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Yes, it would be appropriate to give your non-Catholic family member a blessed St. Peregrine medal as a gesture of love, solidarity, and prayerful support during her cancer diagnosis and upcoming double mastectomy. (1, 2, 3) Such medals are sacramentals—sacred signs instituted by the Church that resemble the sacraments, signifying spiritual effects obtained through the Church's intercession, such as preparation for grace, sanctification of life's circumstances (including illness), remission of venial sins, protection from evil, and even temporal favors like healing. (2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
Understanding Sacramentals and Their Use.
Sacramentals like blessed medals derive their efficacy not from any inherent power (as with sacraments, which work ex opere operato), but from the Church's official prayer, the disposition of the user, and their connection to Christ's paschal mystery. (2, 4, 6, 8, 9) They "complete, supplement, or extend the effect of the Eucharist and the sacraments," sanctifying "various occasions in human life," including times of sickness. (4, 6) St. Thomas Aquinas notes that sacramentals, such as blessed objects, can effect remission of venial sins and other spiritual goods "implicitly or explicitly." (2)
The Church encourages their use in contexts like illness, as seen in papal addresses on cancer, where trust in Christ's healing power is urged alongside medical care:
"Surely Jesus wishes to say: 'I will; be clean' (Matthew 8:3); be healed; be strong; be saved." (10)
Research and treatment are praised, but spiritual support—relying on "the resources of the human organism and of medical research" while invoking divine mercy—is highlighted. (11, 12)
Appropriateness for a Non-Catholic Recipient.
There is no Church prohibition against sharing blessed sacramentals with non-Catholics; indeed, guidance explicitly allows giving usable religious items like medals to others who might benefit. (1)
Their power stems from the Church's deprecatory prayers (imploring God's mercy), which apply universally, though full fruits depend on the recipient's faith and cooperation. (2, 3, 8)
For a non-Catholic, the medal serves as a tangible sign of your prayerful accompaniment, potentially fostering openness to God's grace without requiring sacramental reception. (2, 8) Avoid superstition by explaining it simply: the medal is not "magic" but a blessed reminder of heavenly intercession, aiding through good dispositions rather than guaranteeing outcomes. (2, 3)
Practical Considerations
Blessing: Ensure the medal is properly blessed by a priest using the Church's formulas, as this invokes the specific efficacy. (2,4)
Complement to Medicine: Pair this with encouragement for her medical treatment, aligning with Church teaching that science combats illness while faith seeks deeper healing. (11, 12)
In summary, offering the medal is a compassionate act rooted in Catholic tradition, inviting divine aid amid suffering without imposing beliefs. It reflects the Church's mission to sanctify all human circumstances through sacramentals. (7, 8)
As a Catholic, collecting sacramentals such as votive candles, religious pictures, rosaries (which sometimes break), medals, palm branches and other miscellaneous religious items is fairly common. What do you do if you are unsure if they are blessed? One option, if they are still useable, is to give them away to other people who could use them. If you can’t find any takers there are other options.
St. Thomas Aquinas makes use of the terms sacra and sacramentalia(Summa I-II, Q. cviii, a. 2 ad 2um; III, Q. lxv, a. 1 ad 8um), which the theologians of a later period adopted, so that at present sacramentalia is exclusively reserved for those rites which are practiced apart from the administration of the seven sacraments, for which the word ceremonies is used. The number of the sacramentals may not be limited; nevertheless, the attempt has been made to determine their general principles or rather applications in the verse: "Orans, tinctus, edens, confessus, dans, benedicens" Orans indicates public prayer, whether liturgical or private;tinctus, the use of holy water and the unctions in use at various consecrations; edens, the eating of blessed foods; confessus, the general avowal of faults which is made in the Confiteor recited at Mass, at Communion, in the Divine Office; dans, alms; benedicens, papal and episcopal blessings etc., blessings of candles, ashes, palms etc.
Persons may sin in using sacramentals by using them in a way or for a purpose prohibited by the Church; also by believing that the use of Sacramentals will save us in spite of our sinful lives. We must remember that Sacramentals can aid us only through the blessing the Church gives them and through the good dispositions they excite in us. They have, therefore, no power in themselves, and to put too much confidence in their use leads to superstition.
(Starting from the third paragraph) After the Council many other sacramentals were added to the list by the publication of separate rituals: the blessing of abbots and abbesses, the institution of lectors and acolytes, the dedication of a church and an altar, the blessing of oils, the crowning of images of the Blessed Virgin, and the many other blessings contained in the Book of Blessings. As with the sacraments, the word of God holds an important position in the celebration of sacramentals. Since sacramentals lack the ex opere operato efficacy of the sacraments, they derive their efficacy from the word of God and the intercession of the Church. This is the reason why the sacramentals, if celebrated outside Mass, should normally include a reading from Scripture. In the case of blessings contained in the Book of Blessings, the word of God and the prayer of the Church are considered the essential or constitutive elements. Sacramentals occupy their allotted place in the economy of salvation.
They complete, supplement, or extend the effect of the Eucharist and the sacraments.
Furthermore, there is an entire gamut of situations affecting individuals, families, societies, and nations that need the Church's prayer and God's blessing. Some of these are not directly and immediately covered by the sacraments.
In article 60 the Constitution teaches that "the Church has, in addition, instituted sacramentals. These are sacred signs bearing a kind of resemblance to the sacraments: they signify effects, particularly of a spiritual kind, that are obtained through the Church's intercession. They dispose people to receive the chief effects of the sacraments." The idea of treating the sacraments and sacramentals together in one chapter is to show the relationship between them. Sacramentals resemble the sacraments, lead to them, and dispose the faithful to receive them fruitfully.
. . . they make holy various occasions in human life."" To this we should add the teaching of SC 61 that sacramentals, like the sacraments, draw their power from the paschal mystery of Christ's passion, death, and resurrection. According to the Catechism, sacramentals are instituted for the sanctification of certain ministries of the Church, states of life, circumstances in Christian life, and the use of things helpful to people. But they can also respond to other particular needs, culture, and history of a given region. Their celebration "always includes a prayer, often accompanied by a specific sign, such as the laying on of hands, the sign of the cross, or the sprinkling of holy water."12 Sacramentals are distinguished from sacraments by their institution and effect.
The Catechism explains that "sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church's prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it."13 The classical distinction between opus operatum and opus operantis (Ecclesiae) is obviously being invoked here.
"Sacramentals are sacred signs instituted by the Church. They prepare men to receive the fruit of the sacraments and sanctify different circumstances of life.*"
40. [Sacramentals]. Ecclesial sacramentality is not expressed only in the sacraments. There is another series of sacramental realities that form part of the life and faith of the Church, from which Sacred Scripture stands out. The so-called sacramentals are immensely important for Christian piety. The sacramentals are sacred signs, designed according to the model of the sacraments. Sacramentals dispose one towards the sacraments and sanctify the various circumstances of life (SC 60). What is proper to the sacraments is that in them there is an authorized and assured ecclesial commitment to the transmission of the grace of Christ, provided that all the requirements are fulfilled. However, the efficacy in the sacramentals is not like that of the sacraments.[45] In the former, there is a preparation for the reception of grace and a disposition to cooperate with it, not an efficacy ex opere operato (cf. § 65), which is exclusive to the sacraments.
Thus, although the water of baptism produces the effect of forgiveness of sins within the sacramental celebration, holy water, a remembrance of baptism, does not have an effect by itself, but only to the extent to which it is received with faith, for example when crossing oneself at the entrance to the church.
Sacramentals SC 60 offers an integral definition of sacramentals:
"The Church has instituted sacramentals. These are sacred signs bearing a kind of resemblance to the sacraments: they signify effects, particularly of a spiritual kind, that are obtained through the Church's intercession. They dispose people to receive the chief effect of the sacraments."
J. Martos, Doors to the Sacred: A Historical Introduction to Sacraments in the Christian Church (London, 1981); D. Power, Unsearchable Riches: The Symbolic Nature of Liturgy (New York, 1984). 10 CCC, no 1211.
This sacrament should be approached in a spirit of great confidence, like the leper in the Gospel that has just been proclaimed. Even the desperateness of the man’s condition did not stop him from approaching Jesus with trust. We too must believe in Christ’s healing love and reaffirm that nothing will separate us from that love. Surely Jesus wishes to say:
“I will; be clean” (Matthew 8:3); be healed; be strong; be saved.
My dear brothers and sisters, as you live the Passion of Christ you strengthen the Church by the witness of your faith. You proclaim by your patience, your endurance and your joy the mystery of Christ’s redeeming power. You will find the crucified Lord in the midst of your sickness and suffering.
Dear friends, as the twentieth century and the second millennium of the Christian era draw to a close, you have come to Rome as men and women who are building upon the magnificent work of your predecessors in this century and this millennium. The twentieth century has known its human catastrophes, but surely among its triumphs has been the extraordinary advance of medical research and treatment (cf. Fides et Ratio, 106). In the light of this, and even more as we look back a thousand years, how can we not applaud those who have led the way and how can we fail to praise God who is the source of all enlightenment and healing? To look back like this is to understand humbly that we journey on a path marked out by the insight and self-sacrifice of others; seeing how far we have come, we renew our hope at this turning-point that the power of death will be overcome as God wills. In the great task of combatting cancer and serving life, you are not alone.
The whole human family is with you; the Church throughout the world looks to you with respect. I assure you all of a special remembrance in my own prayers, and I entrust your noble work to the intercession of the Mother of Christ, Salus Infirmorum (Health of the Sick). Invoking upon you the grace and peace of her Son who healed the sick and raised the dead to life, I entrust you and your loved ones to the loving protection of Almighty God.
As we face the tumours that threaten human health, we are tempted to assume a despairing or fatalistic attitude that depresses the sick person and makes treatment more difficult. Therefore your association appropriately tries to prepare the patient to receive the initial prognosis calmly and to face it with realism, relying confidently on the resources of the human organism and of medical research. Let us thank the Lord because science is making great progress in the prevention and the fight against cancer. In this area, however, and in all experimentation that involves the person, everyone must work to ensure that experiments are carried out with full respect for human dignity. Scientific research will then be a wonderful benefit for many families and for all humanity.
Together with research into the origins of tumours, you also apply yourselves to the treatment of pain. This is a most opportune field of research because, by improving the quality of life of those who are afflicted by the disease, it offers them the possibility of effective alleviation and human support.
