The kiss of peace was in vogue in France down to the thirteenth century. We find it in the story about a very unpleasant incident to which Queen Margaret, the wife of St Louis, was exposed. One day when she was in church and the kiss of peace was to be imparted, she saw close beside her a woman in splendid apparel, and taking the latter to be a lady of rank, she gave her the kiss of peace. It turned out, however, that the queen had made a mistake; she had kissed one of the common courtesans who always swarmed about the Court. She then complained to the king, the consequence of which was that certain ordinances were drawn up with respect to the dress of women of that class, in order to render all confusion with respectable women henceforward impossible.
The kiss of peace in the churches seems to have been abolished in the latter part of the Middle Ages, at different times in different countries.
In the middle of the thirteenth century a special instrument for conveying the kiss was introduced into England—the so-called osculatorium or tabella pacis, which was composed of a metal disc with a holy picture, and was passed round the church to be kissed.
From the English Church the osculatory was gradually introduced into other churches, but nowhere does it appear to have contrived to rejoice in any particularly long stay. In various ways it gave occasion to scandal.
It was provocative of contention and strife in the church itself, when people of position quarrelled violently as to whom the honour belonged of kissing it first. Contentions as to precedence at church are, as we see, of long standing.
It seems also to have served as a sort of profane intermediary between lovers. When a young and beautiful girl kissed it she had close beside her a fine young fellow who waited impatiently to take it directly from her hand and lips. We read in one of Marot’s poems:
I told the maid that she was fair;
I’ve kissed the Pax just after her.
W. F. H.
Through the use of the osculatory, the well-known custom of gallants such as, from the Greek romances and Ovid, existed in ancient times, was revived—Huet calls it elegans urbanitatis genus—when the lover drank out of the goblet from the very place which the beloved one’s lips had touched. Formerly a sort of pax was employed even in Danish churches. The Catholic priests showed the people “a picture in a book” (of course the picture of some saint), and this picture was kissed by the congregation; for which purpose a small fee termed “kiss-money” or “book-money” was handed to the parish clerk.
Even after the use of the pax had been abolished by the Reformation, the “book-money,” as a customary due to the clerk, was retained. But at a congress at Roskilde in 1565, parish clerks were forbidden to demand this fee.
The holy kiss is still imparted in the Greek Church on Easter Sunday; all the faithful greet each other in church with kisses, and the words, “Christ is risen,” the reply to which being, “Verily, He hath risen.” In the Roman Catholic liturgy this usage has been confined to certain masses, and the holy kiss is only exchanged among the clergy, not among the members of the congregation. First, the bishop and archdeacon kiss the altar, then the archdeacon kneels down and the bishop gives him the kiss of peace with the words: Pax tibi, frater, et ecclesiæ sanctæ Dei (Peace be with thee, brother, and with God’s Holy Church). The archdeacon answers: Et cum spiritu tuo (And with thy spirit), after which he gets up, genuflects towards the altar, and carries the kiss of peace to the chief canon, whom he kisses on the left cheek with the words pax tibi, and thus it is sent round to all the officiating clergy with many different ceremonies.