Article — Noldin, Summa of Moral Theology
Article First. On the Nature of Sacramentals
44. Definition. Etymologically, a sacramental signifies everything which pertains to a sacrament, but especially the sacramental ceremony which is observed in the administration of the sacraments.
But sacramentals properly and specifically, as they are understood in this question, can be defined: sacred signs (things or actions) instituted by the Church in some imitation of the sacraments, which she is accustomed to use for obtaining, by her impetration, effects especially spiritual.2 Therefore three things belong to the notion of sacramentals: a. that they be sacred signs instituted by the Church; wherefore she herself, and she alone, exercises full power over sacramentals: she can constitute them, interpret them authentically, abolish or change some of them;3 b. that they produce supernatural effects, both spiritual and bodily; c. that they produce these effects by force of impetration.
a. Sacramentals, which theologians call lesser sacraments, must be defined in such a way that from one side they differ from the sacraments, and from the other side they exhibit the greatest likeness with the sacraments that can be admitted.
b. Sacred signs: sacramentals, however many there are, are either sacred things or sacred actions; but all agree in the common notion of a sacred sign, by which external worship is shown to God and which the Church uses for conferring supernatural effects. Sacramentals are practical signs, which not only signify effects, but also produce them; yet they do not signify them in the same apt and determinate way as the sacraments, nor do they produce them in the same way.
c. Instituted by the Church: sacramentals, according to the mode and form in which they are actually had and performed, have been instituted by the Church. By this it is only denied that sacramentals were instituted by Christ in the same way, in species and individually, as the sacraments were instituted by Him; but it is not denied that sacramentals also were instituted by Christ in a twofold sense: alpha. mediately, because the Church received from Christ the power of instituting and performing sacramentals; beta. in general, because Christ Himself instituted at least some sacramentals in general and committed only the specific form to be determined by the Church. And indeed Christ Himself instituted blessings and exorcisms in general; but the particular blessings and exorcisms which are employed for the utility of the faithful received their determinate form and mode from the Church. Therefore sacramentals depend on the power of the Church in an entirely different way than the sacraments, whose specific matter and form are independent of the power of the Church.
d. From the stated definition of sacramentals it follows that the following are not to be referred to the number of sacramentals: alpha. the Lord's Prayer, the prayers of the faithful, the sign of the cross, almsgiving, and blessing which parents invoke upon their children, both because they were not instituted by the Church and because they do not have their force from the impetration of the Church; beta. nor the prayers of the Church, the ceremonies of the eucharistic sacrifice, genuflections, beatings of the breast, etc., because they do not produce their effects from the prayer of the Church, although they have been instituted by the Church. For a work which produces a particular supernatural effect either by its nature, as the Lord's Prayer, which by reason of its author pleases God exceedingly, or from a special divine promise, as almsgiving does, does not pertain to sacramentals, which produce their effects by force of the prayer of the Church.
e. Sacramentals differ from sacraments: alpha. by reason of origin, because the sacraments were instituted by Christ, sacramentals by the Church; beta. by reason of effect, for the sacraments immediately produce grace and remit sins and the punishment of sins, while sacramentals cannot immediately confer grace or remit sins; gamma. by reason of the mode of operating, for the sacraments produce their effects ex opere operato, but sacramentals ex opere operantis (of the Church).
1 Suarez, De sacramentis, disp. 15; J. B. Pighi, Liturgia sacramentalium; G. Arendt, S.J., De Sacramentalibus; Fr. Schmid, Die Sakramentalien der kath. Kirche; Probst, Sakramente und Sakramentalien; Kutschker, Die hl. Gebrauche; Amberger, Pastoraltheologie, Bd. 3, Abt. 2, S. 191 ff.; Kirchenlexikon^2, "Sakramentalien."
2 Cn. 1144.
3 Cn. 1145.
45. Division. Sacramentals are of great multitude and variety, so that they are not contained under a determinate number. Several which were in use in antiquity have now gone into disuse, and when the circumstances of time require it the Church can repeatedly institute new ones; thus she has instituted some even in recent times, as is seen in the Roman Ritual, in whose appendix several most recent blessings are contained. Yet all sacramentals can be reduced to certain genera. They are divided:
- By reason of the object, into actions and things, according as the effect is produced immediately by some action, e.g., by blessing, or mediately, namely through the blessed thing.
Actions are called transient sacramentals and are compared with the sacraments which are confected by a passing action; blessed things are called permanent sacramentals and are compared with the most holy sacrament of the altar, which remains in being and produces its effect by use.
By reason of the end, transient sacramentals are divided into blessings and exorcisms, according as they are employed for conferring a supernatural effect or for weakening or breaking the power of the devil. Further divisions are below (n. 52).
By reason of the minister, into reserved, which can be confected only by a determinate minister, and non-reserved, which can be performed indiscriminately by all ministers.
a. Some reserved sacramentals are reserved to the pope, as the blessing of the pallium, the Agnus Dei, the golden rose, etc.; others are reserved to bishops, which are of two kinds: alpha. real blessings, which are so proper to bishops that they cannot be delegated to a priest without apostolic indult; beta. verbal blessings, which are found in the Missal or Ritual under the title: Blessings reserved to bishops or to others having the faculty, to be made, which bishops can commit to priests either by ordinary or by delegated right.
The series of blessings which are reserved to certain religious orders and are found in the Ritual under the title Blessings proper to certain regular orders must be remembered.
b. Among the non-reserved sacramentals, which by force of order can be performed by any priest without delegation, those must be noted which are of parochial right, and therefore cannot be performed by another priest without the permission of the parish priest: the nuptial blessing, the blessing of the baptismal font, the blessing of a woman after childbirth, the blessing of houses on Holy Saturday, the blessing of fields and crops if it is done solemnly; generally, blessings are not to be made publicly and solemnly in a place which is subject to the jurisdiction of another.
Nothing prevents a simple priest, whether secular or regular, from being able by a private rite to bless fields, animals, and similar things, since these blessings are not of parochial right.1 A private rite, insofar as it is opposed to public and solemn, does not exclude surplice and stole, but does exclude the gathering of the people summoned by the sign of the bell.
1 S. C. R., 13 June 1893, n. 3801.
46. Minister. Subject. The legitimate minister of sacramentals in general is a cleric to whom power has been conferred for this and who has not been prohibited by ecclesiastical authority.1 But according to the diverse dignity of sacramentals, diverse ministers are assigned:
a. For consecrations the episcopal character is required, unless law or an apostolic indult grants the power also to a priest.
b. Any priest can give blessings, unless they are reserved; but even reserved blessings, if they are given by a priest without permission, are illicit, not invalid, unless something else is expressed.
c. Deacons and lectors can give validly and licitly only those blessings which are expressly permitted to them by law.2
d. The ministers of exorcisms which occur in baptism and in consecrations or blessings are the same as those who are the legitimate ministers of the same sacred rites.3
Therefore lay persons cannot confer sacramentals; nevertheless the use of certain permanent sacramentals is permitted immediately to lay persons themselves, as holy water, the Agnus Dei, a blessed medal, etc.; but other permanent sacramentals, as blessed ashes, etc., must be applied to the faithful through the ministry of priests.
Subject. a. Blessings, which are especially to be imparted to Catholics, can also be given to catechumens, indeed, unless the prohibition of the Church stands in the way, even to non-Catholics for obtaining the light of faith or, together with it, bodily health.4
Sacramentals which can be given even to catechumens must also be understood to include public sacramentals, and therefore catechumens can be admitted to the imposition of ashes and the distribution of candles and palms.5
b. Exorcisms can be performed not only over the faithful and catechumens, but also over non-Catholics or excommunicated persons.6
1 Cn. 1146.
2 Cn. 1147.
3 Cn. 1153.
4 Cn. 1149.
5 S. R. C., 8 Mar. 1919.
6 Cn. 1152.