Is it necessary to bless the Advent wreath if it already has been blessed?

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CatholicZ09

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Today at the early morning Mass, they blessed the Advent wreath. One of my friends told me that last night at the vigil Mass they blessed it as well. Is there a real purpose for blessing it at both Masses (and more than likely they blessed it at the later one too), or is it just so that the people at each Mass can witness it?
 
They did not bless the Advent wreath at the 11 o’clock Mass I attended, and I imagine it was because it had been blessed at the Vigil Mass the night before (the 11 o’clock is actually the fourth of the day).

It would have been interesting to see the rite, but it makes sense to me to only do it once, unless there is a different wreath used at every Mass.
 
CatholicZ09 said:
Today at the early morning Mass, they blessed the Advent wreath. One of my friends told me that last night at the vigil Mass they blessed it as well. Is there a real purpose for blessing it at both Masses (and more than likely they blessed it at the later one too), or is it just so that the people at each Mass can witness it?
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I see no sense in doing it more than once but it may have been repeated for the reason you gave.
 
It isn’t even necessary to have an Advent wreath. According to the Book of Blessing, the Advent wreath is blessed at the first Mass of Advent, which in most parishes is on Saturday evening. It is blessed as part of the Universal Prayer (the new name for the Prayer of the Faithful). At the Sunday Masses today the sacristian lit on candle before Mass.
 
It is not necessary to bless it at all. There is no particular problem with blessing it more than once. After all, the candles will burn down and be replaced from time to time: the rest of it will be used again next year.
 
At our church it was blessed at the mid-morning mass I attended. I assume it had been blessed at 4 previous masses and was probably blessed at the next 6.
 
The one at my church wasn’t blessed at the mass I attended, which was the fourth and last Sunday mass. I assume it was blessed at the vigil on Saturday, or not at all.
 
It was blessed with holy water at this one parish I went to for confession last night. But this morning at my church Father just raised his hand over it and said some words, but it wasn’t a blessing.
 
DarrenOglesby said:
It was blessed with holy water at this one parish I went to for confession last night. But this morning at my church Father just raised his hand over it and said some words, but it wasn’t a blessing.
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Would this not have been a blessing?
 
felsguy said:
Would this not have been a blessing?
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No, he didn’t make the sign of the cross over it, or sprinkle holy water on it. Also the words he was saying didn’t sound like a blessing.

He did it on Saturday I am sure. That’s when it is usually done. But I was at a different parish on Saturday so I am not sure.

My pastor is a pretty “play by the rules” guy, so it is unlikely that he didn’t bless the wreath. He just didn’t do it twice.
 
DarrenOglesby said:
No, he didn’t make the sign of the cross over it, or sprinkle holy water on it. Also the words he was saying didn’t sound like a blessing.

He did it on Saturday I am sure. That’s when it is usually done. But I was at a different parish on Saturday so I am not sure.

My pastor is a pretty “play by the rules” guy, so it is unlikely that he didn’t bless the wreath. He just didn’t do it twice.
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:hmmm: I spoke to a good friend of mine yesterday after Mass who happens to be the sacristan in my parish on weekends. And NO for the third consecutive year no blessing of the Advent Wreath is done at the beginning of the liturgy. Makes me wonder why they even have the Advent Wreath on the Sanctuary if no attention or small significance is even brought to it during the entire Advent liturgy. It varies from priest to priest from parish to parish. Different strokes for different folks I guess. 🤷
 
jimrob said:
After all, the candles will burn down and be replaced from time to time: the rest of it will be used again next year.
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That depends on what it’s made of. Some parishes use freshly cut evergreen boughs to assemble a new wreath each year.
 
Digitonomy said:
That depends on what it’s made of. Some parishes use freshly cut evergreen boughs to assemble a new wreath each year.
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Exactly; even wisely using glass heat tempered candle followers the candles never burn level and have to be trimmed periodically during the four weeks of Advent.

I never seen a parish that used expensive beeswax Advent candles although they do make them. Wax drippings always fall on the evergreen boughs. They really have to be monitored and cared for.
 
Our wreath was blessed with holy water at each of the Masses.
 
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