BENEDICTION (Lat. benedictio, a praising, blessing, from bene, well + direre, to speak). A solemn invocation of the divine blessing upon men or thin.. The ceremony in its simplest form may be considered almost coeval with the earliest expressions of religious feeling. We know from I-Toly Writ that the Jewish patriarchs before they died invoked the blessing of God upon their children, and at a later period the priests were commanded to implore the Divine blessing upon the people. Christ sanctioned the custom, which was consequently carried forward into the primitive Church, where it gradually developed itself in different forms. In the East ern as well as the Western Church it is con sidered an essential preliminary to almost all important acts. One of the most superb spec tacles that a stranger in Rome can witness oc curs on Easter Sunday, when the Pope. attended by his cardinals, pronounces after mass a solemn benediction vrbi et arid (on the city and the world). The benediction, however, is not con fined to a form of prayer. but is accompanied with sprinkling of holy water, the use of in cense, the sign of the Cross, etc. The chief
cases in which a benediction is bestowed are: The coronation of kings and queens, the con firmation of all Church dignitaries, and the con secration of church vessels, bells, and sacred robes; the nuptial ceremony, the absolution, and the last sacrament. The most solemn form of benediction in the Roman Church is that 'with the most holy sacrament,' which is administered by the bishop or priest with the monstrance or ostensory containing the consecrated elements. Besides these, lands, houses, cattle, etc., often receive a benediction from the priest. In the English Church service there are two benedic tions; in the Scotch, only one. In the Greek Church, when the benediction is being pro nounced, the priest disposes his fingers in such a manner as to convey symbolically to the faithful who are close enough to observe the arrangement the doctrine of the Trinity and the twofold nature of Christ.