Section — Prümmer, Manuale Theologiae Moralis
Appendix On The Sacramentals
89. 1. Definition. Sacramentals are taken either in a broader sense, and then they include certain pious exercises, such as the Lord's Prayer, almsgiving prescribed by the Church, and also the sacred ceremonies which are employed in the administration of the sacraments; or in a stricter sense, and then they are "things or actions which the Church is accustomed to employ, in some imitation of the sacraments, in order to obtain effects, especially spiritual ones, through her impetration."338 In this latter sense alone do we speak here of the sacramentals, which were called minor sacraments by the older theologians.339
It is said, first: things or actions, to signify the two classes of sacramentals which will be discussed below.
It is said, second: which the Church is accustomed to employ in some imitation of the sacraments, because all sacramentals were directly instituted by the Church and not by Christ Himself. They can nevertheless be called instituted by Christ insofar as He gave the Church the power of instituting them; indeed, sometimes insofar as Christ indicated them by His own example, for example, exorcism. The Apostolic See alone can establish new sacramentals, authentically interpret those received, or abolish or change any of them.340
Sacramentals have some similarity with the sacraments insofar as they are means of obtaining grace, but they also differ from the sacraments in many ways, namely: 1. by reason of origin: the sacraments are from Christ, but the sacramentals were immediately instituted by the Church; 2. by reason of effect: the sacraments directly cause sanctifying grace or its increase, but the sacramentals directly obtain only actual graces and other aids; 3. by reason of the mode of operating: the sacraments cause grace ex opere operato, but the sacramentals operate ex opere operantis of the Church and of man; 4. by reason of number: the sacraments are seven, and this number cannot be changed; the number of the sacramentals is indefinite and variable.
It is said, third: in order to obtain effects, especially spiritual ones, through her impetration. For the sacramentals, through the impetration of the Church, supernaturally produce certain effects, both corporal, such as health, and spiritual, such as the restraint of the devil. But all these aids are in some way ordered toward sanctifying grace. Hence St. Thomas341 teaches: "Among those things which the Church visibly performs, some are sacraments, such as baptism; some are sacramentals, such as exorcism. Their difference is this: that action of the Church which attains the effect principally intended in the administration of the sacraments is called a sacrament; but that action which, although it does not attain that effect, is nevertheless ordered in some way toward that principal action, is called a sacramental."
The Church applies the sacramentals principally to Catholics, but according to modern discipline she permits them, and especially blessings, to be given to catechumens and non-Catholics in order to obtain the light of faith and at the same time health of body.342 By canon law, however, the following are excluded from receiving sacramentals:
excommunicates after a declaratory or condemnatory sentence, c. 2260, § 1;
those personally interdicted, c. 2275, n. 2;
Catholics who have dared to enter a mixed matrimony without a dispensation of the Church, until they have obtained a dispensation from the Ordinary, c. 2375.
The first and second cases are most rare today, but the third is sufficiently frequent.
338 Code of Canon Law, c. 1144.
339 Hugh of St. Victor, treating these minor sacraments, says: "There are certain sacraments in the Church in which, although salvation does not principally consist, nevertheless salvation is increased by them insofar as devotion is exercised.... Therefore, of these sacraments some consist in things, such as water of aspersion, the reception of ashes, the blessing of branches and candles, and other such things. Others consist in deeds, such as the sign of the cross, the exsufflation of exorcism, the extension of hands, the bending of knees, and other things of this kind. Others consist in words, such as the invocation of the Trinity and whatever things are of this manner" (De sacr. II, P. 9 [Migne, Patr. lat. 176, 471]).
340 Code of Canon Law, c. 1145.
341 Suppl., q. 20, a. 1.
342 Code of Canon Law, c. 1149.
90. 2. Divisions. The sacramentals are very numerous, nor are the same ones always in force in the Church. They can nevertheless be reduced to two great categories, namely, to permanent sacramentals or things, and to transient sacramentals or actions. Permanent sacramentals or things are certain blessed or consecrated things by the use of which the faithful obtain supernatural aids, for example, holy water, scapulars, etc. Not every blessed thing, however, is a sacramental; otherwise even a blessed man, a blessed house, etc., would be sacramentals; but only those things which, by a blessing called constitutive,343 are employed exclusively for divine worship. Transient sacramentals or actions are certain actions to which special graces are annexed by the ordinance of the Church, for example, the recitation of the Confiteor, the imposition of ashes, exorcism, etc.
In present times a great part of the sacramentals consists in blessings, of which some are reserved to the Supreme Pontiff, for example, the blessing of the Agnus Dei, of the pallium, etc.; some pertain to bishops, for example, the blessing of bells, of chrism, etc.; some pertain to religious orders, for example, the blessing of rosaries, scapulars, etc.; some are reserved to the pastor, for example, the blessing of houses on Holy Saturday, but not on other days, the nuptial blessing, etc.; finally, very many blessings are given which can be performed by any priest, for example, the blessing of holy water, of a woman after childbirth, etc.
By delegation almost all blessings can be given by a simple priest. Indeed, even reserved blessings which are given by a simple priest without delegation are valid if a) the Holy See has not expressly determined the contrary; b) the formulas prescribed by the Church are employed (Code of Canon Law, c. 1147, § 3; 1148, § 2). It is self-evident that such blessings knowingly usurped in this manner are illicit. When a deacon, with the permission of the Ordinary or pastor, administers Viaticum, he can bless the sick person and those assisting with the Most Holy Sacrament; likewise, he can bless the grave.344 Laymen can perform no liturgical blessing and no sacramental.
The clause "with the consent of the local Ordinary," which is sometimes found in rescripts by which certain faculties are granted, for example, of blessing things with Apostolic indulgences, is to be understood in this manner:
a) for the valid exercise of this faculty, approval to hear confessions, at least those of men, is required;
b) for its licit exercise, tacit or even prudently presumed consent suffices;
c) religious can exercise it in their religious house with the permission of their religious superior.345
343 Besides the constitutive blessing (Weihesegen, consecratory blessing), there is an invocative blessing (Bittsegen, petitionary blessing), for example, the blessing which a priest gives in the Mass after Ite, missa est.
344 Sacred Congregation of Rites, August 14, 1858 (Decr. auth., n. 3074).
345 Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, June 4, 1888, and June 14, 1901.
91. 3. The efficacy of the sacramentals does not consist solely in the good works, prayers, or salutary excitations which are customarily joined with them, but in a special impetratory power granted to them by the Church. Assuredly, the sacramentals do not have efficacy as the sacraments do, namely, from a power granted to them directly by Christ, but because prayers by the Church herself supplicating for the obtaining of graces are annexed to them, as will be said more broadly below. Through the sacramentals the Church supplicates especially for four346 kinds of graces:
a) for actual graces rightly to discharge the duties both of the Christian life and of the state chosen. In this sense many sacramentals are efficacious, for example, the nuptial blessing, the anointing of a king, the first clerical tonsure, etc.
b) for the remission of venial sins. Such are, for example, holy water, ashes blessed at the beginning of Lent, and the Confiteor recited in the Mass or in the Divine Office. Nevertheless, this effect is not produced ex opere operato as in penance and the other sacraments, but ex opere operantis, insofar as actual grace is obtained for detesting all sins.
c) for averting the maleficence of the devil. The devil can harm a man in many ways, if God permits it, namely: 1. by inflicting physical evils, for example, exciting diseases, causing the ruin of fortune; 2. by instigating to sins through vehement temptations; 3. by besieging the body of a man. Demonic obsession cannot be denied, since manifest examples of it are found in the Gospel; nevertheless, in our times it is to be supposed most rarely. When it is lawful to employ an exorcism in this case, see above, II, n. 463, in the tract on adjuration.
d) for obtaining temporal goods. Many blessings tend toward this end, for example, blessings of fields, of bread, etc.
346 Certain authors enumerate still more graces produced by the sacramentals. Thus, for example, Francis Schmid, in a special work which he wrote concerning the sacramentals (Die Sakramentalien der kath. Kirche, Brixen 1896), enumerates seven effects of the sacramentals.
92. 4. Mode of operating. The sacramentals operate principally by the impetratory power of the Church, but secondarily from the quality of the minister and recipient. Although the goodness of the minister and recipient greatly increases the efficacy of the sacramentals - for a blessing given by a most holy priest and received by a most devout man has greater effects than if lesser qualities are present both in the minister and in the recipient - nevertheless, the principal efficacy proceeds from the impetratory power of the Church, which received from Christ the power of blessing diverse things and restraining the maleficence of the devil. For just as a prince often grants to the prayers of a whole community what he denies to an individual man requesting, so God grants graces on account of the Church petitioning by means of the sacramentals.
In this sense the sacramentals can be said to operate ex opere operato by the Church, but it is better, in order to avoid ambiguities, to say that the sacramentals operate ex opere operantis both of the Church and of the man receiving. The effect of the sacramentals, since it is produced principally from the prayers of the Church, which are always heard, is infallible, unless there is an obstacle or impediment on the part of man. For since all sacramentals must ultimately tend toward procuring or increasing sanctifying grace, if either the disposition of man or the temporal good, for example health, sought through the sacramentals impedes this end, then the effect is not produced.
93. Notes.
Sacramentals differ from indulgences. For indulgences, from the treasury of the merits of Christ from which the Church draws, remit the temporal punishments of sin; but the sacramentals, from the prayers of the Church, obtain diverse aids, especially supernatural ones, but not the remission of temporal punishments, at least directly. For if a sacramental is joined with a satisfactory work, for example, humiliation in the reception of ashes, then it also indirectly remits temporal punishments, namely, on account of that satisfactory work.
Sacramentals which are not assisted by the impetration of the Church are not of much avail. But the Church is not considered to assist those things and actions which are not performed according to her laws and prescriptions. Therefore, sacramentals in whose confection or use the prescriptions of the Church are not observed are invalid. Hence it follows that those things which the Church commands concerning the sacramentals are to be faithfully observed. This holds especially for ecclesiastical blessings and consecrations, which are invalid if they are notably changed.347
347 Code of Canon Law, c. 1148, § 2.