Chatty Catholics

There are a lot of advantages to reading Catholic books published pre-Vatican II to see how and what the Catholic Church taught as far as devotions go. For instance, I read the following tonight at Mass:

"At the beginning of reading of the Gospel, when we're standing, both the priest and the people make the sign of the cross; first upon their foreheads, to signify that they are not ashamed of the cross of Christ and his doctrine; secondly, upon their mouths, to signify that they will ever profess it in their words, and thirdly upon their breasts, to signify that they will always keep it in their hearts."

This is from an 1878 manual of spiritual exercises. I always thought that this was a new thing in our Church - new as in after Vatican II.