The Blessing of Herbs and Flowers on the Feast of the Assumption

 

Rachel L. Lozowski

The Feast of the Assumption on August 15 takes place at the highest point of Summer when all the crops and fruit trees are filled with the fruits of the season. How fitting that God should institute this feast honoring Our Lady's height of glory at nature's pinnacle of grandeur when the Summer harvest is ripe and ready to be picked.

The Blessing of the Wheat Fields by Jules Breton

Because of this, it was a custom for the countryside to be blessed on this day. Priests would process through mountains, meadows, fields, orchards, farmland and home gardens giving a benediction to all of nature as they passed. In fishing villages, the seas, oceans and rivers were also blessed to ask Our Lady for a successful fishing season.

In the Catholic Eastern Rites, the Feast is one of the Twelve Major Feasts of the year and is preceded by a 14 day fast following the Lenten regulations beginning on August 1. In Italy a similar preparation is made for the feast. The Sicilians have the custom to abstain either partially or entirely from fruit from August 1 until August 15, when a large assortment of blessed fruits along with cheeses and breads is laid out on the table for the Annunciation Feast.(More:https://www.traditioninaction.org/religious/d043_Assum.htm)

 In honor of the legend that flowers grew in Our Lady's empty sarcophagus, the Church instituted the custom of blessing wild herbs and flowers on the feast of the Assumption. The blessing originated in Germany, and is first attested in the 10th century; one version of it or another is found in a great many of the liturgical books which contain blessings of this sort. In the 1614 Roman Ritual of Pope Paul V, it consists of a psalm, a series of versicles and responses, three prayers, and the blessing, after which the flowers are sprinkled with holy water; the blessing is supposed to be done before the principal Mass of the day.

I here give the blessing in English translation; the Latin text is found in the Rituale among the blessings not reserved to bishops, shortly after the Sunday blessing of holy water and the Asperges. A free version can be downloaded from googlebooks by clicking this link; the blessing is on page 42*.

V. Our help is in the name of the Lord.

R. Who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 64 is said in full.

V. The Lord will give goodness.

R. And our earth shall yield her fruit. (Ps. 84)

V. Thou waterest the hills from Thy upper rooms.

R. The earth shall be filled with the fruit of Thy works.

V. Bringing forth grass for cattle.

R. And herbs for the service of men.

V. That Thou may bring bread out of the earth.

R. And that wine may cheer the heart of man.

V. That he may make the face cheerful with oil.

R. And that bread may strengthen man’s heart. (Ps. 103)

V. He sent his word, and healed them.

R. And delivered them from their destructions. (Ps. 106)

V. Lord, heed my prayer.

R. And let my cry be heard by you.

V. The Lord be with you.

R. And with thy spirit.

Let us pray. Almighty everlasting God, who by Thy word created from nothing the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things visible and invisible, and commanded the earth to bring forth plants and trees for the use of men and beasts, and each one to have fruit in itself according to its seed; and in Thy ineffable goodness granted not only that the plants might serve as the food of living creatures, but also that they might profit ailing bodies as medicine; with mind and word we humbly pray Thee that in Thy clemency Thou may bless + these herbs and fruits of various kinds, and pour upon them the grace of Thy renewed blessing, above the natural power which Thou gavest them; so that, when used by men and beasts in Thy name, they may become a defense against every disease and adversity. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy son etc. R. Amen.

Let us pray. O God, who through Moses, Thy servant, commanded the children of Israel to bear sheaves of new fruits to the priests to be blessed, and to take the fruits of the finest trees, and rejoice before Thee, the Lord their God; in Thy mercy be present to our supplications, and pour forth the abundance of Thy bless+ing upon us and upon these bundles of new fruits, new herbs, and upon the gathering of fruits which we bring before Thee with thanksgiving, and on this solemn feast we bless in Thy name. And grant that they may give to men, cattle, flocks, and beasts of burden a remedy against sickness, pestilence, sores, curses, spells, against the poison of serpents and bites of other venomous animals. And may they bring protection against the devil’s illusions, and devisings and cunning, wherever they or any portion of them are kept and carried, or otherwise used; so that, with the sheaves of good works, by the merits of the blessed Virgin Mary, the feast of whose Assumption we keep, we may merit to be taken up to that place whither She was assumed. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy son etc. R. Amen.

Let us pray. O God, who on this day raised up to the heights of heaven the rod of Jesse, the Mother of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, so that by Her prayers and patronage Thou might communicate to our mortal nature the fruit of Her womb, the same Thy Son; we humbly implore Thee, that by His power, and by the glorious patronage of His Mother, with the help of these fruits of the earth, we may be guided through temporal welfare unto everlasting salvation. Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy son etc. R. Amen.

And may the blessing of almighty God, the Father, the Son, + and Holy Spirit, come upon these creatures and remain always. R. Amen.

Source: https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2015/08/the-blessing-of-herbs-on-feast-of.html