The present Occidental usage with regard to holy water admits of being traced substantially, without a break, back to the Carolingian period. In the pseudo-Isidorian decretals, Alexander, bishop of Rome (c. 109 a.d.), commenting on Heb. ix. 13, is represented as applying that text to prove the purifying power of consecrated salt and water;[1] and in a genuine charge to his clergy Leo IV. (847 a.d.) says, " Every Lord s day before mass bless water where with the people may be sprinkled, and for this have a proper vessel." Hincmar of Rheims to a similar injunction adds permis sion to all who may wish to carry some of the water home in their own clean vessels, and sprinkle it "over their dwellings and fields and vineyards, over their cattle also and their provender, and like wise over their own meat and drink." In Gratian the decree runs " We bless water sprinkled with salt, that all being therewith besprinkled may be sanctified and purified. Which also we recom mend to be done by all priests."[2] But from the Ordo Romanus (i. 42) we learn that, in Rome, if not elsewhere in the West, a peculiar sacredness and magical efficacy were attributed, to bap tismal water at least, two centuries before the publication of the forged decretals. After the usual consecration of the font on Easter eve, "the whole people, whoever wished, took a blessing in their vessels of the water itself, before the children were baptized in it, to sprinkle about their houses and vineyards and fields and fruits." We learn from Chrysostom (Do Bapt. Chr.) that in the East a similar custom prevailed even in liis time, while the Apos tolical Constitutions (viii. 29) show that at a somewhat later period (probably in the 5th century) it had become usual also to bless water and oil without any reference to baptismal uses. An indication of later Oriental practice is gathered from Theodore Balsamon (c. 1200), according to whom, by immemorial custom, holy water was in his day consecrated in Greek churches at the beginning of every lunar month. The use of holy water at the church door can be traced back to pre-Christian practice, both Jewish and pagan. The laver in front of the altar (Exod. xxx. 18-21) in the old ritual of Israel had its analogue in the vessels with consecrated water (irepip/W-riipia or airoppavTripia} at the entrance of the peribolos of the Greek temple ; from these the entrants used to sprinkle themselves, or to be sprinkled by the priests, to symbolize the purity required of those who sought to enter the sanctuary of God. There is evidence that, as early as Tertulliari (De Orat., 11) at least, it was customary to place outside Christian places of worship in the atrium (aidpiov] a fountain or cistern of water (Kprji/ri, <puiri, <ppeap, ffj./3drif)s, KoAu J u./3e?oj , Xeov-raptov, nymplueum, cantharus) in which persons about to enter were expected to wash their hands and (perhaps) also the face. The vessel was not taken into the church and placed near the entrance of the nave until after the 8th century. It is not evident at what date it became customary within the Christian Church to mix salt with the water employed for sacramental or quasi-sacramental purposes ; this practice also, however, must be traced to pre-Christian usage (see Iliad i. 314 ; Aristoph., Pint., 656 ; and cf. Tzetzes, Schol. in Lycopli., 135 ri aiKbv ical 6a.d.a<nov vSwp KadapTiKurepov (pvaft T&V yvKf(i>v).
HOLY WEEK (e/?So/xa? (j.eydXr), dyt a or TWJ/ aycW, 7po<ayias, aTrpaKros, also ry/xe pai 7ra.Orjfjt.dTwv, r}/xepat crraup- aKriyuai ; hebdomas [or septimana] major, sancta, authentica [i.e., canonizata, Du Cange], ultima, pcenosa, luctuosa, nigra, inofficiosa, rmita, cmcis, lamentationvm, iuduly entice), in the ecclesiastical year the week immediately preceding that of Easter. The earliest allusion to the custom of marking this week as a whole with special observances is to be found in the Apostolical Constitutions (v. 18, 19), dating from the latter half of the 3d century a.d. Abstinence from wine and flesh is there commanded for all the days, while for the Friday and Saturday an absolute fast is enjoined. Dionysius Alexanclrinus also, in his canonical epistle (260 a.d.), refers to the six fasting days (4 TWV i/r/o-Teiwv r/p.epcu) in a manner which implies that the observance of them had already become an established usage in his time. There is some doubt about the genuineness of an ordinance attributed to Constantine, in which abstinence from public business was enforced for the seven days immediately pre ceding Easter Sunday, and also for the seven which followed it ; the Codex T/teodosianus, however, is explicit in ordering that all actions at law should cease, arid the doors of all courts of law be closed during those fifteen days (1. ii. tit. viii.). Of the particular days of the "great week" the earliest to emerge into special prominence was naturally that which commemorated the supreme crisis of the passion; next came the Sabbatum Magnum (Holy Saturday or Easter Eve) with its vigil, which in the early church was associated with an expectation that the second advent would occur on an Easter Sunday. The Dominica Palmarum or in Palmis (loprtj TWV /Satwv) was, as we learn from Chryso stom, known and observed under that name in his day ; for the fact of its observance in the Western Church, however, probably our earliest authority is the Venerable Bede. Maundy Thursday (17 /jteydXr] Tre^Tr), feria quinta paschaj) is referred to both by Chrysostom and by Augustine as having been in their time marked by a general and solemn celebration of the sacrament of the supper ; the latter writer also (Ep. 118, Ad Januarium) alludes to a partial observ ance of the pedilavium or footwashing which in later cen turies became the most conspicuous feature in the church services of the day. For details of the elaborate ceremonial observed in the Roman Catholic Church during this week, reference must be made to the Missal and Breviary. In the Eastern Church the week is marked by similar practices, but with less elaboration and differentiation of rite. See also Easter and Good Friday.
HOLYWELL (Welsh, Treffynnon, the town of the well), a parliamentary borough and market-town of Flintshire, Xurth Wales, is beautifully situated on an eminence near the left bank of the estuary of the Dee, and about 2 miles from the station on the Chester and Holyhead line, 17 miles from Chester. The streets are irregular, but spacious and well-paved, while many of the buildings are substantial and elegant, and give the town an air of prosperity and opulence. The parish church, dedicated to St Winifred, and erected in 17G9, but retaining some columns of a more ancient structure, is a plain edifice with a strong embattled tower. Near the railway station are the re mains of Basingwerk abbey, partly Saxon and partly Early Pointed. Of the old fort called Basingwerk castle scarcely any traces now remain. Until the commencement of the present century the size of Holywell was incon siderable, but since then its prosperity has been uninter ruptedly increasing, owing to the lead quarries and the lead, copper, and zinc mines of the vicinity. The town possesses lead smelting works, a shot manufactory, and copper, brass, and zinc works. The population of the parliamentary borough in 1871 was 7961.
The well of St Winifred, from which the town takes its name, long considered one of the wonders of Wales, is a spring of water which rushes up at the rate of 21 tons a minute. Its temperature is higher than that of ordinary spring water, and varies very little with the different seasons. The stones at the bottom of the well have a slightly reddish colouring due to vegetable substances, a fact which doubtless suggested the legend according to which the spring gushed up on the spot where rested ine head of the virgin Winifred, who had been decapitated by a lover offended at her constancy to her monastic vows. The well is covered by a fine Gothic building said to have been erected by Margaret, countess of Richmond, mother of Henry VII., but having some portions which are of earlier date. The exquisite chapel above has been restored, and is used for public service. Many Roman Catholics still visit the well, and swimming-baths have been erected for general use.
- ↑ Nam si ciuis vitulfe adspersus sanguine populum sanctificabat, atque mundabat, multo magis aqua sale aclspersa divinisque precibus sacrata populum sanctificat atque mundat.
- ↑ Gratian, De Cons., d. iii. c. 20; Labbe, Cone., viii. 37; com p. Baluze, Append, ad. lib. Reyinonis de Eccl. Discipl.,pp. 503-9.
