# Gold, frankincense, and myrrh

**Oro, incenso, mirra**

**Known today as.** The gifts of the Magi.

Kind: Sacramental

## What did Canale use it for?

Blessed especially at Epiphany; fumigated or carried against “bonds, incantations, hexes”; placed in the four corners of the bed (Treatise Two).

## What does modern science say?

The older Roman Ritual gives blessings of these gifts, and of chalk for marking the door, at Epiphany; the blessing of chalk is still widely practiced.

## What did the older authorities say?

**The Catholic Encyclopedia.** The Catholic Encyclopedia's article on the Magi is sober about the gifts: “The Magi adored (prosekynesan) the Child as God, and offered Him gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The giving of gifts was in keeping with Oriental custom. The purpose of the gold is clear; the Child was poor. We do not know the purpose of the other gifts. The Magi probably meant no symbolism.” It adds that “no Father of the Church holds the Magi to have been kings,” that “some Fathers speak of three Magi; they are very likely influenced by the number of gifts,” while “in the Orient, tradition favours twelve,” and that the names Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar appear among the Latins only “from the seventh century.”

## Sources

- *The Catholic Encyclopedia* (New York, 1907–1914), “Kings.” newadvent.org/cathen/09527a.htm
- *The Catholic Encyclopedia* (New York, 1907–1914), “Exorcism.” newadvent.org/cathen/05709a.htm

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*Gold, frankincense, and myrrh.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-01. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/gold-frankincense-and-myrrh

Historical description, not medical advice.