thumbnail|right|Mexican bishop [[José Raúl Vera López|Raúl Vera giving the Pax salutation]]
In Christian liturgy, "the Pax" is an abbreviation of the Latin salutations "pax vobis" ("peace to you") or "pax vobiscum" ("peace with you"), which are used in the Catholic Mass, the Lutheran Divine Service, and the Western Orthodox Mass.
Origins
Like the other liturgical salutations, e. g., "Dominus vobiscum", the Pax is of biblical origin.
On such occasions the liturgy contains prayers or collects ad pacem. Edmond Martene gives other instances of the use of "pax".
See also
- As-salamu alaykum
- Shalom
- Holy kiss
- Pax (liturgical object)
References
Bibliography
- Peter Damian, an opusculum on Dominus Vobiscum in Patrologia Latina CXLV, 234;
- Zaccaria, Onomasticon, s. vv. Pax vobis and Salutatio episcopalis;
- Bona Rerum liturg., III, 12, 88 sqq.;
- Smith, Dict. of Christ. Antiq., s.v. Pax (cf. Dominus vobiscum);
- De dignitate sacerdotali (not written by St. Ambrose, as was long believed, but by Gerbert), v, in P.L.., XVII, 598 and CXXXIX, 175, contains an important text on this subject;
- Rocca De salutatione sacerdotis in missa et divinis officiis in Thesaurus antiquitat., I (Rome, 1745), 236;
- Edmond Martene, De antiquis ecclesiae ritibus, I, 151 sqq.;
- Mamachi, Origines et antiq. christ., IV, 479; III, 17, 19;
- Ephemerides liturg. (Feb., 1910), 108;
- Probst, Die abendlandische Messe, 104, 404, 437; see Dominus Vobiscum, V, 114;
- Cabrol in Dict. d'archeol. chret., s.v. Acclamations.
For the formula Pax and other formulas in funeral epigraphy:
- Kirsch, Die Acclamationen u. Gebete der altchristl. Grabschriften (Cologne, 1897);
- ____, Les acclamations des epitaphes chret. de l'antiquite et les prieres liturg. pour les defunts in IV Congres scientifique des Catholiques (Fribourg, 1898), 113–22;
- Syxto, Notiones archaeol. christ., II, Epigraphia, 94 sqq.;
- Cabrol, La priere pour les morts in Revue d'apologetique (15 Sept., 1909);
- ____, Livre de la priere antique, 67, 69.