# Blessed herbs

**Erbe benedette**

**Known today as.** Herbs blessed by the Church, especially on the feast of the Assumption (15 August).

Kind: Sacramental

## What did Canale use it for?

Allowed in gathering and use “if we use, along with the herbs, the divine Symbol or the Lord’s Prayer” (Treatise Two; note LXXIV).

## What does modern science say?

The Assumption blessing of herbs (*Kräuterweihe*) is still practiced in Bavaria and Austria.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **hypericin**: in the St John’s wort of the oil
- **thujone**: in the sage
- **carvone**: in the dill

**Mechanism.** The blessing is a form of words over herbs that have their own entries; the pharmacology is theirs and is unchanged by the words, which is what the Church itself holds in distinguishing sacramentals from medicines.

**Dose.** See the several herbs.

**Standing.** A rite, not a drug; the clinical reading on amulets and placebo takes up what the blessing adds.

## Sources

- Canale, F. (1622). *Discerning and Healing the Bewitched*, Treatise Two.

---

*Blessed herbs.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-09-25. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/blessed-herbs

Historical description, not medical advice.