The How-To Book of Sacramentals: Everything You Need to Know But No One Ever Taught You [Paperback]

I was received into the Catholic Church in 2003 and received a very intense 40-week preparation that St Thomas Aquinas would have been proud of. I also did an MA in Catholic Theology yet I ordered all 4 of Our Sunday Visitor's `How-To' Books because I felt I had serious gaps regarding my proper assimilation into the often strange world of popular Catholic piety. The How-To Book of Sacramentals, like the other books in the series, promise to teach you `Everything You Need to Know But No One Ever Taught You' and they fulfil this objective well.
Catholics believe in a truly incarnational-bodily Christianity which is quite alien to my evangelical past where even a simple cross was frowned upon. Sacramentals are simply the everyday real-life objects of the created world that Catholics identify with the God who is truly with us permeating matter.
The book begins with a sound essay about the meaning of Sacramentals in Catholic Theology by a learned Archbishop then proceeds to run through the entire gamut of the Catholic sacramentals: blessings, sacred relics, crucifixes, holy water, images, miraculous medals, scapulars, chaplets, and so on. Ann Ball is always keen to stress the dangers posed by a superstitious understanding of such popular piety. At times she is deeply reverent when discussing various sacramentals and their histories; occasionally she knows that certain practices have been misunderstood by a biblically illiterate laity of years gone by and politely critiques certain magical thinking.
This book is not a lightweight whistle stop tour of Catholic sacramentals but a surprisingly dense work of over 330 pages that is unmatched; Ball has laboured long and hard to produce this work. The range of the book is exceptional and you will learn new stories about saints and mystics of bygone centuries and their contributions to our Faith: famous apparitions, bleeding statues, oozing icons, and the origins of a plethora of Catholic devotions. Ball has a particular love for Hispanic and Third world Catholicism and there is much about that here too.
The reader will come away feeling that they have been deeply immersed in the sometimes peculiar world of popular Catholic piety. Ball is a loyal daughter of the Church and her work will delight devout Catholics whilst doing little to allay the fears of critics who believe Catholicism's popular devotions are too embellished and not Christocentric enough. The critical western intellectualised convert of the post-Vatican II era will read the book with interest but is unlikely to throw himself into most of these practices. Nevertheless, this book will answer many of the questions converts harbour in their hearts about Catholicism's role in the life of the ordinary believer throughout history. A worthwhile book and good value.

Dear Sir or Madam:
I'll give Ann Ball's book on Catholic Sacramentals a 9.75 out of 10. It covers Rosaries, Chaplets, Scapulars, medals, relics, objects and related Confraternities; with special devotions; which Catholics are beginning to venerate more and more, for their help and guidance through Catholic Prayers and Devotions.
As this definitive one-volume reference entitled "The How-To Book of Sacramentals" is superb, it does not have St. Anthony's Brief, for example. Which is the only Catholic Sacramental, I know of, that Ann Ball's editors missed inadvertantly.
Because there are no other books available that are nearly as complete as this volume. We should all look forward to this outstanding single volume references to Sacramentals of the Catholic Church since antiquity in growing our Faith. Sincerely, Daniel P. Kneeland, Grafton, Ma.

Everything is just a general description or definition and not much more. Everything but how to use Sacramentals to enhance your worship life. Too bad someone did teach me more and this was not nearly enough.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 3 reviews  4.3 out of 5 stars