the churching of women: a brief and selective history
Continuing on the subject of the churching of women, today I’m sharing an overview of the history of this ritual. I’m going to be somewhat selective so that I can refer to the sources I’ve been able to study so far—by the way, I’m planning a bibliography post for the future—and, well, omit what I haven’t gotten to yet. Please know, therefore, that today’s post is not exhaustive.
The practice of churching is thought to have originated in the presentation of Jesus at the Temple (Luke chapter 2), wherein his mother Mary observed the Jewish practice of purification after childbirth (Leviticus chapter 12). The first mention of the Christian practice of churching, according to the 1911 Encyclopedia Brittanica, was in the pseudo-Nicene Arabic canons several hundred years AD.
Initially there were a number of less formalized prayers around aid in childbirth and blessing after giving birth, used in the East and the West both before and after the East-West Schism.1 The concept of ritual impurity from childbirth seems to have gained more prominence around the 12th and 13th centuries2; before this, prayers had more to do with protection and blessing for the woman. Nevertheless, the practice seems to have been widely observed during this period. The Sarum Missal included the rite with the title Benedictio mulieris post partum, ante ostium ecclesiae, and this became a source for the rite in the Book of Common Prayer.
Though many women experienced churching mainly as a time to celebrate together3, some Reformation-era English ecclesiastical leaders critiqued the practice as superstitious, legalistic, or oppressive. However, churching did survive the controversy in at least some Protestant traditions. The emphasis in this time period seems to have been especially on thanksgiving for the woman’s safe delivery.
Churching continued to be observed well into the 20th century in some places4, though it is now rarely practiced. Some scholars and theologians have proposed updates to the churching rite in various traditions, or a reimagined rite for postpartum women. (Stay tuned for more!)
Next up: The theology of churching
“Reconsidering an Obsolete Rite: the churching of women and feminist liturgical theology” (Natalie Knodel)
“The Churching of Mothers in the Orthodox Church” (Carrie Frederick Frost, PhD)
“Purification, Thanksgiving, and the Churching of Women in Post-Reformation England” (David Cressy)
Rite out of Time: A study of the ancient rite of churching and its survival in the twentieth century (Margaret Houlbrooke)