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I have often wondered why it is in some Catholic churches on the continent, that they have such immense holy water stoups. When I was on holiday in southern France a couple of years ago, the weather was extremely hot and in a particularly large and beautiful church in that region, it had a huge and beautiful stoup at the entrance. Having taken the holy water myself upon entering to remind me of my baptism and making the sign of the cross, a lady followed me in and dipping her hand liberally in the water, she proceeded to splash the water on her face and doused her neck and underarms! She then genuflected to the Blessed Sacrament on the High Altar, said a quick prayer and left. Maybe there is something to be said for this practise on hot days in the summer, even in England. Our beautiful historic stoup at the back of St George's may not be big enough to perform this ceremony with such relish. I must confess that I have been highly amused on the occasions when I have sprinkled the congregation with holy water in our church, it has a most interesting effect, when people duck, hide behind someone else or remove their glasses! There is an old saying that the devil hates holy water! It reminds us that in holy baptism we promise to put away sin and fight against evil. For precisely the same reason Christians should love holy water, since by means of it we begin a new life in Christ and become a member of His Holy Catholic Church. I am always a little sad that in so many of our ancient English churches, the medieval holy water stoup by the church door is often still broken up from the time of the Reformation or is being used for a display of flowers (sometimes even the font!) Originally the stoup was a fountain where you could wash your hands before you entered God's House for the beginning of Mass and in some of the new services, the rite of sprinkling holy water at the beginning is a reminder of this. Muslims still do this before they enter a mosque and they even wash their feet too. Holy Water in the catholic tradition is used as a reminder of our baptism and forgiveness of sin, it is what we call a sacramental; i.e. something which conveys a blessing through the prayers of the church. Thus when water is blessed, a blessing is invoked upon all who use it, and upon any objects on which it may be sprinkled. May you be truly blessed this summer and always. Your priest and friend. Malcolm Ferrier. |
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page last updated 1 JULY 2001 |
