Consecrated/Blessed buildings- several questions below:

[Episcopalian]

A bunch of questions regarding consecrated/blessed buildings popped into my head:

1. Are houses that are blessed in the Catholic tradition still carry that blessing if the house switches ownership?
2. Are houses blessed in a different faith tradition outside of Catholicism, carry as much benefit that the Catholic blessings bestows?
3. Are Catholic church buildings havens from demons and such, provided there’s no Eucharist in the tabernacle at the time?
4. Do Christian non-Catholic Church buildings or non-Christian worship buildings (temples, synagogues, mosques) have anything to them that the Catholic Church recognizes. Assuming the building is dedicated to the worship of God and blessed (maybe even consecrated) in that particular faith tradition.

 

[Vico]

…

There is no requirement for the Eucharist in a place for it to be blessed.

People are sanctified by participation, having as much sanctity as it shares in the Divinity through sanctifying grace.

A blessing is a ritual ceremony where an authorized cleric in major orders sanctifies persons or things to divine service.

A person, place, or object can be dedicated to the worship of God. Any place or space that has been liturgically blessed is called consecrated. It is also where some sacred object such as a church is built or has stood or a Christian cemetery. Deconsecration or secularization is the reverse.

 

[Episcopalian]

Thanks @Vico!! I’ll edit my post

 

[Tis_Bearself]

• Are houses that are blessed in the Catholic tradition still carry that blessing if the house switches ownership?

Not if the house is sold. Any blessed item loses its blessing when the item is sold. The buyer would need to get it re-blessed. Opinions are divided on whether it retains the blessing if it’s gifted, such as the mother gives or bequeaths her blessed house (or rosary) to her son with no money exchange.

• Are houses blessed in a different faith tradition outside of Catholicism, carry as much benefit that the Catholic blessings bestows?

No. However, blessings invoking the Trinitarian God or even the God of Abraham might have some positive effect, though it’s not the same as a Catholic blessing.

• Are Catholic church buildings havens from demons and such, provided there’s no Eucharist in the tabernacle at the time?

IDK what you mean by “Havens from demons”. Saints have had private revelations of demons being right in a church. Generally it’s the people who come in the church carrying the demonic influence; the demons aren’t going to infest a blessed Catholic holy place but they might be hanging on to a priest who is in sin, that sort of thing. The demon doesn’t run away from the sinful priest or possessed person just because they step foot in a blessed Catholic church building, especially with no Blessed Sacrament present.

• Do Christian non-Catholic Church buildings or non-Christian worship buildings (temples, synagogues, mosques) have anything to them that the Catholic Church recognizes. Assuming the building is dedicated to the worship of God and blessed (maybe even consecrated) in that particular faith tradition.

We would respect them as being holy places in the other faith’s tradition. As far as any blessing goes, the same applies that I wrote above for non-Catholic blessing.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

There is no requirement for the Eucharist in a place for it to be blessed.

This is correct.
I would however think that the presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist would be more repulsive to demons than the blessing of the space alone.

 

[Vico]

Vico:

There is no requirement for the Eucharist in a place for it to be blessed.

This is correct.
I would however think that the presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist would be more repulsive to demons than the blessing of the space alone.

Some have reported that mortal sins were committed in church.

Ecclesiastes 13

13 But let it not be well with the wicked, neither let his days be prolonged, but as a shadow let them pass away that fear not the face of the Lord.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Of course they were. I am talking about demons in the church space, not the demons that people bring in with them attached to their own sinful natures. There have been murders, rapes, sacrilege etc done in churches throughout history, unfortunately. I can think of at least 2 saints who were murdered while in church at prayer.

 

[Vico]

Of course they were. I am talking about demons in the church space, not the demons that people bring in with them attached to their own sinful natures. There have been murders, rapes, sacrilege etc done in churches throughout history, unfortunately. I can think of at least 2 saints who were murdered while in church at prayer.

Yes, the so called Mystical Body of Satan. However, I think that fallen angels always appear as an apparition since they do not have living bodies. Aquinas thought angels assume a body made of air by condensing it through God’s power but that it performs no life function. This is what I think is equivalent to apparition.

 

[Cor_ad_Cor]

Opinions are divided on whether it retains the blessing if it’s gifted, such as the mother gives or bequeaths her blessed house (or rosary) to her son with no money exchange.

I’ve never known that there was any doubt about a gift retaining its blessing! So many items (especially rosaries) are given as gifts and have been blessed beforehand; I couldn’t imagine that happening if the blessings were to be lost. (The sale of an item losing blessing is understandable, as that stems from our understanding of simony.)

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I tend to agree with you that gifts retain the blessing. When we go to Rome and buy rosaries which we have blessed by the Pope and then give them to our friends and family back home, for example those stay blessed. Yet there are people who claim that the blessing attaches somehow only to the specific person requesting it.

 

[Cor_ad_Cor]

Perhaps it’s dependent upon the formula used in the blessing? (I don’t mean to make that sound superstitious or “magical”.) I’m thinking that typically when I’ve had things blessed, the priest will say something to the effect of “ may those who devoutly use this rosary
to pray be blessed,*” - but I could see, for instance in the case of a scapular or another distinctly individual item, where it might be blessed as “may (name) be blessed in her/his use of…”.

*This wording taken from Blessing of Rosaries (Shorter Rite)

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Well, the Scapular “blessing” when given to a person and not just as a blessing on a sacramental item that might be piled up with rosaries, medals etc and the priest blesses all that you bought, is actually an investiture, so that’s a little different. Nevertheless I can see what you mean about form of the blessing. I leave blessing forms up to the priest and just take it on faith that if I don’t sell the item, the blessing is retained.