Word Finder - benedictions

definition

A short invocation for help, blessing and guidance from God, said on behalf of another person or persons (sometimes at the end of a church worship service).

example

to pronounce / give / say the benediction; the nuptial benediction; a parting benediction

synonyms

• blessing

definition

In the Anglican church, the ceremony used to institute an abbot, analogous to the consecration of a bishop.

definition

A Roman Catholic rite by which bells, banners, candles, etc., are blessed with holy water and formally dedicated to God.

definition

Help, good fortune or reward from God or another supernatural source.

synonyms

• blessing
• grace

In all benedictions the sign of the cross is made.

Time was when this place breathed actual benedictions, and was a home of active peace.

Though the giving of blessings as a sacerdotal function is proper to the whole order of priests, particular benedictions have, by ecclesiastical authority, been reserved for the bishops, who may, however, delegate some of them; i.e.

It is to be remarked that the "laying on of hands," which in the Old and the New Testament alike is the usual "form" of blessing, is not used in liturgical benedictions, the priest being directed merely to extend his right hand towards the person to be blessed.

Even where the Latin tongue was not understood by the people, the Church preserved it in the Mass and in the administration of the sacraments, in her exorcisms and in her benedictions.

Though, however, the discomfiture of malignant spirits still plays an important part in the Catholic doctrine of benedictions, this has on the whole tended to become subordinated to other benefits.

In general it is laid down (cap. i.) that the priest, in benedictions outside the Mass, shall be vested in surplice and stole, and shall give the blessing standing and bare-headed.

The tradition that the utterance of the name in the daily benedictions ceased with the death of Simeon the Just, two centuries or more before the Christian era, perhaps arose from a misunderstanding of Menalioth, 109b; in any case it cannot stand against the testimony of older and more authoritative texts.

It is worn in choir at the solemn offices; it is the official sacral dress of the lower clergy in their liturgical functions; it is worn by the priest when administering the sacraments, undertaking benedictions, and the like; the use of the alb being nowadays almost exclusively confined to the mass and functions connected with this.

In the formulae of blessings that follow, the special efficacy against devils is implied by the aspersion with holy water; the benedictions themselves are usually merely invocative of the divine protection or assistance, though, e.g., in the form for blessing sick animals the priest prays that "all diabolic power in them may be destroyed, and that they may be ill no longer."

He gave the principal prayer, consisting of eighteen benedictions, its final revision, and declared it every Israelite's duty to recite it three times daily.

Sacerdotal benedictions are not indeed sacraments - means of grace ordained by Christ himself, but sacramentals (sacramenta minora) ordained by the authority of the Church and exercised by the priests, as the plenipotentiaries of God, in virtue of the powers conferred on them at their ordination; "that whatever they bless may be blessed, and whatever they consecrate may be consecrated."

In the blessing of the holy water (cap. ii.), the essential instrument of all benedictions, the object is clearly to establish its potency against evil spirits.

According to the actual use of the Roman Catholic Church dalmatic and tunicle are worn by deacon and subdeacon when assisting at High Mass, and at solemn processions and benedictions.

In 1992, the Supreme Court ruled that prayers led by clergy, specifically for invocations and benedictions at graduation ceremonies in public schools, should be banned.

It is worn, too, on the vigils of fasts, Ember Days and days of intercession, on the Feast of Holy Innocents (if on a week-day), at litanies, penitential processions, and at other than solemn benedictions and consecrations.