“Out of reverence towards this Sacrament [the Holy Eucharist], nothing touches it, but what is consecrated; hence the corporal and the chalice are consecrated, and likewise the priest’s hands, for touching this Sacrament.“
Saint Thomas Aquinas in: Summa Theologica, Part III, Q. 82, Art. 3, Rep. Obj. 8.
Jacobus de Voragine‘s Golden Legend mentions the reverence Saint Francis of Assisi showed for the hands of priests who alone are set apart, consecrated, for touching the Body and Blood of Christ.
Saint Francis chose to remain a deacon instead of advancing to the order of priesthood. And so we read how he would hold the hands of priests in higher regard than even the presence of Saint Laurence, a much venerated ancient martyr, one of seven deacons serving under Pope Sixtus II in the city of Rome during the persecutions of emperor Valerian, if ever he had to choose between the two:
“He always manifested deep reverence for the hands of priests, hands empowered to produce the sacrament of Christ’s Body.
Jacobus de Voragine: The Golden Legend. Readings on the Saints, Princeton University Press 1993, p. 614
He often said: ‘If I happened to meet at the same time a saint coming down from heaven and some poor little priest, I would hurry first to kiss the priest‘s hands and would say to the saint: ‘Wait for me, Saint Laurence, because this man‘s hands have handled the Word of life, and possess something beyond the human.‘“
Saint Laurence, Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Padre Pio, pray for us!