Are These Palms Blessed?

[paramedicgirl]

For Passion Sunday, we had our usual ecumenical prayer service in the park adjacent to all the churches, prior to the Mass. The Anglican priest blessed the palms, and I asked our Catholic priest if they were truly blessed. He said the holy water that the Anglican priest used came from the Catholic Church, so yes they were validly blessed.

This response seems to validate my concern that the palms may not be sacramentally blessed… Anyone know what the Book of Blessings says?

 

[cameron_lansing]

paramedicgirl:

For Passion Sunday, we had our usual ecumenical prayer service in the park adjacent to all the churches, prior to the Mass. The Anglican priest blessed the palms, and I asked our Catholic priest if they were truly blessed. He said the holy water that the Anglican priest used came from the Catholic Church, so yes they were validly blessed.

This response seems to validate my concern that the palms may not be sacramentally blessed… Anyone know what the Book of Blessings says?

Canon 1168 states that the minister of the sacramentals is a cleric who has been given the necessary power; in accord with the norm of the liturgical books and according to the judgment of the local ordinary, some sacramentals can also be administered by lay persons who are endowed with the appropriate qualities.

Since the code is addressing the Catholic Church, the term cleric is only to be understood as a Catholic bishop, priest or deacon.

The ritual texts and the Book of Blessings envision that the valid blessing of sacramentals are performed by Catholic clerics using the liturgical formula and conducting the liturgical actions.

Holy Water, even that blessed by a Catholic cleric previously, and hitting the palms is not constitutive of the blessing in the absense of a person competent to give the blessing.

While this comment was undoubtedly said in good faith, it was in error from the circumstances you describe.

 

[paramedicgirl]

cameron_lansing:

Canon 1168 states that the minister of the sacramentals is a cleric who has been given the necessary power; in accord with the norm of the liturgical books and according to the judgment of the local ordinary, some sacramentals can also be administered by lay persons who are endowed with the appropriate qualities.

Since the code is addressing the Catholic Church, the term cleric is only to be understood as a Catholic bishop, priest or deacon.

The ritual texts and the Book of Blessings envision that the valid blessing of sacramentals are performed by Catholic clerics using the liturgical formula and conducting the liturgical actions.

Holy Water, even that blessed by a Catholic cleric previously, and hitting the palms is not constitutive of the blessing in the absense of a person competent to give the blessing.

While this comment was undoubtedly said in good faith, it was in error from the circumstances you describe.

Thank you. That is what I thought. So I guess the palms are not a sacramental of the Catholic Church and don’t need to be burned or buried?