Catholic salutation

Question

In Spanish (or, at least, in Spain) there is a form of two-way salutation which is used in two cases (to my knowledge) within the Catholic Church: one, at the beginning of confession (penitent first, priest second), and another, when having rung the bell of a cloistered convent, a nun answers from within (nun first, visitor second). The literal translation of this exchange is 'Hail, Purest Mary' / 'Conceived without original sin'.

I have read that for the first of these two instances the English-speaking penitent says 'Bless me, Father, for I have sinned'. But I haven't been able to find out what the priest answers. And as for the second case, I have no idea how this could be translated into English. Can anyone help me?

By the way, this wasn't part of my original question, but a problem I've found when trying to describe it. How do you call the revolving wooden window of cloistered convents? I mean the place where the nun in charge of being in touch with the rest of the world will come to talk to visitors without being seen, which is mainly used to let things into and out of the convent.

Thanks a lot in advance.

Philip · Accepted Answer

English-speaking penitent says 'Bless me, Father, for I have sinned'. But I haven't been able to find out what the priest answers. Ego te absolvo > I forgive you.

revolving wooden window of cloistered convents: I've never been in a convent, but the term 'screen' has a number of uses within churches.

Blue Jay · Answer

I don't know if there is a specific English word for the revolving window. It would be similar in principle to a turnstile, turntable, or lazy Susan, but none of these are quite the same thing. You might have to stick with torno.

Enoon · Answer

ColomboWhat do you call the revolving wooden window of cloistered convents?

Good question. In English it seems to be referred to as a revolving hatch. The Spanish word is "torno", and the Italian, "ruota". It is pretty much the same thing as the foundling wheel, which destitute mothers would use to abandon their babies to a church or orphanage.

I'm sure there must be a Latin word for it, but I have been unable to come up with it.

CalifJim · Answer

ColomboIn Spanish (or, at least, in Spain) there is a form of two-way salutation ... confession ...

It's not the same everywhere. Here's a link that describes the English version that is used in the U.S.

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Good-Confession-in-the-Catholic-Church

Note that there is no response from the priest at the beginning of the confession. The person confessing says "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned" and tells him how long it has been since the last confession. The priest says nothing in response. The person confessing tells his sins. At the end the priest gives "absolution": "I absolve you of your sins in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

CJ

Colombo · Answer

Thank you very much to everybody for your answers. I thought that the confession procedure would be the same everywhere, but it clearly isn't, if, as CalifJim has pointed out, there is no answer from the priest to the penitent's introduction. I also find strange that the absolution is given in English, instedad of in Latin (here priests use the same formula given by Philip).

As for the "torno", it's certainly the same as a foundling wheel (thanks, enoon! I didn't know that word). Only that here it's used not only to leave babies, but also any other thing the nuns need or want to send outside (for example, if they sell something they manufacture, they put it there, and also receive the payment in that way), so its name isn't related to abandoning children in any way. But if that's its only use in other countries, then I don't wonder I cannot find the salutation formula in English for this case.

Thank you also for having taught me new words ('Lazy Susan' > Blue Jay) and corrected my mistakes ('How' vs. 'What' > enoon - this is one I always say wrong, even if it's not the first time I've been told about it).

Catholic salutation

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