Getting holy items blessed

annb · #1 Sep 14, '06, 9:01 pm

Do you need to have rosary beads blessed by a priest? What if they aren't?
What about crusifixes, statues, etc?
If they do need to be blessed, how does one accomplish this? Our priests are busy.

proudnifi · #2 Sep 14, '06, 9:06 pm

You don't have to have rosaries or statues blessed. I recently asked a priest to bless my missal after mass; it didn't take long and I'm glad I worked up the courage to make the request.

Maryam · #3 Sep 14, '06, 9:24 pm

Hi annb.... Since a Rosary is a sacramental and to get the indulgences that come from praying the Rosary, then it is ideal to have them blessed.

As for crucifixes, statues, medals and so on... It is also good to have them blessed. If your Priest is too busy, then you can have the Deacon from your church bless them.

I had some of my statues that I brought with me to church blessed by the Deacon. You can always call the Parish office and make an appointment for your Priest to come to your home, so that he can bless your home and do the individual blessings for the statues, crucifixes, rosary.....

I don't know if Deacons can do the blessing for the home, but, when it comes to blessing sacramentals, statues, the rosary... they can.

Just a thought.

God bless

Quote:

Originally Posted by annb

Do you need to have rosary beads blessed by a priest? What if they aren't?
What about crusifixes, statues, etc?
If they do need to be blessed, how does one accomplish this? Our priests are busy.

annb · #4 Sep 14, '06, 9:42 pm

Thanks. My MIL told me I couldn't use the rosary beads until they were blessed. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how that could be true.

**LilyM** · #5 Sep 14, '06, 9:48 pm

I've had plenty of Rosaries, crucifixes and medals blessed in my time, never a book though (there's a thought, I could get my Bible blessed

)

Even if my priests are busy, there will generally be times when I can approach them.

A good one can be after Mass when they're greeting people. Just approach with your biggest smile and say 'Father, I just bought this (xyz) - could you please bless it for me?' with a big thank you afterwards. I've always found them more than happy to do so, and it generally takes only a few seconds.

You absolutely can and should use your Rosary even if it isn't blessed - the real blessing comes when it's used for frequent prayer, as it should be!

baltobetsy · #6 Sep 15, '06, 6:08 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maryam

You can always call the Parish office and make an appointment for your Priest to come to your home, so that he can bless your home and do the individual blessings for the statues, crucifixes, rosary.....

And if you do that, be sure to invite him to a nice dinner, too!

Betsy

homewardbound · #7 Sep 15, '06, 7:35 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by proudnifi

You don't have to have rosaries or statues blessed. I recently asked a priest to bless my missal after mass; it didn't take long and I'm glad I worked up the courage to make the request.

Really you don't? I've been told by everyone I know who is Catholic that you must have your rosary blessed or you can't use it.

Sheeniac · #8 Sep 15, '06, 9:23 am

I asked Father after Mass after everyone was done chatting with him. It only took a few minutes.

Maryam · #9 Sep 15, '06, 11:04 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by homewardbound

Really you don't? I've been told by everyone I know who is Catholic that you must have your rosary blessed or you can't use it.

I have never heard of such a thing.

Of course you can pray with a Rosary that hasn't been blessed... BUT, in order to gain the indulgences that go with praying the Rosary it would be of benefit to have it blessed. By all means if you got a Rosary that you haven't gotten blessed yet, PLEASE pray with it. All prayer is pleasing to God.

God bless

**puzzleannie** · #10 Sep 15, '06, 11:55 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by annb

Thanks. My MIL told me I couldn't use the rosary beads until they were blessed. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how that could be true.

not true, sacramentals are blessed when you begin using them for the purpose intended, but the blessing of an ordained minister, the priest or deacon, carries its own benefits, and in some cases, indulgences (under the usual conditions) when you use blessed sacramentals.

**puzzleannie** · #11 Sep 15, '06, 11:56 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by homewardbound

Really you don't? I've been told by everyone I know who is Catholic that you must have your rosary blessed or you can't use it.

in 60 yrs as a Catholic, including Catholic school for self, kids and grandkids, I never heard that one.

**LilyM** · #12 Sep 16, '06, 4:37 am

32 years for me, never heard this either. I think the evidence is against you hb.

**LilyM** · #13 Sep 16, '06, 4:41 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maryam

I have never heard of such a thing.

Of course you can pray with a Rosary that hasn't been blessed... BUT, in order to gain the indulgences that go with praying the Rosary it would be of benefit to have it blessed. By all means if you got a Rosary that you haven't gotten blessed yet, PLEASE pray with it. All prayer is pleasing to God.

God bless

The indulgences attached to the Rosary have to do with the prayer itself, nothing to do with the beads - just like the indulgences attached to every other prayer in the Enchiridion.

If you pray it using only your fingers to count you still get the indulgences attached, unless I'm missing something here. Not that having blessed Rosaries or other blessed objects about you doesn't bring additional benefits and graces.

Maryam · #14 Sep 16, '06, 11:17 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by LilyM

The indulgences attached to the Rosary have to do with the prayer itself, nothing to do with the beads - just like the indulgences attached to every other prayer in the Enchiridion.

If you pray it using only your fingers to count you still get the indulgences attached, unless I'm missing something here. Not that having blessed Rosaries or other blessed objects about you doesn't bring additional benefits and graces.

Whoa! You're making it seem as if I am trying to say that the beads get some kind of power. This is superstition and I am not for superstition.

There ARE indeed indulgences given when you have a rosary blessed. There are also differences in whether you receive a PLENARY or PARTIAL indulgence depending on your spiritual state (for example in a state of mortal sin...).

I had a document stating this but cannot find it now... so in the meantime I will cite a Dominican website with this quote:

Quote:

http://www.dominicanpreaching.org/rosary.htm

Further partial indulgences may be gained by using blessed beads while praying the Rosary. Your missionary will, during the course of the mission, bless Rosary beads and attach to them partial indulgences. These additional partial indulgences are too numerous to list here in detail.

*** Bold and underlining by me....

So there are additional indulgences and graces when you have your Rosary blessed and just because I didn't go into the whole explanation of indulgences in not wanting to give the OP a headache with it all. I will quote my own words...

Quote:

BUT, in order to gain the indulgences that go with praying the Rosary it would be of benefit to have it blessed.

If I wasn't clear due to my wording and it seemed I was saying you need to have it blessed to get an indulgence, I was not.

So before saying something making it seem that I am attritbuting the blessing of a Rosary to the beads itself getting some kind of power and adding things I did not say at all. I am making it clear I did not imply at all any of this and am always with the Church IN ALL ITS TEACHINGS.

I also said that by all means please pray the Rosary even if it is not blessed and if the scared emoticon I used was not enough to show this then I don't know what else will. I never in my posts said you never get any kind of indulgences or graces with an unblessed Rosary.

Lastly, to say having a Rosary or other blessed objects about you as not bringing additional benefits or graces... is just plain wrong. How can a Catholic say you don't get any graces from having sacramentals or religious objects blessed about you???

God bless

**LilyM** · #15 Sep 16, '06, 3:08 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maryam

Whoa! You're making it seem as if I am trying to say that the beads get some kind of power. This is superstition and I am not for superstition.

There ARE indeed indulgences given when you have a rosary blessed. There are also differences in whether you receive a PLENARY or PARTIAL indulgence depending on your spiritual state (for example in a state of mortal sin...).

I had a document stating this but cannot find it now... so in the meantime I will cite a Dominican website with this quote:

*** Bold and underlining by me....

So there are additional indulgences and graces when you have your Rosary blessed and just because I didn't go into the whole explanation of indulgences in not wanting to give the OP a headache with it all. I will quote my own words...

If I wasn't clear due to my wording and it seemed I was saying you need to have it blessed to get an indulgence, I was not.

So before saying something making it seem that I am attritbuting the blessing of a Rosary to the beads itself getting some kind of power and adding things I did not say at all. I am making it clear I did not imply at all any of this and am always with the Church IN ALL ITS TEACHINGS.

I also said that by all means please pray the Rosary even if it is not blessed and if the scared emoticon I used was not enough to show this then I don't know what else will. I never in my posts said you never get any kind of indulgences or graces with an unblessed Rosary.

Lastly, to say having a Rosary or other blessed objects about you as not bringing additional benefits or graces... is just plain wrong. How can a Catholic say you don't get any graces from having sacramentals or religious objects blessed about you???

God bless

First of all I said NOT that using blessed items doesn't bring additional benefits. Double negative, meaning that I was really agreeing with you.

Secondly I have heard of additional indulgences available, for example, for being a member of the Rosary Confraternity (which I am), never of any available for using blessed beads while praying the Rosary. I have read carefully all the literature the Confraternity (where you appear to have got your information from) has sent to me, never seen it mentioned. I believe they would have mentioned it if it was still operative.

Possibly you are right anyway. But there IS an awful lot of outdated information out there on the internet about sacramentals. Things like having to have a member of the Benedictine Order bless a St Benedict Medal (which hasn't been true for some years). Or describing indulgences in terms of days or years - which is so outdated it's not funny.

Or having to get a special dispensation to pray the Rosary instead of the Little Office for those invested in the brown scapular (which there seems to be debate about depending on who/where you get your information from).

There has been a lot of reformation and change with regard to indulgences and sacramentals over the past few decades, so it can be hard to tell what indulgences are currently available in regard to the Rosary.

I would rather err on the side of caution and not give people information which may possibly be untrue. For that reason I stick with what is in the Enchiridion, which is entirely trustworthy at least.