Hi everybody, Ive been thinking of contacting my local priest and get hold of some Holy Water for my prayertime.
It has got me thinking, is it allowed to drink holy water if one are very thirsty or just want to feel extra blessed?
its not very likely that Im going to sip holy water, Im just curious about the rules regarding use of Holy Water thats all:)
Because blessed salt doesn’t become a health hazard by being stored indefinitely at room temperature in a metal wall urn lacking any form of preservative or antibacterial.
I would not drink any Holy Water except that which was a bottle of drinking water that I first purchased and then asked the priest to Bless it. Drinking it a sin? No, most certainly not, but rather it this is a good practice. The same is true of Holy Oil and Holy Salt, they too can be consumed.
Question
QUESTION: Hello, Father, and Happy New Year to you! I am a Protestant myself, but I am also a writer, and my current project takes place in 1840’s Charleston, South Carolina. Many of my characters are Catholic and so I’ve been researching both the historical and contemporary Church. I have a scene in which a priest gives the Last Sacraments to another character. He’s just blessed the room with holy water. The sick woman begins to cough, and I was going to have him offer her water, but then I wondered if he might give her some of the holy water? I found out the drinking of holy water is done in the Eastern Church, but I don’t know about the U.S. Thank you very much for your time, and God bless you!
ANSWER: Hi, Elyse:
Thanks for the question.
The drinking of Holy Water is not unheard of, even in the Latin Rite Church in the USA. It would likely be something done among the very devout as an aid to healing and receiving some blessings from God. Have you ever heard of “Lourdes Water” from Lourdes, France? I had a friend who would drink that sometimes.
I drink holy water regularly, providing the source of the water is of drinking standard. If not, I place a little in the kettle and allow it to boil a couple of times. I know of a couple of families that ad holy water during the cooking process for dinner. Providing you are not removing excess fluid ie: draining from the cooking all should be well.
Its not a sin to drink Holy Water but its not advisable unless you know the source of it.
For example, when I lived in Singapore I attended the Novena Church (Our Lady of Perpetual Help). The source of their Holy Water is barrels filling up with rain water. Many people drank it and got sick and the priests had to announce that nobody should drink it.
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