Book of Blessings

The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium), one of the four major documents of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) mandated a complete revision of liturgical ceremonies of the Roman or Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, including not only the Mass, but also the Roman Ritual containing the various blessings of the Church. These services of blessing are known as the sacramentals. Their revision was not complete until 1989. They were published in English under the title The Book of Blessings. One of the notable things about these blessing services is that many of them can be conducted by lay people, though some are reserved to priests and deacons and others to bishops alone. A very portable version of this was published as The Shorter Book of Blessings. Explanation by Dr. Italy