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Summary
- Holy water is ordinary water blessed with the Church’s prayer, so it cannot be made at home: Catholic and Orthodox churches give that blessing to a priest, or, in the Catholic Church, to a deacon as well. To keep some at home, fill a clean bottle at your parish church or ask a priest to bless water you bring.
- Catholic law does not settle whether tap water can be added to holy water. The editors of one Catholic liturgy journal think it probably stays holy water when the plain water added is less than the holy water already there, never the other way round, and they advise refilling at church.
- Orthodox churches bless water at Theophany, the feast of Christ’s baptism, on 5 and 6 January, or on 18 and 19 January in churches that keep the old calendar, and in a shorter blessing on other days.
- Some Catholic churches add blessed salt to holy water, though a Catholic liturgist notes that “the Greek tradition still excludes the use of salt.”
- At home Christians make the sign of the cross with holy water, sprinkle the house with it and bring it to the sick. The Catholic Catechism calls it superstition to expect sacramental signs to work by “their mere external performance.”
- In Catholic practice old or spoiled holy water is poured onto the ground, such as a garden bed, and not into a drain to the sewer.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (Numbers 5:17, 2 Kings 2:21, Ezekiel 36:25, John 3:5, Mark 1:10), from BibleGateway; the KJV phrase search for “holy water” was run on BibleGateway.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1667–1676 (sacramentals) and paragraph 2111 (superstition).
- Code of Canon Law (1983), canons 1166–1172 (sacramentals).
- Edward McNamara, Blessing of Water Outside Mass (ZENIT, 13 February 2018), quoting the Roman Missal, Appendix II, and the Book of Blessings, nos. 1388–1399.
- Edward McNamara, Exorcism of Salt and Water (ZENIT, 21 February 2012, with follow-up of 6 March 2012).
- The Editors, Rite Questions: Can unblessed water be added to holy water to increase the amount of holy water?, Adoremus Bulletin (14 March 2023).
- Henri Leclercq, Holy Water, The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 7 (1910): the blessing in the Pontifical of Serapion and the directions of Hincmar of Reims.
- Teresa of Avila, The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, chapter 31, translated by David Lewis (1904).
- William Saunders, Disposing of Blessed Objects, Arlington Catholic Herald (2003), via the Catholic Education Resource Center; reports rulings of the Sacred Congregation for the Rites and the Holy Office in the 1800s.
- Orthodox Church in America, The Orthodox Faith, Volume II: Worship, Epiphany (the Great Blessing of Water).
- Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, The Theophany Feast at the Patriarchate (2017).
- The Patriarchal Parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA, Waters of Atlantic Ocean Sanctified on Feast of Holy Theophany (January 2020).
- St Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Cathedral, London, The Blessing of the Waters (Hagiasmós).
- Diocese of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania, Orthodox Church in America, House Blessings: Preparation and Instructions.
- St. Mary Orthodox Christian Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts, A Reader’s Service for the Blessing of Homes.
- Church of England, Common Worship: Times and Seasons, Epiphany (A Service for the Festival of the Baptism of Christ, and the seasonal prayer over a vessel of water).
- Church of England, Common Worship: Christian Initiation, Rites of Affirmation: Appropriating Baptism and Commentary by the Liturgical Commission.
- Martin Luther, Small Catechism (1529), The Sacrament of Holy Baptism, Triglot Concordia translation (1921), BookOfConcord.org.
- Southern Baptist Convention, The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, Article VII.
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