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Walking_Home
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Father --one more question: Adding water to the blessed salt does not result in holy water—you need to do another blessing?
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FrDavid96
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You know, at first I thought this was going off-topic. Then I realized that given the original question, it is realy “on topic” since it’s very much related to that first question.
Yes. The priest needs to do another blessing. Actually adding the salt to the water is a part of the blessing of holy water (though nowadays it’s “optional”), rather than saying that the salt is added first then the blessing is done.
And that’s why we’re back on-topic; because someone (other than a priest or deacon) could not carry around some blessed salt for the sake of “making” new holy water whenever needed.
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Walking_Home
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That has been my experience–haven’t seen a priest add salt to the water for blessing. Thanks for the info.
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FrDavid96
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Not only is it spiritually “better” (don’t take that too literally), but it’s more “sanitary” because the salt cuts down on the chance of bacteria and other nasties making a home in the holy water font. And that’s probably exactly where the custom came from in the first place. Salt is a preservative. The ancients knew this long before they had microscopes. The spiritual symbolism of salt is that it’s preserving and cleansing, because it is also that in the literal sense. Just as olive oil was used for healing (forming a barrier over a wound to keep out bacteria), so too olive oil is used in the sacrament of Anointing the sick. Salt helped to preserve food, keeping away the “bad demons” that made it spoil. The prophet Elisha purified a well by adding salt. 2 Kings 2:19.
Holy water is a sacramental often used for purification, so adding salt to it stresses this cleansing and preserving use.
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Walking_Home
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Father – you have given me an idea. I may just take some salt and have it blessed so I can add a bit to my supply of Holy Water.
Does it matter if it is regular table salt, I also have some sea salt ?
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FrDavid96
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Personally, I use non-iodized salt. I’m no scientist, but someone once told me that non-iodized is less likely to cause corrosion to metal (like the plating on the sprinkler for example). I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I figure “it can’t hurt” and I can pick from either one off the supermarket shelf, so I go Kosher.
Funny you should ask that because I was just thinking that the next time I’m at the grocer I might look for different kinds of salt to use the next time I need it. I think sea salt (especially if it’s course) would work great. Any salt will do in a pinch.
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Walking_Home
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Don’t know if the iodization increases corrosion – but I agree -can’t hurt using the non-iodized. Since I have the sea salt --sea salt it is. Thanks again.
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Br.Rich_SFO
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Br.Rich_SFO
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Salt itself is a corrosive, but iodine is also very corrosive. So you are correct the non-iodized salt would be better. I would think Kosher salt would be good.
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Digitonomy
Guest
*]Is it proper or necessary for the salt to be blessed, or can unblessed salt be used?
*]Since sea salt is acceptable, would other salts be permitted besides sodium chloride? - say potassium chloride, or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)?
*]What’s the usual “recipe”? How much salt per amount of water?
This topic has fascinated me since I first found out about it, but I haven’t been able to get detailed answers. I’m especially interested in the last question, since I’ve often heard this contention:
FrDavid96:
This is true (at least for pathogenic bacteria) only at higher concentrations of salt, otherwise a weakly saline solution is a great environment for these species, since it resembles home - our bodies. Not that it matters much - we’re exposed to many other sources of infection from the pews, the church door, breathing the air shared by the rest of the congregation, and especially the sign of peace. Life is not without risk.
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FrDavid96
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As for the salt itself, in the long form of blessing Holy Water, the exorcism and blessing of the salt is itself a part of the ritual, so to begin with, the salt is unblessed.
If the priest is using one of the many “short forms” for Holy Water, usually the salt is already blessed beforehand.
I think it must be sodium chloride as opposed to anything else, because remember that the word “salt” is used in the liturgical rather than the scientific sense of the word. So salt means what we usually call table salt.
Interrestingly enough I saw a show on the History Channel once about a salt mine in Louisianna. It seems that almost all the table salt in the world comes from this one mine. Before this deposit was discovered (I believe it was late in the 1800s) salt came from many different sources, including boiling sea water, and many small salt deposits from around the world.
So what? You may ask. Well, since you’ve asked, I’ll tell you.
Today, we have this singular notion of what is meant by salt. Recently, sea salt has become fashionable, but quite frankly it’s hard to tell the difference (at least the ones I’ve tried–no doubt there’s others out there). In the past there was a lot more variety to salt. It came in different colors, and different grades of “courseness” (the proper word escapes me), as well as having more variety to the actual flavor of it. Different regions of the world used different kinds of salt. I think it would be a good thing for priests to make use of this wide variety of salts for liturgical use.
As for “how much salt?” The ritual (again long form) says that the priest “pours” the salt into the water in the form of a cross. So I don’t think the Church’s intention is to use just a tiny amount (like a pinch of salt into a 5 gallon vessel) There’s no proper ratio as far as I know. But safe to say that he wouldn’t want to add too much that you end up with a water/salt mixture rather than simply water with salt added. I suppose a good rule of thumb is to say that if it doesn’t dissolve immediately, that’s too much.
As for your last part, about not enough salt actually making a “saline solution” and encouraging bacteria, I never thought of that. That does change things. So, maybe it’s not “more sanitary”. Oh well, at least it’s not outright dangerous!
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Digitonomy
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That’s great! Thanks for the thorough answer. As for the type of salt, if sodium chloride were unavailable and the priest used sodium bicarbonate instead, would it invalidate the blessing, or would that have no effect other than being illicit?
Regarding the concentration of salt, if you or anyone else can round up some rough numbers on the quantity of salt and water, I’ll calculate the molarity and do a little research on how that compares to the saline environments various bacteria prefer.
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FrDavid96
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It has to be table salt. I would doubt the question of validity or liciety has ever even been answered because when the Church says “salt” the only possible meaning is “table salt” (now, it can be sold as aquarium salt or rock salt or whatever, but those are all NaCl). Remember that applying the word “salt” to other chemicals is a relatively modern practice. In biblical times, salt (in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, whatever) simply meant salt. It’s hard to imagine salt being completely unavailable in our society. More than once I’ve used the little packets from fast food restaurants simply because they’re convenient and portable (not in church of course, but under certain circumstances–that’s the packet of dehydrated holy water that I carry in the glove box). I wonder how someone might have some bicarb but not any salt? Seems odd, no?
Let’s say I have a 5 gallon stainless steel holy water font (typical thing for churches) I use probably about 1 tablespoon. That’s just a rough guess, of course. A little goes a loooong way. I use bottled distilled water because the tap water around here is realy hard.
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FrDavid96
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A little-known fact is that when the Pope himself provides Holy Water, he doesn’t use table salt, he uses a different kind of salt.
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Matariel
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Can you ingest blessed salt, or is that sacrilege? I know the Eastern Catholics drink holy water regularly, and that its permissible for Western Catholics too.
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FrDavid96
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Sure. Of course. Salt for the table is blessed all the time. Blessing of foods for Easter on Holy Saturday is a prime example.
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Matariel
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Oh? What would happen if a possessed person was forced to ingest blessed salt? Would it do the same as holy water?
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Aramis
Guest
In the Byzantine Tradition, we have entire baskets of food blessed at Easter, immediately following Easter Liturgy, including typically salt, butter, sausage, eggs, sweets and oil; we take home bottles, literally, of blessed holy water on theophany, hopefully enough to last throughout the year. For a parish of 50 families, about 7-10 gallons of holy water is sent out. We are even to sprinkle our homes with it, to use it to ask for God’s blessing for ourselves in illness, and more.
So yes, I eat blessed salt… regularly.
So yes, I eat blessed salt… regularly.
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Matariel
Guest
Ruthenian… that sounds so beautiful… I just converted to the holy Church and I guess I’m a Latin-Rite Catholic.
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