Women, Churching of

Women, Churching Of (τὸ ἐκκλησιασθῆναι), is alluded to by pope Gregory, in 601, as the thanksgiving, and by the emperor Leo's Constitutions, in 460. The Salisbury use calls it the purification after childbirth at the church door, evidently in allusion to the purification of the Virgin Mary. In 1549 the "quire door" was substituted for the original place. A veil, or churching- cloth, of white material, was used in 1560 by the woman and a new or seat was allotted to her from an earlier date.