Talks on the Sacramentals, By Msgr Arthur Tonne - Agriculture, Sacramentals Of

(Msgr Tonne was, for many years, the Pastor of a small, rural Parish. I'm sure he was familiar with all the agricultural blessings in the Rituale Romanum!-JW)

"I have planted, Appollo watered, but God has given the growth." I Cor., 3:6.

St. Isidore, who was born neasgr Tonne r Madrid, Spain, about the year 1070, and who died May 15, 1130, is the patron saint of farmers. All his life he worked for a certain Juan de Vargas on a farm near Madrid.

Every morning before going to work he would hear Mass in the nearby city. His fellow workers were jealous of the esteem which their employer had for Isidore. They complained to their master that Isidore was always late for work in the morning. The owner decided to find out for himself. He hid in the hollow of a tree to watch. Sure enough, Isidore actually started working much later than the others. The employer was walking toward the late-comer to rebuke him and tell him to come on time, when he was surprised to see a second team of oxen, snow-white and led by unknown individuals, plowing beside Isidore. Even as he stood watching the team and drivers disappeared, proving that supernatural help had supplied all that was lacking. Others reported they saw angels assisting Isidore in the field. By attending daily Mass he had won God's special blessing.

Who, more than the farmer, needs the blessing of God on his work? So much depends on favorable weather--on the rain and sunshine and the miracle of growth, that the man who tills the soil needs constantly the help of the Almighty.

Christ chose many of His parables and illustrations from the field and the farm. Until recent times, tilling the soil was the principal occupation of men everywhere. Even today it occupies millions of people. For these reasons Mother Church gives special attention to the farmer's needs and offers a blessing for lands, seeds, harvests and animals. The Sacramentals of Agriculture are among the most numerous and necessary in the ceremonies of the Church. We do well to think about them.

1. Four times a year Mother Church asks us to observe Ember Week. In December, in Lent, after Pentecost, and in September the Church sets aside a week, asking us to fast and abstain on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, principally for abundant and successful crops.

2. She sets aside the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before Ascension Thursday as Rogation Days, to beg, which is the meaning of Rogation, God's protection over people and crops.

3. In the Litany said on these days we offer this fitting prayer: "We beg of Thy goodness, O Almighty God, that the fruits of the earth...may be penetrated by the dew of Thy blessings; grant to this people always to thank Thee for Thy gifts; that the fertility of the earth may enrich the hungry.. and that the poor and the needy may celebrate Thy glory.... May the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, descend in plenty on the fields and on all these good things, and remain there forever."

4. Mother Church also blesses grain from the moment of planting to the day of harvest. She prays: "We beg of Thee, O Lord, deign to bless these seeds, to foster them with the mild breath of a serene heaven, to render them fertile by dew from above, and to bring them unharmed to fullest maturity for the use of souls and bodies."

She blesses the growing grain; she blesses the crops; she offers the first fruits to God; she blesses the granary, the mill and their contents; she asks God to appoint an angel to watch over the crops and their owners.

5. Farm animals, their barns and their food have a blessing. In blessing a stable Mother Church recalls the ox and ass at Bethlehem. She blesses hay and salt and pasture lands.

True and tender Mother that she is, the Church blesses animal pets like dogs and cats, canaries, parrots and monkeys. At Rome she blesses the horses of the cabmen, and in 1939 along with the horses she blessed two circus elephants.

6. Especially interesting are the blessings of bees and silkworms. The prayer for bees refers to the beeswax candles used in divine worship. It asks God to bless "these bees and this beehive...so that their fruits may be dispensed unto Thy glory, and that of Thy Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and of the Blessed Virgin Mary."

The Church asks God "to bless these silkworms, to foster and multiply them by kindness," so that the silk may be used to adorn the altar and glorify God.

7. There are numerous blessings for products of the earth and farm--for bread, fruits, eggs, oil, butter, cheese, lard, for beer and wine. Each blessing asks health for soul and body of those who eat the food.

Here is part of the blessing for bread: "O Lord Jesus Christ...Thou living Bread of eternal life, deign to bless this bread...that all who partake thereof may obtain the desired health of body and soul."

There is even a special benediction for colored Easter eggs, as symbols of creation and resurrection.

These and many other blessings for things on the farm are what we call the Sacramentals of Agriculture, the Sacramentals of the Farm. These sacramentals set aside the things which God has created, the things which God has caused to grow, that we may use them for the glory of God, that we may use them for our own health of soul and body.

Every man who tills the soil, and every thinking person who to any extent has an understanding of the life of the farmer, will see at once the value, the need, the beauty, and the inspiration of these farm blessings.

Just as St. Isidore prayed for the blessing of God every day at Mass, and visibly had the help of God's angels in his work, so every tiller of the soil should ask God's blessing, the blessing of God's Church on his work and the fruits of his work. Amen.