SACRAMENTALS. — These are things or actions which the Church, in some way imitating the Sacraments, uses to obtain, by virtue of her intercession, effects which are chiefly 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 a sacramental was indicated by the term *sacramentum*, used to signify any sensible rite connected with spiritual and supernatural realities. In the 12th century, the Scholastics began to distinguish between *Sacramenta salutis* (Hugh of Saint-Victor) and *necessitatis* (Alger of Liège), or *maiora* (Abelard), that is, those now called Sacraments in the strict sense, and the *sacramenta ministratoria*, *veneratoria*, *preparatoria*, *sacramenta minora*, *sacramenta dignitatis*, that is, simple ceremonies and religious practices performed by the faithful, both outside and within the administration of the Sacraments.
I. NATURE OF SACRAMENTALS
Like the Sacraments, sacramentals consist in something sensible, possess an efficacy superior to that of the good works of private individuals, and finally obtain spiritual effects. Unlike the Sacraments, however, it does not seem necessary that the sensible rite signify the effect to which it is ordered; in this respect, therefore, nothing prevents the inclusion among sacramentals of the invocation of the name of Jesus and works of mercy. Moreover, the efficacy of the Sacraments is *ex opere operato*, deriving from the merits of Jesus Christ, whereas sacramentals obtain their effect through the intercessory power of the Church. The Sacraments also produce sanctifying grace, which sacramentals do not; finally, the former are of divine institution, the latter of ecclesiastical institution.From the definition of the CIC, the relationship that sacramentals have with ceremonies in general also emerges. By these are meant all actions that pertain to public worship. Hence, private acts of worship are excluded from the number of ceremonies, and in them the value of homage rendered to God is emphasized, apart from any practical efficacy in regard to spiritual effects. Sacramentals, on the other hand, are things or actions, whether of public or private use, which possess a practical efficacy, inasmuch as the Church has attached her intercession to them in order to obtain particular effects.
II. ENUMERATION OF SACRAMENTALS
Ancient theologians grouped them into six classes, designated by the well-known verse: “orans, tinctus, edens, confessus, dans, benedicens.” *Orans* refers to the Lord’s Prayer and other prayers of the Church, especially public ones; *tinctus* indicates the sprinkling with holy water and sacred unctions; *edens*, the eating of blessed food; *confessus*, the recitation of the *Confiteor* and other acts of humiliation; *dans*, almsgiving and, in general, works of mercy; *benedicens*, the manifold blessings imparted upon persons and things. Following the indications of the CIC, modern authors enumerate 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 should be noted (cf. E. Doronzo, *De Sacramentis in genere*, Milwaukee 1947, p. 544) that blessings and consecrations do not exactly fit the concept of sacramentals as defined by the CIC when they involve only a separation of things from profane use and thus a certain legal holiness, but only when they also imply the impetration of some spiritual effect. Exorcisms fall under the CIC definition only insofar as the expulsion or repression of the demon is the object of the Church’s intercession, not insofar as the Church exercises 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 fit the CIC definition, because the benefit of the indulgence for the living is not an effect of the Church’s intercession 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 the saints.With this clarified, it can be affirmed that the modern division is more scientific, because it is based on the different kinds of intercession, which is the essential note of sacramentals; it is also exhaustive, because all sacramentals can be included under the various members of this classification. Indeed, either the intercession is connected with the use of a permanent thing (thing-sacramentals) or it consists in a transitory action (action-sacramentals). Moreover, the intercession either pertains to positive goods (blessings or consecrations) or to the removal of evils (exorcisms). The difference between consecrations and blessings lies in the fact that consecrations always have the effect of permanently separating an object or person from profane use (hence in them unctions accompany the words), whereas in blessings only words are used, and only constitutive blessings, unlike merely invocative ones, entail a permanent separation from profane use.
III. EFFICACY OF SACRAMENTALS
The question presents two aspects: what is the nature of this efficacy, that is, the manner in which sacramentals operate, and what are the particular effects obtained.1) Sacramentals can first be considered as ceremonies, and as such they possess, by their very nature, the power to arouse religious knowledge and sentiments in the soul. Moreover, as good works, they have a meritorious value for those who perform them. Finally, they are endowed with a special efficacy insofar as they are informed by the intercession of the Church. It is precisely this that is the proper efficacy of sacramentals, the nature of which is clarified by the following observations: a) sacramentals are not instruments by which God sanctifies souls, but actions by which the Church petitions God for the conferral of graces; b) the efficacy of sacramentals, insofar as it derives from the intercession of the Church, does not depend, as from a cause, on the moral dispositions of the minister or the subject. Hence it is said that sacramentals do not act “ex opere operantis ministri vel subiecti,” and in this they agree with the Sacraments; they differ from them, however, because the efficacy of the latter is “ex opere operato.” The question may be raised whether, in addition to this efficacy founded on the intercession of the Church, sacramentals do not possess another efficacy “ex opere operato.” The CIC makes no mention of this. Several authors (e.g., Michel) affirm it with regard to those sacramentals whose effect is to dedicate things or persons to divine service; indeed, the external rite, objectively considered and performed according to the prescribed norms, when the subject does not offer any impediment, produces the effect of consecrating the thing or person to divine service. The same can be said of those sacramentals to which the Church has attached some indulgence. These effects are not due to the intercession and merits of either the minister or the subject, nor of the Church, but to the mere performance of the external rite, which, however, possesses this power by the institution of the Church. It can therefore be maintained that some sacramentals produce the effect of deputing to divine worship or of remitting temporal punishment “ex opere operato,” in institutions of the Church. Yet it must not be forgotten that, according to the definition of the CIC, the deputing to divine worship and the indulgence granted to the living do not fall within the specific effects of sacramentals, because they are not obtained through the intercession of the Church; c) finally, it should be observed that, once the rite is performed according to the prescribed norms, the intercession of the Church follows infallibly, but the attainment of the effects impetrated is conditioned by all the requirements on which the efficacy of prayer in general depends. In this case, since it is a matter of an intercession made by the Church, the Spouse of Christ, the conditions on the part of the one praying are always fulfilled; yet the requirements on the part of the thing impetrated or the person for whom one prays might be lacking.
The CIC generally speaks of effects that are especially spiritual. Most authors classify them under the following categories: a) actual graces that prompt acts of faith, hope, charity, penance, etc.; b) the driving away or repression of the demon; c) temporal goods, such as health, good weather, etc., always however insofar as they lead to eternal salvation and fall within the plan of God’s ordinary Providence.
There are uncertainties and divergences among authors regarding the question of whether and in what sense the efficacy of the sacramentals extends to sanctifying grace, the remission of venial sins, and temporal punishment. It seems evident that the question should be resolved in the following terms: a) just as every prayer, so too that of the Church incorporated into the sacramentals can have as its object any benefit, and thus also the conversion of sinners, the conferral or preservation of sanctifying grace, the forgiveness of mortal and venial sins, and the remission of temporal punishment; b) if it is asked whether these benefits, as intended by the Church, can be directly conferred by God in such a way that their conferral immediately follows in the order of reality the Church’s imposition, it must be answered that, according to the common opinion of theologians, the infusion of sanctifying grace and thus also the forgiveness of mortal sins can only be obtained through the Sacraments “ex opere operato” and through perfect charity or meritorious works “ex opere operato.” Therefore, when one asks the Lord for the sanctification of souls, what is directly obtained are only the actual graces that dispose the individual to make use of the Sacraments or to perform those good works to which God has connected sanctification. Consequently, the infusion of sanctifying grace and the forgiveness of mortal sins cannot constitute an immediate effect of the sacramentals. With regard to venial sins, because of their analogy with grave faults, it must be thought that the sacramentals do not immediately obtain their forgiveness, but rather directly obtain only those graces that are particularly suited to arouse sentiments of penance, by which venial sins are blotted out.
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 immediately remitting temporal punishment; b) indeed, such a sacramental exists in fact, for the benefit of the souls in purgatory, and it is the entire liturgy for the dead. Therefore, if the prayers of the Church can immediately obtain the remission of temporal punishment for the dead, there is no reason why they could not also obtain it for the living; c) but it is probable that no sacramental is specifically ordained to this end with regard to the living.