Search This Blog

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Solemnity of the Assumption & the Blessing of Herbs

Monday is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blesses Virgin Mary. More on that tomorrow.

Tomorrow at St. Anthony's in Follansbee, at the 6:00 pm Solemn Mass, we will have the traditional blessing of herbs, which is proper to this great Feast.

"This blessing comes from Germany, and formulas for it are found as early as the tenth century. The blessing of herbs was reserved only to the feast of the Assumption. Herbs had not our restricted English meaning but included all kinds of cultivated and wild flowers, especially those which in some way had a symbolic relation to our Lady. The people brought herbs to church on her feast not only to secure for themselves another blessed object, but also to make of the occasion a harvest festival of thanksgiving to God for His great bounty manifested in the abundant fruits of the earth. The herbs were placed on the altar, and even beneath the altar-cloths, so that from this close contact with the Eucharist they might receive a special consecration, over and above the ordinary sacramental blessing of the Church." (from the 1964 Roman Ritual)

Come one, come all...and bring your herbs and flowers to be blessed!

No comments:

Post a Comment