Sacramentals

The Catholic Church currently defines sacramentals as “sacred signs which… signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the intercession of the Church. People are disposed to receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and various occasions in life are rendered holy.”

Sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, and therefore can be celebrated by non-Catholics unlike the sacraments.

Blessings

Incense is both a sign of blessing and respect, and of prayer rising to God.

Holy water recalls the sacrament of Baptism, and oil used in the sacraments as a symbol of healing the body and spirit.

Dedications

The rosary, the stations of the cross, litanies, and novenas

Other sacramentals

The Sign of the Cross, blessed salt, crucifixes, candles, blessed ashes and palms

Find more information, please visit:

http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/sacraments-and-sacramentals/sacramentals-blessings/index.cfm