Blessing of Herbs, Aug. 15, 2023

Some traditions hold that the Apostles found flowers and herbs in Our Lady’s tomb where her body should have been. Other traditions note that the blessing is a fitting way to offer the first fruits of the summer to God. 

The blessing originates in Germany and formulas for it date back to the 8th and 10th centuries. 

The blessing itself begins by calling to mind that the herbs are creatures, created by God, and given to men and animals to serve as food and medicine. God is then implored that the herbs may more perfectly produce their natural benefits and that He provide other natural and spiritual benefits in light of the blessing and through the pious use of the herbs.  Lastly, God is asked, through the merits of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose feast day is being celebrated, that the faithful “may be so affected by the aid of these fruits of the land as to proceed from temporal to eternal welfare.”

The herbs may be used throughout the year and may be consumed as food or medicine, most fittingly in times of disease or trouble, or arranged as the blessed palms.