Lavabo

(I will wash) is a term expressing the act of washing the priest-celebrant's fingers prior to the celebration of mass. This occurs in the English rite, by custom, after the offertory. The act is performed as a sign of the purity with which he should approach the altar. In the Roman rite, before the priest assumes the sacerdotal vestments, he washes the tips of his fingers. This custom seems to have been almost universal. Whenever sacrifice was about to be offered,. the minister of the altar performed special ablutions. Such customs were current among the Jews, having been expressly enjoined by the law of Moses (Ex 30:381). In the Western Church priests ordinarily recite the last six verses of Psalm 26 during the act of washing, a practice which is referred to by several fathers, among others St. Clement and St. Cyril, and which became common throughout the whole Church about the 8th century. In St. Cyril's Catechetical Lectures, that bishop remarks, "You have seen the deacon provide water for the priest of sacrifice and presbyters around to wash their hands... That washing of hand is a symbol indicating that you ought to be pure from every sin and prevarication."