Father Knows Best—Episode 26: The Garments Worn by Priests, The Use of “Intinction”, Why was Holy Water Removed During the COVID-19 Pandemic, and the San Damiano Cross.

Please tune in on Wednesday July 8 at 9:00 pm on Siouxland Catholic Radio 88.1 FM Episode #26 of Father Knows Best sponsored by St. Augustine Indian Mission in Winnebago, NE features Father Mark Stoll addressing questions about the garments worn by priests, the use of “intinction”, why was Holy Water removed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the San Damiano Cross. 

Tune in tonight so we may discover, learn, and engage our hearts, souls and minds so we may be illuminated, informed and inspired. Please send your questions to fatherknowsbestshow@yahoo.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I have questions. I don't understand. I'm confused. What's going on? That's not what I learned in school. What does the church really teach? Welcome to Father No's Bush, the studios of 88.1 FM, KFH, Pankasu City, and K-O-I-A Storm Lake. Brought to you by the St. Augustine Indian Mission, Winnebago. We all have questions and the curiosity about matters of faith as it is normal for humanity to ask questions and seek answers in the timeless quest for understanding regarding matters of faith in the church. We believe that there is no such thing as a foolish or dumb question. Sometimes the questions and answers will lead us to insights we never considered. We at Siouxland Catholic Radio want to invite our listeners from Jackson, Nebraska to Elk Point, South Dakota, to Strommick, Iowa, and everywhere in between and beyond, send your questions to us at Father Knows Best Show at Yahoo.com. Or mail them to Father Knows Best, Sioux Lan Catholic Radio, 701 West Fifth Street, Sioux City, Iowa, 51103. During this time, once a week, I or another guest will do our best to answer some of the questions I've received here at the studio so we may discover, learn, and engage our hearts and souls and minds so we may be illuminated, informed, and inspired. So I thank you for tuning in. We invite you to open your mind, let the questions begin, and let your curiosity find its voice. Hello, I'm Father Mark Stoll, Priest of the Diocese of Sioux City with you today. And joining me again is Tim Soudin, Executive Director of Sioux Line Catholic Radio, here to present some of the questions I received from your listeners. And so, Tim, are you ready for another round of questions and answers?

SPEAKER_02 1:50

I look forward to Wednesday nights every week, and the excitement I have for my faith driven by this show is incredible.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

Excellent, excellent. So we got some interesting questions this evening. And so let's dive in. Well, before we drive in, I should just mention Ann is here, of course, on the control board to help us sound good. And uh we're ready now. Let's dive in.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Do you think she really does that? Do you think she makes us sound good?

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Well, I hope she does because every time I listen, you know, later on, it's like I think we're sounding pretty good. I agree. Okay, let's go.

SPEAKER_02 2:21

In Exodus 28, the Bible describes God's request to Moses as to the garments of the priests. How many of these garments are worn by the priests today?

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Thank you for this question. Um, so what Betty's referring to is a section in the Exodus, uh, chapter 28, where it describes for Aaron and his sons, who are the first priests of the Jewish religion, uh commissioned by Moses himself, there is a description of vestments they are to wear. And in that chapter says, These are the vestments they shall make, a breastplate, an ephod. Again, ephod is a type of an apron that's worn by the high priest of Israel, a robe, a brocade tunic, a turban, and a sash. And a little bit later on that chapter it mentions a skull cap to be worn by the priest. And then when we look at that, those that those verses, there are some extensive details given describing each item, including what they were made of, the color, the number of stones. It even went so far as even describes the undergarments, the underwear that the priests were to wear. And it's just an extensive description of how these vestments were to look and and how they'd be made, etc., etc. And so, yes, these the vestments that we use today do have some basis to what is described in Exodus 28. However, the vestments that we use today at Mass that the priests use, they're more really based on the time of the early church and on the styles of the Roman culture in the early church days. But there is again some connection between the vestments described in Exodus chapter 28. I just want to point out, just to be clear, that there's nothing in the rubrics that we use in the Catholic Church that actually describes what type of underwear, undergarments the priest wears. So we're not going there. So in the book of Exodus talks about a robe to be used. I would uh basically say this is basically related to the chargeable. The chargeable is the garment that the priest wears that we basically see all the time because it's, you know, it's and I've talked about this in previous episodes about the colors, you know, white, green, purple, or red. It's basically, you know, kind of big flowing gown that he's wearing over his arms, over his body, covers almost his entire body. That's chargeable, which I would think back goes back to kind of the robe that they're describing Exodus. The Exodus describes a brocade tunic. I would say this probably more aligns with what we call the elbow the elbe is a white vestment that is worn underneath the chargeable. It's worn over top of the street clothes of the priest, the clerics, that the the the clerical garb the priest is wearing the black and uh shirt and pants, and its white garment represents baptism. And so I think that's probably what what this brocade tunic would be akin to. Mentions of sash. Um a sash, probably during the celebration of the Eucharist, would probably be related to what we call the censure. It's a it's a rope that is tied around the priest's waist. And again, you may just see part of it with tassels on the end, uh, but that's the sash, it's akin to the center of the rope that is worn around the priest's waist. Mention the skull cap. That is obviously today what we call that a zakettal. Zakettel is, again, this is a skull cap, it just covers kind of the top, back part of the head. Um, a priest could wear one, and if a priest had one, it would be black. A bishop wears one, it's purple. A cardinal wears one, it's red, and the pope wears one, it's white. And probably we're more most familiar with the bishop and the and the pope, seeing there's the kettles. They're they're purple, the kettle worn by the bishop, or the white, it's a kettle worn by the pre the by the pope. That's the skull cap. And then it mentions the turban. And again, the turban, again, we align to the uh miter worn by the bishop. And so there are some uh again, some connections. And so there's some again some basis of what we wear today with what we find in Exodus chapter uh 28. However, I'd say that today's vestments are more of an adaptation of the Roman styles of the early church. Again, there's some been adaptations taking place over the centuries, and so because it's a little bit hard to describe these and a little kind of comparisons, I will be posting on the Father Knowles Best Facebook page a picture of the uh garments described by Exodus and then some explanation of the garments worn by the priest today. Okay. So hopefully that answers your question. And again, if you get a chance to check out the Facebook page, check that out.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

And the color of the garments is pretty much driven by the season of the year.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Yes, yeah. As far as the vestments are worn by the priest. Uh my understanding when you look at the vestments in chapter 28 of Exodus, it's basically this it was the same kind of style all the time. And again, remember what the priests were doing, they were offering incense or uh burnt offerings in the in the temple.

SPEAKER_02 7:24

So very good. Next question. Don from Sioux City asks, why do nations like Africa use instinction as C9EWTN for Pope Leo's visit at communion? And is this banned in America?

SPEAKER_00 7:41

Thank you for that question. First, let's talk about what we mean by intinction. Intinction is this Catholic liturgical practice of receiving Holy Communion by which a priest dips a consecrated host partially into the precious blood in the chalice, then says the communicant, the body and blood of Christ. The communicant responds, Amen, and then that host is placed on the communicant's tongue. So in order to do this, there needs to be a patent with the with the consecrated host, the Blessed Sacrament. There needs to be a chalice present nearby, available to the priest, so that, you know, either, either I mean it could even be a combined piece. And I remember back when we first introduced receiving the precious blood of Holy Communion, that there was a patent on which a little tiny uh cup, small chalice was attached, that the priest would then take the host from the patent, dip it into the precious blood, and then communicate the the the uh communicant. So again, the the other practice would be actually having the priest with a patent and then someone standing next to him with a chalice. Right. So that's intention. So we have to remember that when we do this too, then there needs to be a communion plate that needs to be held underneath the communicant, you know, either by an altar server, and many of us remember those patents from you know a long time ago from the 70s. Some places still use them. But essentially, all communicants then will receive this way without any option, you know, to receive just the host. But again, intinction involves dipping the host into the precious blood and then communicating the person. Now, second again, uh, what about this maybe concept of being banned in America? The truth is that intinction is not banned in the United States of America. In the Roman Catholic Church, in the Latin Rite, which includes the United States, intinction is a permitted option for distributing holy communion under both kinds, both the host and the precious blood. And again, this is done again by specific procedures. The practice is permitted by the Latin Church, and under the General Instruction Roman Missile and under the United States Bishops Conference norms, we find the following. In the General Instruction, it says that the precious blood may be received either by drinking from the child directly or by intinction or by means of a tube or spoon. General Instruction Roman Missile goes on to say in paragraph 191, a duly instituted acolyte as an external minister of holy communion may assist, if necessary, may assist the priest in distributing communion to the people. If communion is given of both kinds in the absence of deacon, the acolyte administers the chalice to the communicates and or holds the chalice if communion is done by intinction. In general instruction, Roman Missal 285, it says, For communion of both kinds, the following should be prepared. If communion from the chalice is done by intinction, the host should be neither too thin or nor too small, but rather a little thicker than usual, so that after being intincted partially in the blood of Christ, they can still be easily distributed. A few paragraphs later it says, If communion from the chalice is carried out by intinction, each communicate holding a communion plate under the mouth approaches the priest who holds the vessel with the sacred particles, with the minister standing at his side, holding the chalice. The priest takes the host and takes it partially in the chalice and says, So showing it says the body and blood of Christ, the communicant replies, Amen, receives the sacrament in the mouth from the priest, and then withdraws. Again, this means that to receive holy communion this way by intinction is only done on the tongue. And again, also another part it talks about is that intinction may not be done by the communicant him or herself, and you may not receive the intinct host in the hand. In 2002, the United States Bishops uh issued a or updated document they call Norms for the Distribution of Reception of Holy Communion of Both Kinds in the Diocese of the United States of America, and there we find the following statements. Among the ways of ministering the precious blood as prescribed by the General Instruction Roman Missal, communion from the chalice is a generally preferred form in the Latin Church, provided it be carried out properly according to the norms without any risk of apparent irreverence toward the blood of Christ. Distribution of the precious blood by a spoon or through a straw is not customary in the Latin diocese of the United States of America. Holy communion may be distributed by intinction. The communicant, including the extra minister, is never allowed to self-communicate even by means of intinction. Communion under both forms, bread or wine, must always be given by an ordinary or external minister of Holy Communion. One of the interesting things we find in these documents is that rarely is a deacon mentioned, except noting that in normal circumstances he would carry out the role of the minister of the chalice. And so the absence of mention of a deacon, you know, and it partly assumes at that time, I can remember when these documents were being written, you know, we're talking 2002 and before, that there were not as many deacons to then as there are today. And at that time too, there was not as many extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion as we have today. And so some things in those situations have changed a little bit. More deacons, more external ministers, more extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion. And so we also know that in some places too, it's it's still kind of rare to have a deacon there. But whenever a minister, the the generic term minister is used, it is making a reference to a deacon who is holding the chalice, especially holding the chalice for an intinction. So these documents also have very little to say of how do you do this? How do you distribute communion of both kinds, you know, when both the deacon and external minister are present. You know, so again it would seem that you know the deacon is the minister of the chalice, and so he would be the one holding the chalice for the priest if that's what we're doing for the intinction. So it would seem again legitimate that where there are several external ministers of holy communion available to assist, that both the priest and the deacon would distribute the host and tinct the body of Christ in the chalice of the precious blood. But again, this when you look at these documents, there's no leave fixed rules, you know, how to do this, you know, when intinction is done. But one way I have one document I came across is it would seem kind of practical that if we're doing intinction, that the minister, usually the deacon of the you know, the minister of the chalice would stand to the left of the priest, holding the chalice slightly inclined toward the priest, so the priest can then reach in with the host and then take the the the host into the blood. So, in summary, the intinction is a practice of the Catholic Church permitted throughout the world. Thus, it's up to each Episcopal conference, group of bishops, such as in the United States, or maybe in a in a region in Africa, or up to the individual bishop, or even up to the individual pastor, to decide whether or not am I going to offer Holy Communion under both forms, under one form only, or am I going to offer through intinction? So that's when Pope Leo visited parts of Africa on his trip in back in April 2026, he did visit places where communion was being offered via intinction. So that was their norm there. And so what some people may also consider as a ban on intinction is actually that the prohibition of a communicant to self-communicate, means take the host themselves, or to intinct the host themselves in the chalice, you know, take a host and then themselves put that host in the chalice to dip it in the precious blood, or to receive the intincted host on the hand. Again, communion must be received, you know, either in the hand or on the tongue from an ordinary minister or an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion. If an intinction is done, then it's supposed to body and blood that is then placed on the tongue of the queen, the kint. So I hope that answers your question.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

So I think that does do a good job of answering the question. Do you know of any localities within the United States that use intinction?

SPEAKER_00 15:50

I do not know. I'm not aware of any. Okay. You know, I'm again mostly aware of what's happening in the Diocese City, and I'm not aware of anything going on in the Dysus City of that. Okay. Again, I just remember when I was a uh back in the 70s, that was introduced. Yep. Then it kind of disappeared. And that's I think my guess is what happened there is that most parishes didn't have enough extra-minister holy communion nor enough chalices to offer communion of both forms separately. Yep. But then we offered intinction for a while. But again, remember, when you do intinction, you're only given the communicate one choice. Right. You're going to receive both the host and the precious blood at the same time. Correct. And some people may not want to receive the precious blood for various reasons. Very good answer. And so again, it's an option, but again, I think a little less widely used than it used to be. Our next question. Let's start. Let's just remind people that you know, if they're tuning in just now, you're listening to Father Knows Best here on Sioux and Catholic Radio. I am answering your questions about faith in the Catholic Church. I'm Father Mark Stowe joined with Tim Sudin, who's presenting some of the questions I received with from you. And so, Tim, let's go to our third question.

SPEAKER_02 16:57

Don from Sioux City sent in a second question. Yes, he did. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we removed holy water for blessing ourselves as we entered the church. As a sacramental sign, the holy water is blessed through the power of God by the priest. What was the thinking at COVID? Did we think that blessed water would not protect us?

SPEAKER_00 17:23

Thank you for that question. Again, remember holy water is a sacramental. It is water that has been blessed through the power of God by a priest to be used for baptism, for the blessing of other sacrament items. And again, a reminder of our own baptism when we enter the church building as we dip our fingertips in the font and make the sign of the cross. So when COVID-19 began infecting people in late 2019, there were many questions that came about, including where did this virus come from? How are we going to contain it? How do we treat it? How do we prevent it from being overspread? And at that time, we remember the governments, whether it's national, state, local governments, health organizations from the national to the local level, began issuing directives, rules, including restricting public activity, restricting things, including how close we could be one to one another. They brought about social distancing, wearing a face mask, sanitizing items, and restricting the use of some other items. At that same time, the United States Bishops Conference asked every diocese in the country to set up a COVID task force to again decide how to implement these federal, state, local government health organization directives. In the diocese of Sioux City, like other dioceses. In Diocese City, Bishop Nicholas formed a task force which consisted of six priests who met then weekly to discuss the status of the pandemic and almost daily changes that were being issued from national and local protocols. Again, we tried to work in cooperation with the other three dioceses in the state of Iowa. We worked through issues that we were never trained to deal with, you know, when we went to seminary. And again, part of the whole bottom line was how do we help prevent and control the spread of COVID-19, which was mysterious on how it was spread and who it was affecting. On March 13, 2020, Bishop Nicholas of the ICU City issued his first directive after consulting his advisors and the Presbyteral Council, which is again a group of priests that helped advise him. And at that time, he issued this document stating all personal meetings, all in-personal meetings be canceled. He dispensed all Catholics over age 65 and those with underlying mental conditions from the obligation of attending Mass. He also said remove the holy water. We'll come back to that in a little bit. Hymnals and other paper items removed from all churches. Prohibited the shaking and holding hands, including no sign of peace. Recommended communion of the hand, suspended the offering of precious blood for Holy Communion, and asked pastors to evaluate other activities in the parish during that difficult time. And again, that was right. You know, we were just still in person, but again, very started, limited down, and just with a week or so later, we shut down everything. So again, that was based on the federal and state and local governments and how the organizations ordered us to go to online masses, restricted contact with people, limited group gatherings, again, face masks and social distance, six feet. Again, we may recall back then we were kind of at difficult and fearful times. Like this is something new. We was like, what's going on here? What's the right thing to do? How do we protect people? How do we, this is a key question, how do we celebrate the sacraments as we need to do, as as we're called to do with these protocols? And the other question is who are we going to listen to? Who are we going to follow? Because we were receiving mixed messages from various uh people and groups, you know, about you know from you know how infectious this was and et cetera, et cetera. We even kind of talked a little about how was the 1918-1920 flu pandemic uh handled. Again, remember that time it's called the Great Influenza Epidemic. Sometimes this misleading name is used the Spanish flu. Again, this was an exceptional, deadly global influenza pandemic caused by an H1N1 subtype of influenza A virus, you know, which we still have still today. But you know, how do we do all this? And so the COVID task force in DioC City with Bishop Nicholas, we decided to err on the side of caution. And again, what we were doing was this the right thing to do? Was it even necessary? Again, there was lots of opinions. Again, there was new facts coming out all the time regarding what is happening, how we'd address this pandemic. And again, we're asking again to, you know. How about the freedom practice religion? You know, but how's this being limited? You know, is it being unlimited unnecessarily by the government? Since 2020 and 2021, we have learned many new facts about the virus, and now we can evaluate did we do the right thing? You know, we can say, you know, have we would we have done things differently had we known what we know now? And I say, yes, we did the best we could under the circumstances. So let's go to holy water. It is a sacramental. Water blessed by the priest to be used for baptism, blessed sacramental items, reminded of our own baptism. And yet, at that time you remember people were afraid of passing germs and the virus, you know, such as COVID-19 through the holy water. Even though we only touched that water for a brief moment of time with our fingertips, and we blessed ourselves in the forehead, chests, and shoulders. I mean, we could even just have refrained, you know, the water's there, we don't have to use it. And we could have refrained if we were afraid of catching a disease from it. It's kind of like a previous episode, I talked about, you know, the consecrate host in the wine, the body and blood received on Holy Communion as episode 17. And we, you know, you know, if if we're afraid to catch something from the chalice, okay, you can avoid it. You're not gonna go, you're not gonna catch anything because it's the precious blood. But we can say the same thing about holy water. Again, holy water is not consecrate like the bread and wine, but the holy water is blessed by God through prayer, and so we ought to believe that the holy water does have some abilities to protect us from evil. Um, and so again, uh, you know, maybe what people are having a problem is the doubting the power of the holy water. So then it's good for us to remember to remind people what is the power of holy water, you know, about the cleaning. You know, one of the things that we do regularly in our churches is we do clean the holy water fonts because there are sometimes buildup of dirts, oils, and other substances that collect in the font. So again, it's important for us to keep the holy water font fresh. So, did we do the right thing or not? I think for the comfort of some people we did, but again, as a Sacramento, it would help protect from evil.

SPEAKER_02 24:08

It was a very uncertain time.

SPEAKER_00 24:09

It was very uncertain.

SPEAKER_02 24:11

Interesting. Our last question this evening comes from Joanne from Sioux City and emailed you a question along with a photo.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 24:21

A friend gave me this cross. What is the story behind it?

SPEAKER_00 24:26

Thank you for this question. And then on Facebook, I've got to include a picture of this cross, which may just kind of describe what this cross is like. It's actually more of a crucifix. And the photo again is on Facebook, face Father Knows Best. So for our listeners who do not have access to Facebook, let me allow first to describe this cross because I can't show it to you on the air race. This is a large Romanesque, R-O-R-O-O-D cross. Painted in the early 12th century, painted in a Byzantine style. At first glance, this appears very busy. It's packed with many images, and it's all difficult to take in. The cross is trimmed by a gold border, and it depicts Christ's Passion. Jesus is wearing a white and gold garment that covers him from the waist to just above his knees, again, tied at the waist with a gold center or rope. He's looking slightly upward at a sad look in his eyes with a gold halo on his head. On his right is depicted his mother Mary and the Apostle John. To his left is depicted of two women and a man, Mary Magdalene, Mary Mother of James, and the humble centurion who asked our Lord to heal his dying son. Also, we find five witnesses that are smaller figures. One of Losandros, who's the soldier who pierced the side of Christ. There's also another soldier, traditionally named Stephan, who offered our Lord the sponge with vinegar and gall. And then there's the humble centurion household member, again, who followed Christ after the Son's healing. Near Jesus' left and right hand are depicted on the crossbars, six angels that are holding up the cross with their hands, three on each side. And then we have at the foot of the cross five more figures, traditionally held to be pagan saints of the Umbria area. Again, this is the area of Italy. And above Jesus had his inscription, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, and that's written in Greek. And above the inscription, we see the resurrection of Christ ascending to heaven, as above him the hand of God, blesses him, while ten angels surround Jesus. The cross itself is kind of a unique shape with parts, you know, lower parts and other parts kind of wider. It's not really kind of a traditional, but this is a unique cross, unique and different from other crucifixes we often see. The story is very simply this. This is, depicts the San Dominiano cross, is the cross that is one of the most famous religious images for Franciscan tradition. It is what you have as a replica of the crucifix before which St. Francis of Assisi prayed when the Lord asked him to rebuild his church. And it was in the year 1205 that he stopped at this church of San Diamo. It was a small, thick, walled church that was built around 1030 A.D., once a home of a flourishing Benedictine community that had fallen into abandoned disrepair. Just outside the town of Assisi, St. Francis hears the voice from the cross say, Francis, go and repair my house, which you see is falling into ruin. The original again hung in that small church. The original now hangs in the Basilica of St. Clair in Assisi, Italy. And again, a replica is now in the original position in the Church of Sao Diamond, which is nearby. So this cross is very highly revered and cherished by the members of the Franciscan Order because they see this cross as a symbol of their mission to God to renew and rebuild the church. This is again highly revered. And this is the cross is very widely replicated and it's sold in religious goods stores. Again, it's a wonderful gift to give during this year of St. Francis. I have two of these in my house. One is six inches tall, another one's 29 inches tall. The original is six feet tall. So that's the story of your church cross.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

Interesting. That is so interesting.

SPEAKER_00 28:23

So I believe that can kind of wrap up for tonight because come to the end. So thank you for those wonderful questions. Again, if you want to see that picture of the cross, go to the Facebook page and you'll see that cross along with some of the vestments we talked about earlier. So we really appreciate tuning in to Sullivan Catholic Radio's offer, both national and local programs, including Faith in Action, Draw Near, Life Plan, Catholic Ministry Professionals, Divine Mercy Chaplet, and the Sunday Morning Mass. Please check out the Facebook pages for Sioux Line Catholic Radio and Father Nose Spencer for more information about this show. Again, as we wrap up today's question and answer session, we extend our heartfelt thanks to all of our listeners for tuning in and sharing your thought and provoking questions. Your curiosity and engagement make the show possible. We're always inspired by the incredible range of topics to bring to the table. We hope you found these answers that we've heard tonight informative and enlightening, and that you carry some insights with you throughout your week. If your question wasn't answered in this episode, you may hear the answer to your question next week. If you missed this episode or want to re-listen to this episode or other episodes, please visit our website, SudanCatholicRadio.com, and visit the programs drop menu and click on local programs to find this episode and other episodes of Father Knows Best and other local programs. Again, if you have any questions, please send them to me at Father Knows Best Show at Yahoo.com or mail them Father Knows Best, Sue Line Catholic Radio, 701 West Fifth Street, Sioux City, Iowa, 51103. Thank you to our sponsors, St. Augusta Indian Mission, Winnebago. Please join us again next Wednesday at 9 p.m. for another round of questions. Until then, stay curious, stay faithful, keep your light shining, keep those questions coming. Ahead. May Mighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.