Is it a bad idea to buy sacramentals online?

  • Thread starter Thread starter yawnernonner
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
At my church we usually enroll people in the Brown Scapular as part of our First Saturday devotions. If your church does the same you can get a scapular, have it blessed, and be enrolled in the Brown Scapular at the same time!
 
Zynxensar said:
I might be wrong on this and my memory may be failing me but I recall reading somewhere that when something like a blessed sacramental is given away or sold, it loses its blessing and has to be blessed again by the Priest??? Could someone clarify please?
Click to expand...
It was my understanding that if someone gives you a blessed sacramental, it would retain its blessing. (I could be wrong, but I think that’s right.) But I would agree with the selling.
 
It’s worth noting that there are many good Catholic artisans on Etsy that make scapulars and other religious items. I’d recommend checking them out!
 
TheLittleLady said:
I’d suggest buying from a Catholic goods store, simply because they are run by individuals or families and have taken a big financial hit over the past few years. Support your local shop or buy from an apostolate like our hosts or the advertisers on this site.
Click to expand...
I agree with this in principle. However, there are also some authentic Catholic stores that sell their products on Amazon in order to reach a larger market.

So I would not rule out Amazon entirely, however, I would recommend making sure you are doing your homework when purchasing there (for example: know the seller or the publisher or the author or the manufacturer)

God bless
 
Last edited:
mVitus said:
It was my understanding that if someone gives you a blessed sacramental, it would retain its blessing.
Click to expand...
Correct. I do this all the time. I’ve got a whole pouch of crucifixes and miraculous medals blessed by the pope that I give to people for various occasions. At my parish, I’m always having our priest bless things that I give away.

We cannot sell blessed items primarily because grace is not for sale. It is God’s free gift. We cannot buy our way into heaven.

But giving away blessed items? There is no problem with that at all. It’s a good thing to do!

Even if Amazon were selling blessed scapulars, the scapular would lose it’s blessing through the transaction. So then you still take it to your priest and have it blessed.

But I would agree with sticking with local merchants (if possible) or other specifically Catholic merchants. Of course, you never know where you might find something. One year I found a beautiful 13.5 inch standing crucifix on clearance for $5 at K-Mart. It was with their Easter decorations. It’s still a nice crucifix, though.
 
From my understanding, one can buy sacramentals online provided they intend to get them blessed. If they are marketed as already being blessed, then it may be a good idea to avoid those. That is my understanding anyway. I do buy most of sacramentals online, but I always get them blessed assuming they aren’t already.
 
SuscipeMeDomine said:
Why would someone be committing simony?
Click to expand...
It depends. If the company is selling, for example, a Rosary for USD 10 without a blessing and selling the same Rosary for USD 15 with a blessing then buying the latter would be simony and is forbidden.
 
A sacrilege that consists in buying and selling what is spiritual in return for what is temporal. In simony the person tries to equate material things, such as money, with spiritual things, such as divine grace, and treates the latter as though he or some other human being had full ownership of what really belongs to God. The term “simony” originated with the biblical account of Simon Magus, who sought to purchase from St. Peter the spiritual power derived from the imposition of hands and the invocation of the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:18). Simony includes both agreements that are illicit by divine law and those which the law of the Church forbids as greater protection and reverence for spiritual goods. Thus to promise prayers only in exchange for a certain sum of money is simony forbidden by divine (natural) law. To confer sacred orders or obtain some position of authority in the Church in return for money or its equivalent is simony forbidden by ecclesiastical law. When simony is against the divine law, it is always a grave sin. Its gravity in other cases depends on the serious nature of what is bought or sold, and on the degree of scandal given. (Etym. Latin simonia, after Simon Magus.)

Dictionary : SIMONY

SIMONY A sacrilege that consists in buying and selling what is spiritual in return for what is temporal. In simony the person tries to equate material things, such as money, with spiritual things, such as divine grace, and treates the latter as though he or some other human being had full...
www.catholicculture.org www.catholicculture.org

As long as you know you are buying just an object of worship that will become holy if used in prayer, offerings etc and not anything spiritual in itself there is no simony involved according to this definition.
 
Beware also from where you ‘buy’ it, buy from Catholic supply when it is for example, frankincense and myrrh incense, new age shops that sell pagan items will purposely dope this with impurities, knowing only a Catholic will buy it more so. But Get the item properly bless. Sacramental like OIL, Water, should also be both exorcized and blessed.
But if there is something Unholy in it, as I suggested can be done with the incense, no blessing with work well. The case of (*late) Exorcist Fr. Amorth, he grabbed a jug of Lemonade as he had no water accessible, He blessed the water. It had almost no affect on the possessed. He forced the demon to reveal :" Why is this not working to affect you"? The Demon speaking through the person replied. It is Impure!
True, sugar, food coloring, artificial flavors? And salt what else?
Element like salt even should be nature and pure. That is part of the potency! Candles are best when pure beeswax. There is a difference in the demon’s reaction.
(fake) Bishop Ralph Napierski was selling fake relics on ebay and on his website. (See Huffington post: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/04/ralph-napierski-fake-bishop_n_2807461.html.)
Elsewhere, I bought a set of first class relics from an auction, formerly owned by a deceased professor from Loyola U (I believe it was), but it was a Catholic campus in Chicago, and all of her things were for auction. I Only paid $80.
No one knew it had even a relic of the true cross, and all of the relics were first class, (bones), because it the labels were in Latin! I guess it depends on what it is, “intention”, and what the sacramental is. Rosaries, Scapulars, St. Benedict medals, we give the cheap ones away for free. (We had to buy them initially. )
But, Who can strike a miraculous medal? Sew and make their own scapulars?
A certain Scrupulous can drive one over the edge. Like the way some will call many ‘venial’ sins, ‘mortal’
God bless,

-Br Kenneth Deel, OFS
 
Selling a sacramental is putting money and the sacramental on an equal basis but an unblessed object is the same as any other.

Making money out of spiritual things.
 
Dacinom said:
We sold our home, and our home had been blessed by a priest.
Click to expand...
Right. And that’s fine (just as with people who get their cars blessed). The blessing simply doesn’t carry over with the sale. You wouldn’t want to list in your real estate listing “Has been blessed by priest” and then raise the price an extra $1000 because of it. 🙂
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top