Case XVIII: Blessing the Easter Water on Holy Saturday

There seems to exist some diversity of opinion as to the way the holy water should be blessed on Holy Saturday, for the use of the faithful. For instance, one priest uses the blessing in the Roman ritual: Ordo ad factendam aquam benedictam, the same that he uses on ordinary Sundays throughout the year. Another blesses the water in the baptismal font, and then, before pouring into it the holy oils, he takes some of it and adds to it a quantity of water that has not been blessed. Once, having forgotten to take out some of the water before pouring in the oils, he took out some after he had poured in the holy oils. Another, at the same time that he blesses the water in the baptismal font, blesses other water for the use of the people, which is put into a separate vessel and placed near the baptismal font. Are all these ways good and proper, or how ought the water to be blessed on Easter Saturday?

Answer.—The water that the Church blesses in a more solemn manner on Holy Saturday, and which is popularly called Easter-water, is intended by the Church to be used for various purposes. It is intended, first of all, to be used as baptismal water, after the holy oils have been mixed with it. This is the principal purpose for which the Church blesses it, as may be gathered from the text of the Missal. When the blessing is finished, the oil of holy chrism and the oil of catechumens are added to it and it is used then exclusively for the administration of baptism throughout the year. But, according to the rubrics, this water thus blessed in a solemn manner on Holy Saturday is used for other purposes besides the administration of the Sacrament of Baptism, but always before the holy oils are added to it.

1. It is prescribed by the rubrics, that during the blessing of the font on Holy Saturday, the assisting priests must take of the water thus blessed and sprinkle the faithful with it. “Then, by the assisting priests, some of the blessed water itself is sprinkled upon the people” (cf. rubrics, Roman Missal, bened. fontis in Sabb. sancto).

2. In the meantime, as soon as the water in the baptismal font has been blessed, one of the ministers or altar boys takes some of the water out of the font before the holy oils have been poured into it, and pours it into another vessel, which holy water is to be used in blessing the houses of the faithful and other places, which the rubrics prescribe shall be conducted on Holy Saturday, either by the parish priest himself or by another priest (Roman Ritual, de benedictionibus). “And meanwhile one of the ministers of the Church takes some of the same water in a vessel for sprinkling in houses and other places” (Roman Missal, rubrics for Holy Saturday). Some of this water must be poured into the holy water fonts of the church and some of it reserved for the use of the clergy and laity, who are to have access to it to take it for use in their homes on other days besides Holy Saturday (Memoriale rituum, tit. vi).

3. The Roman Missal also prescribes that this holy water, thus blessed with more solemn rite on Holy Saturday, shall be used for the “asperges” before the solemn Mass on Easter Sunday and on Pentecost Sunday. On Easter Sunday and on Pentecost Sunday, therefore, the celebrant of the solemn Mass does not bless the water with which he sprinkles the people before the Mass, as he does on ordinary Sundays throughout the year, but he takes of the Easter water, blessed on Easter Saturday, and with this he sprinkles the faithful, chanting the “Vidi aquam.”

From the foregoing it will readily appear that if the water blessed with solemn rite on Holy Saturday is to be used for these various purposes, no small quantity of it will be required; in fact, more will be needed than can be held in the ordinary baptismal font. It is only natural, therefore, that a diversity of opinion should arise as to the best and most proper way of blessing a sufficient quantity of Easter water to answer these different purposes that the Church has in view when she blesses it. However, one way is not as good as another, and for that reason we will say a word about the different methods proposed in the question.

One priest, as mentioned above, blesses the baptismal font, but at the same time he blesses, with the ordinary form: ordo ad faciendam aquam benedictam, which is used on ordinary Sundays, a sufficient quantity of water in a separate vessel, to be given out to the faithful for use in their homes. Now, the Roman ritual says expressly that the water to be used on Holy Saturday in blessing the houses of the faithful must be taken from the baptismal font before the holy oils are added; and the Memoriale rituum says the same thing about the Easter water to be distributed to the faithful on Holy Saturday and used in the holy water fonts of the church. All the holy water used for these purposes must be taken from the baptismal font after it has been blessed with the solemn rites of Holy Saturday, but before the holy chrism and oil of catechumens have been added to it.

It is true that the Congregation of Rites (August 31, 1872) permits that on Holy Saturday the water may be blessed privately in the sacristy, using the ordo ad faciendam aquam benedictam, and the water may be thus blessed at any hour during Holy Saturday, but not during the offices of the Church, if the priest who blesses the water is conducting the offices of the Church. But this permission seems to apply only to churches without baptismal fonts and to public oratories. Another priest takes some of the holy water from the baptismal font after the solemn blessing on Holy Saturday, but before he adds the holy oils, and to this water he adds water that has not been blessed, in order to have a sufficient quantity for the fonts of the church and for the people. There is nothing wrong in this procedure. One must be careful, however, never to add at one time, “unico actu,” of water that is not blessed a larger quantity than there is holy water to which it is added. The ritual prescribes this, de materia baptismi. The reason why the whole mass of water loses its blessing, if at any single time a larger quantity of unblessed water is added than there is blessed or holy water to which the addition is made, is the explicit will of the Church. The Church wishes that the whole mass lose its blessing, if at any one time more water that has not been blessed is added than there is holy water to which the addition is made. But it is permitted to add again and again unblessed water to the holy water, the same as to the baptismal water, provided, always, the quantity of water added never exceeds the quantity of baptismal water, or holy water,

‘at any single addition. It is never lawful to use the baptismal water, that is, the holy water in the baptismal font after the infusion of the holy oils, for any other purpose than that of baptizing. The missal and the ritual both state expressly that the water from the baptismal font wherewith the people are to be sprinkled and their houses blessed, etc., must be taken out before the holy oils are poured into it. To use the baptismal water after the infusion of the holy oils for such a purpose is certainly an abuse which cannot be justified. The holy oils are added to the water precisely because it is to be used thereafter for the administration of the Sacrament of Baptism.

The catechism of the Council of Trent says that the Church, guided by apostolic tradition, has uniformly observed the practise of adding holy chrism to the water to be used in baptizing, the more fully to express its efficacy (de Bapt. chrism).

The last method of blessing the Easter water on Holy Saturday, mentioned above, namely, having a quantity of water in a separate vessel near the baptismal font, which the priest blesses at the same time that he blesses the font, is scarcely to be commended. The reason why it cannot be commended is because the solemn blessing of the Easter water is conducted with many ceremonies, as the division of the water in the form of the cross, breathing upon the water, dipping of the Easter candle into the water, etc., all of which ceremonies are restricted to the water in the baptismal font and may not be repeated, even if they could conveniently be repeated, over another vessel of water placed near by.

For these reasons we conclude that if the baptismal font does not hold water enough for the various purposes for which Easter water may be used, then the only thing to be done is to take out of the font as much holy water as can be spared, before the holy oils have been added to it, and to this water add a smaller quantity of unblessed water, which immediately partakes of the Easter blessing.