THE SACRAMENTALS 



213 



The number of the Sacramentals may not be 

 limited. The most popular are: the sign of the 

 cross, pronouncing the holy name of Jesus, the 

 use of Holy Water, 4 and various blessings of ob- 

 jects commonly employed by man, e. g., the house 

 in which he lives, the field he tills, the fruits he 

 raises, etc. Needless to say, these objects, when 

 blessed by the Church, should be used with due 

 respect but without superstition. 



"It would be quite natural to apprehend that 

 the blessing of ordinary objects should lead to 

 a profanation and degradation of sacred things. 

 However, this is not the case. These objects 

 are in reality destined for a higher service and a 

 superior form of existence than that which they 

 now have, and the blessing pronounced upon them 

 by the Church is but an anticipation of that su- 

 pernatural form of being which was typified in 

 Paradise immediately after the Creation. That 

 the use of the Sacramentals sometimes gives rise 

 to profanation or superstition does not diminish 

 their religious and moral importance." 5 



4 Cfr. Tertullian, De Corona, c. 

 3: "Ad omnem progressum atque 

 promotum, ad omnem aditum et 

 exitum, ad vestitum et calceatum, ad 

 lavacra, ad mensas, ad lumina, ad 

 cubilia, ad sedilia, quaecunque nos 

 conversatio exercet, frontem crucis 

 signaculo terimus." (Ed. Leopold, 

 P. I, 188). — St. Jerome, Epist., 22, 

 n. 37: "Ad omnem actum, ad om- 

 nem incessum manus pingat Domini 



crucem." (Migne, P. L., XXII, 

 421). — St. Augustine, De Cat. Rud., 

 c. 20, n. 34: "[Christi] passionis 

 et crucis signo in fronte hodie tarn- 

 quam in poste signandus es, omnes- 

 que christians signantur." (P. L., 

 XL, 335). — A. Gastoue, L'Eau 

 Bcnite, Paris 1907. 



5 F. X. Linsenmann, Lehrbuch 

 der Moraltheologie, p. 248. 



