Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
HE Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament is a Rite in which Jesus, in the Sacrament of His love, is not only exposed to the adoration of the faithful, but in which He, present in that Sacrament, is implored to bless the faithful present before the Altar. It is not so much the Priest who blesses the people by this Rite, as it is Jesus Christ Himself, in the Blessed Sacrament, who bestows His benediction upon them.
In this country Benediction usually follows Vespers. After the final Antiphon of the Blessed Virgin is said, the Priest, vested in surplice, stole, and cope, goes up to the Altar, while the choir sings the O salutaris Hostia; and opening the Tabernacle, he makes a genuflection, and taking out a consecrated Host enclosed in a kind of locket, called a luna, places this in the centre of the Monstrance or Ostensorium—a stand of gold or silver, with rays like the sun. He then descends to the foot of the Altar, and puts incense in the censer; kneeling again, he receives the censer from the hand of the acolyte, and incenses the Adorable Host. When the choir sings the second line of the Tantum ergo, all bow humbly down, and then, or during the Genitori, the Priest again incenses the Blessed Sacrament.
As soon as the choir has ended the hymn the Priest chants the Versicle; and after the Response he chants the Prayer of the Blessed Sacrament, and sometimes another prayer. He then{{c|220}