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 HOLT

433

HOLY

As early as the fourth century various writings, the au- thenticity of which is free from suspicion, mention the use of water sanctified either by the liturgical blessing just referred to, or by the individual l^lessing of some holy person. St. Epiphanius (Contra ha-res., 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 Naza- reth, crucified, depart from this unhappy one, thou infernal spirit, and let him be healed!" Jo.seph was converted and 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. Ixxxii) tells of a recluse named Eusitius who lived in the sixth century and possessed the power of curing quartan fever by giving its vic- tims 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 usetl in baptism, was considered free from all corruption. This belief spread from East to West; and scarcely had baptism been adminis- tered, when the people would crowd around with all sorts of vessels and take away the water, some keep- ing 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 uSpoKu/xijTTjs 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 begin- ning of each lunar month. It is quite possible that, according to canon Ixv of the Council of Constanti- nople held in 691, this rite was estalilished for the purpose of definitively supplanting the pagan feast of the new moon and causing it to pass into olilivion. In the West Dom Martene 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 or- dained that each priest bless water every Sunday in his own church and sprinkle the people with it: " Omni die Dominico, ante missam, aquam Isenedictam facite, unde populus et loca fidelium aspergantur" (P. L., CXV, col. 679). Hincmar of Reims gave direc- tions as follows: "Every Sunday, before the celebra- tion of Mass, the priest shall bless water in his church, and, for this holypurpose, he shall use a clean and suit- able 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 syno- dalia ", cap. V, in P. L., CXXV, col. 774). The rule of VII.— 28

havmg water blessed for the aspersion at Mass on Sunday was thenceforth generally followed, but the exact tune set by Leo IV and Hincmar was not every- where observed. At Tours, the blessing took place on Saturday before Vespers; at Cambrai and at Arras, 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 have been blessed: these are Easter Sun- day 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 Veau brnile el des vases destines a la contenir in the Bulleiin moninnei\tnl. 4th series, vol. VI (1S70), p. 393—467: Pfannexschmidt, Weihwasser im heidnischen und chrisl- lichen Cultus (Hanover, 1S69).

H. Leclercq.

Holy Water Fonts. — Vessels intended for the use of holy water are of very ancient origin, and archaeo- logical testimony compensates, to a certain extent, for the silence which historical and liturgical docu- ments maintain in their regard. Holy water fonts may be divided into three categories: stationary fonts, placed at the entrance to churches; portable fonts, used for aspersions and sacramental rites; and private fonts, in which holy water is kept in private houses.

The holy water font was originally the fountain for ablutions, canihariis, or phiala, placed in the centre of the atrium of the basilica and still found in the East, especially at Mount Athos, at Djebeil in Syria, and at Haia-Napa in the Island of Cyprus. These fountains were used by the faithful who, before entering the church, washed their hands and feet in accordance with a rite probably derived from Judaism and even yet observed in Mussulman countries. When the atrium of the Christian basilica was reduced to the proportions of a narrow court or a simple porch, the cantharus gave way to a less pretentious structure. It is now only exceptionally that the cantharus is found doing service as a holy water font, mainly at Mount Athos, where the phiala of the monastery of Laura stands near the cathoUcon in front of the entrance and is covered by a dome resting on eight pillars. It takes the place of the ablution fountains which were indispensaljle in the ancient basilicas; but at present the water is missing and gushes forth only on days when it is to be blessed. The blessing of the water takes place on the eve of the Epiphany after Mass and Vespers, and is called the "grand bless- ing" (fi^as a.yi.a<riif)s), SO as to distinguish it from the "little blessing" (luKph^ d7ia<r/;i5s), which is conducted with less ceremony on the first of each month, except January (on the 5th) and September (on the 14th).

In the sixth century Paulus Silentiarius, when describing the wonders of St. Sophia, al^out a. d. 590, mentions the presence of a phiala from which "water gushes noisily into the air, issuing from a bronze pipe with a force that banishes all evils, when in the month of golden tunics [January], during the night of the Divine initiation, the people draw in vessels an in- corruptible water, as no pollution reaches it, even when, having been several years removed from its source, it is enclosed in the hollow of'a pitcher and kept in their houses." At Laura the holy water does not banish evils, it enlightens souls; the faithful do not draw it for the purpose of carrying it away, but they are sanctified by the rite. In the fourth cen- tury the blessing of water was mentioned in Sera-