Selling "Blessed" items

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SouthernSister

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With Epiphany Blessings going on at houses all over the Church, I had a question come up this weekend – Why are you allowed to sell your house, once it’s been blessed?

I had always understood that you cannot sell blessed items. When I asked someone about this, I was told that you CAN sell a blessed item, you just cannot attach a monetary value to the blessing.

Can someone confirm this for me?

Thanks in advance,

SouthernSister
 
If possible, one should not sell a blessed item.

If a blessed - i.e., indulgenced - item is sold, however, it simply invalidates the blessing, that’s all.
 
It is a sin to knowing buy or sell blessed items. However, I think that applies to sacramental objects such as crucifix, statues, icons, rosaries, scapulars, medals etc which are used daily in our religious life.
A house, although blessed, does not really fall into the category of a sacramental.

CCC 2118 God’s first commandment condemns the main sins of irreligion: tempting God, in words or deeds, sacrilege, and simony.

CCC 2121 Simony is defined as the buying or selling of spiritual things.53 To Simon the magician, who wanted to buy the spiritual power he saw at work in the apostles, St. Peter responded: "Your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain God’s gift with money!"54 Peter thus held to the words of Jesus: "You received without pay, give without pay."55 It is impossible to appropriate to oneself spiritual goods and behave toward them as their owner or master, for they have their source in God. One can receive them only from him, without payment.
 
It’s not simony to sell a blessed house.
Unless you add to the price because it was blessed. Then you would be charging money for some grace or spiritual benefit. That’s simony.
 
John Russell Jr said:
**It’s not simony to sell a blessed house.**Unless you add to the price because it was blessed. Then you would be charging money for some grace or spiritual benefit. That’s simony.
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I agree. I thought that’s what I said.
 
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SouthernSister:
With Epiphany Blessings going on at houses all over the Church, I had a question come up this weekend – Why are you allowed to sell your house, once it’s been blessed?

I had always understood that you cannot sell blessed items. When I asked someone about this, I was told that you CAN sell a blessed item, you just cannot attach a monetary value to the blessing.

Can someone confirm this for me?

Thanks in advance,

SouthernSister
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I was wondering the same thing.

If you do a search for “miraculous medal” on ebay, some of the results are advertised by the seller as “blessed by Pope Benedict XVI” or by whomever. The descriptions are quick to note that they’re selling the medal, and not the blessing, but for some “mysterious” reason, they’re usually more expensive than the other new Miraculous Medals that aren’t blessed.

I figure it’s best to stay away from buying or selling such blessed items just to be safe.
 
Hi,
Your reply was good. Sometimes people like a few opinions. If they agree that is also helpful.
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thistle:
I agree. I thought that’s what I said.
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Ok, now I’m confused. I bought a rosary from a lady who had a little stand at our parish for a while. All of her rosaries were the same price for the same type, but her son picked up a large group of them while in Rome that he had blessed by the Pope just because they thought it would be nice for people who could not get to Rome.

So because she offered the rosary for sale at the regular price (for an unblessed rosary) does that mean I need to get the rosary blessed again by a priest or deacon?

She clearly wasn’t trying to promote that they were blessed by the Pope to gain extra money because there was no sign over them. She just said when I selected one of them that BTW my son already got it blessed by the Pope while he was in Rome.
 
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jc-servant:
Ok, now I’m confused. I bought a rosary from a lady who had a little stand at our parish for a while. All of her rosaries were the same price for the same type, but her son picked up a large group of them while in Rome that he had blessed by the Pope just because they thought it would be nice for people who could not get to Rome.

So because she offered the rosary for sale at the regular price (for an unblessed rosary) does that mean I need to get the rosary blessed again by a priest or deacon?

She clearly wasn’t trying to promote that they were blessed by the Pope to gain extra money because there was no sign over them. She just said when I selected one of them that BTW my son already got it blessed by the Pope while he was in Rome.
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If her son really had the rosaries blessed by the Pope then they should not be sold but given away.
 
I just came across this thread after searching for info on whether blessed items could really be sold (I also found some blessed medals on ebay). It has always been my understanding though that blessed items could be offered for a “donation,” with the donation going toward a worthy cause. I didn’t see that addressed here; is that true? I hope so, because I’ve made donations to receive blessed items before…
 
When I was in Rome end of April, the tour I took to the Vatican announced that we would stop at a gift shop that sold items blessed by Pope Benedict…Knowing this was wrong, I emailed them later (didn’t want to cause too much stir in public). They also erroneously stated that a basilica had to have the bones of a saint buried within. I corrected them by the same email.
 
So if I have a rosary that someone brought me from the Vatican that was blessed by the Pope, should I have it “reblessed”? Or is the blessing still good?
 
acadian said:
So if I have a rosary that someone brought me from the Vatican that was blessed by the Pope, should I have it “reblessed”? Or is the blessing still good?
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You should check the circumstances. If your friend went to an audience, and the Pope blessed the audience, you can consider your item truly blessed. If they bought it at a store at the suggestion that it was blessed, have it reblessed.
 
It is not simony to sell a blessed house. The house just looses its blessing.

Based one the above comments, is it simony then to buy a nice old statue or crucifix from a garage sale or from ebay? I am contemplating buying a statue of Mary from ebay so would I be committing simony if I bought her statue?
 
CathMass said:
It is not simony to sell a blessed house. The house just looses its blessing.

Based one the above comments, is it simony then to buy a nice old statue or crucifix from a garage sale or from ebay? I am contemplating buying a statue of Mary from ebay so would I be committing simony if I bought her statue?
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There is nothing wrong with buying a religious item, you just cannot buy the blessing. You would need to get it blessed again. If you were the one trying to sell the blessing I think you would get into the situation you were thinking of.

BTW anyone who wants a papal blessing on a rosary or small item should send it with a kid going to the next world youth day. They are given an oppportunity to all hold up items for a papal blessing. A friend took a rosary for me to Toronto (all free and legit).
 
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