Buying religious items on Ebay

[hunterzdada]

I have taken a great interest in seeing great items of my faith on Ebay. Rosaries, prayer books and a number of other items.

I thought at one time I had heard that purchasing these items was wrong. There are a number of items I would like to purchase. Can someone help me out?

 

[MrS]

hunterzdada:

I have taken a great interest in seeing great items of my faith on Ebay. Rosaries, prayer books and a number of other items.

I thought at one time I had heard that purchasing these items was wrong. There are a number of items I would like to purchase. Can someone help me out?

The selling of blessed/holy items could be considered the sin of simony. Often the recommendation is that the items, having been “mistreated” this way, should be blessed again.

Perhaps the items that interest you are new and have yet to have been blessed. If you are saving, and it is really something you want, go for it.

Beware of relics, and artifax. Even if real, it is a shame that they were not rescued before they hit ebay.

 

[gelsbern]

Purchasing non-blessed items is perfectly fine. Purchasing a blessed item if you don’t know it’s already been blessed is fine for you, and possibly fine for the seller if they did not know it was a sin to sell blessed items.

Buying blessed items where you know they are blessed is a sin as well BUT (that’s what I love about catholicism, there’s almost always a but) if the act of purchasing a sacred or blessed item will keep it from being defiled, it can possibly be justified.

If you buy a blessed item, it loses all of it’s blessing and any indulgences that were attached to them. The item will need to be re-blessed and depending on the item, it may require a bishop to do so.

See the Catholic Encyclopedia on simony.
newadvent.org/cathen/14001a.htm

 

[JustSomeGuy]

as far as i know simony only occurs when the intent is to sell the item because it is blessed, except in special cases. one special case for sure is relics, of any class. you can never sell a relic. the other items in the new advent article i have heard of before but i don’t know if there are others.

you can sell blessed items, but not because they are blessed. if you have an object that is valued at $20, you can’t sell it for more because it is blessed. but you can sell it for $20. the blessing never goes away. but an indulgences attached to the item are removed. if an indulgence requires the blessing of an item in order to obtain it, then the item has to be blessed again. the indulgence is always attached to the actions of the person receiving it.

if you couldn’t ever sell a blessed object, no one would ever have their home blessed.

 

[gelsbern]

I’ll add a link to this article in regards to relics.

kensmen.com/catholic/relics.html

I only add it because I know of a couple of organizations that buy relics to save them from desecration and they give them to churches.