blessed salt

[Magdalena59]

Can salt be blessed by a priest sprinkling holy water on the container, like while he is blessing other items or is there a special blessing for salt?

 

[Joie_de_Vivre]

Can salt be blessed by a priest sprinkling holy water on the container, like while he is blessing other items or is there a special blessing for salt?

“Almighty God, we ask you to bless this salt, as once you blessed the salt scattered over the water by the prophet Elisha. Wherever this salt (and water) is sprinkled, drive away the power of evil, and protect us always by the presence of your Holy Spirit. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen”

 

[midori]

I have my 1962 missal bookmarked to this prayer. I usually try to get my salt blessed after a weeknight Mass so that there’s not the time crunch you get on Sunday. I’ll say, “Father, can you please bless my salt with this prayer?” and sometimes I’ll have two or three cans of salt at a time, because (a) I like to share some with family members, and (b) that way, I only have to ask him maybe once a year or so.

I exorcize thee, created element of salt, by the living + God, by the true + God, by the holy + God, by God who by the hand of Eliseus the prophet mingled thee with water in order that the barrenness thereof might be healed; that thou mayest be made salt from which the evil spirit hath been cast forth for the health of the faithful, and mayest bring to all who partake of thee health of soul and body; and that there may be banished from the place in which thou shalt be sprinkled, every kind of hallucination and wickedness, or craft of devilish deceit, and every unclean spirit, in the name of Him Who will come to judge the living and the dead and the world by fire. R. Amen.

 

[AttendeDomine]

Here is a link to all sorts of priestly prayers to bless objects so that they can become sacramentals: static1.squarespace.com/static/53112767e4b06a95ceb2951a/t/55c0d707e4b0665eb3e7d9d2/1438701319210/Roman_Ritual_Booklet_2015.pdf.

An exorcism of salt is found on page 8 — it is the same as Midori’s — as part of the overall prayers that are used for exorcised water. As a matter of fact, I’ve consistently heard that exorcised water is more efficacious than “mere” holy water insofar as driving out the demonic is concerned, and one well-known authority who takes that position is Fr. Mitch Pacwa, who spoke on the matter from the perspective of experience.

A lot of these old prayers are not just quaint and cute things a priest can say for someone who has nostalgia — for theological reasons I don’t fully understand, they really do appear to have more merit and to be more efficacious. As far as the demonic is concerned, the more precise a priestly prayer is, and the more it invokes the authority of the Church from the leverage point of a command, the more good it will do.

 

[Mystrx]

I think they have an actual blessing they use for salt.

 

[midori]

In an anecdotal side note, the priest at my Mom’s church does the exorcised holy water, too. I always thought that was the default— I was wrong. But yes, judging from the remarks of priests who have experience with such things, intentionally exorcised things are more powerful than things that have been more generically blessed might be.

 

[Magdalena59]

So, then an added question would be, if I wanted candles blessed and they were sprinkled with water by a priest are they then considered blessed?

 

[The_Apostolate]

During Easter time, we take are salt and pepper to be Blessed with all the thing,s in our Basket .

 

[paperwight66]

During Easter time, we take are salt and pepper to be Blessed with all the thing,s in our Basket .

This is a custom that is unknown here in the UK.

May I ask, what items do you put in and what is the procedure?