The Blessing of Flowers and Herbs on the Assumption

According to a fairly ancient tradition, which St John Damascene (among others) attests in the 8th century, when it came time for the Virgin Mary’s earthly life to end, all of the Apostles, then scattered over the earth to preach the Gospel, were miraculously brought to Jerusalem in an instant to be present for Her death. St Thomas, however, was late in arriving, as he had been late to witness the Lord’s Resurrection. When the Virgin had died, they laid Her body to rest in a tomb in the garden of Gethsemani, outside the city; three days later, when Thomas arrived in Jerusalem, he wished to venerate it. The Apostles went as a group to the tomb, but on opening it, discovered that Her body was no longer there, and a sweet odor came forth, confirming that (as Damascene writes) “Whom once it pleased to take the flesh from the Virgin Mary, and become a man, and be born (of Her)… and who after birth preserved Her virginity incorrupt, it also pleased, after Her passing, to honor Her immaculate body … by translating (it to Heaven) before the common and universal resurrection.”

The Oddi Altarpiece, by Raphael Sanzio, painted in 1502-3, when the artist was only 19 years old; now in the Painting Gallery of the Vatican Museums. Above, the Virgin is crowned by Christ, and surrounded by angels, four of whom are playing musical instruments; below, the Apostles are gathered around Her tomb, with some of them looking upwards and listening to the music. St Thomas is in the middle of the group, with his head tilted back, and has received from the Virgin Her belt; this relic is now, according to tradition, preserved in the cathedral of Prato, Italy. Her tomb is filled with flowers growing out of the stone; Raphael himself appears on the far right as one of the Apostles, wearing black and looking straight out at the viewer.

According to one version of this legend, the other eleven Apostles believed in the Assumption because angelic music played in the air over the tomb on the day of the burial, and for three days after; St Thomas, arriving after the music had ceased, refused to believe them until the tomb was opened and the absence of the body confirmed. According to another version, Thomas already knew and believed in the Assumption before coming to Jerusalem, and brought the others to the tomb to show them that the Virgin’s body was gone, after which they heard all the music together. A further addition to the story says that flowers were growing out of the stone sarcophagus in which She had been laid, and were the source of the sweet odor coming out of the tomb, confirming the Apostles’ faith in Her Assumption.

A stained glass window from Siena Cathedral by Duccio di Buoninsegna, 1288. The central panels represent the death of the Virgin (below), the Assumption (middle) and Coronation (above.) The corners show the Four Evangelists, the middle panels on the left and right the patron Saints of the city.

In honor of this last part of the story, the Church instituted the custom of blessing wild herbs and flowers on the feast of the Assumption. The blessing originated in Germany, and is first attested in the 10th century; one version of it or another is found in a great many of the liturgical books which contain blessings of this sort. In the 1614 Roman Ritual of Pope Paul V, it consists of a psalm, a series of versicles and responses, three prayers, and the blessing, after which the flowers are sprinkled with holy water; the blessing is supposed to be done before the principal Mass of the day.

I here give the blessing in English translation; the Latin text is found in the Rituale among the blessings not reserved to bishops, shortly after the Sunday blessing of holy water and the Asperges. Various versions of the Rituale can be downloaded from Google Books; it also available on

https://www.sanctamissa.org/_files/ugd/c6f7dd_4ff0f5d827d24264a448bf986de11f7a.pdf

V. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
R. Who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 64 is said in full.

V. The Lord will give goodness.
R. And our earth shall yield her fruit. (Ps. 84)
V. Thou waterest the hills from Thy upper rooms.
R. The earth shall be filled with the fruit of Thy works.
V. Bringing forth grass for cattle.
R. And herbs for the service of men.
V. That Thou may bring bread out of the earth.
R. And that wine may cheer the heart of man.
V. That he may make the face cheerful with oil.
R. And that bread may strengthen man’s heart. (Ps. 103)
V. He sent his word, and healed them.
R. And delivered them from their destructions. (Ps. 106)

V. Lord, heed my prayer.
R. And let my cry be heard by you.
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.

Let us pray. Almighty everlasting God, who by Thy word created from nothing the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things visible and invisible, and commanded the earth to bring forth plants and trees for the use of men and beasts, and each one to have fruit in itself according to its seed; and in Thy ineffable goodness granted not only that the plants might serve as the food of living creatures, but also that they might profit ailing bodies as medicine; with mind and word we humbly pray Thee that in Thy clemency Thou may bless + these herbs and fruits of various kinds, and pour upon them the grace of Thy renewed blessing, above the natural power which Thou gavest them; so that, when used by men and beasts in Thy name, they may become a defense against every disease and adversity. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy son etc. R. Amen.

Let us pray. O God, who through Moses, Thy servant, commanded the children of Israel to bear sheaves of new fruits to the priests to be blessed, and to take the fruits of the finest trees, and rejoice before Thee, the Lord their God; in Thy mercy be present to our supplications, and pour forth the abundance of Thy bless+ing upon us and upon these bundles of new fruits, new herbs, and upon the gathering of fruits which we bring before Thee with thanksgiving, and on this solemn feast we bless in Thy name. And grant that they may give to men, cattle, flocks, and beasts of burden a remedy against sickness, pestilence, sores, curses, spells, against the poison of serpents and bites of other venomous animals. And may they bring protection against the devil’s illusions, and devisings and cunning, wherever they or any portion of them are kept and carried, or otherwise used; so that, with the sheaves of good works, by the merits of the blessed Virgin Mary, the feast of whose Assumption we keep, we may merit to be taken up to that place whither She was assumed. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy son etc. R. Amen.

Let us pray. O God, who on this day raised up to the heights of heaven the rod of Jesse, the Mother of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, so that by Her prayers and patronage Thou might communicate to our mortal nature the fruit of Her womb, the same Thy Son; we humbly implore Thee, that by His power, and by the glorious patronage of His Mother, with the help of these fruits of the earth, we may be guided through temporal welfare unto everlasting salvation. Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy son etc. R. Amen.

And may the blessing of almighty God, the Father, the Son, + and Holy Spirit, come upon these creatures and remain always. R. Amen.

Epiphany and Its Customs

The Adoration of the Magi, 1525-30, by Girolamo da Santacroce 

Epiphany is a great feast in both East and West, albeit with different inflections. In the Byzantine and other Eastern rites, Christmas begins a holy period that culminates with Epiphany; Epiphany, therefore, is the greatest feast of the Christmas season. In the Roman and other Western rites, Christmas begins a holy period that plateaus and ends with Epiphany. Christmas and Epiphany are on par with each other. The Western understanding is reflected in a rare word for Epiphany once used in Scotland. Uphalimass (pronounced up-HAL-ee-muss) designates the Mass that wraps up the holidays, for “up” can denote completion as well as what is above.

“Epiphany” is the Greek word for manifestation and refers to Christ’s manifestation of His divinity: understandably, then, the Byzantine Rite prefers the word “Theophany” or “Manifestation of God.” The feast celebrates three manifestations in particular: the manifestation of Christ to the Magi, the first manifestation of His miraculous power at the Wedding of Cana, and the manifestation of His sonship when He was baptized by St. John in the Jordan River. The Benedictus antiphon for Lauds is a marvelous fusion of these three miracles:

Hodie caelesti Sponso juncta est Ecclesia, quoniam in Jordane lavit Christus ejus crimina; currunt cum muneribus Magi ad regales nuptiales, et ex aqua facto vino laetantur convivae, alleluja.

Which I translate as:

Today the Church was joined to her heavenly Spouse, because her Anointed One washed away her sins in the Jordan; Magi run to the royal wedding with gifts, and the guests rejoice with wine made from water, alleluia.

Although all three miracles are honored by both East and West, for most Protestants and Western-rite Catholics, the manifestation to the Magi takes center stage on this day while among Eastern Christians it is Christ’s baptism. Several Roman Catholic cultures attest to this preference with the name they give Epiphany, such as “King’s Day” in Mexico.

Proclamation of Feasts

Today we take our calendars for granted, but in former ages it was not so. Early Christians relied on the calculations of scholars from Alexandria (considered the most competent) to determine the date of Easter, which falls on the first Sunday after the vernal equinox. Those calculations would be solemnly announced on the Epiphany, which was a sensible choice since the feast celebrates an astronomical event, and it is not far from the seasons of Lent and Easter. The chant used for the proclamation, which is the same as that of the Easter Vigil Exultet, is called the Noveritis.

Magi Plays

Did you know that the theater in the Western world, after it died out in ancient Greece and Rome, was brought back to life by the worship of the Church? The earliest medieval plays began as theatrical reenactments of Gospel passages of the day (Easter, Good Friday, etc). Epiphany had an “Office of the Star” tied to the liturgy of the feast and staged in the sanctuary of the church, but over time it grew out of hand. The character Herod was portrayed as a raging lunatic, overthrowing furniture and beating clergy and laity alike with a wooden stick. Church officials decided to ban the play from the sanctuary, at which point it moved outside and became a popular medieval entertainment. William Shakespeare remembered these plays from his childhood, before they were banned by England’s Protestant leaders. In Hamlet, the young prince declares that overacting “out-Herods Herod” (III.ii.13). Tamer versions of the medieval Epiphany play continue to exist in the German tradition of Sternsingen and the Spanish tradition of the festival of Los Tres Rejes.

Sternsingen 2019 (Blackface not recommended)

Blessing of Homes

An even older custom is the blessing of one’s home on the Epiphany. A priest comes to the house, sprinkles each room with holy water, and incenses them.

But the more common practice is the blessing of one’s house with chalk. At church the priest blesses chalk and sprinkles it with holy water, saying:

Bless, O Lord God, this creature chalk, that it may be salutary for mankind; and, through the invocation of Thy most holy name, grant that whoever obtains some of it or writes with it upon the doors of their home the names of Thy saints, Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, may, through their intercession and merits, receive health of body and protection of soul. Through Christ our Lord. ℟. Amen.

The faithful then take the chalk home with them and write on the lintel of their doors the current year along with the letters C, M, and B, interspersed by crosses—e.g., 20+C+M+B+22.

Because it is a product of clay, chalk is a fitting symbol for the human nature assumed by the Word whose incarnation we celebrate this season. The year signifies the time that has elapsed since the Savior’s birth into human history, the crosses represent Christ Himself and the holiness of the Magi, and the letters represent the initials of the three kings: Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. These same letters can also stand for Christus mansionem benedicat—May Christ bless this house.

Blessing the home on Epiphany is appropriate. Just as the wise men visited the temporary home of the Infant Jesus and brought Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (symbols of His kingship, divinity, and burial), so too do we pray that Christ may visit our temporary (earthly) home with gifts of grace and peace for ourselves and our guests.

Epiphany Carols

People are (or at least used to be) still in a caroling mood on Epiphany. One noteworthy custom is the star carol. From the fourteenth century to the Reformation, groups would go from house to house holding the Star of Bethlehem and announcing through song that they were the Magi telling of their adventures. The custom, which was a simplified form of the medieval Epiphany play, still exists in Austria and Bavaria (where it is called Sternsingen) and in Slavic countries.

We suspect that the author of the most popular Epiphany carol in the English language and perhaps the world was aware of this tradition. John Henry Hopkins, Jr. was rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Williamsport, Pennsylvania and the music teacher at the General Theological Seminary in New York City. For his final year of teaching at the seminary (1857), he wrote “We Three Kings” for a Christmas pageant they were having. Hopkins wrote both the music and the lyrics for the song which was rare: usually, the lyrics were written by one person and the tune by another. The carol also holds the honor of being the first Christmas-Epiphany carol from the United States achieving worldwide popularity: even the British and the French like it. The song aptly impersonates all three kings in the first verse, Melchior in the second, Balthasar in the third, and Caspar in the fourth, while the chorus praises the Christmas Star. By the time the carol is over, the singer or hearer knows who the three kings are, what gifts they brought, and what deeper meaning the gifts have. Written in the distinctive Aeolian mode, it smacks of music from the Middle Ages and Middle East. The first verse is:

We three kings of Orient are;

Bearing gifts we traverse afar,

Field and fountain,

Moor and mountain,

Following yonder star.

Gift-Giving

In Italy and Spanish-speaking countries, Epiphany rather than Christmas is the occasion for exchanging gifts. In Italy, the old woman Befana brings the presents; in Spanish-speaking countries, is the Magi.

Some cultures split the difference and exchange gifts on both Christmas and Epiphany. In French Canada, Epiphany was nicknamed “Little Christmas.” The practice of opening presents over a period of days makes sense, since children who open all their gifts in a mad frenzy on Christmas morning often become unappreciative and lethargic afterwards.

Befana, a corruption of the word “Epiphany,” gives gifts to children in Italy on her feast day

Blessing of Water

As we mentioned earlier, Epiphany also celebrates the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, which according to Catholic and Orthodox belief is the moment when Christ sanctified water, making it capable of communicating the grace of the sacrament of baptism. It is therefore customary to bless water on this day. The Roman Catholic Church has a traditional and elaborate blessing of water that takes place on the eve of Epiphany and requires, among other things, several exorcisms and infusing the water with a little salt.

Other Christian churches use this occasion to bless natural bodies of water. In the Holy Land, after the River Jordan is blessed, thousands plunge themselves into the water three times to receive a blessing. In Egypt, the same thing traditionally happens in the Nile; locals also lead their domestic animals into the river for a blessing and dip their religious objects into the river for the same reason. After the priest blesses a body of water, he throws a cross into it. The men of the town then compete to retrieve it; the one who does has good luck for the year. And the blessing has the added advantage of driving away the Christmas demons. The Greeks also use occasion to bless their boats and ships.

Food and Drink

The signature food for Epiphany (or, sometimes, the night before) is King’s Cake. A small object is put in a cake. Traditionally, it was a coin; more recently, it is a small figurine of the Infant Jesus. Whoever finds the object in their piece of the cake is king of the merry party. In Austria, Germany, France, England, and Canada, the King’s Cake contained a bean and a pea; finding the bean made one a king while the pea made one a queen.

The custom was also tied to charity. In France a piece of cake was put aside “for our Lord” and given to a poor person. Another French tradition required each person to pay for his piece of cake. The money collected, called “the gold of the Magi,” would be given to the poor or to help pay for the education of a promising but disadvantaged youth.

In Mexico, rosca de Reyes or Kings’ Day Bread is a wreath-shaped loaf with cinnamon, anise seed, vanilla extract, and dried fruit. The dinner guest who finds the Baby Jesus in his slice must make the tamales for the next gathering. A similar custom exists in Spain. Roscón de Reyes is a delicious oval, cream-filled pastry with a hidden bean and a surprise. Whoever finds the surprise gets good luck for the year; whoever finds the bean has to buy the next roscón.

The Blessing of Wine on the Feast of St John the Evangelist

The Roman Ritual contains two different forms for the blessing of wine on the feast of St John the Evangelist. The first consists simply of three prayers; the second is slightly more elaborate, with three different prayers, preceded by a Psalm and a series of versicles. Both versions contain references to the origin of the blessing, an interesting example of how the Church has embraced and preserved a non-Biblical story about the life of an Apostle.

Many people have heard of New Testament Apocrypha such as the Protoevangelium of James, the traditional source for the names of the Virgin Mary’s parents and the story of Her presentation in the Temple. Some of these have had a significant influence on the Church’s devotional life and its artistic traditions. Irresponsible scholars have also created a whole cottage industry of foolish writings about Our Lord and the early Church based on some of the Gnostic Gospels, while generally ignoring the apocrypha of the New Testament’s other literary categories, Acts, Epistles and Apocalypses. Like the apocryphal Gospels, the majority of these were clearly written to lend credit to one heresy or another, and therefore rejected by the Church. In some cases, however, once the heresy in question had faded into obscurity, the relevant apocrypha regained popularity, since their heretical content was no long understood or perceived as such.

One example is the apocryphal Acts of John, a work of the second century with strong overtones of the Docetic heresy, which taught that Christ had only the appearance of a human body. It tells the story that when St John was brought before the Emperor Domitian (81-96), he offered to prove the truth of his preaching about Christ by drinking a deadly poison, in accordance with the Lord’s words at the end of St Mark’s Gospel (16, 18), “if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.” The poison did him no harm; this has given rise to the traditional representation of John holding a chalice with a serpent or dragon emerging from it, which symbolize either the poison or its effectiveness leaving the cup.

St John the Evangelist, by El Greco, 1604, now in the Prado Museum in Madrid.

When the Emperor thought he had been saved by trickery, the poison’s toxicity was proved on a condemned prisoner, who died instantly, but was later raised to life by John. For this, he was exiled to the Greek island of Patmos, as recorded in the authentic book of the Apocalypse, where he stayed until Domitian’s death; when the acts of the latter were rescinded by the Senate on account of his extreme cruelty (as reported by St Jerome), John was permitted to return to Ephesus, where he lived out his days.

St John’s Vision on Patmos, by Giotto, 1317-20, in the Peruzzi Chapel of the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Florence.

This story is referred to explicitly in the rubrics of the Ritual, and in the first prayer of the first form of the blessing of wine, as follows: “And just as the blessed John, drinking poison from a cup, remained altogether unharmed, so may all who drink of this cup today in his honor, be set free by his merits from every illness (inflicted by) poison, and all other harmful things…” Likewise, the second prayer asks that all who drink of the blessed wine “may receive of Thy gift health in both body and soul.”

The second version of the blessing begins with the Psalm “The Lord is my shepherd”, certainly chosen because of its best known verse, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,” as well as for the words “my chalice which inebriateth me, how goodly is it!” The versicles said after it include the verse of St Mark’s Gospel mentioned above. The first of its three prayers begins with an explanation of the Incarnation: “Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God, who willed that Thy Son, coeternal and consubstantial with Thee should come down from heaven, and be incarnate in the world of the Virgin Mary in this fullness of time.” The last part of this beginning, “this fullness of time”, rather than “the fullness of time”, seems to refer to the Christmas season, in which the Divine Incarnation is made manifest, as witnessed by St John above all others, and during which his feast day is kept.

The prayer continues, “that He might seek the lost and wandering sheep and bring it back to the sheepfold upon His shoulders; and further, that he might cure the man who fell in among thieves from the pain of his wounds.” This refers to a story recorded by St Clement of Alexandria, and repeated by Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History (3, 23), that a young convert of St John turned to a life of violence as a brigand; the Apostle, though now very elderly, pursued the fellow into the mountains where he was wont to hide, and brought him to repentance. The second prayer says, “Lord Jesus Christ, who willed Thyself to be called the true Vine, and Thy Holy Apostles the branches”, citing the long discourse of Christ at the Last Supper recorded only in John’s Gospel. The third adds a reference to the creation of bread alongside the fruit of the vine, in reference to the Eucharistic discourse of chapter six of the same Gospel; it also says that John “not only passed unharmed from the drinking of poison, but also raised from the dead those laid low by poison”, referring to the story of the prisoner cited above.

Jots, Tittles, and the Blessing of Seeds and Seedlings on Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Lost in Translation #84

In a previous article, we explained that some of the practices of the Roman liturgical tradition function as a “fulfillment” of the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ who, He asserts, came not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it in its most minute details, even its “jots” and “tittles.” (Matt. 5, 17-18)

We do not presume to know the mind of Our Lord as He uttered this statement (which is why we put “fulfillment” in quotes), but it strikes us as reasonable to believe that the customs of the Chosen People of the Old Covenant are somehow still relevant to those chosen to be part of the New. Such a relevance does not entail a literal reenactment or continuation of Hebrew or Jewish practices, but a respect for the spirit that animated them. As such, Christians who look to Old Testament’s practices are not dreaded “Judaizers” of the Gospel (a heated accusation in the Patristic Age), but disciples who wish to live according to the spirit and not the letter. (see 2 Cor. 3, 6)

An excellent example of this attitude is the Blessing of Seeds and Seedlings on the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 8. But first, a few words on the feast itself.

The Blessed Virgin is one of only three persons whose earthly birthday (as opposed to their heavenly birthday into eternal bliss) is celebrated liturgically by the universal Church—the other two being Saint John the Baptist (June 24) and, of course, Jesus Christ (December 25). All that we know of Mary’s birth comes to us from apocryphal literature, writings that the Church determined were not inerrantly inspired by the Holy Spirit. “Apocryphal,” however, does not mean worthless, and the early Church made good use of these pseudo-Gospels. In one such writing, Saints Anne and Joachim are described as a childless elderly couple who prayed to God for offspring and were rewarded with a daughter whom they named Miriam (Mary).

The Birth of the Virgin Mary, 1305, by Giotto, in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy.

A feast in honor of Mary’s birth was first kept in Syria and Palestine in the fifth century, where it was then adopted by the Greeks, and finally by the Latins. It spread slowly in the Western Church, but by the twelfth century it was a major Marian feast, and remained a holy day of obligation until 1918. Some scholars believe that September 8 was chosen as the date because it was the anniversary of the dedication of a Marian church in Jerusalem, a date which also roughly marks the transition from Summer to Fall.

In the wine-making regions of France, Mary’s Nativity is the time for harvest wine festivals. Vine-growers bring their best grapes to church for a blessing and attach some of these first fruits to a statue of the Blessed Virgin. A festive meal is then held during which the grapes are consumed.

In the Alps, the Abtrieb or “down-driving” of cattle and sheep from the summer pastures begins on this day. The lead animals are decorated with flowers in honor of the Virgin as they wind their way down from the high slopes to their winter quarters. And according to the Austrians, the swallows also begin their southern migration on this day.

But the most universal custom on our Lady’s Nativity is the blessing of seeds and seedlings for the autumn planting season. The Roman Ritual contains a beautiful blessing for the occasion, the goal of which is a successful planting for the Fall season.

There are two blessings. [Roman Rituale (Rome: Desclee, 1943), pp. 589-590] The first is as follows:

℣. Adjutórium nostrum in nómine Dómini.

℟. Qui fecit cælum et terram. 

℣. Dóminus vobíscum.

℟. Et cum spíritu tuo.

Orémus. Dómine, sancte Pater, omnípotens sempiterne Deus: pétimus ac rogámus, ut hos fructus ségetum ac séminum tuis serénis óculis hilaríque vultu aspícere dignéris: et sicut testátus es Móysi fámulo tuo in terra Ægypti, dicens: Dic filiis Israël, cum ingressi fúerint terram promissiónis, quam eis dabo, ut primitias fructuum suórum ófferant sacerdótibus, et erunt benedicti; sic et nos rogámus te, Dómine, ut per auxilium misericordiæ tuæ emittas super hunc fructum ségetum déxteræ tuæ benedictiónem, quem ad exhibendum proferre dignéris, ut non subruat grando, nec áëris inundatio extérminet, sed semper incólumis permáneat, propter usum animárum et córporum, et ad bene abundentem et pleníssimam maturitátem perdúcere dignéris: Qui in Trinitáte perfecta vivis et regnas in sǽcula sæculórum. ℟. Amen.

Which I translate as:

℣. Our help is in the name of the Lord.

℟. Who made heaven and earth.

℣. The Lord be with you.

℟. And with thy spirit.

Let us pray. Holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God: we request and we beseech that Thou wouldst deign to look upon these seedling fruits and seeds with merry eyes and a cheerful countenance. And as Thou didst promise to Thy servant Moses, saying, “Say unto the children of Israel, ‘When you shall have entered into the land which I will give you, that they may offer their first fruits to the priests, they will be blessed,’” so too, we beseech Thee, Lord, that through the help of Thy mercy Thou wouldst send upon this seedling fruit, which Thou hast deigned to bring forth for the harvest, the blessing of Thy right hand. May it not be crushed by hail or drowned by a flood of rain, but may it ever remain safe and sound for the use of soul and body, and mayest Thou deign to bring it well to full and abundant maturity. Thou who livest and reignest in the perfect Trinity unto ages of ages. ℟. Amen.

The second blessing is:

Orémus. Omnípotens sempiterne Deus, caelestis verbi seminátor et cultor, qui nostri cordis áream spiritálibus rastris exerces: adesto propitius précibus nostris, et super agros, quibus si fúerint sémina ínsita, tuam largam benedictiónem infunde, ac ab eis omnem vim procellárum gratia tuæ defensiónis averte; ut omnis hic fructus et tua benedictióne repleátur et ad hórrea sine impedimento perveniat. Per Dóminum... ℟. Amen.

Et aspergantur aqua benedicta, et, si fieri pótest, thurificentur.

Which I translate as:

Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, sower and cultivator of the heavenly Word, who tillest the topsoil of our hearts with spiritual rakes: kindly be present to our prayers, and pour fourth Thy abundant blessing upon the fields in which these seeds are to be planted, and by the grace of Thy defense turn away from them the violence of storms: that every one of these fruits may be filled with Thy blessing, and may reach the granaries without hindrance. Through our Lord ... ℟. Amen.

And they are sprinkled with holy water, and, if it can be done, incensed.

Offering of First Fruits, Bible Card

The first blessing, which links this practice to the feast of First Fruits (Lev. 23, 10), beseeches God “to look upon these seedling fruits and seeds with merry eyes and a cheerful countenance.” It is a heart-warming image. The pre-conciliar Church is often accused of having Jansenist strains that downplayed the mercy of God and focused, in an almost sadistic way, on His judgment. Although there is some evidence for this claim from a century or more ago, it is hardly the whole story. A close study of the traditional liturgy, for example, reveals a worldview strikingly different from that of the Jansenists. Here, God the Father is approached not as a censorious magistrate but as a kind figure ready to bless us. With His “merry eyes and cheerful countenance,” He resembles Santa Claus far more than He does Javert in Les Miserables, (a Jansenist if ever there was one).

The second blessing artfully correlates the mechanics of agriculture with God’s activity on our souls by addressing Him as the “sower and cultivator of the heavenly Word” who tills “the topsoil of our hearts with spiritual rakes.” Again, it is a beautiful image. The Sacred Scriptures--to say nothing of Christian poetry--look at ordinary things and see spiritual lessons or types in them. The land is good, but it needs to be cultivated; our souls are good (despite the pollution of original sin), but they need a good raking as well. We pray, appropriately, on the holyday honoring the Mother of God as a tiny newborn infant, that Almighty God bless the beginnings of new life in field and garden and bless anew, as He always wants to do, the soil of our souls.

Blessings on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Guido Reni, The Assumption of Virgin Mary, 1638-9

Lost in Translation #82

The Assumption is traditionally the most important Marian feast of the year. Accompanied by grand festivities and processions (that simulated her journey to Heaven), it also was a favorite time for blessings.

In Austria and the Alps, the nearby meadows and farms would be blessed; in maritime countries (including the U.S.), it was the ocean and the fishing fleet. Two communities in coastal Georgia and parts of Cajun Louisiana still keep this custom--the Louisiana custom has a brief cameo in Robert Duvall’s 1997 film The Apostle, and a Louisiana blessing of the fleet was featured in a post last year on this website.

In Armenia, it is a fine time to bless the grapes. “No one would dream of tasting the new harvest,” writes Fr. Francis X. Weiser, S.J., “before consuming the first blessed grapes on Our Lady’s Day.” [1]

An Armenian priest blesses grapes on the Feast of the Assumption

In England, Ireland, and other parts of Europe, it was good luck to take a dip in the sea, a river, or a lake, as “Our Lady’s Health Bathing” would obtain good health through her intercession. Farms, orchards, fields, gardens, and livestock would also be blessed on this special day.

But the one blessing (or series of blessings) that found its way into the Rituale Romanum was the blessing of herbs and fruits. It was once so popular that a city was named after it. Würzburg, Bavaria (“Spice-Herb Town”) is so called because it was a popular medieval center for the Assumption Day blessings. In Sicily, the faithful would abstain from fruit for two weeks prior to the Assumption and then, after the blessing, give each other fruit baskets. And in some parts of central Europe the feast was even called “Our Lady’s Herb Day” (Krautertag in German and Matka Boska Zielna in Polish). [2]

The blessing(s) in the Ritual is a solemn affair. After a recital of Psalm 64 (rich with allusions to God’s watering the earth and making it fecund), the priest prays:

Omnípotens sempitérne Deus, qui cælum, terram, mare, visibília et invisibília verbo tuo ex níhilo creásti, quique herbas, arborésque ad usus hóminum animaliúmque terram gígnere, et unumquódque juxta seméntem in semetípso fructum habére præcepísti; atque non solum ut herbæ animántibus ad victum, sed ægris étiam corpóribus prodéssent ad medicaméntum, tua ineffábili pietáte concessísti: te súpplici mente et ore deprecámur, ut has divérsi géneris herbas et fructus tua cleméntia benedícas, et supra naturálem a te índitam virtútem, eis benedictiónis tuæ novæ grátiam infúndas; ut ad usum homínibus et juméntis in nómine tuo applicátæ, ómnium morbórum et adversitátum efficiántur præsídium. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum, Fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. [3]

Which I translate as:

Let us pray. Almighty, everlasting God, who by Thy Word hast created out of nothing heaven, earth, sea, things visible and invisible; who hast commanded the earth to bring forth herbs and trees for the use of men and animals and for them to have fruit each according to its kind; and who hast granted out of Thine ineffable mercy for these to serve not only as food for the living, but as medicine for sick bodies: with mind and mouth we humbly implore Thee to bless with Thy clemency these herbs and fruits of various kinds, and to pour forth upon their natural power already given by Thee the grace of Thy new blessing; that when used in Thy name on men and beasts, they may provide protection against all disease and adversity. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.

A second blessing follows:

Deus, qui per Móysen fámulum tuum mandásti fíliis Israël, ut manípulos novórum frúctuum benedicéndos deférrent ad sacerdótes, tolleréntque fructus árboris pulchérrimæ, et lætaréntur coram te, Dómino Deo suo: adésto propítius invocatiónibus nostris, et infúnde tuæ benedictiónis abundántiam super nos, et super manípulos novárum frugum, novárum herbárum, et frúctuum collectiónem, quæ cum gratiárum actióne tibi repræsentámus, et in nómine tuo in hac sollemnitáte benedícimus; et concéde, ut homínibus, pecoríbus, pecudíbus et juméntis contra morbos, pestes, úlcera, malefícia, incantatiónes, venefícia serpéntum, et aliórum venenosórum animálium et bestiárum morsus, nec non quæcúmque venéna, remédium præstant; atque contra diabólicas illusiónes, et machinatiónes, et fraudes tutámen ferant, in quocúmque loco pósitum vel portátum aut hábitum áliquid ex eis fúerit: quátenus cum manípulis bonórum óperum, méritis beátæ Maríæ Vírginis, cujus Assumptiónis festum cólimus, quo ipsa assúmpta est, súscipi mereámur. Per Dóminum.

Which I translate as:

O God, who through Moses Thy servant didst command the children of Israel to carry their sheaves of new fruits to the priests for a blessing, to take the finest fruits of the orchards, and to make merry before Thee, the Lord their God: Kindly hear our supplications, and pour forth the abundance of Thy blessing upon us and upon these sheaves of new grain and new herbs, and upon this assortment of fruits, which we gratefully present to Thee and which we bless on this feast in Thy name. And grant that men, cattle, sheep, and beasts of burden may find in them a remedy against sickness, pestilence, sores, injuries, spells, snake venom, and the bites of other venomous and non-venomous creatures. And may they bring protection against diabolical illusions, machinations, and deceptions wherever they are kept or carried, or with whatever arrangement is made of them: that with sheaves of good works and through the merits of the Blessed Virgin Mary whose Feast of the Assumption we celebrate, we may deserve to be taken up to where she herself was assumed. Through our Lord.

The third blessing is:

Deus, qui virgam Jesse, Genetrícem Fílii tui Dómini nostri Jesu Christi, hodiérna die ad cælórum fastígia ídeo evexísti, ut per ejus suffrágia et patrocínia fructum ventris illíus, eúmdem Fílium tuum, mortalitáti nostræ communicáres: te súpplices exorámus; ut ejúsdem Fílii tui virtúte, ejúsque Genetrícis glorióso patrocínio, istórum terræ frúctuum præsídiis per temporálem ad ætérnam salútem disponámur. Per eúmdem Dóminum nostrum.

Which I translate as:

Let us pray. O God, who on this day didst raise up to the heights of heaven the rod of Jesse, the mother of Thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ, that through her prayers and patronage Thou mightest communicate to our mortality the Fruit of her womb, Thy Son: we humbly pray that by the power of Thy Son and the glorious patronage of His Mother, we may be so affected by the aid of these fruits of the earth as to proceed from temporal to eternal welfare. Through the same our Lord.

And finally, the final blessing:

Et benedíctio Dei omnipoténtis, Patris, et Fílii, et Spíritus Sancti, descéndat super has creatúras, et máneat semper.

Which I translate as:

And may the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, descend upon these creatures and remain forever.

The blessings are to some extent a recapitulation of sacred history. The first blessing recalls the original goodness of God’s creation and its beneficial use for humans even after the Fall. Even in a world of postlapsarian thorns and thistles, the Lord still provides from the land.

The second blessing pivots to the Mosaic Law, which has an annual Feast of First Fruits described in Leviticus 23, 10. Our own blessing of herbs and fruits on this Feast of Our Lady serves as a spiritual “fulfillment” of the jots and tittles of this old Law.

Given the Mosaic Law in the backdrop, it is fitting that this blessing is the most particular in its petitions, specifying a number of threats to human and animal health. It reads, in fact, like a medieval life insurance policy, making certain that no contingency is left out. Venomous snakes? We certainly want protection from them, but are there not non-venomous snakes that can still do harm to our chicken coop? And what about the non-venomous bites of large predators? To be safe, let us pray for protection from all bites.

The Latin West is often accused of “legalism,” and I am sure that its detractors would point to this blessing as Exhibit A, but nonetheless it is one of my favorites in the Rituale. The specificity does not indicate a lack of trust in God but an awareness of the dangers around us, both physical and spiritual (its list of diabolical and occult threats is also impressive). If you have, like our medieval forebears, lived in nature or are directly vulnerable to its sometimes mercurial turns, you have a heightened appreciation for our dependence on the Almighty.

Lucas Cranach the Elder, Adam and Eve, detail, (1508-1512)

The third blessing transitions from the Old Covenant to the New by beginning with a Hebraic reference to Our Lady as the rod of Jesse and then moving to Her role in the economy of salvation as the tree that bore the Fruit that save us. The blessing asks that we may proceed from temporal goods to eternal, a movement that imitates the Blessed Virgin's upward assumption into Heaven.

The final blessing uses a common formula for invoking the Holy Trinity. The word creaturae is somewhat difficult to translate. It literally designates, as I have translated it, “creatures,” that is, products of a Creator, be they animate or inanimate. In this context, the creatures are the herbs and fruits being blessed, and maybe the people who brought them. But the most common usage of “creature” in the English language is for a living animal, e.g., “woodland creatures.” And today the word can even have sinister connotations, e.g., the Creature from the Black Lagoon. (And long ago in Scotland, to have “a bit of the creature” before bedtime meant having a snort of intoxicating liquor).

Altogether the blessings offer an invitation to meditate on the Blessed Virgin Mary, fruit, and us. Eve foolishly used herbs (fig leaves) to hide and aggravate her sin, thereby perpetuating the disorder that her sin had introduced to both body and soul. By contrast, the “new Eve” Mary, whose soul and body are untouched by sin or the decay of death (as we celebrate on Assumption Day), foreshadows a complete healing of our frailties, a healing represented by herbs. Likewise, fruits are an appropriate symbol for Mary the new Eve because she never ate of the forbidden fruit of sin but brought forth only the fruit of good works and, most importantly, the Fruit of her womb, Jesus Christ. The fruit blessed today thus betokens the fruit of a holy and generous life which we are called to enjoy from our Lord through the patronage of His mother.

Notes

[1] Francis X. Weiser, Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs (New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1958), 290.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Benedictio herbarum in festo assumptionis B. Mariae Virg., in RR 1953, Tit. IX, cap. iii, no. 14, pp. 424-428 [pp. 436-440], §§1421-1435, here §1433, translation mine.

The Rite of Blessing of the Agnus Deis (Part 2)

Following up on our post on Tuesday about the blessing of the Agnus Deis, yesterday we published the text of the blessing promulgated by Pope Benedict XIV, and today we give a previous version from the late 15th century. This post is reproduced with some modifications from the website of the Cappella Gregoriana Sanctae Caecilia (St Cecilia Gregorian Choir), based in Manilla in the Philippine Islands, with their kind permission, and our thanks.

Dom Prosper Guéranger, in volume 7 of his L’Année liturgique, quotes an even older source for the prayers of the blessing of the Agnus Dei, and that is the Cæremoniale Romanum (Latin text in pdf here), published in 1488 by two-time papal master of ceremonies, Agostino Patrizi Piccolomini, bishop of Pienza and Montalcino, erected from the diocese of Arezzo on 13 August 1462, later split in 1582 into the independent sees of Pienza and Montalcino. Here is an English translation of the prayers based on Dom Guéranger’s French rendition, and below is our translation based on the original Latin.

The prayers in the older version are much, much longer, and the immediate ancestors of the prayers in the text published in 1752. The older version confirms that the water consecrated at the start of the ceremony is already blessed, carried out beforehand as usual either by the Pope himself or by any of his domestic prelates. Other ceremonials call the consecrated water the water of the New Lamb, by reason of the sole and eminent purpose it is reserved. Because the collects are untrimmed, we can clearly discover the Scriptural foundations of this special blessing reserved alone to the Pope. Unlike the 1752 rite, which arranges the constitutive prayers addressed to God from Father to Son to Holy Spirit, the 1488 rite addresses God first the Father, then the Holy Spirit, and finally the Son.

The frontispiece of a copy of Piccolomini’s Caerimoniale, ca. 1500. The kneeling man, whose identity is unknown, presents a copy of the book to Cardinal Georges d’Amboise; the inscription says “My Lord, on my return from Rome, I give you this book.” (Bibliothèque nationale de France. Département des manuscrits. Latin 938)

Blessing of waxen Agnus Dei

according to the 1488 Cæremoniale Romanum

On any day after Easter, before Low Saturday, having said or heard Mass in his private Chapel, the Supreme Pontiff, vested in amice, alb, cincture, and simple mitre, blesses water with the usual blessing, as is done on Sundays by priests, in a vessel thither prepared, and, if it is more suitable, said water may be blessed beforehand by one of the Pope’s domestic Prelates. Then, the Pontiff approaches the aforesaid vessel, and, the mitre removed, standing, says:

V. Our help is in the Name of the Lord.
R. Who hath made heaven and earth.
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.

Let us pray. O Lord God, Father almighty, Founder of all the elements and Keeper of mankind, Giver of spiritual grace and Bestower of eternal salvation, Who didst vouchsafe the waters flowing from the spring of Paradise to irrigate all the earth, upon which Thy Only-begotten Son hath walked with dry feet, and hath deigned to be baptised in them, which hath flowed forth with His Blood from His most holy side, and hath commanded His Disciples to baptise all nations in them: benignantly and mercifully attend, and let the grace of Thy blessing come upon us who remember these Thy wonders, that Thou mayest ✠ bless and, having been blest, sancti✠fy the objects, which We cause to be cast and plunged in this vessel of water that was prepared for the glory of Thy Name, that, by the veneration and honour of these same objects, crimes may be washed off us Thy servants, stains of sins may be wiped off us, pardons may be obtained for us, graces may be granted to us, and we may finally merit to attain eternal life together with Thy saints and elect. Through the same Christ our Lord. R. Amen.

The Pontiff then receives the Mitre again, and pours Balsam from its ampoule into the Water, in the form of a cross, saying:

Deign, O Lord, to consecrate and sanctify these waters through this anointing of balsam, and Our blessing. In the name of the ✠ Father, and of the ✠ Son, and of the Holy ✠ Spirit. Amen.

And he signs thrice. Then, from another ampoule, He pours holy Chrism into the same Water, likewise in the form of a cross, saying:

Deign, O Lord, to consecrate and sanctify these waters through this holy anointing of Chrism, and Our blessing. In the name of the ✠ Father, and of the ✠ Son, and of the Holy ✠ Spirit. Amen.

The Supreme Pontiff, with mitre, having received consecrated water with a silver spoon, consecrates another water: then, he turns towards the baskets, where the Agnus Dei are, and, the mitre removed, standing, says upon them:

V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.

Let us pray. O God of all hallowing, Lord and Ruler, Whose unending mercy is felt: Who didst vouchsafe Abraham, the father of our faith, arranging by Thy commandment to immolate Isaac his son as a foreshadowing of our redemption, to accomplish his sacrifice through a ram stuck amongst the brambles; and didst order Moyses, Thy lawgiving servant, that a perpetual holocaust should be offered in lambs without blemish: humbly we beseech Thee that, implored by the duty of our voice, Thou mayest deign to ✠ bless and, through the invocation of Thy Holy Name, sanctify these waxen figures fashioned with the image of the most innocent Lamb, that, at their touch and sight, the faithful may be invited to prayers; the crash of hailstorms, the storm of whirlwinds, the force of tempests, the rage of winds, the troublesome thunders may be subdued; malignant spirits may flee and tremble before the banner of the Holy Cross, which is engraved into them, to which all knee bendeth, and all tongue confesseth, for death being vanquished through the gibbet of the Cross, Jesus Christ reigneth in the glory of God the Father: for He, led as a lamb unto the slaughter, in death offered Thee, Father, the Holy Sacrifice of His Body, that He may guide back the lost sheep that was waylaid by the devil’s deceit, and bring it back carried upon His shoulders unto the fold of the heavenly homeland: He Who liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God: through all the ages of the ages. R. Amen.

He says another Collect:

Let us pray. Almighty and eternal God, Who art the Founder of the sacrifices and ceremonies of the Law, and didst establish them to be accomplished for mankind’s atonement, just as Thy creation, which, deceived by the intimation of the devil, incurred Thy indignation in their disdain towards the empire of Thy majesty, and as Thou didst vouchsafe to be pleased in their obedience to these victims and sacrifices, as Thou didst establish in the sacrifice of Abel’s lamb of the firstfruits, and in the oblation of Melchisedech Thy Priest, and in the immolation of Abraham’s, Moyses’, and Aaron’s victims, lambs, rams, and fattened bulls, with Thy servants humbly offering as a foreshadowing everything that came in contact with them, because with Thy holy blessing, they became holy and salvific: and like the lamb, from whose blood the side posts and upper posts of the house were anointed, being immolated, delivered Thy people at midnight from the striking of the Egyptians; and in the same manner that the innocent Lamb, by Thy will immolated on the altar of the Cross, Jesus Christ, Thy Son, did deliver our forefathers from the power of the devil: so may these Lambs without blemish, which we offer to be consecrated before Thy divine majesty, receive that power: mayest Thou deign to ✠ bless, sancti✠fy, and con✠secrate them, that, sanctified by Thy generous blessing, they may receive the same power against all cunning of the devil, and deceits of malignant spirits, that may no tempest prevail against those devoutly bearing these Lambs upon themselves, may no adversity rule over them, may no pestilential breeze or corruption of air, and no mortal disease, no storm and tempest of the sea, no conflagration, nor any wickedness rule over them, nor may man prevail against them: may a safe delivery with the mother be kept through the intercession of Thy Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who with Thee liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God: through all the ages of the ages. R. Amen.

We pray Thy mercy, O almighty God, Who didst create everything out of nothing, and, after Adam’s fall, didst bless Noe and his sons, who lived justly before Thy majesty, and were saved by Thy mercy from the waters of the deluge: mayest Thou thus deign to ✠ bless, sancti✠fy, and con✠secrate these Lambs, so that those bearing them, out of reverence and honour to Thy Name, may be delivered from all inundation of waters, and from all vicissitudes of the devil’s tempest, and from sudden death, through the power of the Passion of Jesus Christ, Thy blessed Son: Who with Thee liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God: through all the ages of the ages. R. Amen.

These done, the Supreme Pontiff is girded with a linen apron, and, having received the mitre, sits by the vessel of water, and the servers bring to him the Agnus Dei in silver platters, which the Pontiff plunges into the water, and the attending prelates take them out, and bring them in platters upon tables prepared with clean cloths, that they may be dried; and all having been baptised by the Pontiff, or by his prelates, the Supreme Pontiff, rising, and standing without mitre, says these Collects upon them:

Let us pray. O nourishing Spirit, Who makest the waters fruitful, and givest life to all, and didst establish every great sacrament in the substance of the waters, which, having relinquished bitterness, were transformed unto sweetness, and, sanctified by Thy breath, by impulse of the reception of the laver (of Baptism), at the invocation of the Name of the Holy Trinity, wash away sins: we beseech Thee, O Lord, that Thou mayest deign to ✠ bless, sancti✠fy, and con✠secrate these Lambs, poured forth with the sacred and everlasting water and with the balsam of holy Chrism, so that, being blessed by Thee, they may receive power against all the devil’s temptations, and all who bear them may be protected amidst adversity and prosperity, that, having received Thy consolation, they may fear no peril, and dread no shadow, and no devil’s savagery or man’s cunning may inflict harm upon them, but, strengthened in the fortitude of Thy power, they may glorify in Thy consolation, Thou Who truly art called the Paraclete, and livest and reignest in perfect Trinity: through all the ages of the ages. R. Amen.

O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, Who truly art the innocent Lamb, the Priest and the Victim, Who art foretold by the voice of the prophets as the vine and the cornerstone, Who didst wash away the sins of the world, Who, being slaughtered, didst redeem us, O Lord God, in Thy Blood, and didst anoint with Thy Blood the posts of our breast and brow, lest the devil’s nighttime cunning, and noontime onslaught, and the people thrashing and passing over our houses, display their violence before us: Thou truly art the Lamb without blemish for our atonement, and didst vouchsafe to be perpetually immolated by Thy faithful in Thy memory, and to be eaten as the paschal Lamb under the species of bread and wine in the Sacrament unto the salvation and the remedy of our souls, that, having sojourned across the sea and the present age, we may come to the glory of the resurrection and eternity: we beseech therefore Thy mercy, and mayest Thou deign to ✠ bless, sancti✠fy, and con✠secrate these Lambs without blemish, which we have formed in Thy honour from virgin wax through the merits of the Cross, and, confected with holy water, and balsam, and the liquor of holy Chrism as a hallowing of Thy Conception, which Thou didst receive by divine power alone, without human contact and posterity, mayest Thou thus uphold, protect, and defend those who bear these Lambs from all danger of conflagration, lightning, storm, and tempest, and guard them from all adversity through the mystery of Thy Passion, and mayest Thou thus deign to deliver them and those labouring in childbirth from all perils, as Thou didst deliver Thy Mother from all peril, and Susanna from false accusation, and blessed Thecla Thy Virgin and Martyr from conflagrations; and just as Thou didst cause Peter, freed from fetters, to escape unscathed, mayest Thou cause us to depart unharmed from this age, that we may prevail to live with Thee without end: Who livest and reignest in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God: through all the ages of the ages. R. Amen.

These done, the Agnus Dei are placed back in their baskets, and then, on Low Saturday, after the Agnus Dei at Mass, they are given, as is more fully described in the ceremony of the mentioned day.

The Rite of Blessing of the Agnus Deis (Part 1)

Following up on our post on Tuesday about the blessing of the Agnus Deis, we here give the text of the blessing promulgated by Pope Benedict XIV. A previous version from the late 15th century will be given in the second part. This post is reproduced with some modifications from the website of the Cappella Gregoriana Sanctae Caecilia (St Cecilia Gregorian Choir), based in Manilla in the Philippine Islands, with their kind permission, and our thanks.

In 1752, Pope Benedict XIV ordered the publication of the text of the Blessing of the Agnus Dei. (Latin text in pdf here.) The rite, republished in 1865 by Father Jules Caron, begins with the consecration of the water wherein the waxen discs are to be later submerged. To the blessed water are mixed balsam and chrism. Afterwards, the Pope distributes the consecrated water to other fonts that will be used for the submersion of the discs, to be presided by other cardinals. The Pope himself, assisted by cardinals, presides over the blessing in the main font.

The Pope then approaches the Agnus Dei, which are placed in baskets, or some similar vessels, and pronounces a three-fold blessing over them, the first addressed to God the Father, the second to God the Son, and the third to God the Holy Spirit. These collects enumerate the various graces gained by bearers of the sacramental, such as deliverance from calamities and diseases, protection during childbirth, and consolation in this life and life-everlasting. After these powerful prayers, the Pope censes the discs thrice, and then into every font of consecrated water, the discs are submerged, and then later taken out and brought into an adjoining chamber where they are dried.

The Pope afterwards enters this chamber, and then pronounces the final collect, which highlights one of the central mysteries behind the sacramental, and this is the Conception of the Lord, otherwise known as the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin. The wax used for the discs traditionally came from the paschal candle of the Sistine Chapel, and of the other churches of Rome, from the previous Easter, and into this wax was usually mixed an amount of pure unused wax, hence the last collect calls it the cera virginea. And just as the conception of the Lord was preserved from human contact, so the last collect expresses its hope that bearers of the Agnus Dei will be protected from mortal troubles, and after death will merit eternal life. In the end, the discs are gathered in the baskets, and are distributed on the following Low Saturday, after the Agnus Dei is chanted at Mass.

Pope Benedict XIV (1740-58), by Pierre Subleyras, 1741 (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.)

Blessing of waxen Agnus Dei

published in 1752 by order of Pope Benedict XIV

The Supreme Pontiff, standing without Mitre, says:

V. Our help is in the Name of the Lord.
R. Who hath made heaven and earth.
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.

Let us pray. O Lord God, Father almighty, Creator of all the elements, and Giver of spiritual grace, from Whose Only-begotten Son’s most holy side did flow forth waters together with Blood, and Who didst sanctify the waters of the Jordan through the same Only-begotten Son, and didst vouchsafe all nations to be baptised in these waters, and didst finally institute the greatest sacraments in the substance of the waters: benignly and mercifully attend, and deign to ✠ bless and sancti✠fy this element of water, that crimes may be washed off and graces may be granted to Thy servants devoutly venerating the waxen discs plunged in this water, that they may merit to obtain eternal life with Thy elect. R. Amen.

This Collect complete, the Supreme Pontiff receives the Mitre, and, with the most senior Cardinal ministering the ampoule of Balsam, which the Sacrist hands to the Cardinal, the Supreme Pontiff pours the Balsam from the ampoule into the Water, in the form of a cross, saying:

Deign, O Lord, to consecrate and sanctify these ✠ waters through this holy pouring of balsam, and Our blessing. Here, thrice he signs with his hand, saying: In the name of the ✠ Father, and of the ✠ Son, and of the Holy ✠ Spirit. Amen.

Then, from another ampoule of Chrism, with the most senior Cardinal ministering, as above, the Supreme Pontiff pours the holy Chrism into the same Water, in the form of a cross, saying:

Deign, O Lord, to consecrate and sanctify these ✠ waters through this holy anointing of Chrism, and Our blessing. Here, thrice he signs with his hand, saying: In the name of the ✠ Father, and of the ✠ Son, and of the Holy ✠ Spirit. Amen.

The water blessed, the Supreme Pontiff, with a ladle or a silver spoon, takes from this water and pours into other fonts of water in the form of a cross, saying nothing: then he turns to the baskets in which are place the Agnus Dei, and standing close to them, the mitre removed, says:

V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.

Let us pray. O God the Author of all hallowing, Who didst look upon Abel’s lamb of sacrifice, Who didst vouchsafe that a ram stuck in the brambles should be sacrificed in the place of Isaac’s immolation as a foreshadowing of our redemption, and didst command Moses that a perpetual sacrifice should be offered in lambs, humbly we beseech Thee, that Thou mayest deign to ✠ bless and sancti✠fy these waxen figures fashioned with the image of the most innocent Lamb, that, in their presence, the crash of hailstorms, the storm of whirlwinds, the force of tempests, the rage of winds, the troublesome thunders may dissipate: and, just as the Angel, at the sight of the blood which Thy people had sprinkled on the upper door posts and on the side posts did pass over striking without harm upon the houses thus sprinkled, so at the sight of these images may malignant spirits flee and tremble, and may unprovided death not meet devout bearers of these images, may the human enemy not prevail against them, may no adversity reign over them, may no shadow incite fear in them, may no pestilential breeze or corruption of the air, nor epilectic or any other violent disease, nor storm or tempest of the sea, nor inundation of rivers or waters, nor conflagration of fires, inflict harm upon them: through the invocation of Thy Only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord: Who with Thee liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God: through all the ages of the ages. R. Amen.

Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, who art the true innocent Lamb, offered upon the altar of the Cross for the salvation of the world, by Whose death mankind was delivered from eternal death and diabolic power, and recalled unto life, deign to ✠ bless, sancti✠fy, and con✠secrate these waxen images of the Lamb, that those devoutly carrying them, out of reverence and honour to Thy Name, may be delivered from sudden death, and from all cunning and wickedness of infernal deceit: and may the pangs of mothers in childbirth be thus soothed, so a safe delivery with the mother be kept through the power of Thy Passion: Who livest and reignest in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God: through all the ages of the ages. R. Amen.

Let us pray. O nourishing Spirit, Who with Thy breath makest the waters fruitful and holy, and turnest their bitterness into sweetness, deign to ✠ bless, sancti✠fy, and con✠secrate these waxen lambs about to be poured forth with water and holy Chrism, that all their bearers, strengthened by the fortitude of Thy power, may rejoice in Thy consolation, Who art truly called the Paraclete, and, with the Father and the Son, livest and reignest, God: through all the ages of the ages. R. Amen.

From the YouTube channel of British Pathé, some unused footage (without sound) of Pope St John XXII blessing Agnus Deis in 1959.

The Collects complete, the Supreme Pontiff places incense in the thurible, a Cardinal-Priest ministering the boat, blessing it in the usual way, while saying: Mayest thou be blessed by Him in Whose honour thou art burned.

Afterwards, he censes the Agnus Dei with three swings of the thurible: then he receives the mitre, is girded with a linen apron, and receives the upper apron, known in Italian as bavarola, sitting in the midst of two Cardinals at one of the fonts of blessed Water: the Cardinals, likewise girded with linen aprons, sit on either side at the farthest side of the same font, facing each other. Servers, on the other hand, and others, bring the Agnus Dei, in clean silver platters, to the fonts of blessed water, where they are submerged. The Supreme Pontiff, and the Cardinals assisting him, take the Agnus Dei out with silver spoons, and place them back in the same platters, in which they were brought, or in other platters, with the servers receiving and bringing them to the place prepared for this purpose, whereupon they put them on the tables, with clean cloths, prepared for this purpose, that moisture having been taken out, they may be dried. The other Cardinals summoned for this purpose, likewise girded with linen aprons, sit by the other fonts of blessed Water, and submerge the Agnus Dei brought by the servers, and take them out with silver spoons in the same way as above, and they are brought to the place already mentioned. With the Agnus Dei already baptised by the Supreme Pontiff and the Cardinals, the Supreme Pontiff, entering the chamber wherein the abovementioned tables are placed, and standing without mitre, says:

V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray. We beseech Thy immense mercy, O God almighty, that the bearers of these Lambs without blemish, which, being formed from virgin wax as a sign of the Conception of Thy Only-begotten Son our Lord, which was obtained by divine power without human contact, We have consecrated with sacred water and sacred Chrism through the merits of the Cross, delivered from all terrors, as well as conflagrations, of malignant spirits, of inundations, of lightning, of tempest, of untoward childbirth, and from all other dangers and diseases, may depart unharmed from this age, and rejoice with Thee in the age to come without end: Who livest and reignest in perfect Trinity, God: through all the ages of the ages. R. Amen.

These done, the Agnus Dei are placed in the baskets, and are distributed on Low Saturday after the chanting of the Agnus Dei at Mass.

Pope St John XXIII Blessing the Agnus Deis

Some interesting unused footage of Pope St John XXIII blessing the Agnus Deis in 1959, from the YouTube channel of British Pathé. (The video has no sound.)

Agnus Deis are discs of wax impressed with an image of the Lamb of God, and often with the arms of the Pope or the image of a Saint on the reverse. They were traditionally blessed by the Popes as described by the old Catholic Encyclopedia: “The great consecration of Agnus Deis took place only in the first year of each pontificate and every seventh year afterwards, which rule is still (in 1907) followed. The discs of wax are now prepared beforehand by certain monks ... On the Wednesday of Easter week these discs are brought to the Pope, who dips them into a vessel of water mixed with chrism and balsam, adding various consecratory prayers. The distribution takes place with solemnity on the Saturday following, when the Pope, after the Agnus Dei of the Mass, puts a packet of Agnus Deis into the inverted mitre of each cardinal and bishop who comes up to receive them.” The custom was a very ancient one, dating back to the early ninth-century; this photo shows some very old ones formerly kept in the Papal chapel of the Sancta Sanctorum at the Lateran, but now in the Vatican Museums.

As they were shaped like medallions, they were also used like medallions. Again from the Catholic Encyclopedia: “The(ir) symbolism ... is best gathered from the prayers used at various epochs in blessing them. As in the paschal candle, the wax typifies the virgin flesh of Christ, the cross associated with the lamb suggests the idea of a victim offered in sacrifice, and as the blood of the paschal lamb of old protected each household from the destroying angel, so the purpose of these consecrated medallions is to protect those who wear or possess them from all malign influences. In the prayers of blessing, special mention is made of the perils from storm and pestilence, from fire and flood, and also of the dangers to which women are exposed in childbirth. It was formerly the custom in Rome to accompany the gift of an Agnus Dei with a printed leaflet describing its many virtues. Miraculous effects have been believed to follow the use of these objects of piety. Fires are said to have been extinguished, and floods stayed. The manufacture of counterfeits, and even the painting and ornamentation of genuine Agnus Deis, has been strictly prohibited by various papal bulls.”

The Five Prayers of the Candlemas Blessing and the Five Books of Moses

The Gospel of the feast of the Purification, St Luke 2, 22-32, says in its first verse that the Christ Child was presented in the temple in Jerusalem “according to the Law of Moses.” This refers to Leviticus 12, which states that “(i)f a woman having received seed shall bear a man child, she shall be unclean seven days … and on the eighth day the infant shall be circumcised, but she shall remain three and thirty days in the blood of her purification. … And when the days of her purification are expired, … she shall bring to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, a lamb of a year old for a holocaust, and a young pigeon or a turtledove for sin, and shall deliver them to the priest, who shall offer them before the Lord, and shall pray for her…” In the Tridentine reform of the Roman Breviary, this chapter was made the second and third reading of Matins on February 2nd.

The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, 1620, by the Flemish painter Cornelis de Vos (1584-1621). Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.  

From the very beginning, as the Church wrestled with the question of whether the observances of the Mosaic law remained valid for its members, one of the strongest arguments in favor of them was that Christ Himself, who said that “not one jot or tittle should pass away from the Law” (Matt. 5, 18), had observed them Himself. The Church Fathers, therefore, emphasize that He did so in order to indicate to us the true meaning of the Law of Moses, as a prefiguration of the new Law of the Gospel. In the mid-3rd century, the great Biblical scholar and commenter Origen, who was very influential on subsequent generations of the Fathers, writes that Christ “ ‘was made under the Law to redeem those who were under the Law’, and subject them to another Law.” (Homily 14 on Luke, citing Gal. 4, 5) In St Ambrose’s time, the Presentation of Christ in the temple was celebrated on January 1st along with the Circumcision, and he comments on this passage of St Luke, “he that is circumcised of vices was judged worthy of the sight of the Lord… you see that the whole succession of the old Law was a figure of the future, for even circumcision signifies the purification of sins.” (Exposition on the Gospel of Luke, II, 56)

St Cyril of Alexandria also comments on the two episodes, the Circumcision and Presentation, at the same time. “(T)oday we have seen Him obedient to the laws of Moses, or rather we have seen Him Who as God is the Legislator, subject to His own decrees…” But the sacrifice of the birds that accompanied the latter has a mystical significance. “The (turtledove)... is the noisiest of the birds of the field: but the (pigeon) is a mild and gentle creature. And such did the Savior of all become towards us, showing the most perfect gentleness, and like a turtledove moreover soothing the world, and filling His own vineyard, even us who believe in Him, with the sweet sound of His voice. For it is written in the Song of Songs, ‘The voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land.’ (Cant. 2, 12) For Christ has spoken to us the divine message of the Gospel, which is for the salvation of the whole world.” (Sermon III on the Gospel of St Luke, ad finem.)

Finally, we may note the words of St Bede the Venerable, that neither Christ nor His Mother were subject to the conditions of the Law. Moses writes that a woman shall do these things when “she has received seed,” and borne a child, to distinguish from Her that conceived and bore a Son as a Virgin. Christ “was free from the condition of the Law, but deigned to accept it for this reason, that He might approve it as holy, just and good, and by the grace of Faith, free us from the service and fear thereof.” (Exposition on the Gospel of Luke, Liber I in cap. 2)

In the Byzantine Rite, the feast of the Purification is called “the Meeting of the Lord with Simeon”, and the liturgical texts of the feast lay great emphasis on Christ as the giver of the Law which He obeys, and from the observance of which He then releases the Church. This hymn from Vespers typifies the motif: “Today Simeon receiveth the Lord of glory in his arms, even He whom Moses saw of old beneath the darkness on Mount Sinai, giving him the tablets. This is the One who spoke in the Prophets, and the Maker of the Law; this is the One whom David proclaimeth, feared of all, that hath great and rich mercy.”

A painting in the cathedral of Holy Wisdom in Kyiv, Ukraine, based on Proverbs 9, 1-11, the first words of which are written in Greek on the building’s cornice. God the Father, with the seven great archangels to either side sends the Holy Spirit down upon the Virgin Mary, who stands in the middle of Wisdom’s house, with the Christ Child in a halo on Her chest, the icon type known as the “Virgin of the Sign.” The steps ascending towards Her are labelled “Faith (cut off by the frame), Hope, Love, Purity, Humility, Grace, Glory”; to the left are shown David, Aaron, and closest to Her, Moses, to the right, the four Major Prophets. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.)

Several other texts on the feast and during its Afterfeast (the Byzantine equivalent of an octave) refer to the darkness that enveloped Mt Sinai when Moses went up to receive the Law, which is implicitly contrasted with the “light unto the revelation of the gentiles” of which Simeon speaks in the Nunc dimittis. Thus, the old Law, including the rites of circumcision and the sacrifice of purification, was revealed in darkness, and applicable only to the Jewish people. But it was intended to serve as a figure of the new Law, in which circumcision is replaced with baptism, which is applicable to all, “male and female, Jew and Gentile.” And thus, the feast on January 6th, which celebrates the Baptism of the Lord, is called the Theophany, but also simply “the lights.”

The Roman Rite prefers great simplicity and subtlety in its rhetoric. In the context of this feast, it asserts this relationship between the Lawgiver and the Law, and the passage from the Old Law to the New, through the five prayers of the candle blessing, each of which refers, in order, to one of the five books of the Law of Moses.

The first prayer, corresponding to Genesis, begins with the words “Lord, … who created all things from nothing…”, a reference to the creation of the world. This also explains the statement that candles are made for the use of men, and the health of their body and souls, “whether on land or at sea”, since Moses’ account of creation includes the division of the land from the waters, and the creation of man “as a living soul.” (Gen. 2, 7) This is the only one of the five prayers that mentions the Virgin Mary, the new Eve; it asks for the prayers of “all Thy Saints”, perhaps in reference to the holy Patriarchs of the Old Testament. The last part asks that that God “be merciful to all those who cry out to Thee, whom Thou hast redeemed by the precious blood of Thy Son”, a reference to the blood of the just Abel that cries to God from the earth.

The second prayer, which corresponds to Exodus, states that the faithful received the blessed candles “unto the magnificence of Thy name.” This refers to the Canticle of Moses in chapter 15, a passage familiar to all Christians from its presence among the prophecies of the Easter vigil. “Let us sing to the Lord: for he is gloriously magnified… The Lord is my strength and my praise, and he is become salvation to me: he is my God and I will glorify him: the God of my father, and I will exalt him. The Lord is as a man of war, Almighty is his name.”

(Exodus 14, 24 -15, 1, followed by the Tract from chapter 15, verses 1 and 2, sung at the vigil of Pentecost.)

The third prayer corresponds to Leviticus, and asks that the faithful may “be without the blindness of all vices, so that… we may be able to see those things which are pleasing to Thee and useful to our salvation.” This refers to the Church’s distinction between the perennially valid precepts of the moral law contained in Leviticus, and in the Law generally, and the ritual prescriptions to which She is no longer bound. Notice also here the contrast between light and darkness of which the Byzantine liturgy speaks: “so that after the dark ‘discrimina’ (both ‘hazards’ and ‘decisions’) of this age, we may merit to come to the light unfailing.”

The fourth prayer begins with a reference to God’s command to Moses to prepare oil for the lights that burn before Him in the tabernacle of the covenant. In St Jerome’s Latin translation of the Hebrew Bible, this is mentioned three times in Exodus, and twice more in Numbers, the fourth book of the Law, with the verb “concinnare – to make, prepare”, which is also used in this prayer. The prayer that “the light of Thy spirit not be lacking inwardly to our minds” refers, perhaps, to the sharing of Moses’ spirit with the seventy elders of Israel described in chapter 11.

Finally, the fifth prayer, which corresponds to Deuteronomy, asks that we may be “enlightened and taught by the Holy Spirit.” This refers to the canticle of Moses in chapter 32, which begins with the words, “Let my doctrine gather as the rain, … I will invoke the name of the Lord: give ye magnificence to our God.” At the Easter vigil, after these words are sung in the Tract after the eleventh prophecy, the Church states in the prayer that follows that God “willed to teach the people by the singing of His holy song.” The prayer concludes with the petition that “we may truly know and faithfully love” God, a reference to the words of chapter 6, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength.” This commandment appears nowhere else in the Law of Moses, and is, of course, commended by the Lord Himself as the first and greatest commandment. (Matt. 22, 37)