THE SACRAMENTS

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

SACRAMENTUM
SACRAMENTS
“DOORS TO THE SACRED”
Pre-Christian: Pledge of money or
property; Oath of allegiance

2nd Century: Christian ceremony

5th Century: St. Augustine “A

sign of a sacred reality.”
12th Century: Catholics
“7 Church Rituals”
16th
Century:
Protestants
“Fewer than 7
Sacraments…Sacramentum
Places: Temples or churches, mountains or rivers,
shrines or cities
Sacred

Actions: Praying or singing, eating or fasting,

dancing or meditating

Objects: Pictures or statues, vestment or vessels,

tools or writings, food or drink,

Persons: Priests or victims, kings or saints, shamans or

virgins, gurus or prophets
1. “Rites of Passage”

2. “Rites of Celebrations”

3. “Heirophanies”
Rites of Passage
• According to Arnold Van Gennep symbolises a
change in a person’s social status
• Eg. An adolescent who participates in a puberty
ritual passes (childhood into adulthood)
• A candidate who is consecrated as king or
queen (recognized and accepted monarch by
the people)
• Birth (passing into society) and Death (passing
out of it)
Rites of Celebration
• Van Gennep recognized that sometimes
rituals do not dramatize a change in status
but solemnize some permanent reality or
value
• Rather than being, they are intensification
rituals
• Eg. Wedding anniversary, Independence
Day, singing of Alma Mater Song…
“Heirophanies”
• Mircea Eliade sacraments work can be
found in the descriptions that religious
people give of their religious experience
and explanations
• “Hieros meaning sacred or holy and
“phaino” meaning manifest or reveal
“Heirophanies”
• “heirophany” is a manifestation of the
sacred or an experienced revelation of the
holy
• Such experience is like entering into
another dimension of space and time and
discovering a whole new world of meaning
Sacred Space
• Eg. We “fall in love” and the space that we
inhabit becomes vibrant and alive
• “We lose a job,” the space around us
becomes silent and oppressing
• Catholic goes to Rome, Jews go to
Jerusalem, Moslems go to Mecca
• Catholics hear the words of consecrations
and the sacrifice of Calvary is made
present. The Protestants read the Bible
and eternal truth is timelessly present. The
tribal doctor mixes herbs in the proper
ritual and the healing power that they were
given in the past is released into the
present.
Sacred Time
• Eg. The moment was longed for like the
moment the child is born; sometimes the
moment was dreaded like the moment our
parents dies.
• The time spent with a close friend is often
precious especially when meetings are
infrequent
Sacred Meaning
• meaningful or valuable experiences
• Can be ideas, suggestions, thoughts,
opinions, facts, beliefs, judgments,
evaluations
• We get them from our parents, in schools,
work and recreations, media, our own
Sacred Meaning
• Eg. Respect for parents, fruits of our labor
at school, value of trust among friends,
National flag, unforgettable experience,
rendezvous, theme songs, likes and
dislikes, favorites…