Holy Water Placement

[TheRealJuliane]

Wait-are we still talking about miniature rock fountains you can put on your counter at home?

We also have a pretty large font at my parish. It has a smaller “top section” that they hold the babies over and a bigger section on the floor where the adults kneel for baptism. And the water is always running from the top section to the bottom, I’m assuming because it has a pump.

I just was concerned that taking a large amount of holy water from a smaller font would be problematic. I could easily fill a gallon jug from our font and not cause the water level to go down, although I might get some funny looks from other parishioners. Our font is big enough for adult immersion and it sits right in the middle of the sanctuary.

 

[anp1215]

I just was concerned that taking a large amount of holy water from a smaller font would be problematic. I could easily fill a gallon jug from our font and not cause the water level to go down, although I might get some funny looks from other parishioners. Our font is big enough for adult immersion and it sits right in the middle of the sanctuary.

Oh I see. Yes, I don’t think a gallon would be missed from ours either. Ours is in front of the doors when you walk in.

Or couldn’t you just put regular water in it and get the priest to bless it? Or is that different?

 

[TheRealJuliane]

Oh I see. Yes, I don’t think a gallon would be missed from ours either. Ours is in front of the doors when you walk in.

Or couldn’t you just put regular water in it and get the priest to bless it? Or is that different?

I think you can do that, but I missed over 20 years of catechism, so don’t take it from me!

 

[Cristiano]

Oh I see. Yes, I don’t think a gallon would be missed from ours either. Ours is in front of the doors when you walk in.

Or couldn’t you just put regular water in it and get the priest to bless it? Or is that different?

Holy water is simply regular water that has been blessed by the priest. There isn’t a special chemical composition for holy water like the one that we have for heavy water. I prefer the blessing of the water and of the salt done using the EF rite.

 

[CB_Catholic]

I don’t see where having holy water in an electric fountain is any more disrespectful than people drinking it or cooking with it–both of which people have claimed to do on these forums in the past and no one has commented about.

We have an electric baptismal fountain in our church --the running water sure looks cleaner than what I’ve seen in the holy water founts and baptismal founts in some churches I’ve visited, and I think it’s more disrespectful not to assure these are being cleaned and the water changed very frequently. I kid you not, I’ve seen some gross-looking founts.

 

[iloveangels]

Not as far as I’m aware, bottled water has a sell by date. I’ll also never forget the smell from a bottle of water left in the corner of my sisters house when they had just moved in, terrible.

Correct. Don’t drink it if it’s over about 5 years old. When it’s bottled, it’s purified so that the bacteria level is very low, but no telling what it is now, after all that time.

 

[iloveangels]

Would it need a pump that can accommodate salt water?

I dunno…

I only ask because I have a desktop fountain that needs distilled water to keep the innards from getting jammed up from minerals, salts, etc. found in tap water. I’m pretty sure that if I replace the distilled water with holy water it would eventually stop working.

Luna

I don’t know. Do they put a little salt in holy water?

Salt, depending on the concentration, would tend to discourage mold and mildew and certain kinds of microbes but not all. It would also tend to corrode the inside of the pump if it’s not plastic/teflon lined or something like that. This can happen even with fairly small concentrations of salt, and especially if there is more than one kind of metal in contact with another kind of metal. [Yeah, I’m a chemist.]

 

[iloveangels]

I don’t see where having holy water in an electric fountain is any more disrespectful than people drinking it or cooking with it–both of which people have claimed to do on these forums in the past and no one has commented about.

We have an electric baptismal fountain in our church --the running water sure looks cleaner than what I’ve seen in the holy water founts and baptismal founts in some churches I’ve visited, and I think it’s more disrespectful not to assure these are being cleaned and the water changed very frequently. I kid you not, I’ve seen some gross-looking founts.

Cooking with it? Tilt. :whacky:

I’d be wondering if somebody had been whole body baptized in it. Do they really disinfect those whole assemblies afterward? Probably not well enough to drink the water. Not good idea.

 

[iloveangels]

… I kid you not, I’ve seen some gross-looking founts.

I believe you. They finally drained the one at the cathedral here because it looked like a swamp. I was expecting frogs to move in any time.

The problem with these things is that architects, liturgists and so on think of all these “concepts” that they want to put into place, but don’t understand that it takes some chemistry, knowledge & experience to keep an indoor pond of water from turning into a bacteria-laden, moldy eyesore or worse. Particularly when there are people putting their dirty hands, keesters etc in it every now and then.

 

[Cristiano]

Cooking with it? Tilt. :whacky:…

It is very normal especially among the faithfuls in the Eastern Churches. I often used blessed salt when I cook.

 

[iloveangels]

It is very normal especially among the faithfuls in the Eastern Churches. I often used blessed salt when I cook.

Really? Well, I sure wouldn’t get it out of the same circulating baptismal font that people are whole-body baptized from. Some of that stuff can be hard to kill even with extended boiling.

I mean churches could retard much of that growth by adding chlorine and other antimicrobial agents, but I doubt most of them do, because I think most of them might say it’s not consistent with the idea of blessed holy water. And they’re probably right.

If you want to cook with holy water, it might be best to take a jug of good clean drinking water to a priest and ask for the blessing and then refrigerate it afterward if you want to keep it for any length of time. [If you’re not bashful about admitting you cook with holy water, that is.]

 

[Cristiano]

Really? Well, I sure wouldn’t get it out of the same circulating baptismal font that people are whole-body baptized from. Some of that stuff can be hard to kill even with extended boiling…

You can always boil it and then some UV exposure before using it!

You can simply go to a priest with a clean big bottle filled with fresh water and a new box of salt and ask him to bless them. The Catholic store where I buy things sells bottle specifically for holy water that can hold at least a quarter of a gallon if not half a gallon.

Or you can by Holy Drinking Water online :banghead::banghead::banghead:

 

[JReducation]

Not as far as I’m aware, bottled water has a sell by date. I’ll also never forget the smell from a bottle of water left in the corner of my sisters house when they had just moved in, terrible.

I never knew that.

I just was concerned that taking a large amount of holy water from a smaller font would be problematic. I could easily fill a gallon jug from our font and not cause the water level to go down, although I might get some funny looks from other parishioners. Our font is big enough for adult immersion and it sits right in the middle of the sanctuary.

It’s supposed to be in the sanctuary, not necessarily in the middle…

Holy water is simply regular water that has been blessed by the priest. There isn’t a special chemical composition for holy water like the one that we have for heavy water. I prefer the blessing of the water and of the salt done using the EF rite.

I don’t know. Do they put a little salt in holy water?

You always put blessed salt in Holy Water in the Latin rite, in either form: EF and OF. The only time that you bless without salt is if you have none at your disposal and you need holy water, now. The other would be if you’re in a monastery using the monastic form. It does not use salt. I’m not a monk, so I don’t know why not. We use salt.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, FFV

 

[TheRealJuliane]

Cooking with it? Tilt. :whacky:

I’d be wondering if somebody had been whole body baptized in it. Do they really disinfect those whole assemblies afterward? Probably not well enough to drink the water. Not good idea.

Pretty sure ours is chlorinated. Like a swimming pool.



But I still would not drink the water.

 

[iloveangels]

Pretty sure ours is chlorinated. Like a swimming pool.



But I still would not drink the water.

Yes, if you had a big pool, and if it didn’t interfere with the whole “holy water” concept, you’d be best off chlorinating it and running a nicely coated pump with a filter (like a swimming pool pump).

You shouldn’t drink chlorinated water. It’s bad for you.

 

[iloveangels]

You always put blessed salt in Holy Water in the Latin rite, in either form: EF and OF. The only time that you bless without salt is if you have none at your disposal and you need holy water, now. The other would be if you’re in a monastery using the monastic form. It does not use salt. I’m not a monk, so I don’t know why not. We use salt.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, FFV

Br JR,
Do you use kosher salt or iodized salt or doesn’t it make a difference?

 

[iloveangels]

You can always boil it and then some UV exposure before using it!

You can simply go to a priest with a clean big bottle filled with fresh water and a new box of salt and ask him to bless them. The Catholic store where I buy things sells bottle specifically for holy water that can hold at least a quarter of a gallon if not half a gallon.

Or you can by Holy Drinking Water online :banghead::banghead::banghead:

Christiano,

It’s kind of complicated. Boiling the water for an extended period will kill the great majority of the microbes and disease agents, probably making the water non-infectious. But no guarantees. And it wouldn’t necessarily remove chemical contaminations unless they are volatile, and it wouldn’t remove particles. I wouldn’t drink it if somebody had put their hiney in it. Or their feet for that matter. :nope:

That bottled water you buy has been tested for a whole lot of things before they sell it, and it undergoes micro-filtration and ozonation and so on before you get it.

Online holy water. Now I’ve seen everything.

 

[johnthebaptist1]

I have Holy Water at the Main door,so that when I leave I bless myself.