Churching of Women

Churching of Women, a religious usage prevailing in the Christian church from an early period, of women, on their recovery after child-bearing, going to church to give thanks. It appears to have been borrowed from the Jewish law (Lev. xii. 6); and the earliest express mention of it is in the pseudo-Nicene Arabic canons. No ancient forms for the purpose are extant, and those in actual use are of medieval date. The Greek rite is only partially concerned with the woman, being also the presentation of the new-born child in the church on the fortieth day after birth (a usage based upon Luke, ii. 22); the Latin rite, contrariwise, is exclusively a benediction of the woman, and is restricted to such as have borne children in wedlock. It is not obligatory, nor included among strictly parochial rights, but only recommended as a pious and laudable custom. In the Church of England, also, a service for the churching of women, differing little from the medieval rite, finds a place in the Prayer-book. By the Presbyterian and Independent churches of Britain and America it is rejected as having no Scripture warrant.