Raising a hand, tracing a cross in the air, sprinkling holy water, laying hands on a bowed head: the gesture of blessing runs through the whole life of the Church, from the family table to the dedication of an altar. Children and the dying are blessed, houses and fields, candles and medals, bells and ships. Yet this familiar gesture is also one of the most misunderstood. Many see in it an almost magical formula; others, on the contrary, a mere pious politeness with no real scope.
Catholic theology speaks another language. Blessing is the first of the sacramentals: a "sacred sign" instituted by the Church which, "in a certain imitation of the sacraments," signifies and obtains "effects, especially spiritual effects, through the intercession of the Church"[1]. It is neither magic nor decoration: it is an efficacious prayer — efficacious not automatically, but according to the faith of the one who blesses, the faith of the one who receives, and above all God's faithfulness to his promises. This article studies what blessing is, where the gesture comes from in Scripture, how the Church distinguishes it from a sacrament, what its two great forms are, who can bless and according to which ritual — without encroaching on the general study of sacramentals, of which blessing is the most important example.
What does it mean to bless?
"Speaking well": the meaning of the word
Our word blessing comes from the Latin benedictio, from bene dicere: literally "to speak well." It translates two older and richer words. The Hebrew barak — from which comes the berakah, the Jewish prayer of blessing — originally evokes the gesture of kneeling (berek, the knee) and denotes the gift of strength and life that God pours out, as well as man's response who bows down to praise him. The Greek eulogein (eu-logein, "to speak well"), which passes into the New Testament, covers the same twofold reality: God blesses by bestowing, man blesses by giving thanks[2].
To bless is therefore not first of all to wish someone well in the sense of a human desire. It is to acknowledge that all good comes from God, and to call that good down upon what is blessed. The Catechism sums it up in a formula that contains the whole matter of this article:
"Every blessing is a praise of God and a prayer for his gifts."[3]
The twofold movement: God blesses man, man blesses God
Blessing unfolds in two inverse and complementary movements. On one side, it is God who blesses: his blessing gives life. The Catechism goes so far as to say that "to bless is a divine action that gives life, and whose source is the Father"[4]. On the other, it is man who blesses God in return, by praise and thanksgiving, "under the action of the Holy Spirit"[5]. Saint Paul opens the Letter to the Ephesians on this descending and ascending movement all at once:
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places."[6]
Man blesses God because God blessed him first. That is why, in the liturgy, every prayer of blessing begins by giving thanks to God for his works before asking him to extend his favour. The blessing of the Church "includes both praise of God for his works and gifts, and the Church's intercession for men that they may be able to use God's gifts according to the spirit of the Gospel"[7].
Blessing and cursing: two powers of speech
In the Bible, blessing has an opposite: the curse. Speech is held to be efficacious: it brings about what it says. To bless is to engage God's power of life; to curse is to devote to barrenness and death. The whole Gospel overturns this logic at one decisive point: the Christian no longer returns curse for curse. "Bless those who curse you," commands the Lord (Lk 6:28), echoed by Saint Paul — "bless and do not curse" (Rom 12:14) — and by Saint Peter (1 Pet 3:9)[8]. Blessing thus becomes a weapon of spiritual combat: not to ward off a spell, but to overcome evil with good.
Blessings in Scripture
Blessing is no medieval invention: it runs from one end of the Bible to the other, from the first chapter of Genesis to the last lines of the Gospel. "From the liturgical poem of the first creation to the canticles of the heavenly Jerusalem, the inspired authors announce the plan of salvation as one vast blessing."[9]
The blessing of creation and of the Covenant
From the beginning, "God blessed living beings, especially man and woman": the first blessing is a blessing of fruitfulness (Gen 1:28), renewed with Noah after the Flood[10]. Then blessing concentrates on one man, Abraham, and becomes the driving force of the whole history of salvation. God does not merely bless him: he makes him a blessing for others.
"Be a blessing! I will bless those who bless you [...] and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."[11]
This word is decisive for understanding the Church's blessings: being blessed is never a selfish privilege, but a mission. The one whom God fills must in turn spread the blessing received. That is exactly what the Catechism will say of the baptized: "every baptized person is called to be a 'blessing' and to bless"[12].
The priestly blessing of Aaron
At the heart of the Law, God entrusts the priests with a precise formula for blessing the people. It is the priestly blessing, called the blessing of Aaron, doubtless the oldest and most famous text of blessing in the whole biblical tradition:
"The Lord bless you and keep you! The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace!"[13]
Three verses, three times the divine Name, a rising intensity — from protection ("keep you") to the light of the face ("make his face to shine") to the supreme gift of peace (shalom). This text has decisive doctrinal scope: blessing is not a power that man would exercise over God, but an invocation of divine favour. The priest decrees nothing; he calls down upon the people what God alone can give. And God adds at once: "So shall they put my name upon the sons of Israel, and I will bless them" (Num 6:27). It is God who blesses; the priest lends his voice and his hands.
Christ who blesses
The New Testament shows Jesus taking up all the gestures of blessing of Israel and bringing them to their summit. He blesses bread — to the point that his disciples recognize him "in the breaking of the bread" after he had blessed it (Lk 24:30). He takes children in his arms:
"And embracing them he blessed them, laying his hands upon them."[14]
This verse founds a gesture the Church has never abandoned: blessing by laying on hands, a sign that God's strength passes through the contact of one sent by him. But it is above all at the moment of leaving this world that Christ performs the priestly gesture par excellence. Saint Luke closes his Gospel on a scene of blessing:
"Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven."[15]
The Ascension is an unfinished blessing — or rather an eternalized one: Christ ascends into heaven with raised hands, in the very act of blessing, as if this gesture were never to cease. Every blessing of the Church prolongs this gesture of the Risen One. That is why "the Church imparts blessings by invoking the name of Jesus, usually while making the holy sign of the cross of Christ"[16].
Blessing as a sacramental
Neither magic nor empty words: a sign instituted by the Church
When the Church blesses, she casts no incantation and pronounces no polite wish. She posits a sacramental. The Second Vatican Council gives the definition, taken up word for word by the Catechism:
"Holy Mother Church has, moreover, instituted sacramentals. These are sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the intercession of the Church. By them men are disposed to receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and various occasions in life are rendered holy."[17]
Four features stand out from this definition. The sacramental is (1) instituted by the Church — not directly by Christ, unlike the seven sacraments; (2) a sacred sign which imitates the sacraments without having their power; (3) ordered to grace: it disposes us to receive the sacraments and sanctifies life; (4) efficacious "through the intercession of the Church." This last point is the key to everything.
Sacrament or sacramental? Ex opere operato versus ex opere operantis
The difference between a sacrament and a blessing is not a difference of degree, but of mode of efficacy. The sacrament acts ex opere operato — "by the very fact that the act is performed" — because it is Christ himself who acts through the rite, independently of the minister's holiness. Blessing, by contrast, acts ex opere operantis Ecclesiae: through the act of the Church at prayer. The Catechism says it plainly:
"Sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church's prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it."[18]
This distinction protects two truths at once. It prevents despising blessing (it is no small thing: it is the prayer of the whole Church, always heard by God in his wisdom when it asks for what is fitting) and it prevents overestimating it as an automatic mechanism. The following table gathers these differences.
| Criterion | Sacrament | Sacramental (blessing) |
|---|---|---|
| Instituted by | Christ | The Church[19] |
| Number | Seven, fixed | Countless, varying with places and times |
| Mode of efficacy | Ex opere operato (Christ acts) | Ex opere operantis Ecclesiae (through the prayer of the Church) |
| Effect | Confers grace | Disposes to grace, sanctifies the circumstances of life |
| Example | Baptism, Eucharist | Blessing of a house, an object, a person |
This boundary is studied for its own sake in What is a sacrament? and in The validity of the sacraments. Let us retain the essential: a blessing is a true prayer of the Church, not an eighth sacrament.
Why blessings "occupy an important place"
Among all sacramentals — holy water, ashes, candles, medals, scapulars — blessings hold the first rank. The Catechism is explicit:
"Among sacramentals blessings (of persons, meals, objects, and places) come first."[20]
And further on: "Among the sacramentals blessings occupy an important place"[21]. The reason is that most sacramentals include or prolong a blessing. Holy water is holy only because it has been blessed; so are candles, medals, scapulars. Blessing is thus the primary form from which many other sacramentals derive. This logic is already visible at the institution: Vatican II, in reforming the sacramentals, first prescribed revising the book of blessings (see below, The Book of Blessings)[22].
Invocative and constitutive blessings
The most useful distinction, and the most often forgotten, separates two families of blessings according to their scope in time.
Invocative blessings
The great majority of blessings are invocative: they invoke God's favour upon a person, an activity or an object, without lastingly changing the status of what is blessed. Blessing a meal, a new house, a vehicle, seeds, a sick person, a pilgrim: we ask God to protect, to strengthen, to sanctify the use. The blessing passes; it does not "consecrate" the object once and for all. It is of these blessings that the Catechism writes: "Every blessing is a praise of God and a prayer for his gifts"[23]. They espouse "the various occasions in life" in order to sanctify them — birth, illness, travel, work, mourning.
Constitutive blessings
Other blessings have "a lasting importance": they consecrate a person or reserve an object or place for liturgical use. They are called constitutive or consecratory, because they constitute a new stable state. The Catechism gives the list:
"Certain blessings have a lasting importance because they consecrate persons to God, or reserve objects and places for liturgical use."[24]
For persons — and the Catechism adds at once: "not to be confused with sacramental ordination" — this means the blessing of an abbot or abbess of a monastery (see Benedictine monasticism), the consecration of virgins and widows, the rite of religious profession, and blessings for certain ministries (readers, acolytes, catechists)[25]. For objects and places: the dedication or blessing of a church or an altar, the blessing of the holy oils, of sacred vessels and vestments, of bells.
The following table contrasts the two families.
| Invocative blessing | Constitutive blessing | |
|---|---|---|
| Effect | Calls down God's favour, sanctifies a use | Consecrates lastingly, changes the status |
| Duration | Momentary | Permanent |
| Examples (persons) | Blessing of a sick person, a pilgrim, a family | Blessing of an abbot, consecration of virgins, religious profession |
| Examples (things/places) | Blessing of a house, a meal, a vehicle | Dedication of a church or an altar, blessing of oils, of bells |
| Minister | Priest, deacon, sometimes lay person | Reserved to the bishop or the priest (can. 1169 §1) |
This distinction commands a practical rule: what has been constituted sacred by a constitutive blessing can no longer return to profane use. That is the object of canon 1171 (see below).
Who can bless?
The foundation: every baptized person is called to bless
Before being an act of the clergy, blessing belongs to the baptismal priesthood. Every Christian, by virtue of baptism, shares in the priesthood of Christ and can bless. The Catechism is clear:
"Sacramentals derive from the baptismal priesthood: every baptized person is called to be a 'blessing,' and to bless. Hence lay people may preside at certain blessings."[26]
This is the foundation of family blessings: a father and mother blessing their children, the Christian blessing his table, tracing a cross on the forehead of a dying person. These blessings need no priest. They are the ordinary exercise of the common priesthood of the faithful.
The hierarchy of blessings: bishop, priest, deacon
However, "the more a blessing concerns ecclesial and sacramental life, the more is its administration reserved to the ordained ministry"[27]. Canon law fixes the precise order:
"Those marked with the episcopal character and presbyters permitted by law or legitimate grant can validly perform consecrations and dedications. Any presbyter can impart blessings except those reserved to the Roman Pontiff or bishops. A deacon can impart only those blessings expressly permitted by law."[28]
We thus distinguish four levels. Consecrations and dedications (constitutive, such as the dedication of an altar) are reserved to the bishop and to the authorized priest. Ordinary blessings fall to every priest. The deacon blesses only what the law expressly allows him. And certain blessings are reserved to the Pope or to bishops (such as the blessing of the oils at the chrism Mass, or the consecration of the sacred chrism).
When a lay person can bless
The Code explicitly provides that lay people administer certain sacramentals:
"The minister of sacramentals is a cleric who has been provided with the requisite power; some sacramentals, according to the norm of the liturgical books, can also be administered, with the judgment of the local ordinary, by lay persons who possess the appropriate qualities."[29]
This openness comes from Vatican II, which asked that "certain sacramentals, at least in particular circumstances and with the judgment of the ordinary, may be administered by lay persons"[30]. The Book of Blessings specifies, for each case, who may preside: a lay person blesses with a more sober gesture (without extending the hands as the priest does, by tracing the sign of the cross upon himself). The table sums it up.
| Minister | What he can bless |
|---|---|
| Pope and bishops | All blessings, including those reserved to them (oils, chrism, consecrations and dedications) |
| Priest | All blessings except those reserved to the Pope or to bishops; consecrations and dedications only if authorized |
| Deacon | The blessings the law expressly allows him |
| Baptized lay person | Certain blessings provided by the liturgical books (table, family, children…), with an adapted gesture |
To whom can a blessing be given?
The recipient of a blessing is broad. Canon 1170 provides:
"Blessings, which are to be imparted first of all to Catholics, can also be imparted to catechumens and even to non-Catholics unless there is a prohibition of the Church to the contrary."[31]
A blessing can therefore be given to a catechumen preparing for baptism, and even to a non-Catholic of good will: God can pour out his gifts upon every man. Blessing a person is never the approval of a state of life or a moral situation; it calls down upon that person God's conversion and grace. This distinction — blessing a person is not validating everything he does — lies at the heart of the contemporary debate on blessings, treated separately in Fiducia supplicans and the blessing of irregular couples.
The Book of Blessings
From the 1614 Roman Ritual to the 1984 De Benedictionibus
The blessings of the Latin Church were long gathered in the Roman Ritual (Rituale Romanum) promulgated by Paul V in 1614, a whole title of which — Titulus IX, De benedictionibus — was devoted to blessings. Over the centuries, this treasure had grown considerably heavier: hundreds of blessings of objects, sometimes very particular, in Latin, reserved almost entirely to the priest.
Vatican II called for a revision: "The sacramentals are to undergo a revision which takes into account the primary principle of the conscious, active, and easy participation of the faithful, and which pays heed to the needs of our time."[32] This revision led, on 31 May 1984, to the promulgation by the Congregation for Divine Worship of the De Benedictionibus (Book of Blessings), the new typical edition replacing the old blessings title of the Tridentine Ritual[33]. The new book unfolds a more biblical theology of blessing: each blessing is first a celebration of the Word and a praise of God, not the mere application of a formula to an object.
The structure of a blessing
A sacramental "always includes a prayer, often accompanied by a specific sign, such as the laying on of hands, the sign of the cross, or the sprinkling of holy water (which recalls Baptism)"[34]. The Book of Blessings organizes each celebration according to a stable pattern: an opening (greeting, sign of the cross), a proclamation of the Word of God, a prayer of blessing (which praises God then asks his favour), and the conclusion. Blessing is therefore no detached magic word: it is a mini-liturgy, rooted in Scripture.
The respect owed to blessed things
What has been blessed — especially by a constitutive blessing — enters a new order. Canon 1171 protects it:
"Sacred objects, which are designated for divine worship by dedication or blessing, are to be treated reverently and are not to be employed for profane or improper use even if they are owned by private persons."[35]
A blessed medal, a blessed rosary, holy water are not lucky charms to be thrown away once worn out: they are treated with reverence (burned or buried rather than thrown in the rubbish). Not because the object would have a magical virtue, but because it has been consecrated by the prayer of the Church and associated with the worship of God.
Blessing in Christian life
Blessed objects and popular piety
Around blessings has flourished an immense popular piety. The Catechism mentions it with favour: "the veneration of relics, visits to shrines, pilgrimages, processions, the stations of the cross, [...] the rosary, medals"[36]. Holy water, the Miraculous Medal, the scapular are blessed objects whose use prolongs the prayer of the Church in daily life. The Church encourages these devotions, but also asks for discernment: they must "be in harmony with the liturgy" and lead to it, "since in fact the liturgy by its very nature is far superior to any of them"[37].
Blessing to the rhythm of the year and of life
The liturgical calendar is studded with blessings: candles at Candlemas, throats on Saint Blaise's day, palms on Palm Sunday, fire and water at the Easter Vigil, houses at Epiphany, animals on Saint Anthony's day, harvests at the Rogations. Life itself is blessed at each of its stages: the mother after childbirth, the engaged, the sick, travellers, down to the dead, for "the blessings that precede and follow" the funeral rite "are sacramentals"[38] (see Christian funerals). Nothing in Christian existence escapes blessing: that is exactly what Vatican II meant in affirming that "almost every event of life is rendered holy"[39].
- Genesis 12The blessing of the Covenant
God makes Abraham "a blessing" for all the families of the earth: being blessed becomes a mission.
- Numbers 6Aaron's priestly blessing
God entrusts the priests with the formula "The Lord bless you and keep you": to bless is to invoke God's favour, not to command it.
- GospelsChrist who blesses
Jesus blesses children by laying his hands upon them (Mk 10:16) and ascends into heaven with raised hands in the act of blessing (Lk 24:50-51).
- 1614Paul V's Roman Ritual
The Tridentine Rituale Romanum gathers blessings in its title IX (De benedictionibus).
- 1963Sacrosanctum Concilium
Vatican II defines sacramentals (SC 60-61) and prescribes revising the book of blessings (SC 79).
- 1983The Code of Canon Law
Promulgated by John Paul II, the new Code devotes title I of book IV to sacramentals (can. 1166-1172): institution, ministers, recipients, respect for blessed things.
- 1984De Benedictionibus
The Congregation for Divine Worship promulgates the new Book of Blessings (31 May 1984), with a more biblical theology.
- 1992The Catechism of the Catholic Church
Paragraphs 1667-1679 fix the common doctrine: invocative and constitutive blessings, baptismal priesthood, popular piety.
The power and limits of a blessing
What a blessing does
A blessing is not empty. Through the prayer of the Church, it disposes the heart to receive grace, sanctifies the use of things and moments, and intercedes efficaciously with God. "For well-disposed members of the faithful, almost every event of life is rendered holy by the divine grace which flows from the paschal mystery"[40]. It places the blessed one under God's protection and snatches him, in the measure of faith, from the grip of evil. Tradition sees in blessed objects — holy water first — a real help against temptations and the assaults of the enemy, not by any virtue proper to the object, but by the prayer of the Church that accompanies it.
What a blessing does not do
But a blessing is not a magic formula. It does not force God's hand and does not act automatically, whatever the dispositions of the one who receives it. Three limits must be held firmly:
- It is not automatic. Unlike the sacrament, it acts "through the prayer of the Church" and not ex opere operato[41]: its fruit depends on the faith and conversion of the one who benefits from it.
- It does not sanctify sin. Blessing a person calls down grace and conversion upon him; it never approves a situation contrary to God's law.
- It is not superstition. Treating holy water or a medal as a talisman that would act by itself, independently of faith, would be to fall back into the magic that Scripture condemns. The blessed object is a sign that points back to God, never an autonomous force.
Blessing and exorcism
One particular form of protective blessing deserves to be distinguished: exorcism. "When the Church asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion, it is called exorcism."[42] In its simple form, exorcism accompanies baptism. Solemn exorcism, for its part, "can be performed only by a priest and with the permission of the bishop" (can. 1172), with great prudence, and only after ascertaining that it is truly an action of the Evil One and not an illness[43]. Ordinary blessing and exorcism share the same root — the confident prayer of the Church — but exorcism engages the Church's authority against the demon directly.
Blessing, a school of praise
At the end of this journey, a last truth appears: blessing is not first something one receives, but a movement one enters. Blessing God in all things, giving him thanks for his gifts, calling down his favour upon beings and things: this is the simplest and highest form of the spiritual life. "Blessed be God [...] who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing" (Eph 1:3): the spiritual man answers this first blessing by making his whole life a continual blessing of God.
The saints lived it to the end. After receiving the stigmata at La Verna, Saint Francis of Assisi wrote with his own hand, for his companion Brother Leo, a blessing that is nothing other than Aaron's blessing received from Scripture and given again to a brother. The autograph, marked with the sign of the Tau, is still kept at Assisi:
"May the Lord bless you and keep you; may he show his face to you and have mercy on you. May he turn his face to you and give you peace. May the Lord bless you, Brother Leo."[44]
From Aaron's blessing to Francis's note, from Christ's gesture at the Ascension to the cross traced on a child's forehead in the evening, it is the same grace that circulates: to bless is to let God's blessing pass through oneself. Such is, at bottom, the whole Christian life — receiving the Father's blessing in order to give it back, to God first, then to every being one meets.
For further reading
Related Ignispedia articles
- Sacramentals — the general category of which blessing is the first example
- Holy water — the most widespread of blessed objects, linked to Baptism
- The scapular and The Miraculous Medal — two devotions of popular piety
- Indulgences — another extension of the Church's prayer
- What is a sacrament? and The validity of the sacraments — the boundary between sacrament and sacramental
- Benedictine monasticism — the blessing of the abbot, an example of constitutive blessing
- Christian funerals — the blessings of the funeral rite
- Fiducia supplicans — the recent debate on the blessing of persons
Primary sources cited
- Code of Canon Law (1983), Book IV, title I, Sacramentals, can. 1166-1172.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992), §§ 1077-1080, 1667-1679, 1683.
- Second Vatican Council, constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium (4 December 1963), nos. 60, 61, 79.
- Congregation for Divine Worship, De Benedictionibus (Book of Blessings), typical edition, 31 May 1984.
- Sacred Scripture: Gen 12:2; Num 6:24-27; Lk 6:28; Mk 10:16; Lk 24:50-51; Rom 12:14; 1 Pet 3:9; Eph 1:3.
- Saint Francis of Assisi, Blessing to Brother Leo (autograph Chartula, Sacro Convento of Assisi, 1224).
Notes and References
Code of Canon Law (1983), can. 1166: "Sacramentals are sacred signs by which effects, especially spiritual effects, which are obtained through the intercession of the Church, are signified in some imitation of the sacraments." French text from vatican.va (cic_libro4_cann1166-1172), cross-checked with droitcanonique.fr.
1On the roots barak (Hebrew) / eulogein (Greek) / benedicere (Latin), see CCC § 1078 and the introduction (Praenotanda) of the De Benedictionibus (1984). Barak is linked to berek, the knee (the attitude of adoration), and denotes God's gift of life as much as man's praise.
2Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1671: "Every blessing praises God and prays for his gifts. In Christ, Christians are blessed by God the Father 'with every spiritual blessing' (Eph 1:3)."
3 23Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1078: "To bless is a divine action that gives life, and whose source is the Father. His blessing is at once word and gift. Applied to man, the word will mean adoration and surrender to his Creator in thanksgiving."
4 5Saint Paul, Letter to the Ephesians 1:3: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places." Cited by CCC § 1671 and § 1077.
6Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1678: "Among the sacramentals blessings occupy an important place. They include both praise of God for his works and gifts, and the Church's intercession for men that they may be able to use God's gifts according to the spirit of the Gospel."
7 21Lk 6:28: "Bless those who curse you, pray for those who calumniate you"; Rom 12:14: "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse"; 1 Pet 3:9: "Not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but blessing instead." Brought together by CCC § 1669 to found the baptized person's vocation to bless.
8Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1079: "From the liturgical poem of the first creation to the canticles of the heavenly Jerusalem, the inspired authors announce the plan of salvation as one vast blessing."
9Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1080: "From the beginning, God blesses all living beings, especially man and woman. The covenant with Noah and with all living things renews this blessing of fruitfulness."
10Genesis 12:2-3: "I will make of you a great nation [...] and be a blessing! I will bless those who bless you [...] and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." The rendering of Gen 12:2 ("be a blessing" / "you shall be a blessing") is the one aimed at by CCC § 1669 ("every baptized person is called to be a 'blessing'").
11Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1669: "Sacramentals derive from the baptismal priesthood: every baptized person is called to be a 'blessing' (cf. Gen 12:2) and to bless (cf. Lk 6:28; Rom 12:14; 1 Pet 3:9). Hence lay people may preside at certain blessings."
12 26Numbers 6:24-26 (Aaron's priestly blessing): "The Lord bless you and keep you! The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace!" Followed by v. 27: "So shall they put my name upon the sons of Israel, and I will bless them."
13Mark 10:16: "And embracing them he blessed them, laying his hands upon them." Biblical foundation of the gesture of blessing by laying on of hands, taken up by the sacramentals (CCC § 1668).
14Luke 24:50-51: "Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven." Christ leaves this world in the very act of blessing.
15Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1671: "This is why the Church imparts blessings by invoking the name of Jesus, usually while making the holy sign of the cross of Christ."
16Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium (4 December 1963), no. 60: "Holy Mother Church has, moreover, instituted sacramentals. These are sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the intercession of the Church." Taken up almost word for word by CCC § 1667 and can. 1166.
17Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1670: "Sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church's prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it."
18Code of Canon Law (1983), can. 1167 § 1: "Only the Apostolic See can establish new sacramentals or authentically interpret those already received, as well as abolish or change some of them." § 2: "In celebrating or administering sacramentals, the rites and formulas approved by the authority of the Church are to be carefully observed."
19Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1671: "Among sacramentals blessings (of persons, meals, objects, and places) come first."
20Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 79: the revision of the sacramentals first gave rise to the new book of blessings (De Benedictionibus, 1984). No. 79 asks that the sacramentals be revised "with the primary principle of the conscious, active, and easy participation of the faithful" in view.
22Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1672: "Certain blessings have a lasting importance because they consecrate persons to God, or reserve objects and places for liturgical use."
24Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1672: among blessings of persons — "not to be confused with sacramental ordination" — are "the blessing of the abbot or abbess of a monastery, the consecration of virgins and widows, the rite of religious profession and the blessing of certain ministries of the Church (readers, acolytes, catechists, etc.)"; for objects, "the dedication or blessing of a church or an altar, the blessing of the holy oils, vessels, and vestments, bells, etc."
25Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1669: "the more a blessing concerns ecclesial and sacramental life, the more is its administration reserved to the ordained ministry (bishops, priests, or deacons)" (cf. De Benedictionibus, Praenotanda generalia 16 and 18, ed. typica 1984, pp. 13-15).
27Code of Canon Law (1983), can. 1169 §§ 1-3: "§ 1. Those marked with the episcopal character and presbyters permitted by law or legitimate grant can validly perform consecrations and dedications. § 2. Any presbyter can impart blessings except those reserved to the Roman Pontiff or bishops. § 3. A deacon can impart only those blessings expressly permitted by law."
28Code of Canon Law (1983), can. 1168: "The minister of sacramentals is a cleric who has been provided with the requisite power; some sacramentals, according to the norm of the liturgical books, can also be administered, with the judgment of the local ordinary, by lay persons who possess the appropriate qualities."
29Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 79: the constitution provides that certain sacramentals may, "in particular circumstances and with the judgment of the ordinary, be administered by qualified lay persons." Canonical basis of can. 1168 and CCC § 1669.
30Code of Canon Law (1983), can. 1170: "Blessings, which are to be imparted first of all to Catholics, can also be imparted to catechumens and even to non-Catholics unless there is a prohibition of the Church to the contrary."
31Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 79: "The sacramentals are to undergo a revision which takes into account the primary principle of the conscious, active, and easy participation of the faithful, and which pays heed to the needs of our time."
32Congregation for Divine Worship, De Benedictionibus (Book of Blessings), typical edition, promulgated 31 May 1984. This new book, fruit of the reform called for by Sacrosanctum Concilium 79, replaces the blessings title (Titulus IX, De benedictionibus) of the Tridentine Roman Ritual promulgated by Paul V in 1614. It foregrounds a biblical theology of blessing (celebration of the Word, praise of God) before the petition for favour.
33Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1668: sacramentals "always include a prayer, often accompanied by a specific sign, such as the laying on of hands, the sign of the cross, or the sprinkling of holy water (which recalls Baptism)".
34Code of Canon Law (1983), can. 1171: "Sacred objects, which are designated for divine worship by dedication or blessing, are to be treated reverently and are not to be employed for profane or improper use even if they are owned by private persons."
35Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1674: "The religious sense of the Christian people has always found expression in various forms of piety surrounding the Church's sacramental life, such as the veneration of relics, visits to shrines, pilgrimages, processions, the stations of the cross, religious dances, the rosary, medals, etc."
36Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1675 (citing SC 13): these expressions of piety "are to be so drawn up that they harmonize with the liturgical seasons, accord with the sacred liturgy, are in some fashion derived from it, and lead the people to it, since, in fact, the liturgy by its very nature far surpasses any of them".
37Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1683: on funerals, "this offering is fully celebrated in the eucharistic sacrifice; the blessings that precede and follow are sacramentals".
38Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 61: "For well-disposed members of the faithful, the liturgy of the sacraments and sacramentals sanctifies almost every event of their lives with the divine grace which flows from the paschal mystery of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ. For it is from this source that all sacraments and sacramentals draw their power." Cited by CCC § 1670.
39Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 61 (same passage as the preceding note): the sanctification of life's events is conditioned on the disposition of the faithful ("For well-disposed members of the faithful").
40Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1670: sacramentals "do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do" — hence their non-automatic efficacy, distinct from the ex opere operato of the sacraments (cf. Council of Trent, session VII, on the sacraments).
41Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1673: "When the Church asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion, it is called exorcism. [...] Solemn exorcism, called 'major exorcism,' can be performed only by a priest and with the permission of the bishop."
42Code of Canon Law (1983), can. 1172 § 1: "No one can perform exorcisms legitimately upon the possessed unless he has obtained special and express permission from the local ordinary." § 2: this permission is granted "only to a presbyter who has piety, knowledge, prudence, and integrity of life".
43Saint Francis of Assisi, Blessing to Brother Leo, written by his hand on the back of the Chartula after receiving the stigmata at La Verna (1224); autograph kept at the Sacro Convento of Assisi. Free reworking of Aaron's blessing (Num 6:24-26), followed by the Tau sign traced by Francis. Text of Saint Francis's Writings (cf. Wikisource, "Billet à frère Léon"; École franciscaine de Paris).
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