Striking Breast During Salve Regina

[Amppax]

I've always hit my chest three time during the Salve Regina when we say "O Clement, O Loving, O Sweet..." but was challenged a few days ago as to why I did so. I couldn't really come up with an answer, so I thought I'd ask here. Is there a reason people do this?

[cappie]

"What is the significance of this striking the breast? All its meaning lies in its being rightly done. To brush one's clothes with the tip of one's fingers is not to strike the breast. We should beat upon our breasts with our closed fists. In the old picture of Saint Jerome in the desert he is kneeling on the ground and striking his breast with a stone. It is an honest blow, not an elegant gesture. To strike the breast is to beat against the gates of our inner world in order to shatter them. This is its significance." [font="Times New Roman, Times, Arial"][size="3"]Romano Guardini[/size][/font]

In the case of the Salve Regina it is probably a pious practice. Striking the breast is not just a matter of pure penance, but also to awaken the heart and since it is natural to do so in threes because of the habit produced by the confiteor, whenever something comes along like this it fits quite nicely.