Pax-brede is a small liturgical tablet, often bearing a sacred image, that historically received the celebrant's kiss and carried the Kiss of Peace to clergy or faithful in the Western liturgy.
Object and names
The object is also called a pax, pax-board, osculatory, or instrumentum pacis. It could be made of precious metal, ivory, wood, enamel, or other worthy material and commonly showed the Crucifixion, Lamb of God, Pietà, or another image connected with Christ's peace. A handle or stand allowed it to be kissed without treating it as an ordinary panel.[1]
Its purpose was ceremonial transmission of the liturgical peace. Rather than many direct embraces, the celebrant kissed the altar or sacred object according to the rite, kissed the pax-brede, and a minister carried it in hierarchical order. The object did not contain the Eucharist, confer a sacrament, or serve as a reliquary merely by form; museum catalogues must distinguish surviving paxes from similar devotional plaques.[2]
Osculatory and pax
Osculatory describes something intended to be kissed and can refer more broadly to an object used for a ritual kiss. Pax names both peace and this particular Western instrument. The terms overlap in historical inventories but should not be assumed to identify every kissed cross, Gospel book, altar card, or reliquary. Context, construction, iconography, and rubric establish the object.
Order of the peace
The pax was offered according to ecclesiastical rank and local ceremonial, a practice that sometimes generated disputes over precedence. Its theological point was the peace of the risen Christ flowing from the altar and uniting communicants, not social honor. When rank overshadowed reconciliation, the sign contradicted its own meaning even if performed with material splendor.
Historical development
The pax-brede became prominent in later medieval Western usage as direct congregational kissing declined. Cathedral, monastic, courtly, and parish customs varied, and examples survive as important works of sacred art. It never became the sole universal form of the Roman peace, and its use receded with later rubrical and social changes.
Historical sources should be dated carefully. A medieval customary, Tridentine ceremonial, regional directory, and modern Roman Missal describe different legal contexts. Reconstructing an old ceremony for study is not the same as possessing authority to insert it into the current Mass. Legitimate restoration requires the competent liturgical law, not the object's availability.[3]
Current significance
The current Roman Rite ordinarily gives the Sign of Peace directly in a sober form determined by the conference of bishops. A pax-brede may remain relevant in communities whose approved books or legitimate customs provide for it, and it remains important to historians, sacristans, museums, and conservators. It should not be presented as required evidence of a more authentic Mass.
As sacred cultural property, a surviving pax deserves accurate provenance, conservation, and protection from illicit sale. Its imagery can still teach that liturgical peace comes through Christ's sacrifice. The Pax-brede is best understood neither as quaint tableware nor as a lost sacrament but as one historical embodiment of the Church's command to exchange peace before Communion.
References
- 1.Catechism of the Catholic Church — Authoritative synthesis of Catholic doctrine, sacramental life, morality, and prayer
- 2.Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), Pax in the Liturgy — Public-domain historical treatment of the pax-brede, osculatory, and the ceremonial transmission of the kiss of peace
- 3.General Instruction of the Roman Missal — Authoritative Roman Rite norms for the structure, ministers, signs, furnishings, colors, and celebration of Mass