# How much can holy water be diluted? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 13, 2009, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-can-holy-water-be-diluted/513601 "2009-10-13T00:07:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-can-holy-water-be-diluted/513601/21 "2009-10-13T03:10:36Z")
> [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > So why not just bless the oceans and be done with it? Because you should only be setting it aside for sacramental/ritual purposes if in fact you intend to use it for those purposes. ---
**Author:** ![rhysf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f14d63/32.png) [@rhysf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhysf)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-can-holy-water-be-diluted/513601/22 "2009-10-13T03:16:28Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > If true, the implications are monumental. If holy water can be diluted, then it can also be concentrated by distillation or even ordinary evaporation. We’re talking weapons-grade holy water. Undiluted holy water is already weapons-grade for vampires hence the scene in The Lost Boys when it’s used as ammunition in water pistols. Why bother concentrating it? ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-can-holy-water-be-diluted/513601/23 "2009-10-13T03:31:25Z")
Growing up Catholic and serving as an altar boy, I’ve never seen Holy Water disposed of; it was either consumed by the priest, or simply evaporated. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-can-holy-water-be-diluted/513601/24 "2009-10-13T03:32:34Z")
> [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > So why not just bless the oceans and be done with it? > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > That would mean heathens could touch it! And fish PEE in there! ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-can-holy-water-be-diluted/513601/25 "2009-10-13T03:34:57Z")
> [@rhysf](#): > > Do Baptists call it holy water or is has the BBC article misused the term? I could be way off on the concepts, but I don’t think that holy water is possible in any Protestant church (with the exclusion of the Church of England, but they didn’t leave the Church over theology.) The fundamental thing that makes holy water holy is that it has been blessed by a priest. One of the overriding points of the Protestant Reformation is that salvation comes from God alone and isn’t dependent upon intervention of the church. If God’s grace can reach everyone without church intervention, then we are already blessed and don’t need for the water to be blessed. I suspect that the Baptist church in the linked article was just trying to be silly while raising some money for their church, and didn’t think that they might confuse someone (or that they might be disrespectful to the Catholic Church, IMHO, but that’s beside the point.) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-can-holy-water-be-diluted/513601/26 "2009-10-13T03:57:13Z")
Holy water doesn’t actually have much of a place in Catholic theology. Baptism can be performed with any water at all, and in fact in many places, where the climate is favorable, it’s preferred to use a natural body of water. And any other use of water is intended as a reminder of baptism. Quoth **rhysf** : > [@](#): > > I wonder what’s wrong with the sewage system. For holy water, it doesn’t really much matter, but the Eucharist is a Big Deal in the Catholic church, which considers it the literal Body and Blood of Christ. And it would be hugely disrespectful to dump bits of Jesus in with sewage, so something else has to be done with it, hence the sacrarium. If holy water is disposed of in a sacrarium, that’s either to wash down the remnants of the Eucharist, or just because it’s there anyway and is a handy place to pour it, but holy water disposal is not the reason a church has a sacrarium in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-can-holy-water-be-diluted/513601/27 "2009-10-13T04:05:22Z")
Depends what you believe. The trouble with diluting it is that it becomes too strong. Just diluted a million to one isn’t too bad, but once you get it really really dilute it becomes so holy that it threatens the structure of the universe. That is why there are such strict rules about handling and disposing of it. Or am I confusing my dogmas here? ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-can-holy-water-be-diluted/513601/28 "2009-10-13T04:28:31Z")
> [@cornflakes](#): > > I could be way off on the concepts, but I don’t think that holy water is possible in any Protestant church (with the exclusion of the Church of England, but they didn’t leave the Church over theology.) > > The fundamental thing that makes holy water holy is that it has been blessed by a priest. One of the overriding points of the Protestant Reformation is that salvation comes from God alone and isn’t dependent upon intervention of the church. If God’s grace can reach everyone without church intervention, then we are already blessed and don’t need for the water to be blessed. > > I suspect that the Baptist church in the linked article was just trying to be silly while raising some money for their church, and didn’t think that they might confuse someone (or that they might be disrespectful to the Catholic Church, IMHO, but that’s beside the point.) Baptists also like to emphasize the power of laypeople in the church and not just priests. If a high school kid with a hose can do the blessing, who needs a priest? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-can-holy-water-be-diluted/513601/29 "2009-10-13T04:41:32Z")
> [@cornflakes](#): > > I could be way off on the concepts, but I don’t think that holy water is possible in any Protestant church (with the exclusion of the Church of England, but they didn’t leave the Church over theology.) > > The fundamental thing that makes holy water holy is that it has been blessed by a priest. ) from the wiki article "\*Methodist and Lutheran use of Holy water The use of holy water within Methodism and Lutheranism is strictly for the baptism of infants and new members of the church. The water is believed to be blessed by God, as it is used in a sacrament. The water is applied to the forehead of the laity being baptised and the clergyman performs the sign of the cross." \* ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-can-holy-water-be-diluted/513601/30 "2009-10-13T05:09:04Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Holy water doesn’t actually have much of a place in Catholic theology. Baptism can be performed with any water at all, and in fact in many places, where the climate is favorable, it’s preferred to use a natural body of water. And any other use of water is intended as a reminder of baptism. > > Quoth **rhysf** :For holy water, it doesn’t really much matter, but the Eucharist is a Big Deal in the Catholic church, which considers it the literal Body and Blood of Christ. And it would be hugely disrespectful to dump bits of Jesus in with sewage, so something else has to be done with it, hence the sacrarium. If holy water is disposed of in a sacrarium, that’s either to wash down the remnants of the Eucharist, or just because it’s there anyway and is a handy place to pour it, but holy water disposal is not the reason a church has a sacrarium in the first place. Hmmm. what should you do if you get Jesus stuck in your teeth? Do you need a holy toothpick, oor does the toothpck become holy by stabbing Jesus? And then do you have to spit him out into a sacrarium? ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-can-holy-water-be-diluted/513601/31 "2009-10-13T05:30:12Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > Depends what you believe. The trouble with diluting it is that it becomes too strong. Just diluted a million to one isn’t too bad, but once you get it really really dilute it becomes so holy that it threatens the structure of the universe. That is why there are such strict rules about handling and disposing of it. Or am I confusing my dogmas here? That’s not “holy” water. That’s “homey” water. And, yes, it is theoretically omnipotent, but only at a level of dilution that cannot be achieved on this planet. In short, there isn’t enough water to dilute the water with. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-can-holy-water-be-diluted/513601/32 "2009-10-13T08:34:42Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Hmmm. what should you do if you get Jesus stuck in your teeth? Do you need a holy toothpick, oor does the toothpck become holy by stabbing Jesus? > > And then do you have to spit him out into a sacrarium? Use your nails (which should be clean anyway, since you’re in church) and swallow. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-can-holy-water-be-diluted/513601/33 "2009-10-13T11:45:57Z")
I was sort of expecting a “(need help fast!)” at the end of the OP… ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-can-holy-water-be-diluted/513601/34 "2009-10-13T12:06:22Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > If true, the implications are monumental. If holy water can be diluted, then it can also be concentrated by distillation or even ordinary evaporation. We’re talking weapons-grade holy water. Not so. Consider holy water as an atomic change, not a chemical one. A useful analogy would be water composed entirely of molecules consisting of two atoms of deuterium and one of oxygen – as though the act of blessing the water added a neutron to every single hydrogen atom in the water. Now, [sup]2[/sup]H[sub]2[/sub]O is chemically identical to H[sub]2[/sub]O. And you do not increase the concentration of [sup]2[/sup]H[sub]2[/sub]O molecules in your sample by distillation or evaporation; the molecules would simply evaporate in the same manner as ordinary water molecules. But you could easily dilute it by adding H[sub]2[/sub]O molecules to the [sup]2[/sup]H[sub]2[/sub]O. I am not, of course, suggesting that blessing literally confers an atomic change on water – merely that the analogy is useful in understanding why you can’t concentrate “extra holiness” by evaporation or distillation. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-can-holy-water-be-diluted/513601/35 "2009-10-13T12:14:56Z")
Make that “chemically identical” for the purposes of evaporation and distillation, not across the board, since the vast difference in isotopic weight does make [sup]2[/sup]H[sub]2[/sub]O act differently in a chemical sense. ---
**Author:** ![Uncertain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Uncertain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncertain)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-can-holy-water-be-diluted/513601/36 "2009-10-13T12:33:34Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Make that “chemically identical” for the purposes of evaporation and distillation, not across the board, since the vast difference in isotopic weight does make [sup]2[/sup]H[sub]2[/sub]O act differently in a chemical sense. Well, they do have different boiling points (and, more generally, different vapor pressures), but that’s nitpicking your analogy. The real reason you can’t concentrate it is it’s already pure. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-can-holy-water-be-diluted/513601/37 "2009-10-13T12:50:52Z")
I use holy water diluted 10 trillion to 1 to ward off succussubusses. ---
**Author:** ![raindog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@raindog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raindog)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-can-holy-water-be-diluted/513601/38 "2009-10-13T13:01:55Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > There is no such thing as holy water. There is simply water that someone has muttered mumbo-jumbo nonsense words over. Threadshit much? ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-can-holy-water-be-diluted/513601/39 "2009-10-13T13:37:03Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > Growing up Catholic and serving as an altar boy, I’ve never seen Holy Water disposed of; it was either consumed by the priest, or simply evaporated. Consumed by the priest? As in he drank it? Does that mean he’d then have holy pee? If so, would he have to piss in a piscina? ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-can-holy-water-be-diluted/513601/40 "2009-10-13T14:11:23Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > Baptists also like to emphasize the power of laypeople in the church and not just priests. If a high school kid with a hose can do the blessing, who needs a priest? Right. I think we just said the same thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-can-holy-water-be-diluted/513601.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-can-holy-water-be-diluted/513601.md?page=3)