Say the black; do the red

Last updated on: August 27, 2017 at 3:38 pm by Father Pablo Migone

This expression describes what priests do when celebrating the various rites of the Church. What is written in black is said, what is written is red is done.

I recently visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and while in the Egyptian section I admired the Book of the Dead of the Priest Horus (pictured above). This impressive 70-feet long, 2,300 year old papyrus manuscript contains a series of spells used by a priest of Horus to help the dead transition into the afterlife. I quickly noticed that both black and red ink were used in this ancient manuscript.

To my surprise, I read in the information below the manuscript that the red ink provides instructions to perform the various rites correctly. The black ink provides the words. I could not believe it! Just like Catholics today, the Egyptian priests followed “say the black; do the red.”