SACRAMENTS AND SACRAMENTALS

I. ETYMOLOGY AND THEOLOGY

Sacrament comes from the
Latin word mysterium”, from
the Greek word “mysterion”,
from the verb “myo” which means to close or to hide.
From there comes the common use which signifies
something hidden or difficult to understand.
(José ALDAZÁBAL, Vocabulario básico de liturgia,
242. )
However,
sacrament was used to designate the
visible and efficacious signs of divine
realities, the mysterious realities
celebrated in the Christian liturgy, through
which God communicates the salvation in
the Church, through the participation in
the Paschal Mystery of Christ.
Ibid., 355.
Fr. Anscar Chupungco explains the sacraments in
his book Sacraments and Sacramentals.
He said that
sacraments are meant to be celebrated.
They are by their nature and purpose
celebrations of the Church.
 
Anscar CHUPUNGCO, Handbook for Liturgical
Studies: Sacraments and Sacramentals, xxi –
xxvii.
They are liturgical rites consisting:
1. proclaimed texts
2. gestures and symbols
3. material things (oftentimes)
Through the performance of such liturgical
elements, the Church explains, recalls and
reaffirms the CONTENTS of the classical
axiom lex orandi. The contents are summed
up by the Catechism of the Catholic Church as
follows:
 
 “The sacraments are efficatious signs of grace,
instituted by Christ and entrusted to the
Church, by which divine life is dispensed to
us. [emphasis mine]
The visible rites by which the sacraments are
celebrated signify and make present the graces
proper to each sacrament. [emphasis mine]
They bear fruit in those who receive them with
the required disposition.” (CCE 1131)
 
“The Father always hears the prayer of his Son’s Church
which, in the epiclesis of each sacrament, expresses her faith
in the power of the Spirit.” The Catechism reaffirms the
teaching that “the Church celebrates the sacraments as a
priestly community structured by the baptismal priesthood
and the priesthood of ordained ministers.” Moreover, it
stresses the place of the word of God in the sacramental
system and notes that the fruit of sacramental life is both
personal and ecclesial in its dimension.
 CCE 1127.

CCE 1132.

CCE 1133-34.

To understand better the teaching of the
Church on the sacraments, it is good to
note some SIGNIFICANT POINTS
from Sacrosanctum Concilium 7, 59 and
61. Among them are as follows:
1. Christ, who is always present in the
Church, associates it with himself in his
priestly office, so much so that the liturgy
is an action of Christ the Priest and of his
Body which is the Church.
2. Christ, who is always present in the
Church, associates it with himself in his
priestly office, so much so that the liturgy is
an action of Christ the Priest and of his
Body which is the Church.
3. The Paschal Mystery of Christ’s passion,
death and resurrection is the font from
which all sacraments draw their power.
4. The purpose of the sacraments it so make
people holy, to build up the Body of Christ
and to give worship to God.
5. Sacraments presuppose faith. They also nourish
and express it through the rites.
6. Sacraments impart grace, but the very act of
celebrating them disposes the faithful to receive this
grace.
7. Together with sacramentals, they make holy by
divine grace almost every event in the faithful’s life.
8. There is hardly any proper use of material things
that cannot be directed toward sanctification and the
praise of God.
 
The celebration of the sacraments is composed of the
following ELEMENTS:
1. the assembly gathered together
2. the role of the ministers
3. the reading of scriptural and euchological texts
4. the use of gestures and symbols like immersion,
anointing and laying of hands
5. the employment of material objects like water,
bread, wine and oil
6. the occasion and place for the celebration
7. the music, furnishings and the arts with which these
rites are expressed.
All these elements of the celebration
are the totality of the lex orandi and
they constitute the outward liturgical
shape of the lex credendi. Each of
them says something about the nature,
purpose and efficacy of Christ’s
mystery present in the sacraments.
Each unfolds in its own way the
Church’s doctrine on the sacraments.
 Sacramentals are sacred signs, like the sacraments. But
they are not instituted by Christ. They were created by
the Church to prepare, accompany and prolong the action
of the sacraments.
Their identity and force come from the faith of the
celebrating Church, and from the faith of the Christians
who ask and participate in them.
Through these sacramentals of the Paschal Mystery of
Christ, the font of all grace and salvation, the different
circumstances of Christian life is illumined and nourished.
(José ALDAZÁBAL, Vocabulario básico de liturgia, 353-
355.)
 Sacrosanctum Concilium offers an integral definition
of sacramentals: “The Church has instituted
sacramentals. These are sacred signs bearing a kind
of resemblance to the sacraments: they signify
effects, particularly of a spiritual kind, that are
obtained through the Church’s intercession. They
dispose people to receive the chief effect of the
sacraments and they make holy various occasions in
human life.” (SC 60) Moreover, SC 61 teaches that
sacramentals, like the sacraments, draw their power
from the paschal mystery of Christ’s passion, death
and resurrection. Therefore, the liturgy of
sacramentals contains and proclaims the death and
resurrection of Christ.
 
CHUPUNGCO, Sacraments and Sacramentals, xxvi.
 
What are the PURPOSES of the
sacramentals

Sacramentals are instituted for the

sanctification of certain ministries of the
Church, states of life, circumstances in
Christian life, and the use of things helpful
to people.
They can also respond to other particular
needs, culture and history of a given region.
 
Ibid., xxv.
How are they CELEBRATED?
Their celebration always “includes a
prayer, often accompanied by a specific sign,
such as the laying on of hands, the sign of
the cross, or the sprinkling of holy water.”
Just like the sacraments, the word of God
holds an important position in the celebration
of the sacramentals.
 They derive their efficacy form the word
of God and the intercession of the Church.
This is the reason why the sacramentals, if
celebrated outside the Mass, should normally
include a reading from the Scripture. In the
case of blessings contained in the Book of
Blessings, the word of God and the prayer
of the Church are considered the essential
or constitutive elements.
CCE 1668.
What are the most common GESTURES
in the celebration of sacramentals?
They are the imposition of hands, the
sign of the cross, the anointing, the
sprinkling with water and the incensation.
(ALDAZÁBAL, Vocabulario básico de
liturgia, 354. )
 How shall the sacramentals be DISTINGUISED
from the sacraments? They are distinguished by their
institution and effect.

As mentioned above, the sacraments are instituted

by Christ, while the sacramentals are instituted by
the Church.
On the other hand, in regard to the effect, the
Catechism explains that “sacramentals do not
confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way
that the sacraments do, but by the Church’s
prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and
dispose us to cooperate with it.”
(CCE 1670; CHUPUNGCO, Sacraments and
Sacramentals, xxv. )
Sacramentals, like the sacraments, are
celebrated as liturgical acts. Cipriano
Vagaggini names their chief effects:
1. actual grace and by means of it the recovery
or increase of sanctifying grace
2. prevention of diabolical influence on
persons and things
3. temporal graces with a view to the spiritual
good of the person.
When sacramentals are celebrated, the intercessory
role of the Church is signified and realized.
Because of the Church’s union with Christ, who is its head,
God accepts the Church’s prayer. The value and efficacy
of the Church’s intercessory prayer rest ultimately upon
Christ’s priestly prayer.
Because of his union with the Church at worship, Christ
“claims” the Church’s prayer as his very own.
In this sense, sacramentals as liturgical celebrations, are
like the sacraments, an action of Christ and the
Church.
Ibid.
According to Vagaggini, there are two types of
sacramentals:

1. things: Sacramentals that are things remain

after the liturgical act has taken place (holy
water, candles, ashes, palm branches)
2. actions: Sacramentals that are actions pass
with the liturgical act (rite of blessing a home)

Ibid., xxvi.
Going to the realm of the sacraments, we
speak of baptismal water, Eucharistic
elements and consecrated oil as
sacraments, although they are not actions
but objects. Strictly speaking, sacraments
are actions before they are objects.

Ibid.
 What are some EXAMPLES of sacramentals. SC
which takes no notice of sacramentals as objects, has
a limited list of sacramentals. Among them are as
follows:
 
blessing in general (SC 79)
consecration of virgins and religious profession (SC
80)
funerals (SC 81)
funeral of infants (SC 82)
 
 After the Council, many other sacramentals
were added to the list by the publication of
separate rituals:
blessing of abbots and abbesses
institution of lectors and acolytes
dedication of a church and an altar
blessing of oils
crowning of images of the Blessed Virgin
many other blessings contained in the Book of
Blessings
 In the sacrament of initiation, which is realized
through the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and
the First Communion / Eucharist, there are different
sacraments:
the sign of the cross, the exorcisms,
the anointing with oil to the catechumen and
the chrism, and the blessing of water. The memory
of these sacraments are made alive with the
sacramentals like the Sunday aspersion, the sign of the
cross with the holy water and the renewal of baptismal
promises.
ALDAZÁBAL, Vocabulario básico de liturgia, 354.
 Throughout the Christian year (liturgical year) we
realize various significant sacramentals, more or less
included in the celebration of the sacraments:
the blessing or imposition of ashes,
the blessing of palms and the entrance procession on
Palm Sunday,
the adoration of the Cross on Good Friday, the
procession and the prayers of supplication,
the blessing and procession of candles on February 2,
 the procession in honor of the Blessed Virgin and of
the Saints or during Holy Week.
(Ibid.)
 A very common sacramental is the prayer
wherein we invoke God’s blessings (as
mentioned in some of the examples above)
upon persons, buildings, images and things, so
that the salvific grace of the Paschal Mystery
be communicated, bestowed or transmitted.

These blessing are made according to the texts

and orientations in the new book of Blessings.
Ibid.
 CHUPUNGCO affirms that sacramentals occupy their allotted
place in the economy of salvation.
They complete, supplement or extend the effect of the
Eucharist and the sacraments. [emphasis mine] There is an
entire gamut of situations affecting individuals, families, societies
and nations that need the Church’s prayer and God’s blessing.
Some of these are not directly and immediately covered by the
sacraments.
Religious profession, funerals, the blessing of a new home, the
dedication of a parish church – these are some significant turning
points in the life of the faithful.
The Church accompanies them not only with the Eucharist and
sacraments but also by the celebration of the sacramentals.
CHUPUNGCO, Sacraments and sacramentals, xxvi-xxvii.
 In summary, the following are the contents
of what the Church preaches when it
celebrates the sacramentals:
the power of the Paschal Mystery
its presence in the various circumstances of
human life
the maternal role of the Church
the holiness of God’s creation.