Book of Common Prayer · Churching of Women (1662) · All versions
York Manual: the Order for Purifying a Woman (the Use of York, as printed in 1509)
English translation by AnglicanGuide from the Latin. Read the Latin edition. Words in [brackets] are supplied or summarise omitted matter.
The northern order: the priest takes the woman by the hand at the door ("Enter into the temple of God"), then Psalm 123, the suffrages and collect; after Mass she kneels at the altar steps for absolution and receives blessed bread. Psalm supplied in full. Translated by AnglicanGuide.
Source: W. G. Henderson (ed.), Manuale et Processionale ad usum Eboracensis, Surtees Society 63 (1875), p. 22 (Internet Archive). Public domain (translation © AnglicanGuide).
The Thanksgiving of Women after Child-birth
At the Church Door
The Order for purifying a woman.
Let the priest come to the door of the church and say to the woman, taking her by the hand: Enter into the temple of God.
The Psalm
Afterward let him say this psalm: To thee have I lifted up [Ad te levavi], with Glory be to the Father. As it was.
[Psalm 123 (Vulgate 122), supplied in full:] To thee have I lifted up mine eyes: who dwellest in heaven.
Behold, as the eyes of servants are on the hands of their masters: as the eyes of the handmaid are on the hands of her mistress, so are our eyes unto the Lord our God, until he have mercy on us.
Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us: for we are greatly filled with contempt.
For our soul is greatly filled: we are a reproach to the rich, and contempt to the proud.
Glory be to the Father. As it was.
The Lesser Litany and Suffrages
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Our Father. And lead us not into temptation.
Save thy handmaid: my God, who putteth her trust in thee.
Send her help from the holy place: and defend her out of Sion.
O Lord, hear my prayer: and let my cry come unto thee.
The Lord be with you. And with thy spirit. Let us pray.
The Collect
O God, who hast delivered this thy handmaid in the peril of childbirth, grant her to be devout in serving thy name: that, having finished the temporal course of the faithful, she may obtain the everlasting quiet of thy mercy. Through Christ.
After the Mass: Absolution and Blessed Bread
Then let her rise and go to the place where she should sit until after the Mass; and when the Mass is ended let her rise and return to the same place as before, that is, to the steps of the altar; and there let her kneel, to take and receive absolution from the priest, in this manner. Let the priest say: May almighty God have mercy [Misereatur], and the rest. The absolution of all sins [Absolutionem omnium peccatorum]. Then let him bless bread and give it to the woman: and these things done, let her go home.