Holy Water in General
Holy water is a sacramental, almost certainly of apostolic origin. The Apostolic Constitutions ascribes the institution of the blessing of water to St. Matthias the Apostle.
Concerning the water and the oil, I, Matthias make a constitution. Let the bishop bless the water, or the oil. But if he be not there, let the presbyter bless it, the deacon standing by. But if the bishop be present, let the presbyter and deacon stand by, and let him say thus: O Lord of hosts, the God of powers, the creator of the waters, and the supplier of oil, who art compassionate, and a lover of mankind, who hast given water for drink and for cleansing, and oil to give man a cheerful and joyful countenance; do Thou now also sanctify this water and this oil through Your Christ, in the name of him or her that has offered them, and grant them a power to restore health, to drive away diseases, to banish demons, and to disperse all snares through Christ our hope, with whom glory, honour, and worship be to You, and to the Holy Ghost, forever. Amen.
Apostolic Constitutions, VIII, 29
Another place in the Apostolic Constitutions tells us the purpose of holy water, “to give health, drive away diseases, put the demons to flight.” These powers of holy water are verified by the lived experience of the Church throughout her two thousand year history.
From long experience, I have learned that there is nothing like holy water to put devils to flight and prevent them from coming back again. They also flee from the Cross, but return; so holy water must have great virtue.
St. Teresa of Avila
Other ancient texts indicate that Pope St. Alexander I, the sixth Roman Pontiff, composed formulae for the blessing of water, which “tears apart the nets of sorcery and drives away demons,” and that included the admixture of salt. “We bless, for the use of the people, water mingled with salt.”
Whatever its ultimate origin, we can be confident that “the use of holy water dates from apostolic times, as St. Basil, among others, maintains” (The Sacramentals of the Holy Catholic Church, p. 110).
This practice of the apostolic Church was consistent with the former practices of Israel. For example, water was often used as a purifying element in the rites of the Old Testament (cf. Ex 29-30, Num 19). Other places make use of the imagery of water to indicate a spiritual purification and renewal (cf. Is 1:16-20). The admixture of salt even appears in one of the prophetic actions of Elisha.
He said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. Then he went to the spring of water and threw salt in it, and said, “Thus says the Lord, I have made this water wholesome; henceforth neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.” So the water has been wholesome to this day, according to the word which Elisha spoke.
2 Kings 2:20-22, RSV-CE
The use of salt is not arbitrary, but is derived from its cultural, medicinal, and agricultural significance in the ancient world.
- It was common for salt to be exchanged as a symbol of friendship, hospitality, and covenant among the ancients. God uses this particular symbol twice in the Old Testament, describing his relationship with the king and with the priests as a “covenant of salt” (cf. Num 18:19, 2 Chron 13:5).
- Salt was also known for its medicinal and preservative properties, which makes it a fitting symbol for grace.
- At the time of Our Lord, it was common for Jews to purchase salt from merchants, who had extracted it from the Dead Sea basin. This was not table salt (i.e., NaCl) as we know it, but a mixture of various minerals. About two-fifths of this was potassium chloride, otherwise known as potash, one of the three major fertilizing agents (the other two being nitrogen and phosphorus). This salt compound was used by the Jews to sterilize their outhouse basins. The materials were periodically brought from there to the agricultural fields to fertilize their crops. Salt merchants were not always honest: consumers had to be careful to taste their product to make sure it was not adulterated by sand. If the salt had no savor, i.e. saltiness, then it was cast out onto the streets. This is almost certainly the primary meaning of Our Lord’s words: “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men” (Mt 5:13). This is made even more clear in the parallel passage from Luke: “It [the salt] is fit neither for the land [the Greek word indicates agricultural land] nor for the dunghill; men throw it away” (Lk 14:34-45). Taken together, salt is symbolic of the Christian’s role in purifying and sanctifying the world. It makes sense that Our Lord follows up with a parallel teaching: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Mt 5:16). He expresses this sentiment in other places, for example, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened” (Mt 13:33).
- Salt is also a symbol for wisdom. The baptismal rite includes an introduction of salt onto the tongue of the catechumen, with the words, “Receive the salt of wisdom, etc.” Salt mixed into water therefore manifests a mystery parallel to the mixing of water and wine at the Offertory of the Holy Mass: namely, the divinization of human nature by sanctifying grace, by means of the Incarnate Divine Wisdom.
Grant that, by the Mystery of this water and wine, we may be made partakers of His divine nature, who vouchsafed to be made partaker of our human nature.
Offertory of the Holy Mass
Holy water accompanies us throughout our sacramental life. As John Paul Sonnen puts it, “From the time holy water is first poured on our brow at Baptism, we encounter it often as it accompanies us through life to the last rites over our earthly remains. Even the ground to which we are laid at our final commendation is blessed with its hallowed drops.”
The use of holy water was formerly indulgenced, by decree of Bl. Pius IX. Although this indulgence was suppressed by the 1968 Enchridion Indulgentiarum of St. Paul VI, it remains indirectly indulgenced in several ways (cf. #35, on the use of blessed items, and #55, on the Sign of the Cross, both of which carry a partial indulgence).
The faithful, who devoutly use an article of devotion (crucifix or cross, rosary, scapular or medal) properly blessed by any priest, obtain a partial indulgence…. A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful, who devoutly sign themselves with the sign of the cross, while saying the customary words: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, #35 and #55
There are several major types of holy water: common holy water, which is placed in the stoups of the church, sprinkled upon the faithful, and used for the blessing of other sacramentals; lustral water, from the Vigils of Easter and Pentecost; baptismal water, which is the lustral water infused with holy oils; Gregorian water, blessed by a bishop and infused with ash, wine, and salt – this is used for the consecration and reconciliation of churches; and Epiphany water, blessed on the Vigil of Epiphany. There are also other waters blessed under the invocation of certain saints.
Holy water is not a Sacrament, and therefore it is not an instrumental cause of grace. It does, however, as a sacramental, dispose the faithful for the reception of actual graces, because the prayers of the Church have been united to it. St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologiae, Tertia pars, q. 65, a. 1, ad 6, teaches:
Holy Water and other consecrated things are not called Sacraments, because they do not produce the sacramental effect, which is the receiving of [santifying] grace. They are, however, a kind of disposition to the Sacraments: either by removing obstacles, thus holy water is ordained against the snares of the demons, and against venial sins: or by making things suitable for the conferring of a sacrament; thus the altar and vessels are consecrated through reverence for the Eucharist.
St. Thomas Aquinas
In another place, (Tertia pars, q. 87, a. 3), he teaches that holy water includes a “movement of reverence for God and Divine things…. All these things cause the remission of venial sins, in so far as they incline the soul to the movement of penance, that is, the implicit or explicit detestation of one’s sins…. All these things, so far as they are concerned, conduce to the remission of all venial sins: but the remission may be hindered as regards certain venial sins, to which the mind is still actually attached, even as insincerity sometimes impedes the effect of Baptism…. By the above things, venial sins are indeed taken away as regards the guilt, both because those things are a kind of satisfaction, and through the virtue of charity whose movement is aroused by such things. Yet it does not always happen that, by means of each one, the whole guilt of punishment is taken away, because, in that case, whoever was entirely free from mortal sin, would go straight to heaven if sprinkled with holy water: but the debt of punishment is remitted by means of the above, according to the movement of fervor towards God, which fervor is aroused by such things, sometimes more, sometimes less.”
The Feast of the Epiphany
Epiphany is a Greek word that means manifestation. The feast acknowledges that Christ entered this world in a very hidden way, reserving the revelation of the Incarnation to his later life: first, in a limited and hidden way; later, in a public and visible way. There are three major mysteries commemorated by this feast: first, the arrival of the Magi, the first Gentiles to encounter Our Lord, and to adore him; second, the Baptism of Our Lord, which prompted the divine theophany, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; and third, the changing of water to wine at Cana, which represented Our Lord’s first public miracle.
This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
The Gospel according to St. John 2:11
The Feast of the Epiphany has its origin in the Eastern Catholic Churches, no later than the mid-fourth century: “Let the Epiphany, in which the Lord manifested to us his own divinity, be to you the most honored festival and let it be celebrated on the sixth day of January” (cf. Apostolic Constitutions V, 13). The East would even baptize catechumens on the Vigil of Epiphany, and thus, the feast was sometimes called the Illumination or the Enlightenment. When the feast was later taken up by the West, the emphasis there shifted from the Baptism of Our Lord to the visit of the Magi, though it still retained the meaning of the other two mysteries. For example, in the Magnificat Antiphon for Second Vespers, we find: “We celebrate a holy day adorned with three mysteries: this day the star led the Magi to the manger; this day wine was made from water at the wedding; this day Christ willed to be baptized in the Jordan by John in order to save us, alleluia.” The Benedictus Antiphon likewise refers to all three of the manifestation mysteries.
Why do we call this day Epiphany? Because Jesus Christ manifested Himself to all people, not when He was born, but, rather, when He was baptized. Until that time He was unknown to the people, as testified by St. John the Baptist, saying: ‘There stands among you one, whom you do not know!’
St. John Chrysostom, Homily on the Epiphany, 2
In Rome, the Feast served as a kind of capstone to Christmastide. The Feast of the Nativity and the three Feasts that followed it (St. Stephen the First Martyr, St. John the Apostle, and the Holy Innocents) all had their own proper Octaves by the end of the Patristic era. The pairing of these three Feasts with the Nativity was not accidental. Our Lord was born in order to shed his blood for us; we are called to reciprocate that love, to shed our blood for love of him. St. Stephen accomplished this by will and by deed, St. John by will alone, the Holy Innocents by deed alone. In these three feasts we see the human race responding gratefully to the gift of the Incarnation.
There is a rising and falling action to the twelve days of Christmas as the four Octaves open successively and then close one after another. On the eleventh day of Christmas, the fourth and final Octave concludes with the renewal of the Holy Innocents. Finally, on the twelfth day of Christmas, the Vigil of the Epiphany is celebrated. Also of Patristic origin, the Vigil constituted one of the four great Vigils of the liturgical cycle, alongside that of the Nativity itself, of Easter, and of Pentecost. It differed from them and from all other Vigils, however, in that no part of it was celebrated in violet; from beginning to end, the Vigil is adorned in white. It retains the Gloria and Alleluia verse, and it makes use of the Preface of the Nativity.
Yet another element that unites the mysteries of the Nativity and the Epiphany in the sacred liturgy is found at the daytime Mass of Christmas. The proper Gospel for that Mass is the Prologue narrative of St. John, which normally serves as the Last Gospel. Therefore, in place of the usual Last Gospel, the Church supplied the Gospel of the Epiphany Mass (which includes the adoration of the Magi).
It must be noted with sadness and not a little confusion that the three festal Octaves, the Vigil of Epiphany, the use of proper Last Gospels, and the Octave of the Epiphany were all suppressed in the revisions to the Missal between 1955 and 1962.
Epiphany Water
The tradition of blessing water on the Vigil of the Epiphany is very ancient, though not found universally throughout the Church. Fr. Francis X. Weiser, SJ, in his work Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs, recounts the history of many such blessings, accomplished by various means and rituals in different regions. At the river Jordan, thousands of pilgrims would gather after the episcopal blessing of the river itself, submerging themselves three times in the sanctified waters. A similar ritual was done at the Nile for many centuries. In Constantinople, water was blessed in the church and given to the people for their own devotional use. St. John Chrysostom mentions the practice and claimed that the blessed water would stay fresh throughout the year.
In the West, the blessing of Epiphany Water was introduced in various regions starting in the fifteenth century. There is a book cataloguing various regional rituals for the blessing, which is available here, if you are interested. They were especially popular in southern Italy and in Germany. Many of these rituals included an immersion of a Crucifix into the waters as part of the blessing. The Nuntiatoria website explains the Western tradition:
This older Roman form did not merely allude to Christ’s Baptism but ritually reenacted it, most notably through the solemn immersion of the crucifix into the water. This action was not ornamental. It was the theological heart of the rite. The Roman Church confessed visibly what the Fathers taught doctrinally: Christ sanctifies the waters by contact with His Body….
Nuntiatoria Website
The later Rituale Romanum preserved this theology in a more compact form, retaining solemn exorcisms, the blessing of salt, and the Jordan typology, but without the full ritual enactment found in earlier Roman uses. Nothing in the older rite was doctrinally corrected or repudiated; it was simplified for the sake of pastoral uniformity. The theological content remains entirely Roman, orthodox, and continuous.
Seen in this light, the Western tradition appears not restrained or juridical, but once cosmically confident. The immersion of the crucifix in the older Latin rite stands as the Roman analogue to the Eastern immersion of the cross in the Great Blessing of Waters. The resemblance is theological, not derivative. Both arise independently from the same patristic conviction: Christ descends into the waters to reclaim them….
The blessing of Epiphany water is thus neither a folkloric survival nor a devotional curiosity. It is a proclamation of Christ’s cosmic kingship and of the Church’s sacramental vision of the world. In blessing water, the Church announces that the Jordan has been sanctified—and with it, the whole created order. Wherever this water is used, the Church quietly confesses that Christ has entered the depths, and that creation itself bears the mark of His light.
It was notably Pope Leo XIII (1878 – 1903) that gave the West a universal form for the blessing of Epiphany water. Although he is perhaps best known for his social encyclicals (e.g. Rerum Novarum), Leo XIII was a fierce opponent of Freemasonry and liberalism, and supremely concerned about the diabolical forces that he saw gathering around the Church and the escalation of demonic influence in the world. It is not certain that these concerns were prompted by a heavenly vision (although Kevin Symonds, in his Pope Leo XIII and the Prayer to St. Michael, makes a convincing case that they were, though the contents of that vision remain mostly obscure). In any case, Leo XIII armed the Church with many implements of war against its dark enemies. He revised the prayers after Low Mass, which had been instituted by his predecessor, Pope Bl. Pius IX, making the concern for the welfare of the Church and the salvation of souls more explicit. Later, he authored the famous Prayer to St. Michael, and appended it to the prayers after Low Mass (which have everafter borne his name – the Leonine Prayers). He composed a longer prayer to St. Michael, and he added it with an indulgence to the Raccolta. He incorporated that same prayer into a new prayer of exorcism, which he added to the Rituale Romanum (it was later moved several times in the Rituale – with other instructions and rites of exorcism – eventually settling in Title XI, chapter 3). Finally, he fashioned a new rite for the blessing of Epiphany water and added it, as well, to the Rituale Romanum.
Given that Leo XIII was so concerned about Freemasonry, which is a gnostic and Satanic cult, it should come as no surprise that the blessing of Epiphany water, which proclaims the necessity of sanctifying the material order, received special attention from him. The specific form of the blessing sometimes receives criticism for containing disparate elements stitched together, but a closer look at them, and a deeper understanding of the Epiphany mystery and its connection to the Nativity, reveals a coherent meaning.
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Letter of St. Paul to the Romans 8:19-23
The Rite of Blessing
The rite has seven major parts:
- The Litany of Saints: This litany bears witness to the redeeming purpose of the Nativity; as St. Augustine writes, “God became man, that man might become God.” What is more, it recalls the Vigils of Easter and of Pentecost, where the Litany is recited. Earlier in those Masses, the lustral and baptismal waters were blessed; the latter was then used to administer Baptism to the catechumens of the Church, providing a parallel to the Epiphany mystery of Our Lord’s descent into the waters of the Jordan. A special, double invocation is added to the Litany in the Epiphany blessing: That you bless this water, we beg you to hear us; That you bless and sanctify this water, we beg you to hear us.
- Psalms 28, 45, and 146: These include verses such as: The voice of the Lord is over the waters, the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over vast waters; and The Lord is enthroned above the flood, the Lord is enthroned as king forever; and Therefore we fear not, though the earth be shaken and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea, though its waters rage and foam and the mountains quake at its surging; and There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High, God is in its midst, it shall not be disturbed, God will help it at the break of dawn; and Who covers the heavens with clouds, who provides rain for the earth.
- Exorcism: This prayer is lifted directly from the Rituale Romanum, Title XI, chapter 3 (the exorcism prayer composed by Leo XIII). Although the exorcism is directed towards the water, the prayer itself rebukes Satan for his deception over mankind and his assaults on the Church (e.g. Cease your deception of the human race and your giving them to drink of the poison of everlasting damnation; desist from harming the Church and fettering her freedom. Begone Satan, you father and teacher of lies and enemy of mankind.) This would seem to indicate that the use of this water is especially directed against the diabolical plans that Leo XIII foresaw would afflict the modern age. I should note that the faithful are forbidden to directly address the demons (i.e., by imprecatory prayers), and cannot lawfully make use of the exorcisms found in Title XI, which are reserved to bishops and to priests that have received faculties from their local ordinary.
- Magnificat. With its proper Antiphon, the Magnificat recalls the three mysteries of the Epiphany. If the blessing is done in the morning hours, the Benedictus takes the place of the Magnificat.
- Blessing of Water. This is the identical blessing, including the exorcism of salt and water and the commingling of those two elements, that is used for the blessing of common holy water.
- Sprinkling of People: This is another parallel to the Vigils of Easter and of Pentecost, in which the people are sprinkled with lustral water.
- Te Deum: Finally, the rite concludes with the Te Deum, the supreme hymn of thanksgiving of the Church. Already, the faithful sang this at the close of the year; here, they repeat it at the close of Christmastide.
The Use of Epiphany Water
The Rituale Romanum gives the following instruction after the blessing for Epiphany water: “This blessed water should be distributed to the faithful, to be devoutly used by them in their homes, and also for the sick ones.”
We should take care not to try and “quantify” grace, and thus consider Epiphany water to be a kind of “super holy water”, implicitly reducing common holy water to a kind of second-class sacramental. The faithful should be mindful of the fact that it is common holy water that is used in nearly all the rites of the Church, and this should encourage them not to disdain its use in favor of Epiphany water, nor to use it only reluctantly, but to follow the example of the saints in employing it frequently and gratefully.
Epiphany water may be used over the course of the year until its renewal in the following liturgical cycle, but I would suggest that it is most suitably used in specific ways. First, it can be sprinkled around the house after the chalk blessing on the Feast of the Epiphany itself. Second, that sprinkling could be renewed throughout the Octave of the Epiphany. Third, it might be sprinkled around the home throughout the year on some of the Feasts pertaining to the principal mysteries of Our Lord’s public life (although the lustral water may be preferred at Easter and Pentecost). Fourth, it could be used for the sick, as instructed by the Rituale. Fifth, it might be used when the faithful have genuine concern of demonic influence over their homes or their persons (taking care, however, not to grow obsessed with the demonic, or having immediate recourse to suspicion of demonic activity).
I would suggest that holy water stoups in the home should be filled with common holy water, as this is the practice in the church itself. Likewise, other frequent uses of holy water (for example, if the father has the custom of sprinkling the children with holy water before bed) should use common holy water, again in imitation of the usage and rites of the Church.
