About this blogger:
Jeff Ostrowski
A theorist, organist, and conductor, Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004), where he also did graduate work in Musicology. On 22 January 2011, the board of directors elected Mr. Ostrowski President of Corpus Christi Watershed. He lives with his wife and daughter in Corpus Christi, TX.
Home » Blogs » Main Blog » The Correct Way To Fold Hands At Mass
The Correct Way To Fold Hands At Mass
published 13 February 2011 by Jeff Ostrowski

In my view, this is the correct way to fold one’s hands while serving at the Altar:

Whenever I go to Mass and see altar servers and priests folding their hands like this:

    

. . . it makes me feel like they’re (perhaps) a little bit embarrassed to serve God at the Altar.

Am I crazy? Am I simply too attached to all the rules they taught us when I was a boy? They taught us how to act in an orderly and dignified manner while serving Mass. They taught us that, when we sit, we are to keep both hands on our thighs. They taught us that, when we walk, we are not to swagger. They taught us never to look at the people in the pews (when we are seated for the sermon). They taught us never to grab onto the Altar when we genuflect. Etc.

Feel free to voice your opinion in the “comment boxes” below.

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Comments

1 Todd says...

Nearly all such rules are local. Are they important? Generally yes, if they reinforce behavior not only within Mass but outside of it.

I never trained servers with particulars on how to hold their hands. But I did try to impart the importance of carrying oneself with dignity and respect for people and for things.

Posted at 3:15 p.m. on February 13, 2011

2 Raquel Ford says...

I've been an altar server at Our Lady Queen of Angels Church for 5 years now and I was taught how to fold my hands correctly as shown in the Altar Servers' Guidebook. Thank you for bringing this. God bless you.

Posted at 10:09 p.m. on February 13, 2011

3 Tony Kaiser says...

When I was in Jr. High or High School, our priest, Fr. Reising (Requiescat in Pace) properly taught us such things, and we had a full crew of altar boys, and a pretty good size parish population at the time. We were blessed back then (mid-80s).

Posted at 6:20 a.m. on February 16, 2011

4 Henry Balkwill says...

Here in England, I consider what you label as the "correct" way to fold hands as awfully continental and foreign to English Catholicism. We tend to encourage number two as it doesn't look quite so forced.

Posted at 12:44 p.m. on February 16, 2011

5 Linda H. Simms, BMus, MM says...

I was taught the 'correct' position when I came into the Church from Anglicanism. All our seminarians use it, and it seems to me to not only be respectfully formal, but it also ties into the 'greeting of the Church' a slight bow with hands folded as shown, rather than the informal wave or germ-spreading handshake.

Posted at 4:31 p.m. on February 19, 2011

6 Sem. James Phillip Monserate says...

i try to teach the acolytes of our parish about that formal and proper way to fold their hands at mass, but they didnt practice to do it.

Posted at 7:59 a.m. on May 15, 2011

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