A Daughter's First Holy Communion Dress Captures The Picture Of Innocence

By Lana Bray


The foundation that supports the Roman Catholic church are built around the Eucharistic purpose and the sacraments, created to sanctify humanity by nourishing, strengthening and expressing a personal relationship with God. Beginning in first grade, young Catholics are indoctrinated in the religious purposes of confession, as preparation for the first Eucharist at seven-years old. Qualified as the average age of reason by educators, children are deemed capable of making independent, conscious choices. A girl's First Holy Communion dress is symbolic of the purity the church prescribes for receiving the body of Christ in a formal, joyous, religious ceremony.

Sharing the same celebratory connotations as christenings and weddings, Eucharistic ceremonies are formal family events attended in traditionally appropriate, dressy, church attire. Most parochial school calendars set the date for May, when all religiously instructed, second graders participate together in a special mass honoring their introduction to the Holy Eucharist, joined by a congregation of family and friends.

Catholicism reaffirms the theological virtues of faith, hope and love through the sacraments. The Eucharist is the culmination of spiritual love, when the consecrated body and blood of Christ is offered in a 'host' of unleavened bread, to believers attending a Roman Catholic mass. Church doctrine teaches that worthiness is attained through sincere confession, penance and forgiveness through mediation with a Catholic priest. Believers who desire to partake of communion approach the priest in a line where they are presented with the host to be consumed at the alter.

A sacrament is described as 'an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace'. The sacraments of baptism, Holy Communion and matrimony are witnessed and celebrated in the church by family and friends. Each of the celebratory sacraments involve vows, commitment and union. Female participants wear a formal, white dress, representing a pure new beginning, officiated by a traditional Roman Catholic ceremony before God and man.

A young girl's Sunday best, chosen to honor her first communion, is, most often, white. Like all formal wear for a special church ceremony, the styles are myriad and designed to suit all varieties of discerning tastes. Dress length is left to the discretion of the girl and her family, but generally ranges from knee-length to formal. Simple or lacy, fabric selections chosen with comfort in mind, and the design of the fashion are left to personal preference.

Though head-coverings were once the rule for all females inside the Catholic church, this no longer applies. Today, the choice for head-wear is optional. Like wedding attire, most girls still prefer a matching veil, floral wreath or hair adornment to complete their formal wear for this once-in-a-lifetime occasion.

The significance of the dress is as a symbolic 'outward' expression that defines purity, respect and reverence for the religious occasion. The meaningful connotations of holy communion finery requires quality that defies the test of time, to insure preserving its original comfort and beauty as a legacy for future family.

Though it is traditional for guests to give religious gifts to the honoree, it is 'the dress' that a young girl and her mother pick out together that it always remembered. Crossing the bridge where secular meets spiritual, mother and daughter are joined in a momentous 'forever' memory of a girl's First Holy Communion dress and all that it means.




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