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GUideposts to God 

THE SACRAMENTALS 

by 

DANIEL A. LORD, S.J. 

THE QUEEN'S WORK 

3115 South Grand Boulevard 

St. Louis 18, Missouri 



lmprimi pot&st : 

Daniel H. Conway, S.J. 

Provincial, Missouri P1'ovince 

Imprimatur: 

+ Joseph E. Ritter 

A rchbishop of St. Louis 

July 9, 1954 

ANY FINANCIAL PROFIT made by the Cenh'al ' 

Office of the Sodality of Our Lady will be 

used for the promotion of the Sodality and 

the cause of Catholic Action. 

Copyright 1954 

THE QUEEN'S WORK 

Deactdified 



GUIDEPOSTS TO GOD 

The Sacramentals 

By Daniel A. Lord, S.J. 

As an American, I love our national flag. 

So, I think, do most Americans, except 

a small group of fanatics who can't see any 

difference between saluting the Stars and 

Stripes and burning incense to the golden 

calf. They don't strike me as being 

particularly representative, one least bit 

intelligent, or typical of the rest of us who 

love our country. 

We do not worship or adore Old Glory. 

We do not bow our knees in homage to a 

piece of cloth, however beautiful we may 

think it. Just the same, we take off our 

hats when the color guard marches by. We 

get a great thrill when we see the flag wav-

ing , over some American building in a 

foreign port. We insist by law that the 

flag be raised over our schools, so that our 

children can look up at the flag a nd think 

of the wonderful thing it is to be an 

American. 

My Flag 

The flag to us is a number of important 

things: 

3 



1. It is a kind of graphic history of our 

land: the thirteen original colonies, sym-

bolized by the red and white stripes; the 

forty-eight states who voluntarily joined 

themselves in a national union; all united 

together to make 'one great country. 

2. Since it is not too easy to salute 

"our country," vast as it is and varied, the 

flag serves in simple form to represent our 

country before our eyes. We look up at it 

lind think, "That is the standard of my 

country, and I love my country." 

3. It is something which can be used to 

mark things which belong to the whole 

nation . It moves at the head of a regiment. 

It flies from the stern of a battle cruiser. 

When the submarine emerges from the sea, 

a flag run up over the tower says, "We 

are Americans." In a foreign land it marks 

United States property. It is stamped on 

government goods. The red, white, and blue 

on the wings of a plane cries aloud that 

"This is American." 

4. Beyond this, we are human beings. 

We need to express our inner feelings in 

outward signs . And outward signs have a 

way of arousing our inner' feelings. So it 

is that the flag takes on deep meanings: 

it is our expression of love of country. 

The red attests our willingness to shed 

our · blood for our land. The white is the 

fine lives with which we must serve it. 

The blue and the stars recall the God under 

whose protection our country attained its 

greatness, the God in whom we trust. 

4 -



It's a dull soul indeed who has not felt 

a glow of patriotism as the flag was carried 

by. Children stand and give the Pledge of 

Allegiance to the Flag and know the stir-

rings of patriotism. 

The flag expresses in simple fOTm our 

love of country, and because we respond to 

beloved symbols, the flag awakens in us 

-that same devoted love. 

NationalSacramentals 

Now the way this works is rather easy 

to understand. 

Every American claims to "love his coun-

try." We know the richness which God 

has given to our land. We are grateful 

for the pre-eminent gifts of freedom and 

opportunity. We are proud of our great 

men, our heroes and our heroines. We let 

our imaginations sweep across the country, 

ocean to ocean, Alleghenies to Rockies, 

forests of the north to the Gulf, embracing 

all the rivers and lakes and mines and oil 

fields; the farms and cities, the forests and 

waterfalls, the lovely tr·aditions and honor-

able customs, the differences of dialect and 

of ,cooking, the states and the counties which 

make up America. 

Yet the very vastness of our country 

makes understanding it and loving it a 

little difficult. 

So in a purely human instinct that is so 

easy to understand, we have developed and 

5 



cultivated an entire catalogue of symbols 

which represent some aspect of our coun-

try, make us understand it better, and help 

us to love it more unselfishly. 

These are usually quite simple. They 

are inevitably imperfect. Sometimes they 

become important, not because they are val-

uable in themselves, but because of associa-

tion with some great patriot or some his-

toric event. Any school child could give 

you a list of these external symbols of our 

national greatness. For instance: 

The American Eagle; 

The Goddess of Liberty; 

The National Shield; 

The National Anthem; 

The flowers of the individual states; 

Pictures of great men and women who 

served America; 

Mount Vernon; 

Lincoln's log-hut birthplace; 

A Fourth of July parade; 

Arlington Cemetery; 

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier; 

The enshrined documents in Washington 

-the Declaration of Independence, the Con-

stitution, the Bill of Rights; 

On our walls, framed copies of the Gettys-

burg Address; 

The Washington Cherry Tree; 

Commemorative stamps struck to recall 

great national events; 

Hi storic monuments and statues. 

6 



Purpose All Clear 

No one has the slightest doubt about the 

meaning and value of these things. They 

recall our history. They commemorate great 

national virtues, heroisms, or achievements. 

They turn our eyes to patriots whose ex-

ample we should follow. 

We stand before the great statue in the 

Lincoln Memorial; we walk across the beau-' 

tifully kept lawns and into the reverently 

hushed atmosphere of Mount Vernon, Monti-

cello, or the Hermitage; we try to read the 

fading pages of those documents which 

guarantee our freedom; we see the American 

Eagle suddenly burst forth in a display of 

fireworks; we watch while the Decoration 

Day parade swings by ... and though we 

don't think for a moment that these things 

constitute patriotism or the love and serv-

ice of our country, we feel that we are better 

Americans because of them. 

We like the external signs of our coun-

try's history and greatness. Our emotions 

respond to these beautiful symbols. We 

know that America would still be America 

if vandals wrecked the statues of Lincoln, 

burned Mount Vernon to the ground, tore up 

the precious documents and used them for 

confetti, and issued an order that no Eagles 

were to be displayed and no further parades 

used to celebra te our national holidays. Yet 

did anyone give such an order, we would 

feel that the villain was a hater of his 

country. And we would know that some-

7 



thing very valuable had been taken out of 

our lives. 

So Very Natural 

Reduc~d to its simplest elements, we 

happen to be creatures composed of bodies 

and souls. We reach our souls through our 

bodies, and the thoughts and loves of our 

souls we express through words and ges-

tures of oUI' body. What we see reaches our 

brain and then our mind. What we hear 

excites our soul's emotions. And the love 

that is deep down in our will would never 

be known to other than God and ourselves 

if we did not sing our songs and write our 

poems, carve our statues, preserve our 

national monuments, cultivate our gardens, 

paint our pictures, dance with joy, and ex-

press what is deep inside us in some sign 

tha.t others can see, recognize, and re-

spond to. 

That runs all through nature. 

The essence of sport is the competition 

itself in the game. Yet the game is better 

played if the grandstands are packed with 

cheering, shouting spectators. The competi-

tion becomes keener when the teams are 

struggling for a worthless piece of cloth 

called a pennant, or for a totally useless 

cup or little brown jug or traditional keg. 

Interest in the game is kept up by such 

things as the National Baseball Hall of 

Fame, by mythical All-American teams, by 

the enshrining of Babe Ruth's bat and Red 

8 



Grange's sweater with its famous 77, by 

pictures of athletes of the past and the 

present in the papers and on the walls of 

youngsters' bedrooms, by medals and tro-

phies, and championships, and victory bon-

fires, and homecoming weekends':"":"all the 

elaborate externals which surround the 

national sports, make them seem important, 

excite youngsters with an ambition to be-

come champions, and lure the millions out 

to see the games. 

Love Itself 

Love is reatly a charmingly personal emo-

tion between a man and a woman. 

Marriage is its culmination, a contract 

and a Sacrament. 

Yet what would happen to love and how 

many would marry if it were not for all 

the externals which make for romance and 

courtship? Could it be said that these things 

are absolutely necessary? Are they of the 

essence of love and marriage? 

Two total strangers could marry and the 

marriage would be valid. 

Love might spring up between two people 

who never saw each other before and mar-

ried without one preliminary gesture. 

It's possible ... but it's not very likely. 

Indeed, the whole idea strikes any normal 

person as inhuman, intolerable, quite ab-

horrent to our natures. 

9 



So love and marriage ' have all their 

charming external signs: 

The engagement ring; 

The symbolism of the wedding rings them-

selves; 

Love letters, love poetry, serenades; -

Flowers laid at the beloved's feet; 

Dinners cooked in his honor; 

All the beautiful romantic signs by which 

a man and woman display to each other 

and to the admiring world the love that is 

otherwise hidden in their hearts. 

Natural Sacramentals 

Why, the human race is surrounded with 

these external signs by which it displays 

its inner emotions, and in turn develops and 

feeds those emotions which are precious 

and fine. You can think instantly of such 

things as: 

Statues of the great; 

Birthd~y cakes; 

Memorial wreaths; 

Flowers sent to the sick; 

Christmas trees and decorations; 

Easter eggs; 

Firecrackers and night fireworks; 

Decorations for the opening of a store; 

Bands playing for some celebration; 

Streets decked for the arrival of a notable 

person; 

10 



Arche~ commemqrating natio!,)<ll events 

or civic achievements;. ~ 

Medals given for poems or plays or scien-

tific discovery or bravery; 

Anniversary gifts; 

Class 3:n~ society rings and pins. 

The list is endless and no one, except a 

few pretty illogical fanatics, objects to 

them in the slightest. 

So Naturally and Supernaturally 

So naturally and supernaturally, the 

Church recognizes this universal human in-

stinct and turns it to the glory of God and 

the good of humanity. 

"Sacrament" means a sacred sign. In an 

affectionate diminutive sense, we call a wide 

variety of things in the Catholic Church, 

"Sacramentals." They are all merely exter-

nal signs of splendid religious emotions, or 

gracious incentives and inspirations, or 

delicate nudges and hints, to lead the soul 

to high thoughts and fine loves and notable 

spiritual deeds. 

Most important it is to remember that 

the Church, while deeply supernatural, has 

a profound respect for what is natural. 

Nature is from God. God created human 

nature, and as a consequence, what is in 

accord with human nature and flows from 

nature, is from God. If man loves symbols, 

the Church knows that that love of symbols 

is from God. If we cannot express our 

11 



inner thoughts and emotions except by ex-

ternal words and gestures, these must be 

willed by God. And if external words and 

gestures have an infallible way of waking 

inner thoughts and emotions, God must have 

intended it that way. 

So since symbols can be tied in closely 

with patriotism and sports and human love, 

the Church knows that they can be tied in 

with religion and human goodness and God. 

The Church is deeply concerned with the 

supernatural. But it will willingly use 

nature to lead man to the supernatural. 

It does not think that because a man be-

comes holy, he ceases to be human. It 

doesn't ask him to lay aside his natural 

instincts in order to serve God as a pure 

spirit might. We are men and women, not 

angels. We are body and soul, not disem-

bodied spirits. So the Church has wisely 

reached the soul through the eyes and the 

ears. It has turned our love of symbols to 

high spiritual purposes. It believes that 

the love of God can be increased, as the 

love of country or of one's fellow man is 

increased, by noble signs and inspiring acts. 

And these things are called Sacramentals. 

Essentials 

No intelligent Catholic mistakes acci-

dentals for essentials. Smart patriot~ are 

the same. A wife may know that the essen-

tials of marriage are contract, Sacrament 

(identical for Catholics), and later on, the 

12 



faithful observance of wedding vows; but 

she also knows that loving attention, occa-

sional gifts, the outward expression of love 

and devotion help enormously. 

And the Church looks for what will help 

make religion intelligible and attractive. 

Christ Jesus, the founder of the Catholic 

Church, gave the Church all its essentials. 

"These were: 

The truths which the Church was to teach 

to all people of all nations. 

The Sacrifice of the Mass, to continue 

splendidly the worship of God. 

The Sacraments as the channels of grace 

from Christ to the individual souls. 

The authority of the Church. 

But God, the Creator of the human race, 

gave mankind its basic instincts. And the 

Church would not be so unwise as to disre-

gard these, disdain them, or ask that they 

be religiously atrophied by disuse. 

When Christ gave to Peter and his suc-

cessors the duty of feeding both lambs and 

sheep, and to the Church the obligation of 

carrying on the Kingdom of God upon earth, 

He certainly expected His Church to act 

wisely and in accord with human nature as 

well as the laws of grace. 

The Church was to lead men and women 

safely to their heavenly destiny. 

For this it was to use the truth and the 

helps which Christ had left behind. 

13 



I But .. it was also , to act in , accord with 

human n~ture, and direct that complete man, 
body and soul, up toward his glorious des-

tiny. It was to make the road to heaven as 

easy , a nd as attractive as possible. 

'It was to use all the means that were 

good, mature, instinctive, ,given by God. 

Hen ce it was, that music and song becam!,! 

early a part of the Church's treasury; so did 

be~utiful architecture and stained glass and 

painting and mosaics. 

Christ acted that way and the Church 

could not act any other. 

Sacraments First 

Christ was a great one for external 

signs. He drove the devils, in an external 

sign of His contempt for them, into the 

despised swine. He made a poultice of mud 

to lay on the ears of the deaf boy. He would 

touch blind eyes with spittle. He used 

a symbolic yet actually physically harmless 

knot of cords to cleanse the Temple. And 

He gave us the beautiful symbolism of the 

Sacraments. 

Every Catholic and many non-Catholics 

know what a Sacrament is : 

1. It is an outward sign ... 

2. Instituted by Christ. . 

3, To give grace to the soul, the very 

grace it symbolizes. 

Always it is an outward sign: water and 

words in Baptism; the bread and wine in the 

14 



Eucharist; "oil in Extreme Unction; the iay-

ing . on of hands in Holy -Orders " and 
'!; 

Always the , sign is clear and full of 
meaning: water for washing, bread and 

wine for fOQd, oil for strength, hands 'tnins-

mitting the powers possessed to those who 

would receive and 'exercise them. 

Uniquely, however, the Sacraments ' were 

directly instituted by the Savior Himself. 

They were His immediate invention; He 

gave them to His Church to be the means 

by which His grace would come tangibly 

.and clearly to those for whom He had lived 

and died. 

Uniquely too, these Sacraments give 

grace. They are not just symbols of grace; 

they impart grace. The words and the water 

of Baptism make the little pagan a child of 

God, wash away original sin, and give the 

soul the wonderful grace of God. The bread 

and wine, after consecration, do not sym-

bolize or suggest or commemorate the Body 

and Blood of the Savior; they are His Body 

and Blood, His Flesh which He promised 

for the life of th'e world. 

Much DiHerent 

Sacraments and Sacramentals sound alike. 

There are points of similarity and great 

roints of difference. 

Both are external signs. Both are a con-

cession to the fact that man is body and 

15 



soul and that inward emotion must be ex-

pressed in outward signs, and that the soul 

is reached through the senses. So the 

crucifix, a Sacramental, is an outward sign, 

as water flowing in Baptism is an outward 

sign. Both are holy things; the words say 

that: Sacrament and Sacramental are both 

from the word sacrum, which mEans holy, 

dedicated to God. 

But while the Sacraments were instituted 

by Christ, the Sacramentals were instituted 

by the Church or approved by the Church 

-as growing out of man's natural instincts. 

Most of the Sacramentals have a direct con-

nection with Christ; but they are not things 

which Christ Himself originated or gave 

to us. 

They differ, these Sacramentals, from the 

Sacraments in this, too : they do not of them-

selves give grace. The external confession, 

the expression of heartfelt sorrow, the abso-

lution of the priest, and the acceptance of 

the penance, effect directly the forgiveness 

cf sins in the Sacrament of Penance. Christ 

said directly to the Apostles, and their suc-

cessors, "Whose sins you shall forgive they 

are forgiven." But though a sinner may be 

moved, at the sight of the crucifix, to sorrow 

for sin and tears of repentance, the crucifix 

itself does not free him from sin. 

So the Sacraments and the Sacramentals 

are both external signs : the Bread and Wine 

of the Eucharist, the beads that make up a 

rosary. 

16 

" -' 



The Sacraments were the direct institution 

of Christ; the Sacramentals were instituted 

or approved by the Church to meet men's re-

ligious needs and instincts. 

The Sacraments by their own God-given 

power give grace. The Sacramentals lead 

people toward God and His grace, but do 

not give this grace directly. 

Why Sacramentals? 

The teaching of truth, Mass, and the 

Sacraments are essential to Christ's religion. 

The Sacramentals are the precious and 

beautiful aids to religion. 

Some of them lead the mind to think of 

holy things. 

Most of them are so closely connected 

with Christ that their mere presence brings 

the soul closer to the Savior. 

Many of them are charmingly accurate 

symbols of some virtue, an inspiration or a 

challenge to better living. 

Some of them came to us directly from 

the hands of great saints. They had helped 

these saints become great; our use of them 

makes us a little more like the holy men 

and women who first employed them. 

Always the Sacramentals make the dif-

ficult things of religion a little easier. They 

make the mysteries a little clearer. They 

turn the heart from the distractions of a 

too beautiful world to the more beautiful 

unseeh world which is all around us. They 

make the practice of virtue seem more at-

17 



" _ ... - • \" ;,;-. I ' • 

tractive'. They inspire us to a spdntaneo·u9 

pi·ayer, to the realization of God's love, to 

a memory of Mary and the saints, 'and to a 

desire to become ourselves more worthy of 

God'!! great goodness. 

They are tp religion what the flag or 
the American Eagle is to love of country. 

They make the supernatural life more 

attractive, as beautiful pictl:lres and good 

music and poetry make the natural life more 

charming and easier to live. 

Parallels 

As sports trophies and pennants and the 

pictUl'es' and records of outstanding athletes 

inspire young people to aim at playing the 

games well, the Sacramentals inspire good 

people to run a little harder in the contests 

for the eternal prize, to become better ath-

letes of Christ. 

As the engagement or wedding ring, the 

love letter or the serenade, a gift of flowers 

or candy stimulate the love of a man and 

woman, the Sacramentals help stimulate our 

love for God. 

All are outward signs closely connected 

with our inner emotions. And when the 

Church created and encouraged and blessed 

the Sacramentals, it was WIsely giving us 

guideposts to God, pleasant little helps 

toward hl!aven, charming reminders of the 

Divine Providence that is all around us, me-

mentoes of the life and death of the Savior, 

poetic figures of speech which externally 

18 



express 'pleasant religious experiences, little 

nudges"th~t ~a¥, ;'Y.ou too can become' liKe 
the saiI,lts." , r'- - • - '.' .". 

,. -r-' 

'. They' are not .essential. Yet since they 

flow so clearly from our God-given nature, 

they are inevitable to God's true ' religion 

and the greatest possible help to one who 

wants to 's'erve God and lead the good life . 

. They are de'lightful adornments of re-

'Jigion, lubricant on the wheels of spiritual 

progress, outward signs of the grace that 

we must develop to become pleasing to God. 

The . Cross 

No Sacramental of the Church has ever 

been better loved and more universally used 

than the reproductions of the cross of our 

Savior. The Church from the very begin-

ning loved th~ cross. It was scratched 'by 
the early Christians on the wall of their 

dungeons before they were led out to their 

own martyrdom. The crossed sticks of 

Mary Magdalen's ,hermitage remained for 

her , a lovely reminder of the Blessed Lover 

who had driven out the seven demons and 

given her a place at the foot of His saving 

cross on Calvary. The hermits of the Egyp-

tian desert knew the cross with the Scrip-

tUl'es as their only reading matter, as later 

Thomas of Aquin was to say that the cruci-

fix was his favorite and most persuasive 

'text. The Christians made the sign , of the 

cross on their foreheads to identify them-

selves one to the other. Early blessings 

began to be given in the sign of the cross. 

The cross took its place on walls of houses 

19 



and roofs of buildings and the rising spires 

of churches. Churches themselves were built 

in the form of the cross. The Crusaders 

adopted their name from the cross which 

they wore over their armor. The cross 

became almost the synonym for the faith. 

Literally, religious took up their cross when 

they made their vows, and the cross rested 

on their desks, hung over their beds, was 

carried upon their breasts, and was worked 

into the pattern of their habits. 

The crucifix added to the stark cross 

the figure of the dying Savior. What imag-

ination had placed there ' when the saints 

prayed before the crossed sticks, artists 

and artisans now placed there in vivid 

reality, to recall the sufferings of Christ 

and the love of the Savior which made Him 

lay down His life for His sheep. 

The crucifix became a triumphant stan-

dard carried before the bishop in procession, 

before kings as they walked forward to be 

crowned, before armies mustered in defense 

of western civilization. 

Not in ItseU 

It was St. Paul who gloried in the cross 

of Christ . It was St. Peter who begged that 

the cross on which he died be inverted so 

that he might die head downward. It was 

the Church that cried out, "Ecce, Vexilla 

Regis!" "Hail, Standard of the King!" It 

was penitents who clasped the feet of the 

large crucifixes . It was Catholic peasants 

and nobles who built the roadside crucifixes 

20 



in the little shrines throughout Europe. It 

was a conviction that our hope is in the 

cross which caused the building of the 

crosses which mark the graves of our heroic 

dead. 

Now, no intelligent Catholic believes that 

the cross or the crucifix of itself has the 

power to give grace. But no intelligent per-

son could doubt its meaning or its suggestive 

power. It stands as the proud reminder of 

God's love for mankind. It is the battle 

standard of the triumphant victory of Cal-

vary. It speaks eloquently of the Savior 

who died upon the cross and commanded His 

followers to take up the cross and follow 

Him. 

At the Cross 

Some years back, the almost final scene of 
The lnfonner was played at the foot of a 

gigantic crucifix. The agomzmg Irish 

mother knew that the Informer had be-

b'ayed her son to his death. She stumbled 

into the church to find strength near the 

side of that other Mother who had seen her 

Son die unjustly. And over her shoulder 

she looked back in forgiveness at the man 

who had caused the murder of her son, 

taking him into her arms, as Mary had 

taken sinful humanity when the voice of 

Christ from the Cross said, "Behold thy 

son!" 

Eugene O'Neill, in a brief personal flash-

back to the faith of his youth, sends his hero 

in Days Without End, in sorrow for sin and 

the quest of forgiveness, to the crucifix 

21 



on \Vhich the sculptu-red ' figure of Christ 

hangs\ a'il 'eternal reminder -.of His longing 

,tio ' save the ' 'most completely 'astl'ay of His 

lest sli~ep. ' ... 

- U W e" k'i~s, the cross in a cceptance of the 
sQrrows o~ life. 

- ; We look up to th,~ cross from ,a sickbed 

to think ·ofthe gr~ater ~gony and the utter 

pa tience of, ' t~e dying Christ. 

We bless ' 'ourselves with the sign of the 

cross, since it is the profession of our Chris-

tian fait\1, an expression of our hope in .the 

merits of Christ, and gratitude for. the love 

which caused Christ tq Elmbr,ace the cross 

for our sakes. 

In itself the cross is two crossed sticks. 

In meaning it is rich and full and wonder-

fuL In inspiration 'it is an invitation to 
high daring arid splendid achievement. In 

sor row it is the most reassuring symbol in 

the world. It is proof positive of God's' love 

and the invitation of outstretched arms to 

love God in return. It is a standard urging 

on to triumph. It is the guarantee 'of Easter 

following any indiviliual passion: 

Whatever form it takes, the cross is just 

about the ' -most wonderful of the Sac-

ramentals. 

Holy Watel' 

·The -divine inventive genius never exer-

cised itself more potently or skillfully than 

- iiI' the creation of the simple element we 

·caIl water. · Water remains the perfect 

22 



quencher for ,QUI' .thirsts. It is Ilb~s,ic in 

all deaning ··processes. It mal<:~s ~P . th,~ 

largest pai·t of · our body. ' With the soun it 

makes possible plant and anim~lr life. , It 

sustains the , ships which are a fundameptal 

form of transportation. Brought to a boil, 

it is the great sterilizer. Frozen,' Ii is ' tli~ 
great preservative. ' And in God~s usual 

lavish generosity, the most important and 

versatile of elements makes up thI'ee-fourths 

of the surface of the gloQe and no one knows 

how much of its interior. 

As soon as nations grew even slightly 

civilized, they thought of water as a precious 

and almost sacred element. Besides its mul-

tiplied natural uses, they turned water to 

the service pf their , religion . Holy water 

became a ,common factor among the Jews 

and among the pagans. They washed thei,r 

hands in symbol of their need to cleanse their 

souls. Thy used lustral water to sprinkle 

their temples, their houses, even their cities; 

for water was the symbol of cleanliness, of 

fer~ility, of the 'outpouring of blessings from 

on high. 

The Church instantly 'seized on this very 

lovely symbol of water to make it one of 

Catholics' best beloved · Sacra,mentals, 

When we enter the church (or most 

Catholic places) we dip our hands into the 

holy water font and bless ourselves. Solemn 

high Mass does ' not begin until the pl"iest 

has sprinkled the peQple with holy water. 

Almost every blessing is gh:en with the 

sign of the cross and holy water. Holy 

23 



water is a constant accompaniment of a 

Catholic's devotional life. 

N ow once more we may make it clear 

that holy water is in no sense essential to 
faith and morals or even the service of God. 

But it helps to all. It is one of those uni-

versal human symbols which say eloquently 

just what we want said. 

Water purifies us from dirt and grime; 

holy water reminds us of the necessity, the 

much higher necessity, of purifying our 

souls from the filth of sin. A plant does not 

grow until it has been well watered; the 

seeds of sanctity and holiness in the soul can-

not begin to grow until they are "watered" 

with that grace so well typified by water. 

And the lavish way in which God has poured 

water upon the earth-rains and rivers and 

dews and waterfalls-reminds of the even 

more lavish way in which He longs to pour 

out His supernatural blessings upon man-

kind. 

Holy water reminds us of our needs and 

of God's generous fulfillment of those needs. 

Once more, it is an almost perfect symbol 

and a gracious Sacramental. 

The Rosary 

The rosary is not one of the very primi-

tive Sacramentals. Yet it is one Qf the 

dearest. 

Rosary means, of course, a garland of 

roses. Roses have from the dawn of history 

been the symbol by which man expressed 

his love. We may be sure that Adam pre-

24 



sen ted flowers to Eve, even in the Paradise "in 

which flowers were almost a commo'nplace. 

And when Adam built his first little ialtal'-

table where He would entertain God as" He 

came down at the vesper hour, he and Eve 

were sure to have decorated it with flowers. 

In the same way, human beings have had 

a way of stringin"g together what they 

thought beautiful or precious as a garland 

for the neck of someone honored or beloved. 

Garlands of flowers, strings of pearls, neck-

laces of shells or jewels graced the first 

banqueteers and the latest arrival on trop-

ical islands. 

Beyond this, no man has ever been satis-

fied to say just once something he thought 

important. He says, not "I love you," but 

"I love you; I love you; you know I love 

you." Not "Hooray!" but "Hooray! Hooray! 

Hooray!" He sings over and over again the 

chorus of beloved songs. Outside the palace, 

he shouts again and again the name of the 

king. All simple poetry, the poetry of the 

people, is full of repetitions. When we mean 

something very deeply, we say it in gay 

repetition. "This is true. You know it is 

true. I swear it is true. Yes, it is true." 

Today, the TV and radio commercials are 

masterpieces of repetition. They know that 

the human mind wants to hear over and over 

anything that is important or significant. 

Garland 

Now in thaf sweet Sacramental which is 

the rosary, we have the religious fulfill-

25 



ment of all these instincts. This is a gar-

land of roses, a bouquet made up of the 

most gracious prayers-the Creed, the Our 

Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be. 

lt is very close to being a piece of spiritual 

jewelry, the chain binding together the small 

stones, which may be inexpensive as shells, 

and as precious as flawless gems. lt 

repeats, in the fashion of people stress-

ing something very important, the world's 

greatest prayer, the cry of the angel and 

of St. Elizabeth, the faith of the Apostles, 

and the adoration of men and angels. 

As the fingers move along the beads, they 

create a musical rhythm setting the under-

lying beat that accompanies the melody of 

our meditation on the mysteries. Dedicated 

to Mary, the story of the mysteries is the 

story of Christ as seen through the eyes of 

the person closest to Him. No Sacramental 

is more suitable or more reasonable. 

Medals 

What collection of excavations from some 

remote city of the past fails to display one 

of the mos't human of inventions-the 

medal? The Egyptians made them as did 

the Assyrians. Medals were struck in 

Greece before it was Greece, and Rome when 

it was still a cluster of barbarous villages. 

Stone Age men carved them out of flint. 

Primitive men in remote parts of the world 

make them from the seashells. The most 

civilized of nations regard the medal as a 

lofty award, a splendid form of commemora-

tion. The greatest achievements of the scien-

26 



tist and the highest heroism of the soldier 

are rewarded with the simple gift of a 

medal. 

Once more the Church in striking its 

medals followed the universal human im-

pulse, turning it from things of earth to 

things of eternity. 

The religious medal is worn as an out-

ward profession of faith. "I believe in 

God," the wearer of the medal says without 

words. 

"I am a follower of the crucified Christ," 

he may amplify. 

"I am striving for a love as pure as the 

love of the Sacred Heart." 

"I am dedicated to the service of the 

world's most beautiful and spotless woman." 

"I am a member of the great Communion 

of Saints." 

It is a gentle reminder to those of the 

higher world that we humans depend upon 

them. These are no charms or talismen, 

these Catholic medals. They are really 

worth studying in themselves. Those Cath-

olic medals are masterpieces of capsule art, 

condensed devotion, professed faith, gentle 

reminders to heavenly patrons. The Sacred 

Heart Medal with its representation of the' 

boundless love of the Savior ... the Miracu-

lous Medal commemorating the patient and 

protective love of a Heavenly Mother . . . 

medals in honor of individual saints, recall-

ing their glorious achievements and c4al-

27 



ienging the wearer to walk in their shining 

way . . . St. Christopher ~arrying on his 
- shoulder the Infant Travelle l;- as we - must -

carry Christ with us wherever we go ... 

each Catholic medal is a brilliantly conceived 

and executed tribute to the heavenly great, 

and' a challenge to the Christian struggling 

in their footsteps, 

And there is -encouragement to be felt in 

the conviction that from the . courts of 

heaven powerful friends look down to see us 

wearing their name engraved on a beautiful 

medal. It is a kind of heavenly campaign 

button, as if we gave them our vote and 

expected in return their patronage. 

Scapulars 

Along that same line is the wonderful 

significant Sacramental which is the scap-

ular. 

Once more, we cannot find a time when 

men and women were not impressed with 

the importance of a uniform or 'of a livery. 

Soldiers were so marked with a distinctive 

dress . ' . . as were kings and priests and 

scholars. Men g ladly put on the livery of 

some distinguished college, proud to admit. 

their membership in that group of learned 

men. Special professions wore a distinctive ' 

cap and gown. They put on, once they 

entered their offices, the uniform of a doctor, 

a dentist, a chemist, or a nurse. If their 

regiment was notably distinguished, they 

wore a distinguishing uniform. Pages and 

knights in the household of a great em-

28 



peror wore his colors, as later on schoolboys 

wore their school colors for all to see. 

Well, religious men and women in the 

Catholic Church put on the distinctive habit 

of their orders. The Benedictines and Do-

minicans and Franciscans and Carmelites, 

to mention just a few, could be instantly 

recognized by their . dress. They followed 

the rule of life drawn up by the founder 

of monasticism, St. Benedict. They were 

watchdogs of the Lord-Domini-canes. They 

dressed in the poor brown of the Troubadour 

of Christ. They were dedicated to Our Lady 

of Mount Carmel. 

With time, the religious members of the 

order shared these distinguished and dis-

tinguishing habits with notable lay men 

and women. When it became difficult for a 

variety of reasons to wear the entire habit, 

the lay people took to wearing the most 

distinctive feature of the habit, the scapu-

lar, a thin strip of cloth reaching from the 

neck to the ground, front and back between 

the shqulders. When this too became diffi-

cult and cumbersome, it was cut to a small 

piece of cloth, correct in color, but easy 

to wear under one's normal clothing. 

The scapular had a great many important 

meanings: 

It marked the wearer as attached to a 

religious order which in turn was dedicated 

entirely to the service of God and souls. 

It reminded God and Our Lady and the 

saints that here was a "special member of 

29 



their household," wearing their uniform, 

dressed in their livery, carrying their colors. 

The scapular was an external symbol of 

the importance of clothing the soul in divine 

grace and in the virtues which Christ 

taught, Mary exemplified, and the saints 

practiced. 

Again, here was a very apt symbol fit 

t o be one of the great Sacramentals. 

All With a Purpose 

No one has the slightest doubt about 

the importance of the nationa l flag or the 

wedding ring, a cake for an anniversary, 

fl ower's for a big event. No one questions 

the wisdom of framing and placing for our 

children to see them the pictures of our 

great national heroes, the pioneers and ex-

plorers, the men of science. We feel there 

is an inspiration in keeping a record of the 

sports champions. We would regard it as a 

national calamity if Mount Vernon were 

closed or the Washington Monument razed. 

In the Sacramentals, the Church applies 

all this natural instinct to a supernatural 

purpose, 

The pictures of the saints recall the great 

heroes and heroines of God and excite us 

lesser mortals to aspire to some of their 

achievements. 

The statues of the saints pay the same 

honor in the same sort of way to Christ and 

the saints that the statues in our public 

30 



parks pay to our distinguished historical 

figures. 

And if we carry with us the smalI picture 

of Christ, Our Lady, and the saints, or a 

tiny statuette of one of these wonderful 

personages, it is with the double purpose 

of recalling their names with honor and 

reminding them of our love. 

The same impulse as enshrines a lock of 

our beloved's hair in a locket makes Cath-

olics cherish the relics of the saints. If 

everything that was connected in any slight 

way with Stephen Collins Foster is faith-

fully enshrined in the lovely memorial build-

ing erected by the University of Pittsburgh, 

the Church does no less for the things which 

had been close to the heroic persons of our 

martyrs and virgins and confessors and 

doctors of the faith . 

Sacramentals are eminently reasonable. 

I have never understood the strange im-

pulse which, during the days of the Protes-

tant revolution, cut the Sacraments down 

from seven to two or three and outlawed 

the human instinct which made Sacra-

mentals so dear and intimate a part of the 

Catholic religion. 

No one has ever claimed that a Sacra-

mental of itself gives grace or can make a 

person holier. But it is inescapable that 

we grow to admire the people whose pic-

tures are near us. It is certainly right to 

honor and to find consolation in the sign 

31 



of our salvation, the holy cross. Medals 

will be struck for all the great of history; 

why exclude the great who made God's 

history? Uniforms are part of the national 

scene; the scapular is merely a uniform 

lifted to a slightly higher plane. 

And so it goes. 

Sacramenta Is make religion clearer to 

understand and easier to practice. Christ 

did not establish them. But Christ, in whom 

and by whom and through whom were, in 

His divine nature, created all things which 

are made, created our human natures. Our 

human natures need and indeed demand 

external signs of our inward emotions. We 

need the helps and props and inspirations 

and nudges that come to us through our 

senses. We use them in every form of 

wholesome human activity. The Church 

knows they work beautifully in our religious 

life. 

Sacramentals are from God for His honor 

and our greatest safety, happiness, inspira-

tion and guidance. 

They make most attractive and service-

able guideposts to heaven. 

32 



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