From a reader…
QUAERITUR:
I recently obtained several Agnus Dei from Sisters in a traditional, cloistered order here in the U.S. They supposedly procure a smaller amount of the blessed wax from an original Agnus Dei from the pontificate of Pope Leo XIII. The items were purchased, with money exchanging hands for the item holding the Agnus Dei as well as work involved by the Sisters, but the blessed wax is a gift (to avoid simony and maintain the original blessing?).
I recently discovered that the Sisters are part of a schismatic group that are under the direction of a local bishop. Would this invalidate the blessings and graces associated with the pious wearing of an Agnus Dei? Is it wrong or sinful to support such a group through the purchase of their religious items?
Since they are gifts there no problem at all. Furthermore, it is not wrong to obtain (some would say “rescue” objects such as this from schismatic groups or others, the nefarious people who traffic in relics on Ebay, etc.
Some of you might not know what an Agnus Dei is.
These objects are discs, round or oval, of bees wax impressed with the figure of a lamb, usually with the flag, and saints on the reverse. They were blessed by the Pope. Sometimes they were worn around the neck. They are sacramentals. In history they go back to at least the 9th c.
