The Sacramentals of the Holy Catholic Church, or Flowers from the Garden of the Liturgy

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1879. Excerpt: ... The palm is the emblem of triumph, ashes of humility and death; to show that the term of earthly triumph is the tomb--of farextending sway of earthly potentate, the coffin and the grave. But the blessed palm is an emblem of Christ's triumph, and its ashes are, as it were, its seeds, to teach us that we too shall participate in our Lord's triumph, if we participate in His sufferings and His death by a true, solid devotion to His cross, and by dying to ourselves. IV.--Our Lord's Cross. Most, of the Sacramentals, though expressly mentioned, or at least foreshadowed in Holy Scripture, are, in their present form, of ecclesiastical origin; some few, however, were instituted by our Lord Himself. His act of ineffable condescension in washing the Apostles' feet had all the requisites of a Sacrament; it was a sensible ceremony, performed by a Divine Person, and it was accompanied by the remission of venial sin, and hence, necessarily, by an increase of sanctifying grace; he that is tuashed heedeth not but to wash hit feet, but is clean wholly. (St. John xiii. 10.) Yet the Church, enlightened by the teaching of the Holy Ghost, as contained in Apostolic tradition, does not count it amongst her Sacraments. It is a Sacramental most instructive in its mystic meaning, most rich in blessings, most Venerable in its divine origin. Crosses and Crucifixes are Sacramentals of ecclesiastical institution, blessed by the) prayers of the Church, moving the Christian soul, in virtue of Christ's true Cross, which they represent, to many a pious thought and many a holy deed. But that true cross is holier than they, inasmuch as the reality surpasses the figure. Not with the blood of goats or oxen, nor the sprinkling of holy water, nor the unction of holy chrism; not by mortal priest, o..