APPENDIX: ON SACRAMENTALS

"Besides the Sacraments properly so called, the Church also has other sacred things, which formerly, indeed in a broader and less proper sense, were also called Sacraments. But for many centuries it has come into usage that they be called Sacramentals."¹

1244. Various Species of Sacramentals. - Universally they are: 1. Rites and ceremonies which the Church uses in the administration of the Sacraments. 2. Blessings and Exorcisms outside the dispensation of the Sacraments. 3. Sacred things, to which, either from divine institution - as to the Most Holy Name of Jesus and to the Sign of the Cross - or from the blessing of the Church, as to lustral water, some salutary power is annexed. 4. Certain pious exercises, as the Lord's Prayer, striking of the breast, the Confiteor, almsgiving.

1245. The Power and Efficacy of Sacramentals. - "The origin of the name" of Sacramentals, says the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore,² "is from this, that although they are far inferior to the Sacraments in power and merits, nevertheless in effects they imitate them in a certain way."

It is said: 1° "they imitate them in EFFECTS." For a), like Sacraments of the living, they confer grace, namely actual grace and an increase of habitual grace; b), like Sacraments of the dead, they remit sins, especially light ones; c), like Sacraments imprinting character, so some Sacramentals constitute things strictly sacred.

It is said: 2° they imitate them in effects IN A CERTAIN WAY. For according to the more common sentence, and, according to St. Alphonsus,³ the truer one, they cause their effects, i.e. remission of sins and temporal benefits which we expect from them, not ex opere operato; and therefore not infallibly, but by way of impetration, i.e. on account of the prayers and blessings by which the Church obtains, for those using Sacramentals, pious motions of sorrow or charity, through which sins are remitted, and benefits, even temporal ones; but these only insofar as they are salutary for us.⁴

1246. Administration of Sacramentals. - 1. The obligation of ministering them, according to Suarez,¹ is present "on the supposition of the necessity of a man possessed by a demon, or another similar necessity, ... because" the Ministers of the Church "are held to assist the necessities of their faithful by suitable remedies, and those instituted by the Church." Possevin also suitably admonishes:² "In remedies for the good of the people, for example against hailstorms, locusts laying waste the crops, not only should" the priest "be readily available, but even of himself, without being asked, he should propose them. Let him do the same in the mortality of animals and in like things; not because he is held to these things from precept, but because by acting thus he will acquire the benevolence of the people and will increase its devotion, and will merit by an act of charity."

2. They are to be ministered with faith and confidence; with a clean heart and pure intention; worthily and devoutly; lest the mockeries of unbelievers either be feared, or be provoked by an unbecoming mode of administering.

3. "Let preachers and rulers of souls especially take care that they explain to the faithful, and more often inculcate, the nature, signification, and right use of these things. Let them persuade those who lean too much on their own wisdom and ability that these things, although they seem light and minute, are not to be contemned, since they profit not a little for living piously and obtaining salvation. But let them again and again warn the ruder common people, who are carried away by the contrary error, lest they attribute too much efficacy to the things themselves, and keep them with a certain blind and immoderate confidence, and pursue them with superstitious veneration, as if they could do very much of themselves, without a pious disposition of mind. But let them most sharply rebuke those who have sacred things of this kind, as will be the custom among the Heathen, almost in place of amulets, which would keep them, even when involved in the most foul mire of vices, immune from the anger of God and vengeance."³

1247. - Exorcisms hold the principal place among Sacramentals; these were treated at nn. 375-377; and Blessings. Of these, some are private, which are given also by lay persons, for example, by parents to children; others are liturgical, which are given by Ministers deputed for this. These are divided in various ways.

I. By Reason of Effects. Some blessings are invocative, namely of the benignity of God upon persons - for example, upon a woman after childbirth - or upon things - for example, upon foods - and are counted among transitory Sacramentals, because persons or things blessed in this way do not change their state, or from profane things do not become strictly sacred, and therefore can be applied to profane yet honorable uses, as before the blessing, as foods and drinks, a house, a ship, etc.; likewise, according to St. Alphonsus,¹ blessed water and blessed candles (I think, outside the day of Purification?) - others are constitutive or consecrative, which are numbered among permanent Sacramentals, because persons or things blessed in this way change their state and from profane things become strictly sacred, nor can they any longer be applied to profane uses, even honorable ones, as chalices, vestments, altar stones, Agnus Dei, etc.

Note. - Missals and Sacred Bibles, as also sacred images, ought not to be applied to a profane use; but one must say otherwise concerning other papers on which sacred names are incidentally and accessorily inscribed.²

II. By Reason of Rite. Some are verbal, in which anointing is not employed; others real, in which it is employed.

III. By Reason of Objects. Some are of persons, as of an Abbot; others of things, as of a Church.

IV. By Reason of the Minister.

A. Some are Papal, as the blessing of the Agnus Dei, of the Pallium, etc.

B. Others pertain to Bishops, and to them alone, and indeed in such a way that without Pontifical Indult they cannot be delegated to simple priests; but things which had been blessed with a faculty delegated without an indult of this kind ought to be blessed anew before use, if this can be done without scandal.³ They are real blessings, and are found only in the Pontifical. Of this sort are the consecration of a chalice, of an altar, of a bell. Which of these our Bishops can delegate, see p. LXXIII. n. 6. 12; and which things, when the See is vacant and in a case of necessity, are delegated to the administrator, p. LXXII. n. 28.

C. Others pertain to Bishops, but in such a way that they can be done also by others having the faculty. They are found in the Ritual and Missal under the title: "Blessings to be done by Bishops or by others having the faculty." They are the following:

1. Blessings of sacerdotal garments, of cloths and corporals, under which also are palls; of the tabernacle, i.e. the pyx and lunula (but by the rite of the Ritual, not of the Pontifical. S. R. C. 16 March 1876. Acta, t. 13. p. 33); of a solemn cross or images, which is done publicly, with a concourse of the people, with solemnity, chant, several ministers, etc.; but not the private blessing, which is done without the said apparatus by one priest with one minister.

2. The blessing and reconciliation of a church not yet consecrated, and of a public oratory and cemetery, and also the blessing of the first stone.

Note. - a) It is certain that a Bishop by his own right can delegate even a simple priest for the blessings enumerated under 2), because this faculty of delegating is specially expressed in the Ritual. But whether he can also delegate those which are listed under 1) is disputed;⁴ yet our Bishops have an Apostolic indult for this (see p. LXXI. n. 13).

b) By the Superiors of those religious Institutes which communicate in privileges with the Mendicants, the blessings concerning which under C. can be done, provided there is not question of churches, oratories, or cemeteries belonging to others, nor of garments, vestments, or vessels for the use of churches belonging to others, nor of crosses or images to be blessed solemnly in places not subject to them.

D. Others pertain to simple priests, which nevertheless again are of a twofold kind; for:

1° Every priest can give certain ones, namely those which in the Missal or Ritual are prescribed to be done by "a priest," with no addition. Yet a simple priest will not be able to impart these: 1) in another's church, or in chapels or oratories annexed to a church, against the will or contradiction of the pastor or rector; 2) publicly and solemnly in places of another's jurisdiction; 3) if in favor of the pastor there stand an immemorial custom, or a synodal law, or an agreement.

2° Certain ones only a pastor, or one delegated by him, can give, namely those which are marked in the Ritual as to be done by the Pastor, or by another priest; for then it is understood: by another priest with the permission of the Pastor.⁵ But by the right of the Pastor are: the blessing of houses on Holy Saturday; the common blessing over crops and fields, at least if it is done solemnly; likewise perhaps the blessing of houses to be done at another time outside Holy Saturday, because in the Ritual for this blessing mention is made of the Pastor; nevertheless Cavalieri denies this;⁶ finally the blessing of the baptismal font, of nuptials, and, except in the case of a legitimate contrary custom, of women after childbirth. - Moreover the distinction between parochial and non-parochial blessings can scarcely be of use here. Yet see n. 1138.

V. Finally, by Reason of Necessity, blessings are divided into prescribed and non-prescribed.

To the prescribed pertain:

a) Episcopal blessings of each kind (see under IV. B. C.), except the blessing of a cemetery - since the blessing of the place or sepulcher suffices - and the solemn blessing of crosses or images. - From sacerdotal garments and vestments:

1° The purificator, veil, and burse are not necessarily to be blessed.⁷ 2° Probably the cincture and pall are to be blessed.⁸ 3° But certainly the corporal, amice, alb, maniple, stole, chasuble, and cloths.⁹ 4° The pyx and lunula ought not to be consecrated, but nevertheless probably to be blessed. The monstrance is laudably blessed.¹⁰

b) Parochial blessings, except the blessings of a woman after childbirth, of fields, of fruits, and of houses.

c) Those which according to the Rubrics are prescribed on certain days of the year, for example on the day of Purification, or on Sundays before the principal Mass (concerning which see De Herdt¹¹ or our Ceremonial¹²).

1248. With What Rite Blessings Are to Be Done. - Blessings which either from precept, or publicly in churches or public oratories before the people gathered for this, are done outside Mass, are to be given with surplice and stole according to the reason of the season,¹ standing and with head uncovered, hands joined, with a minister carrying the vessel of blessed water and the sprinkler, and with the formula prescribed in the Missal or Roman Ritual or approved by the S. C. Rit. - For blessing those things for which a special blessing is not had, the Blessing for all things can be used (see Exc. ex R. R., Ed. 1872, p. 260; Ed. 1874, p. 252), or the Sign of the Cross is to be made over the thing to be blessed with the formula: In the name of the Father, etc.; then the thing itself is sprinkled with blessed water.²

If the cross has the image of the Crucified, the blessing for images is to be employed. Craisson, Elem. Jur. Can.³ If the blessing is done at the altar, all things are recited at the Epistle corner, and the priest uses a cope. The things to be blessed, if they are sacerdotal vestments, can be placed upon the altar; but otherwise, if they are candles and other things of this kind, which are to be placed upon a table before the altar, or at the Epistle corner.⁴ - The church is the more proper place of blessings, although not necessarily of all; for the blessings of certain things, as of water, sacerdotal vestments, and the like, can from a reasonable cause be done in a profane or honorable place.⁵