A reader writes:
Every year, our pastor offers the blessing of throats on the feast of St. Blaise. The folks at Mass line up in two rows, just like for communion, and the priest gives blessings on one side while a woman from the congregation gives blessings on the other side.
My understanding of canon 1169 is that only ordained persons can give blessings. (Oh, I should have mentioned that the woman in question is not a priest or a deacon.) So I worry that the non-priest blessing throats is in fact simulating a sacred thing, and that there is some kind of sacriledge involved.
Let’s start with canon 1169, since you mention it. Here ’tis:
Can. 1169 §1. Those marked with the episcopal character and presbyters permitted by law or legitimate grant can perform consecrations and dedications validly.
§2. Any presbyter can impart blessings except those reserved to the Roman Pontiff or bishops.
§3. A deacon can impart only those blessings expressly permitted by law.
If that’s all the law said then your conclusion that only a cleric can give sacramentals like the St. Blase blessing would be arguable, but that’s not all that the law says. There is also canon 1168:
Can. 1168 The minister of sacramentals is a cleric
who has been provided with the requisite power. According to the norm of the
liturgical books and to the judgment of the local ordinary lay persons who
possess the appropriate qualities can also administer some sacramentals.
So the question is: Is the St. Blase blessing one that the liturgical books empower lay people to give?
Yes.
The Book of Blessings provides the following:
1626 The blessing of throats may be given by a priest, deacon, or a lay minister who follows the rites and prayers designated for a lay minister. If the blessing is conferred during Mass, the blessing follows the homily and general intercessions, or, for pastoral reasons, the prayer of blessing may take the place of the final blessing of the Mass. When the blessing is given outside Mass, it is preceded by a brief celebration of the word of God. If the blessing is to be celebrated at Morning Prayer or Evening Prayer, it is given after the reading and responsory (and homily) and before the gospel canticle.
While we at it, let’s clear up a few other potential worries that folks might have based on what they see and hear at Mass today regarding the St. Blase blessing.
1627 The blessing may be given by touching the throat of each person with two candles blessed on the feast of the Presentation of the Lord (February 2) and which have been joined together in the form of a cross.
1628 If, for pastoral reasons, each individual cannot be blessed in the manner described in no. 1627, for example when great numbers are gathered for the blessing or when thememorial of Saint Blase occurs on a Sunday, a priest or deacon may give the blessing to all assembled by extending hands, without the crossed candles, over the people while saying the prayer of blessing. A lay minister says the prayer proper to lay ministers without making the sign of the cross.
1629 The blessing may also be given to the sick or the elderly in their homes when they cannot attend the parish celebration.
1633 . . . During trhe blessing suitable psalms or other suitable songs may be sung.
Hope this helps!
I’m just curious about this because I got to thinking about it reading this… Could a lay person simply give the blessing on his or her own (for instance, at home), provided the proper prayer was followed, or is this only valid and/or licit when performed under the supervision of a priest or at a church?
Shane, I am sure Jimmy knows better than I, but I have read somewhere (Catholic.com forums?) that a parent, for example, can bless their children, but should not make a sign of the cross over them the way a priest would.
It sounds like a lay person has to be commissioned to do this ministry with the sacramentals and usually has to have the properly blessed sacramentals (ie, the candles). Given all that, I bet you could make house calls. But probably the priests and deacons do that.
Lay people can always just pray for St. Blaise’s intercession, of course.
The ceremony could be done by a lay person at someone’s home, in the USA. From the Book of Blessings:
“1624. In the United States the annual blessing of throats is a traditional sign of the struggle against illness in the life of the Christian. This blessing is ordinarily given during Mass or a celebration fo the word of God on February 3, the memorial of Saint Blaise.”
Later it has:
“II. ORDER OF BLESSING WITHIN A CELEBRATION OF THE WORD OF GOD
“1636 The present order may be used by a priest or a deacon, and also by a lay person, who follows the rites and prayers designated for a lay minister.”
I’m an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist to the Homebound for my parish. Our pastor has given us permission to give the St. Blase blessing this Sunday to any of the homebound parishioners to whom we take the Body of Christ, since they were not able to make it to church to receive the blessing on today’s feast day. Father explained that we as laity are not to make the Sign of the Cross over the person, as that gesture is reserved for clergy, but that we’re simply to pray the prayer as we touch the blessed candles to the person’s throat.
Because I’ve toiled as a wage slave for a long time, it’s been many years since I was able to get to a Blessing of the Throats. Today I was (happily!) able to attend. Lay ministers did the blessing; I was surprised to be presented with two blessed unlit candles, tied together with a red ribbon. I grew up in the pre-Vatican II years, when LIT candles were placed in a special gold holder shaped like a “U” with square corners and held to your throat. I was always afraid Father would set my hair on fire! 🙂
But what was even more special today–the blessing was preceded by a Holy Hour, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Holy Communion, and the Tantum Ergo sung in Latin! There were gold embroidered altar cloths and four (count ’em!), four candles flanking the monstrance (first time I’ve seen it, and I’ve been going to this church for almost six years). They even snuck in a few litanies. Dare I say it–back to the future?
Good blog and conversation!
Just a brief note to the one who identifies himself as an “Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist”. While your service and help is, I have no doubt, much appreciated, you are not an “Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist” unless you are an officially installed acolyte. Only the bishop, priest, or deacon is a Minister of the Eucharist. An installed acolyte is called an “Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist” Lay people who, according to the norms, collaborate in the ministry of the priest are “Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion”. This is the proper title according to the texts in the books involved. Also, in the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacrament document Redemptionis Sacramentum there is the following clarifying paragraph:
“[154.] As has already been recalled, “the only minister who can confect the Sacrament of the Eucharist in persona Christi is a validly ordained Priest”. Hence the name “minister of the Eucharist” belongs properly to the Priest alone. Moreover, also by reason of their sacred Ordination, the ordinary ministers of Holy Communion are the Bishop, the Priest and the Deacon, to whom it belongs therefore to administer Holy Communion to the lay members of Christ’s faithful during the celebration of Mass. In this way their ministerial office in the Church is fully and accurately brought to light, and the sign value of the Sacrament is made complete.”
Regarding the possibility of lay people giving the blessing for this day, as in every case steps must be taken so that people do no confuse what the lay person does with the action of the priest. For example, above someone posted that the lay person has a different prayer from that of the priest and does not make the sign of the Cross in the manner of a priest.
Finally, those of you interested in a wonderful Roman custom at the church there dedicated to St. Blaise might pop over for a minute to my blog and read more about the blessing for St. Blaise and see a photo or two of something rather interesting.
o{]:¬)
An officially installed acolyte is not an “Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist” either.
For example, the 2004 Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum, n. 155 has “In addition to the ordinary ministers there is the formally instituted acolyte, who by virtue of his institution is an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion even outside of the celebration of Mass.”
An installed acolye (or “insituted acolyte”) is a lay person.
Thanks for posting this. Last night at church, we had our throats blessed and I told our kids that we’d find some info on St. Blase. Take care. God Bless.