# Blessed oil

**Oglio benedetto**

**Known today as.** Oil blessed by a priest, as distinct from the holy oils blessed and consecrated by the bishop in Holy Week.

Kind: Sacramental

## What did Canale use it for?

For the healing of the sick and the destruction of hexes, with a composition from St. John’s wort, sage, dill, ashes, olive, frankincense, myrrh, and gold, and the Scriptural aromatics (Treatise Two).

## What does modern science say?

Blessed oil is a sacramental; the anointing of the sick is a sacrament and uses the oil of the sick, blessed by the bishop at the Chrism Mass (or, in case of necessity, by a priest).

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **oleic acid**: the olive oil
- **hypericin and hyperforin**: from the St John’s wort
- **boswellic acids**: from the frankincense

**Mechanism.** An olive-oil infusion of St John’s wort, sage, and dill with ashes and resins: the hyperforin of the wort has antibacterial and wound-healing action in the skin, the oil itself is an emollient, and the ashes make the mix alkaline. Rubbed on, it would do what red oil of St John’s wort does, and no more.

**Dose.** External use; hypericin oils can photosensitise fair skin in the sun.

**Standing.** The red oil of St John’s wort has an EMA monograph (2009) for minor wounds and sunburn; the blessing adds a rite.

## Sources

- EMA/HMPC (2009). *Community herbal monograph on Hypericum perforatum L., herba (traditional use)*.
- Samadi, S., et al. (2010). “The effect of *Hypericum perforatum* on the wound healing and scar of cesarean.” *Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine* 16.

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

Historical description, not medical advice.