***Only an ordained person (bishop, priest or deacon) can bless objects.Hi, I’m not sure if this is the right place to put this thread, but I’m wondering if a lay person is able to bless objects such as a Crucifix, rosary, etc…
Otherwise must one be a priest to do this?
Thank You
These aren’t blessings of objects. They are prayers said over the objects. The things prayed-over are no more blessed after these rituals than they were before.Blessings of objects that can be done by a layperson:
Chapter 11: new home (n. 661)
Chapter 21: “the various means of transportation” (n. 854) objects mentioned are: bridge, highway, street, railway, airport, motor vehicle, airplane, boat and ship.
Chapter 22: “boats and fishing gear” (a USA blessing, n. 880)
Chapter 23: “technical installations or equipment” (chapter 23, n. 901) objects mentioned: “any kind of technical equipment”, “a central energy source or power house”, “a reservoir or water system”.
Chapter 24: “tools or other equipment for work” (n. 921).
Chapter 25: animals (n. 943).
Chapter 26: fields and flocks (n. 968)
Chapter 27: “seeds at planting time” (a USA blessing, n. 988)
Chapter 30: meals. “1030. Christians, whether alone or with companions at table, say grace before and after meals to thank God for his goodness …”. The First Plan has, before the meal:
“The one presiding then signs himself with the sign of the cross (a priest or deacon also makes the sign of the cross over the food) and says:
Bless + us, O Lord, and these your gifts …” (n. 1033).
Chapter 46: a scapular. “1488. The blessing and conferral of a scapular should, if at all possible, be carried out in a communal celebration. Whenever the conferral is a way of receiving members of the faithful into a confraternity of a religious order or institute, this reception must be carried out by a member of that institute or else by a minister deputed by the competent authority of the institute.” Objects mentioned: scapular, habit.
Chapter 47: an advent wreath (a USA blessing, n. 1516).
Chapter 48: a Christmas manger or nativity scene (a USA blessing, n. 1546).
Chapter 49: a Christmas tree (a USA blessing, n. 1575).
Chapter 50: “homes during the Christmas and Easter seasons” (a USA blessing, n. 1600).
Chapter 53: food on Saint Joseph’s table (a USA blessing, n. 1681).
Chapter 54: “food for the first meal of Easter” (a USA blessing, n. 1706).
Chapter 57: a gravestone or monument at a cemetery “(November 2), Memorial Day, or on the Anniversary of Death or Burial” (a USA blessing, n. 1737).
From Book of Blessings, Liturgical Press, Minnesota, 1989, ISBN 0-8146-1875-8.
I have not completed going through the book yet and may add more chapters later.
No. Laypersons canot bless anything.Hi, I’m not sure if this is the right place to put this thread, but I’m wondering if a lay person is able to bless objects such as a Crucifix, rosary, etc…
Otherwise must one be a priest to do this?
Thank You
If the priest is unable to bless the house (and in this case, he wasn’t), a layperson can say some prayers, and sprinkle the house with holy water. That’s fine. But the home isn’t blessed unless a priest blesses it. There’s a difference.really?
in my former parish which has a large number of parishioners, our pastor once asked that he cannot perform home blessings for a while because the assistant pastor moved out and until he receives a replacement, he can’t do home blessings. but he said that the people themselves can do the some blessing, he will give them the prayers and some holy water upon request
or is that some kind of other blessing?
i see. thats what i was thinking. thanks for confirming it FatherIf the priest is unable to bless the house (and in this case, he wasn’t), a layperson can say some prayers, and sprinkle the house with holy water. That’s fine. But the home isn’t blessed unless a priest blesses it. There’s a difference.
From the Introduction to the Book of Blessings:No. Laypersons canot bless anything.
If you need something blessed, ask a priest to bless it. Only bishops, priests, and sometimes deacons can actually and properly “bless” anything or anyone. There are some limits on deacons blessings, but the objects you’ve mentioned can be blessed by deacons (if memory serves).
The part that’s missing here is that the “rites and formularies designated for a lay minister” have the blessing itself removed, because only a cleric can impart a blessing. That becomes more clear when we look at the rituals themselves, not just the index or the introduction.From the Introduction to the Book of Blessings:
“18. … Other laymen and laywomen, in virtue of the universal priesthood, a dignity they possess because of their baptism and confirmation, may celebrate certain blessings, as indicated in the respective orders of blessings, by use of the rites and formularies designated for a lay minister. … But whenever a priest or a deacon is present, the office of presiding should be left to him.”
I think I see the reasoning of FrDavid96. For example, with the blessing of a motor vehicle, the rubric is “868 A minister who is a priest or deacon says the prayer of blessing with hands outstretched; a lay minister says the prayer with hands joined.” It says “prayer of blessing” for the priest, just “prayer” for the lay person.The part that’s missing here is that the “rites and formularies designated for a lay minister” have the blessing itself removed, because only a cleric can impart a blessing. That becomes more clear when we look at the rituals themselves, not just the index or the introduction.
In the individual rituals, when a cleric presides, there is a blessing; when a layperson presides, the blessing is replaced with a prayer over the person or object.
I don’t follow that logic.I think I see the reasoning of FrDavid96. For example, with the blessing of a motor vehicle, the rubric is “868 A minister who is a priest or deacon says the prayer of blessing with hands outstretched; a lay minister says the prayer with hands joined.” It says “prayer of blessing” for the priest, just “prayer” for the lay person.
But I am fairly sure this distinction is not made in the Latin original of the rubric: “668. Tum minister, si est sacerdos vel diaconus, manibus extensis, si laicus, manibus iunctis, orationem benedictionis profert:” (De Benedictionibus, Liberia Editrice Vaticana, 1993, ISBN 880118994, page 258.)
The heading for the prayer is “Blessing of a motor vehicle”. The same words are said by a lay person or a priest. In both cases the motor vehicle is blessed. Therefore it is a blessed object.
The rubric I think FrDavid96 has misunderstood is like “A priest says the Our Father with hands outstretched. A lay person says the prayer with hands joined.” Both say the same prayer. In the second sentence I have referred to the Our Father in a shorter way. I think FrDavid96 has read too much into this shortening of “prayer of blessing” to “prayer”.
You are wrong. Some sacramentals are reserved to ordained ministers. Other sacramentals are not.I have always thought that blessed items (sacramentals) were in fact considered blessed because the priest who blessed them was an ordained member of the church. The sacramental carries with it the prayer of the Church, which the priest represents as an ordained minister. Please correct me it I’m wrong.
To “preside at blessings” is not the same thing as to impart a blessing–it’s not the same thing as blessing an object and as a result, the object becomes a blessed object.You are wrong. Some sacramentals are reserved to ordained ministers. Other sacramentals are not.
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
“1669 Sacramentals derive from the baptismal priesthood: every baptized person is called to be a “blessing,” and to bless.172 Hence lay people may preside at certain blessings; the more a blessing concerns ecclesial and sacramental life, the more is its administration reserved to the ordained ministry (bishops, priests, or deacons).173”
The footnotes: “172 Cf. Gen 12:2; Lk 6:28; Rom 12:14; 1 Pet 3:9.
173 Cf. SC 79; CIC, can. 1168; De Ben 16, 18.”
This quote from the Catechism is from vatican.va/archive/catechism/p2s2c4a1.htm . The documents referred to in footnote 173 are Sacrosanctum Conciliium (SC), the Code of Canon Law (CIC) and Book of Blessings, (De Benedictionibus, “De Ben”).
A section of the Code of Canon Law is on Sacramentals, it is at vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P48.HTM . The part referred to in the Catechism is:
“Can. 1168 The minister of sacramentals is a cleric who has been provided with the requisite power. According to the norm of the liturgical books and to the judgment of the local ordinary lay persons who possess the appropriate qualities can also administer some sacramentals.”