Salt, The First Recorded Sacramental

Priest Can Bless Ordinary Table Salt For Use In Your Home

(4 Kings 2: 19-22 “And the men of the city said to Eliseus, Behold the situation of this city is very good, as Thou, my lord, seest, but the waters are very bad, and the ground barren. And he said: Bring me a new vessel, and put salt into it. And when they had brought it, He went out to the spring of the waters, and cast the salt into it, and said, ‘Thus saith the Lord: I have healed these waters, and there shall be no more in them, death or barrenness. And the waters were healed unto this day, according to the word of Eliseus, which he spoke.”

Salt, with its preservative properties, had always been seen as precious in the ancient world. Its first recorded sacramental use was by Eliseus, and it is now used sacramentally in the Church.

Its use in the Church belongs exclusively to the Roman Rite. The Ritual knows two kinds of salt for liturgical purposes: the baptismal salt and the blessed salt. The former, cleansed and sanctified by special exorcisms and prayers, is given to the catechumen before entering the church for Baptism. According to the fifth canon of the Third Council of Cartage, it would seem that the salt was administered to the catechumens several times a year.

The other salt is exorcised and blessed in the preparation of holy water, for the Asperges before high Mass on Sunday, and for the use of the faithful in their homes. The present formula of blessing is taken from the Gregorian Sacramentary, (P. I., LXXVIII, 231. Both baptismal salt and blessed salt may be used again without a new benediction.

The Roman Pontifical orders salt to be blessed and mixed in the water, (mixed in turn with ashes and wine) for the consecration of a church. This is also from the Gregorian Sacramentary. Salt, (not specially blessed) may be used for purifying the fingers after sacred functions.

Because of its exorcism and blessing, it is a powerful sacramental in keeping away demons. To obtain blessed salt, just take ordinary salt to your priest, and ask him to bless it.

Nigerian Block Rosary Publishes Its History

Members of the Block Rosary Crusade in Nigeria have published an 88 page booklet on the history of Block Rosary in that nation. It includes statistical material, pictures and discusses its affiliation with Block Rosary International in the United States.

Block Rosary in Nigeria is now located in 1,152 Parishes, there are 15,226 centers, and 414,000 members and they have accounted for 5,652 converts.