Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/261

 OILS

229

OINTMENT

shrines; also the water that flows from the wells near their burial places; or the oil and the water which have in some way come in contact with their relics. These oils are or have been used by the faithful, with the be- lief that they will cure bodily and spiritual ailments, not through any intrinsic power of their own, but through the intercession of the saints with whom the oils have some connexion. In the days of St. Pau- linus of Nola (d. 431) the custom prevailed of pouring oil over the relics or reliquaries of martyrs and then gathering it in vases, sponges, or pieces of cloth. This oil, oleum martyris, was distributed among the faithful as a remedy against sickness [" Paulini Nolani Carmen", XVIII, lines 38-40 and "Carmen", XXI, lines 590-600, in "Corpus Script. Ecel. Latinorum" (Vienna, 1866 sq.), XXX, 98, 177). According to the testimony of Paulinus of Perigueux (wrote about 470) in Gaul this custom was extended also to the relics of saints that did not die as martyrs, especially to the relics of St. Martin of Tours ("Paulini Petricordiae Carmen de vita S. Martini", V, 101 sq. in "Corpus Script. Eccl. Lat.", XVI, 111). In their accounts of miracles, wrought through the application of oils of saints, the early ecclesiastical writers do not always state just what kind of oils of saints is meant. Thus St. Augustine ("De Civitate Dei", XXII) mentions that a dead man was brought to life by the agency of the oil of St. Stephen.

At present the most famous of the oils of saints is The Oil of St. Walburga {Walburgis oleum). It flows from the stone slab and the surrounding metal plate on which rest the relics of St. Walburga in her church in Eichstadt in Bavaria. The fluid is caught in a sil- ver cup, placed beneath the slab for that purpose, and is distributed among the faithful in small phials by the Sisters of St. Benedict, to whom the church be- longs. A chemical analysis has shown that the fluid contains nothing but the ingredients of water. Though the origin of the fluid is probably due to natural causes, the fact that it came in contact with the relics of the saint justifies the practice of using it as a remedy against diseases of the body and the soul. Mention of the oil of St. Walburga is made as early as the ninth century by her biographer Wolfhard of Herriedcn ("Acta SS.", Feb., Ill, 562-3 and "Mon. Germ. Script.", XV, 535 sq.).

The Oil of St. Menas. Thousands of little flasks with the inscription: ETAOriA TOT AnOT MHNA (Remembrance of St. Menas), or the like have recently (1905-8) been excavated by C. M. Kaufmann at Baumma (Karm Abum) in the desert of Marcotis, in the northern part of the Libyan desert. The present Bumma is the burial place of the Libyan martyr Menas, which during the fifth and perhaps the sixth century was one of the most famous pilgrimage places in the Christian world. The flasks of St. Menas were well known for a long time to archaeologists, and had been found not only in Africa, but also in Spain, Italy, Dalmatia, France, and Russia, whither they had been brought by pilgrims from the shrine of Menas. Until the discoveries of Kaufmann, however, the flasks were supposed to have contained oil from the lamps that burned at the sepulchre of Menas. From various in- scriptions on the flasks that were excavated by Kauf- mann, it is certain that at least some, if not all, of them contained water from a holy well near the shrine of St. Menas, and were given as remembrances to the pilgrims. The so-called oil of St. Menas was there- fore in reality, water from his holy well, which was used as a remedy against bodily and spiritual ail- ments.

The Oil of St. Nicholas of Myra is the fluid which emanates from his relics at Bari in Italy, whither they were brought in 1087. It is said to have also flowed from his relics when they were still in Myra. (See Nicholas of Myha, Saint.)

St. Gregory of Toiirs, "De Gloqa martyrutn", xxx,

P. L., LXXI, 730) testifies that a certain substance like flour emanated from the sepulchre of John the Evangelist. The same Gregory writes (ibid., xxxi) that from the sepulchre of the Apostle St. Andrew at Patra; emanated manna in the form of flour and fra- grant oil.

Following is a list of other saints from whose relics or sepulchres oil is said to have flowed at certain times: St. Antipas, Bishop of Pergamum, martyred under Emperor Domitian ("Acta SS.", April, II, 4); St. Babolenus, Abbot of St-Maur-des-Foss^s near Paris, d. in the seventh century ("Acta SS.", June, VII, 160); St. Candida the Younger, of Naples, d. 586 ("Acta SS.", Sept., II, 230) ; St. Demetrius of Thessa- lonica, martyred in 306 or 290 ("Acta SS.", Oct., IV, 73-8); St. Eligius, Bishop of Noyon, d. 660 or soon after (Surius, "De probatis sanctorum historiis", VI, 678) ; St. Euthvmius the Great, abbot in Palestine, d. 473 ("Acta SS".", Jan., II, 687); St. Fantinus, confes- sor, at Tauriano in Calabria, d. under Constantino the Great ("Acta SS.", Julv, V, 556); St. Felix of Nola, priest, died about 260 ("Acta SS.", Jan., II, 223); St. Franca, Cistercian abbess, d. 1218 ("Acta SS.", April, III, 393-4); St. Glvceria, martyred during the reign of Antoninus Pius ("ActaSS.", May, III, 191); Bl. Gun- decar. Bishop of Eichstadt, d. 1075 ("Acta SS.", August, I, 184); St. Humilitas, first abbess of the Val- lombrosiaa Nuns, d. 1310 ("Acta SS.", May, V, 211); St. John the Almsgiver. Patriarch of Alexandria, d. 620 or 616 ("Acta SS.", Jan., Ill, 130-1); St. John of Beverley, Bishop of York, d. 721 ("Acta SS.", May, II, 192); St. Luke the Younger, surnamed Thauma- turgos, a hermit in Greece, d. 945-6 ("ActaSS.", Feb., II, 99); St. Paphnutius, bishop and martyr in Greece, d. probably in the fourth centurv ("Acta SS.", April, II, 620); St. Paul, Bishop of Verdun, d. 648 ("Acta SS.", Feb., II, 174) ; St. Perpetuus, Bishop of Tongres- Utrecht, d. 630 (Acta SS., Nov., II, 295); St. Peter Gonzdlez, Dominican, d. 1246 ("Acta SS.", April, II, 3931; St. Peter Thaumaturgus, Bishop of Argos, d. about 890 ("Acta SS.", May, I, 432); St. Rolendis, virgin, at Gerpinnes in Belgium, d. in the seventh or eighth century ("Acta SS.", May, III, 243); St. Re- verianus. Bishop of Autun, and Companions, mar- tyred about 273 ("Acta SS.", June, I, 40-1); St. Sa- binus. Bishop of Canosa, d. about 566 ("Acta SS.", Feb II 329) ; St. Sigolena, Abbess of Troclar, d. about 700 ("Acta SS.", July, V, 6.36); St. Tillo Paulus, a Benedictine monk at Solignac in Gaul, d. 703 ("Acta SS.", Jan., I, 380); St. Venerius, hermit on the Island of Palamaria in the gulf of Genoa, d. in the seventh century ("Acta SS.", Sept., IV, 118); St. William, Archbishop of York, d. 1154 ("Acta SS.", June, II, 140) ; and a few others.

Beside.s the references above, see the articles: Walborqa; Menas. etc.

Michael Ott.

Oils, Holy. See Holy Oils.

Ointment in Scripture. — That the use of oily, fragrant iiiatrrials ti i am lint the body is a custom going back to rciiiiite aiiti(iuity is evidenced by the Old Testament as well as other early literatures. Likewise the ceremonial and sacred use of oil and ointment was of early origin among the Hebrews, and, of course, was much elaborated in the prescriptions of the later ritual. The particularly rich unguent known as the "holy oil of unction" is frequently referred to in the "priestly" sections of the Pentateuch and in Parali- pomenon. Its composition is minutely prescribed in Exodus, XXX, 23, 24. Besides the regular basis of olive oil, the other ingredients mentioned are chosen myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia, all of which are to be used in stated quantities. The making or the use of this holy oil by unauthorized persons was prohibited under pain of sacrilege. In many of the references to ointment in Scripture perfumed oil is meant, and it