Sacramentals

SACRAMENTALS. - They are things or actions which the Church, in some way imitating the Sacraments, uses in order to obtain, by virtue of her impetration, effects that are above all spiritual (CIC, can. 1144). The term, as a noun, is not found in theological usage before the 12th century. Until then, what is now designated as sacramentals was indicated by the term sacrament, used to signify any sensible rite that had a relation to spiritual and supernatural realities. In the 12th century the Scholastics began to distinguish between Sacramenta salutis (Hugh of St. Victor) or necessitatis (Alger of Liège), or maiora (Abelard), that is, those which are today called Sacraments in the strict sense, and the sacramenta ministratoria, veneratoria, preparatoria; sacramenta minora, sacramenta dignitatis, that is, the simple ceremonies and religious practices performed either during or outside the administration of the Sacraments.

I. NATURE OF THE SACRAMENTALS

Like the Sacraments, the sacramentals consist in something sensible, are endowed with an efficacy superior to that of the good works of private individuals, and finally obtain spiritual effects. Unlike the Sacraments, however, it does not appear to be required that the sensible rite signify the effect to which it is ordered; from this point of view, therefore, nothing prevents the invocation of the name of Jesus and the works of mercy from being placed among the sacramentals. Furthermore, the efficacy of the Sacraments is ex opere operato, deriving from the merits of Jesus Christ, whereas the sacramentals obtain their effects through the impetratory efficacy of the Church. The Sacraments moreover produce sanctifying Grace, which the sacramentals do not; finally, the former are of divine institution, the latter of ecclesiastical institution.

From the definition of the CIC there also emerges the relationship that the sacramentals have with ceremonies in general. By these are meant all the actions that relate to public worship. Hence, acts of private worship are excluded from the number of ceremonies, and in them the value of the homage rendered to God is emphasized, prescinding from practical efficacy with regard to spiritual effects. The sacramentals, by contrast, are things or actions, of public or private use, that possess a practical efficacy, inasmuch as the Church has annexed to them her impetration for obtaining particular effects.

II. ENUMERATION OF THE SACRAMENTALS

The ancient theologians grouped them into six classes, designated by the well-known verse: "orans, tinctus, edens, confessus, dans, benedicens." Orans alludes to the Lord's Prayer and the other prayers of the Church, especially public ones; tinctus indicates aspersion with holy water and the sacred unctions; edens, the eating of blessed foods; confessus, the recitation of the Confiteor and other acts of humiliation; dans, almsgiving and in general the works of mercy; benedicens, the manifold blessings imparted upon persons and things. Following the indications of the CIC, modern authors enumerate the sacramentals according to another criterion. First they distinguish between things and actions, then they divide things into blessed, consecrated, and exorcised, and actions into blessings, consecrations, and exorcisms. It must be specified (cf. E. Doronzo, De Sacramentis in genere, Milwaukee 1947, p. 544) that blessings and consecrations do not exactly verify the concept of a sacramental fixed by the CIC when they imply only a separation of things from profane use and therefore a certain legal holiness, but when they also import the impetration of some spiritual effect. Exorcisms fall within the definition of the CIC only insofar as the expulsion or repression of the devil is the object of the Church's impetration, not insofar as it is carried out by the Church through the exercise of that power of command over demons which Christ conferred upon her. Those same good works to which the Church has attached the acquisition of indulgences for the living do not verify the definition of the CIC, for the reason that the benefit of an indulgence for the living is not an effect of the Church's impetration, but is conferred by the Church through the exercise of that power of jurisdiction by which she was constituted the depositary of the merits and satisfactions of Christ and of the saints.

Having specified this, it may be affirmed that the modern division is more scientific, because it is founded on the different kinds of impetration, an essential note of the sacramental; it is furthermore exhaustive, because all sacramentals can be made to fall within the various members of the same; indeed, either the impetration is tied to the use of a permanent thing (sacramentals-things) or it consists in a transitory action (sacramentals-action). Moreover, the impetration either concerns positive goods (blessings or consecrations) or concerns the removal of evils (exorcisms). The difference between consecrations and blessings consists in the fact that consecrations always have as their effect the stable separation of an object or a person from profane use (hence in them the unctions accompany the words), whereas in blessings only words are used, and only constitutive blessings, as distinct from those that are merely invocative, entail a stable separation from profane use.

III. EFFICACY OF THE SACRAMENTALS

The question presents two aspects: what is the nature of this efficacy, that is, the manner in which the sacramentals operate, and what in particular are the effects obtained.

1) The sacramentals can be considered first of all as ceremonies, and as such they possess, by their very nature, the power to awaken in the soul religious knowledge and sentiments. Moreover, as good acts, they have a meritorious value for the one who performs them. Finally, they are endowed with a special efficacy insofar as they are informed by the impetration of the Church. And precisely this is the proper efficacy of the sacramentals, whose nature is specified by the following observations: a) the sacramentals are not instruments that God uses to sanctify souls, but actions by which the Church entreats from God the conferral of graces; b) the efficacy of the sacramentals, insofar as it derives from the impetration of the Church, does not depend, as on a cause, on the moral dispositions of the minister or of the subject. Accordingly it is said that the sacramentals do not act "ex opere operantis ministri vel subiecti", and in this they agree with the Sacraments; from them, however, they differ because the efficacy of the latter is "ex opere operato". The question may be raised whether, besides this efficacy founded on the intercession of the Church, the sacramentals do not possess another "ex opere operato". The CIC makes no mention of it. Several authors (e.g., Michel) affirm it with regard to those sacramentals whose effect is to dedicate things or persons to the divine service; in fact, the external rite, taken objectively and performed according to the prescribed norms, when the subject offers no impediment, produces the effect of consecrating the thing or the person to the divine service. The same may be affirmed of those sacramentals to which the Church has attached some indulgence. These effects are not due to the intercession and merits either of the minister or of the subject, or of the Church, but to the simple positing of the external rite, which, nevertheless, possesses such power by institution of the Church. One may therefore hold that certain sacramentals produce the effect of deputation to the divine worship or of the remission of temporal punishment "ex opere operato, vi institutionis ipsius Ecclesiae". However, it must not be forgotten that, according to the definition of the CIC, deputation to the divine worship and the indulgence granted to the living do not fall within the specific effects of the sacramentals, because they are not obtained through the impetration of the Church; c) it must be observed, finally, that once the rite is posited according to the prescribed norms, the impetration of the Church follows infallibly, but the obtaining of the impetrated effects is conditioned upon all the requisites on which the efficacy of prayer in general depends. In the present case, since it is a matter of an impetration made by the Church, the spouse of Christ, the conditions on the part of the one praying are always verified; but the requisites on the part of the thing impetrated or of the person for whom one prays could be lacking.

2) The CIC speaks in general of effects that are especially spiritual. Most authors distribute them into the following categories: a) actual graces that stir one to perform acts of faith, hope, charity, penance, etc.; b) the driving away or repression of the devil; c) temporal goods, such as health, good weather, etc., yet always to the extent that they lead to eternal salvation and fall within the plan of God's ordinary Providence.

Uncertainties and divergences exist among authors regarding the question whether and in what sense the efficacy of the sacramentals extends to sanctifying grace, to the remission of venial sins and of temporal punishment. It seems evident that the question proposed must be resolved in the following terms: a) as every prayer, so also the ecclesiastical prayer incorporated in the sacramentals, can have as its object any benefit, and therefore also the conversion of sinners, the conferral or preservation of sanctifying grace, the forgiveness of mortal and venial sins, the remission of temporal punishment; b) if it be asked whether these benefits, intended by the Church, can be directly conferred by God, in such a way that the conferral follows immediately in the order of reality upon the impetration of the Church, one must answer that, according to the common opinion of theologians, the infusion of sanctifying grace and therefore also the forgiveness of mortal sins cannot be obtained except through the path of the Sacraments "ex opere operato" and through that of perfect charity or of meritorious works "ex opere operantis...". When, therefore, one asks the Lord for the sanctification of souls, directly one obtains only the actual graces that dispose the individual to the use of the Sacraments or to the performance of those good works to which God has attached sanctification. Consequently, the infusion of sanctifying grace and the forgiveness of mortal sins cannot constitute an immediate effect of the sacramentals. Regarding venial sins, because of their analogy with grave offenses, one must hold that the sacramentals do not immediately obtain their forgiveness, but that directly they obtain only those graces that are particularly suited to stirring up sentiments of penance, by which venial sins are wiped away.

The question concerning the remission of temporal punishment can be summarized in three points: a) the Church has the power to institute sacramentals that have the efficacy of remitting immediately temporal punishment; b) indeed, such a sacramental exists in fact, for the benefit of the souls in purgatory, and it is the entire liturgy of the dead. Therefore, if the prayers of the Church can immediately obtain the remission of temporal punishment for the dead, one does not see why they cannot obtain it also for the living; c) but it is probable that there exists no sacramental ordained to this specific purpose with regard to the living.

IV. THE INSTITUTION OF THE SACRAMENTALS

That the Church, and she alone, has the power to institute the sacramentals is evident from her constant practice, from the decision of the CIC (can. 1145) and from the very nature of things. It is evident, in fact, that the priestly power of sanctification with which she is endowed entails also the right and the duty, as of regulating worship in general, so also of instituting rites and ceremonies with impetratory value. It is equally evident that a rite having the value of expressing the vows and aspirations of the Church cannot come from anyone but her. In ecclesiastical tradition, while the principle that the Church cannot change the substance of the Sacraments because they are of divine origin is insistently inculcated, it has always been recognized, and was defined by the Council of Trent, that the Church can change the ceremonies of worship at will; the CIC explicitly attributes to the Holy See the right to institute new sacramentals and to change, abrogate, and authentically interpret the old ones (can. 1145); this is equivalent to admitting that all the sacramentals are of ecclesiastical institution.

V. ADMINISTRATION OF THE SACRAMENTALS

1) The external rite. - The liturgical norms must be scrupulously observed (can. 1148 § 1); blessings and consecrations are invalid if the prescribed formula is not used (ibid. § 2). In general the s. are to be treated with reverence; in particular, moreover, things consecrated or blessed with a constitutive blessing may not be turned to a profane use or one other than their own, even if they are in the possession of private persons (can. 1150); thus, for example, it is not lawful to use holy water to quench one's thirst. 2) The minister. - Having established the general principle that the lawful minister is only the cleric who has received the power to do so and is not prevented from exercising it by the competent authority (can. 1146), the CIC descends to particular cases. For consecrations, the valid minister is only the bishop and those who have authorization for it by law (such as cardinals) or by apostolic indult (can. 1147 § 1). Blessings that are not reserved to the Roman pontiff, or to bishops, or to others may be given by any priest (ibid. § 2); but even reserved blessings, when they are imparted by a simple priest without the necessary authorization, remain valid though illicit, unless the Holy See, in promulgating the reservation, has decided otherwise (ibid. § 3). Deacons and lectors may validly and lawfully give only the blessings that are expressly granted to them by law (ibid. § 4). For exorcisms v. the relevant entry. 3) The subject. - Blessings must be imparted first of all to Catholics, to obtain for them the light of faith or, with it, the health of the body (can. 1149). Exorcisms may also be performed on non-Catholics and on the excommunicated (can. 1152).

Antonio Gaboardi