Hello,
If someone wears a Crucifix, Cross or Medal for personal adornment or non-verbal declaration of Faith, is it neccessary to have the item(s) blessed? Is a non-blessed item less valid or of less spiritual/devotional value?
I am afraid I do not really know how to understand your question and even less the comment of the previous responder.
A crucifix that is not blessed is still a crucifix but it is a crucifix that is not enriched by the Church’s blessing, imparted through one who has the ontological character of the Sacrament of Order. I am not sure why a Catholic would not want the item blessed.
As the
Enchiridion of Indulgences states: Members of the faithful who devoutly use an object of piety (a crucifix or cross, a chaplet, a scapular, a medal)
having been blessed, are granted an indulgence. So, yes, there are certainly many spiritual advantages to having an item blessed.
(This general grant is now found in N. 15 in the
Normae de Indulgentiis of the Fourth Edition, revised, of the
Enchiridion Indulgentiarum: Christifidelis indulgentiam consequi valet si devote utitur aliquo ex sequentibus pietatis obiectis,
rite benedicto: nempe crucifixo vel cruce, corona, scapulari, numismate.
Water can always remind one of one’s baptism…but it cannot do so in the same way and in the same manner as water that has been blessed – that is to say, Holy Water.
