Holy
Water
The use of holy
water in the earliest days of the Christian Era is attested
by documents of only comparatively late date. The "Apostolic
Constitutions", the redaction of which goes back to
about the year 400, attribute to the Apostle St. Matthew
the precept of using holy water. The letter written under
the name of Pope Alexander I, who lived in the second century,
is apocryphal and of more recent times; hence the first
historical testimony does not go back beyond the fifth century.
However, it is permissible to suppose for the sake of argument
that, in the earliest Christian times, water was used for
expiatory and purificatory purposes, to a way analogous
to its employment under the Jewish Law. As, in many cases,
the water used for the Sacrament of Baptism was flowing
water, sea or river water, it could not receive the same
blessing as that contained in the baptisteries. On this
particular point the early liturgy is obscure, but two recent
discoveries are of very decided interest. The Pontifical
of Scrapion of Thumis, a fourth-century bishop, and likewise
the "testamentum Domini", a Syriac composition
dating from the fifth to the sixth century, contain a blessing
of oil and water during Mass. The formula in Scrapion's
Pontifical is as follows: "We bless these creatures
in the Name of Jesus Christ, Thy only Son; we invoke upon
this water and this oil the Name of Him Who suffered, Who
was crucified, Who arose from the dead, and Who sits at
the right of the Uncreated. Grant unto these creatures the
power to heal; may all fevers, every evil spirit, and all
maladies be put to flight by him who either drinks these
beverages or is anointed with them, and may they be a remedy
in the Name of Jesus Christ, Thy only Son." As early
as the fourth century various writings, the authenticity
of which is free from suspicion, mention the use of water
sanctified either by the liturgical blessing just referred
to, or by the individual blessing of some holy person. St.
Epiphanius (Contra haeres., lib. I, haer. xxx) records that
at Tiberias a man named Joseph poured water on a madman,
having first made the sign of the cross and pronounced these
words over the water: "In the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, crucified, depart from this unhappy one, thou
infernal spirit, and let him be healed!" Joseph was
converted an subsequently used the same proceeding to overcome
witchcraft; yet, he was neither a bishop nor a cleric. Theodoret
(Hist. eccl., V, xxi) relates that Marcellus, Bishop of
Apamea, sanctified water by the sign of the cross and that
Aphraates cured one of the emperor's horses by making it
drink water blessed by the sign of the cross ("Hist.
relig.", c. viii, in P.G., LXXXII, col. 1244, 1375).
In the West similar attestations are made. Gregory of Tours
(De gloria confess., c. 82) tells of a recluse named Eusitius
who lived in the sixth century and possessed the power of
curing quartan fever by giving its victims to drink of water
that he had blessed; we might mention many other instances
treasured up by this same Gregory ("De Miraculis S.
Martini", II, xxxix; "Mirac. S. Juliani",
II, iii, xxv, xxvi; "Liber de Passione S. Juliani";
"Vitae Patrum", c. iv, n. 3). It is known that
some of the faithful believed that holy water possessed
curative properties for certain diseases, and that this
was true in a special manner of baptismal water. In some
places it was carefully preserved throughout the year and,
by reason of its having been used in baptism, was considered
free from all corruption. This belief spread from East to
West; and scarcely had baptism been administered, when the
people would crown around with all sorts of vessels and
take away the water, some keeping it carefully in their
homes whilst others watered their fields, vineyards, and
gardens with it ("Ordo rom. I", 42, in "Mus.
ital.", II, 26).
However,
baptismal water was not the only holy water. Some was permanently
retained at the entrance to Christian churches where a clerk
sprinkled the faithful as they came in and, for this reason,
was called hydrokometes or "introducer by water",
an appellation that appears in the superscription of a letter
of Synesius in which allusion is made to "lustral water
placed in the vestibule of the temple". This water was
perhaps blessed in proportion as it was needed, and the custom
of the Church may have varied on this point. Balsamon tells
us that, in the Greek Church, they "made" holy water
at the beginning of each lunar month. It is quite possible
that, according to canon 65 of the Council of Constantinople
held in 691, this rite was established for the purpose of
definitively supplanting the pagan feast of the new moon and
causing it to pass into oblivion. In the West Dom Martène
declares that nothing was found prior to the ninth century
concerning the blessing and aspersion of water that takes
place every Sunday at Mass. At that time Pope Leo IV ordered
that each priest bless water every Sunday in his own church
and sprinkle the people with it: "Omni die Dominico,
ante missam, aquam benedictam facite, unde populus et loca
fidelium aspergantur" (P.L., CXV, col. 679). Hincmar
of Reims gave directions as follows: "Every Sunday, before
the celebration of Mass, the priest shall bless water in his
church, and, for this holy purpose, he shall use a clean and
suitable vessel. The people, when entering the church, are
to be sprinkled with this water, and those who so desire may
carry some away in clean vessels so as to sprinkle their houses,
fields, vineyards, and cattle, and the provender with which
these last are fed, as also to throw over their own food"
("Capitula synodalia", cap. v, in P.L., CXXV, col,
774). The rule of having water blessed for the aspersion at
Mass on Sunday was thenceforth generally followed, but the
exact time set by Leo IV and Hincmar was not everywhere observed.
At Tours, the blessing took place on Saturday before Vespers;
at Cambrai and at Aras, it was to be given without ceremony
in the sacristy before the recitation of the hour of Prime;
at Albi, in the fifteenth century, the ceremony was conducted
in the sacristy before Terce; and at Soissons, on the highest
of the sanctuary steps, before Terce; whereas at Laon and
Senlis, in the fourteenth century, it took place in the choir
before the hour of Terce. There are two Sundays on which water
is not and seems never to be blessed: these are Easter Sunday
and Pentecost. The reason is because on the eve of these two
feasts water for the baptismal fonts is blessed and consecrated
and, before its mixture with the holy chrism, the faithful
are allowed to take some of it to their homes, and keep it
for use in time of need.
BARRAUD,
De l'eau benite et des vases destines a la contenir in the
Bulletin monumental, 4th series, vol. VI (1870), p. 393-467;
PFANNENSCHMIDT, Weihwasser im heidnischen und christlichen
Cultus (Hanover, 1869).
|
 
Sins
that Holy Springwater™ can wash away:
| Type
of Sin |
Recommended
water intake
(per
transgression) |
|
|
One
bottle
|
|
|
One
Bottle
|
|
|
One
to Two bottles
|
|
|
Two
Bottles
|
|
|
One
bottle
|
|
|
Three
Bottles
|
|
|
Nine
Bottles
|
|
|
One
Bottle
|
|
|
Two
bottles
|
|
|
Three
Bottles
|
With
all the risks of hell, and reincarnation into various
beast forms, only Holy Springwater™ is an acceptable
alternative to normal forms of penance. Safe, effective
and completely confidential, why would you consider
any other method of cleansing your sins and thirst
at the same time?
|
|
