Specific Blessings for Saints' Medals?

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UnumCorpus

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Hello everyone,

I just have a question regarding some saints’ medals. My husband gave me three of them as an anniversary gift. 🙂 The first one is a St Benedict medal, the second is a St Catherine of Alexandria medal and the last one has an image of St John Paul II on one side and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on the other.

I am hoping to get these medals blessed by a priest. Now I know there is a specific blessing given for the St Benedict medal. However, I cannot find any blessings specifically for a St Catherine or St JPII medal. Is there a sort of “generic” blessing that can be given to these medals?

To be honest, I have no real idea how the blessing of a saints’ medal is actually done or how much preparation is involved. I hope my question makes sense!
 
While there are some specific blessings for various sacramentals, such as the St. Benedict medal, (formerly reserved to Benedictines, bishops and those with special faculties, under the new norms, there are very few reserved blessings for sacramentals, now any priest in good standing can bless them using the specific rite or a general blessing in most cases.

Any medal, scapular, rosary etc can be blessed with a simple blessing and the intent of the priest to attach any indulgences or graces which the Church attaches to them. It is nice to use a proper blessing whenever possible, but it is usually no longer a requirement, unless one is enrolling in a specific devotion such as the brown scapular, a Third Order or other special event, like the Consecration of a home to the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts.

So the Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI medals would not need a specific blessing.
 
The ceremony for blessing medals is in Book of Blessings, chapter 44 of the USA edition, “Order for the Blessing of Religious Articles”.

It can be done by a priest or deacon. There are three versions of the ceremony:
  • Order of Blessing, with introductory rites, reading, psalm, intercessions (optional), prayer of blessing and concluding rite.
  • Shorter Rite, greeting, short reading, blessing.
  • Short Formulary. Just the blessing:
    May this (name of article) and the one who uses it be blessed,
    in the name of the Father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Spirit.
    R. Amen.
 
In the case of the St. Benedict medal, there is also an exorcism for it. If you have it, have the full rite performed over it. Of course the simple blessing will result in a blessed medal, but why deprive yourself of another weapon against the devil by omitting the exorcism?
 
Bookcat said:
Or even simply the sign of the cross over it…
Click to expand...
Yep, keeping it nice and basic works too. 🙂
porthos11 said:
In the case of the St. Benedict medal, there is also an exorcism for it. If you have it, have the full rite performed over it. Of course the simple blessing will result in a blessed medal, but why deprive yourself of another weapon against the devil by omitting the exorcism?
Click to expand...
Oh wow! I have never heard of an exorcism rite being prayed over a medal before. I know there is an exorcism prayer associated with the St Benedict medal. I admit that I am not overly familiar with how blessings or exorcism rites work so this has been an informative thread for me.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is involved in an exorcism rite? How does this give the medal more power versus just having it blessed?
 
UnumCorpus said:
Yep, keeping it nice and basic works too. 🙂

Oh wow! I have never heard of an exorcism rite being prayed over a medal before. I know there is an exorcism prayer associated with the St Benedict medal. I admit that I am not overly familiar with how blessings or exorcism rites work so this has been an informative thread for me.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is involved in an exorcism rite? How does this give the medal more power versus just having it blessed?
Click to expand...
Religious medals are not talismans but signs. The are simply objects that have been approved for pious use. Fr. Saunders writes:
The wearing of religious medals is a very ancient tradition in our Church. This practice may have resulted from “baptizing” what was once a pagan practice: the Roman writer Pliny used the word “amuletum” for medals worn around the neck by all classes of people as talismans (objects believed to give supernatural powers or protection to the wearer). Rather than simply eradicating a cultural practice, the Christians instead “baptized” their use, rooting it in Christian belief and removing the magical connection.
ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/PHREMIND.htm

On Exorcism, from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:1673 When the Church asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion, it is called exorcism. Jesus performed exorcisms and from him the Church has received the power and office of exorcizing.178 In a simple form, exorcism is performed at the celebration of Baptism. The solemn exorcism, called “a major exorcism,” can be performed only by a priest and with the permission of the bishop. The priest must proceed with prudence, strictly observing the rules established by the Church. Exorcism is directed at the expulsion of demons or to the liberation from demonic possession through the spiritual authority which Jesus entrusted to his Church. Illness, especially psychological illness, is a very different matter; treating this is the concern of medical science. Therefore, before an exorcism is performed, it is important to ascertain that one is dealing with the presence of the Evil One, and not an illness.179
 
Vico said:
Religious medals are not talismans but signs. The are simply objects that have been approved for pious use. Fr. Saunders writes:
The wearing of religious medals is a very ancient tradition in our Church. This practice may have resulted from “baptizing” what was once a pagan practice: the Roman writer Pliny used the word “amuletum” for medals worn around the neck by all classes of people as talismans (objects believed to give supernatural powers or protection to the wearer). Rather than simply eradicating a cultural practice, the Christians instead “baptized” their use, rooting it in Christian belief and removing the magical connection.
ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/PHREMIND.htm
Click to expand...
My apologies, I did not mean to indicate that medals had any power of their own in my previous post. That is the problem with typing too fast I suppose. I of course know they are not magical talismans or superstitious items.
Vico said:
On Exorcism, from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:1673 When the Church asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion, it is called exorcism. Jesus performed exorcisms and from him the Church has received the power and office of exorcizing.178 In a simple form, exorcism is performed at the celebration of Baptism. The solemn exorcism, called “a major exorcism,” can be performed only by a priest and with the permission of the bishop. The priest must proceed with prudence, strictly observing the rules established by the Church. Exorcism is directed at the expulsion of demons or to the liberation from demonic possession through the spiritual authority which Jesus entrusted to his Church. Illness, especially psychological illness, is a very different matter; treating this is the concern of medical science. Therefore, before an exorcism is performed, it is important to ascertain that one is dealing with the presence of the Evil One, and not an illness.179
Click to expand...
I always thought that an exorcism rite was only performed if there was an evil entity that needed to be cast out. Though it appears, based on what the Catechism says here, that this is not the case if Baptism is also considered to be a form of exorcism. The term must have a more broad meaning than I supposed. So it seems the St Benedict must have a special exorcism rite while the general blessing is sufficient for the other two medals I have. I think I understand now.

Thank you for the information Vico.
 
UnumCorpus said:
My apologies, I did not mean to indicate that medals had any power of their own in my previous post. That is the problem with typing too fast I suppose. I of course know they are not magical talismans or superstitious items.

I always thought that an exorcism rite was only performed if there was an evil entity that needed to be cast out. Though it appears, based on what the Catechism says here, that this is not the case if Baptism is also considered to be a form of exorcism. The term must have a more broad meaning than I supposed. So it seems the St Benedict must have a special exorcism rite while the general blessing is sufficient for the other two medals I have. I think I understand now.

Thank you for the information Vico.
Click to expand...
You are welcome.

Every evil and unclean spirit is exorcised at baptism. For example in the Byzantine Catholic baptism rite the priest breathes upon the candidate three times in the form of the Cross, saying each time: Drive out from him (her), O Lord, every evil and unclean spirit hiding and making its lair within his (her) heart:
and then: the spirit of deceit, the spirit of wickedness, the spirit of idolatry and all greed, the spirit of lying and every impurity brought about by the prompting of the devil. Make him (her, them) a spiritual lamb of the holy flock of Your Christ, a worthy member of Your Church, a son (daughter, children) and an heir (heirs) to Your kingdom; that living according to Your commandments, preserving the seal (of the cross) untouched and keeping his (her, their) baptismal robes without stain, he (she, they) may obtain the happiness of the saints in Your kingdom.
Through the grace, the mercies and the love of mankind of Your only-begotten Son, with whom You are blessed, together with Your all-holy, good and life-creating Spirit, now and ever, and forever.
Then the catechumens and the faithful respond with “Amen.”
 
Bookcat said:
Or even simply the sign of the cross over it…
Click to expand...
From the General Introduction to Book of Blessings:

“27. The outward signs of blessing, and particularly the sign of the cross, are in themselves forms of preaching the Gospel and of expressing faith. But to ensure active participation in the celebration and to guard against any danger of superstition, it is ordinarily not permissible to impart the blessing of any article or place merely through a sign of blessing and without either the word of God or any sort of prayer being spoken.”
 
Vico said:
Every evil and unclean spirit is exorcised at baptism. For example in the Byzantine Catholic baptism rite the priest breathes upon the candidate three times in the form of the Cross, saying each time:
Drive out from him (her), O Lord, every evil and unclean spirit hiding and making its lair within his (her) heart:
​
Click to expand...

Interesting…I have never viewed Baptism in that light before but that does make sense.

And that’s fascinating information about how Baptism is performed in the Byzantine Rite! I can especially see here how exorcism and Baptism are more explicitly linked.
John_Lilburne said:
From the General Introduction to Book of Blessings:

“27. The outward signs of blessing, and particularly the sign of the cross, are in themselves forms of preaching the Gospel and of expressing faith. But to ensure active participation in the celebration and to guard against any danger of superstition, it is ordinarily not permissible to impart the blessing of any article or place merely through a sign of blessing and without either the word of God or any sort of prayer being spoken.”
Click to expand...
Ok, that is good to know! There’s definitely lots of good information I’m gleaning from this thread.​
 
UnumCorpus said:
Interesting…I have never viewed Baptism in that light before but that does make sense.

And that’s fascinating information about how Baptism is performed in the Byzantine Rite! I can especially see here how exorcism and Baptism are more explicitly linked.

Ok, that is good to know! There’s definitely lots of good information I’m gleaning from this thread.
Click to expand...
The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus of Rome (earliest Verona edition 215 A.D.) describes the original Christian initiation used this order:

Baptism
  1. bishop makes oil of thanksgiving and oil of exorcism
  2. anointing with oil of exorcism
  3. nude baptism by triple immersion
  4. anointing with oil of thanksgiving
    Confirmation or Chrismation
    5. in the church, the bishop says dismissal rite over the neophytes:
    “Lord God, you have made them worthy to receive remission of sins through the laver of regeneration of the Holy Spirit, etc.”
    [*]laying on of hands together with oil
    [*]sealing with oil on the forehead
    [*]the kiss of peace prayer
    ​
    Eucharist
  5. the deacons bring oblation (bread and wine, water, milk, and honey)
  6. the oblation is blessed
  7. the milk and honey are mixed together
  8. the bread is distributed
  9. each tastes of the water, milk, and wine, three times.
    bombaxo.com/hippolytus.html
 
Vico said:
The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus of Rome (earliest Verona edition 215 A.D.) describes the original Christian initiation used this order:

Baptism
1. bishop makes oil of thanksgiving and oil of exorcism
2. anointing with oil of exorcism
3. nude baptism by triple immersion
4. anointing with oil of thanksgiving
​
Click to expand...

Thank you again for the historical information, Vico. 🙂 It is interesting that Baptism and exorcism are so closely intertwined, and it seems it has been viewed that way for a long time. When I think about in those terms, it makes sense. You are reborn through Baptism, therefore evil spirits are cast out by that act.​
 
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