In the third century there are traces of a custom of washing the hands as a preparation for prayer
on the part of all Christians; and from the fourth century onwards it appears to have been usual for
the ministers at the Communion Service ceremonially to wash their hands before the more solemn
part of the service as a symbol of inward purity."[1]
In most liturgical traditions, the priest washes his or her hands after vesting, before the
beginning of the liturgy. This washing may be accompanied by prayers. Many Christian
rites also have the priest wash hands before beginning the Eucharistic prayer. In the
Apostolic Constitutions, VIII, 11, the hands of the celebrants are washed just before the
dismissal of the catechumens.
July 2, 2009