# What are the ingredients in Holy Water? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 30, 2000, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-ingredients-in-holy-water/17822 "2000-04-30T05:07:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![johnpriest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@johnpriest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpriest)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2000, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-ingredients-in-holy-water/17822/21 "2000-04-30T16:58:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*A Catholic entering a church will dip the fingers of his right hand in the basin and then make the sign of the cross with that hand (head, belly, left shoulder, right shoulder). \*\* The canonical sequence is “Spectacles, testicles, heart, wallet” ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2000, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-ingredients-in-holy-water/17822/22 "2000-04-30T17:19:08Z")
Well, let’s add the Russian Orthodox side of the story. (Full disclosure: for a couple of years around the turn of the 90s I converted to Orthodoxy - a result of living in Juneau, Alaska and my emerging Russophilia.) They had an event whereby they blessed a supply of holy water (I don’t remember how long it was supposed to last) but the ceremony involved the priest making a couple of invocations and plunging a cross (three?) times into a container of water. As I remember it the container was simply an Igloo water tap thingy and probably an amount of it was poured into the font afterwards. I don’t remember salt or vinegar being used. They belong on potato chips anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2000, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-ingredients-in-holy-water/17822/23 "2000-04-30T22:33:48Z")
> [@](#): > > The water, when blessed, is not thought to have any special properties. It is simply the water that has been set aside for ritual use. If no holy water is available for a Baptism, for example, any water may be used. Interestingly, though, my mother has in her possession a small set of a book and a vial of holy water. The book contains the blessing used for Last Rites and the holy water is obviously the water to be used in the case. I’m not sure how old it is, but I remember that my grandmother had one as well (so, in fact my mother may well have two such sets) and both book and vial had signs of aging. Oh yeah, my point. It seems a little odd and more than a little creepy to be carrying around an emergency Last Rites kit complete with holy water in case you come across a dying Catholic and it seems odd that they would package it with holy water if any water will do. I should note that said set was in fact, a product of the Church and not something you bought in a drugstore. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-ingredients-in-holy-water/17822/24 "2000-05-01T02:25:09Z")
> [@](#): > > It seems a little odd and more than a little creepy to be carrying around an emergency Last Rites kit complete with holy water in case you come across a dying Catholic On the other hand, if you’re going to carry a kit for the Last Rites, anyway, why not make sure that you have the holy water handy. Did it also have a small vial of chrism, or was the priest supposed to bring that? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-ingredients-in-holy-water/17822/25 "2000-05-01T03:54:36Z")
Nope… just a book and some holy water. The book stated that you were supposed to get a priest if possible, but if you couldn’t, it gave instructions on how to perform Last Rites yourself. It came in a little box, and I think the book mentioned some other Catholic rituals as well in there, but my memory doesn’t recall. I’ll have to go to my mother’s place and find it sometime. In the meantime, at least she’s safe against vampires or something 😉 ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-ingredients-in-holy-water/17822/26 "2000-05-01T06:46:55Z")
…at least, from a Roman Catholic post-Vatican II perspective. Today, officially: 1. Any cleric (deacon, priest, or bishop) can bless water to make it ‘holy water.’ Anyone, including the laity, can ‘use’ holy water to bless other items through sprinkling it or touch. As Catholics enter a Church, they dip their fingers in holy water and bless themselves with a sign of the cross to recall their baptism. 2. The water can be, and normally is, without any other ingredients; though, it doesn’t have to be pure, distilled water. 3. Salt or other preservatives _may_ be added. Common sense would say that if so much extra ingredients were added that it would no longer be recognized as ‘water’, then you’re overdoing it and it’s no longer holy _water_. (Which would make the natural ocean salts or the minimal chlorine found in tap water OK. Lots of Kool-aid ™ mix, however, would be a no-no.) Before Vatican Council II (circa AD 1962-5), salt was expected, though it could be done without in an emergency. Many priests trained in the pre-Vatican II ways, continue to use salt as a matter of practice. 4. The blessing can be as simple as “I bless this water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” There are a few standard longer ones that are to be used in the midst of a public liturgy (i.e., worship service), especially when preparing water for a baptism. 5. tomndebb’s description of holy water is accurate. It has symbolic power, not any real ‘good luck’ or ‘positive energy’ charge. {E.g. of religious humor and wit: the elementary particle which transmits the ‘blessed’ charge is the holyon. Vampires are vulnerable to holyonic radiation.} 6. It is expressly forbidden as an evil to sell any blessed item, including holy water. Most ‘kits’ which contain holy water usually come with an empty bottle which gets filled at your local parish. And yes, many parishes have urns of holy water for the devout (and yes, superstitious) from which they can fill their flasks. 7. Rivers, lakes, oceans, and all the world’s waters have been blessed – many times over. Again, as a sign of God’s blessing found in creation and as a reminder of Christian baptism. But, that water gets used for mundane purposes, and so, it looses its sign value, and people stop thinking of it as holy water. The water in Church is put aside and used exclusively for holy purposes, and thus, retains its sign value and is always considered and treated as holy water. 8. Superstition is alive and well in the Catholic Church. Not officially, but in many peoples’ minds. And so, many lay people, and even some clergy will treat and talk about holy water as if it did have a magic power in it (the holyonic charge, as it were). But that is not the official church teaching. 9. Holy water which has become so scummy that it can’t be used anymore (by most people’s standards) is simply poured out on the earth. Pax Christi. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-ingredients-in-holy-water/17822/27 "2000-05-01T19:18:29Z")
I think we should all give **The Urge** a nice hand for thinking of a good question that this many people posted to. Ladies and gentlemen, **The Urge!** If he is coming back, it’s an excellent start. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-ingredients-in-holy-water/17822/28 "2000-05-02T05:03:12Z")
Notthemama said: > [@](#): > > \*\* > I think we should all give **The Urge** a nice hand for thinking of a good question that this many people posted to. > > Ladies and gentlemen, **The Urge!** > > If he is coming back, it’s an excellent start.\*\* And I bet you’re the type who takes in wounded undomesticated wild animals. 😉 Yes, it was a good question. ## Peace. _Consider: Maybe the powers that be can’t ban a guest, only members._ ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2000, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-ingredients-in-holy-water/17822/29 "2000-05-03T18:59:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*originally posted by elbows3: > You may be interested to know that when they went around swabbing and testing public surfaces for bacteria and microbes. That among things like public toilets and payphones and bus stops, the holy water in the font at the local cathedral was, by far the very worst. I guess faith don’t kill germs. > > Originally posted by WaterJ2: > Not to sound disbelieving, but it might help if you provided some sort of mention as to who exactly _they_ are. \*\* Hey, everybody, I actually did find something that sounds like the factoid **elbows** may be thinking of. There’s a lot of dead ends, because it was evidently a Reuters news release way back in 1996. I found [this:](http://www.plant.uoguelph.ca/riskcomm/archives/fsnet/1996/11-1996/fs-11-28-96-01.txt) Here’s the thing in its entirety. > [@](#): > > Holy water can kill, says Catholic newspaper Nov 28/96 LONDON (Reuter) - Holy water is a hazard that can kill the weak rather than heal them, according to the latest issue of the weekly Catholic Herald newspaper. Water taken from religious shrines, long drunk by invalids and splashed on open wounds, was a breeding ground for infection, a nurse told the paper. “It isn’t the water itself that is the problem but the way people collect it, contaminating it with very nasty germs with their hands and the bottles they use,” said Linda Parsons of the Wiston hospital near Liverpool, northern England. Parsons was part of a team of medics who found that relatives of the sick who brought waters from overseas shrines were spreading obscure bacteria and causing infections. “It could kill a susceptible patient,” Parsons said. One priest told the paper, due out on Friday, that sprinkling holy water on patients was nothing but a “magic ritual” and superstitious cure-all. “No chaplain with any sense would indulge in this. The blessing is a gesture,” he said. Here’s the _Catholic Herald’s_ website, but I don’t see that they have a searchable archive. Dead end there. [http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/](http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/) Then I found [this.](http://www.phys.hawaii.edu/vjs/www/hri/1-7) > [@](#): > > DANGEROUS IMPURITIES FOUND IN HOLY WATER Also from the Net: British researchers, writing in the Journal of Hospital Infection and reported in the Medical Journal of Australia, have found that of nine samples of holy water from Lourdes, two from the River Jordan and two from Walsingham, 10 were heavily contaminated with infectious organisms, including E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and candida, which causes thrush. The investigation was sparked the detection of Acinetobacter baumanii bacterial infection in a patient with burns through the full thickness of the skin who had been sprinkled with holy water by relatives. Here’s the _Journal’s_ website, but a search of their database doesn’t turn up anything. 1996 was a LONG time ago. [http://www.harcourt-international.com/journals/jhin/default.cfm?/](http://www.harcourt-international.com/journals/jhin/default.cfm?/) So at least **elbows** didn’t dream it–he did “hear it somewhere”, even though this particular one doesn’t deal with holy water in the font, just with holy water from religious shrines. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2000, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-ingredients-in-holy-water/17822/30 "2000-05-03T19:11:10Z")
Oopsie, forgot the second quotation marks. :rolleyes: _picky, picky, picky…_ [The first article.](http://www.plant.uoguelph.ca/riskcomm/archives/fsnet/1996/11-1996/fs-11-28-96-01.txt) [The second article.](http://www.phys.hawaii.edu/vjs/www/hri/1-7) Okay, do these work? ---
**Author:** ![Born2Read](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cdc98d/32.png) [@Born2Read](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Born2Read)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2000, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-ingredients-in-holy-water/17822/31 "2000-05-03T19:45:57Z")
According to my reference book, the correct chemical formula for holy water is H2Oly. HeeHeeHee. Sorry, I couldn’t resist. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2000, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-ingredients-in-holy-water/17822/32 "2000-05-03T21:45:33Z")
Johnpriest said: > [@](#): > > The canonical sequence is “Spectacles, testicles, heart, wallet” Glasses, crotch, center of chest, right butt cheek? ---
**Author:** ![red\_dragon60](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@red\_dragon60](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_dragon60)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2000, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-ingredients-in-holy-water/17822/33 "2000-05-04T00:30:22Z")
Is it possible to get holy water without being catholic? I am buddist, but say I want to kill vampires. Could I walk into a catholic church and say “father, may I have some holy water?” Or does it lose it’s mojo when in the hands of non-christians? Will they even let me have some? I need to know, the demons are already opening a portal into my house! ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2000, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-ingredients-in-holy-water/17822/34 "2000-05-04T01:20:31Z")
You’ll note that in a couple of previous posts we’ve already indicatred that the RCC does not endorse the idea that the water, itself, has any special properties, so there would not be any point in handing it out to stop demons. On the other hand, since it is used in a number of symbolic ways, a really silly use of it would generally be considered disrespectful, so I suspect that you’ll just have to chalk up a pentagram to protect yourself. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2000, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-ingredients-in-holy-water/17822/35 "2000-05-04T01:57:56Z")
Thank you Notthemamma, for the cites to support my words. I am not savy enough for such things as yet. However, the report I saw was on tv and they had gone around and swabbed a lot of public places. Everyone was univerally surprised that the font came up number one. On reflection they said it was kept in a open container, in a dark and cool place and touched by many hands so not really all that surprising. Notthemama you rule! ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2000, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-ingredients-in-holy-water/17822/36 "2000-05-04T02:00:40Z")
I would imagine, from what’s been said, that while holy water in of itself doesn’t have any properties to stop the walking evil, it would perhaps act as a focus for whatever faith the holder of it had. Much the same as a cross, a Bible or whatever else. If you were to try to exorcise demons with a cross but didn’t believe in Christ, it’d be useless. If you did deeply believe in Christ, you wouldn’t need the cross but it’d give you something to focus on. Hence, Catholic exorcism rituals might involve material “holy” possessions but it’s not the materials themselves that are doing the job. As for selling holy water, the sets I mentioned were rather old and the water in question seemed rather suspect, but for all I know they were filled at a local parish and not sold as filled. Makes sense enough to me. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2000, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-ingredients-in-holy-water/17822/37 "2000-05-04T02:33:47Z")
> [@](#): > > Is it possible to get holy water without being catholic? I am buddist, but say I want to kill vampires. Could I walk into a catholic church and say “father, may I have some holy water?” Or does it lose it’s mojo when in the hands of non-christians? Will they even let me have some? I need to know, the demons are already opening a portal into my house! Well, in the movie _The Lost Boys_ (and more than one fundie has implied that I need to base more of my religious beliefs on Hollywood movies) the boys just ran into the church and filled their canteens from (what appeared to be) the baptism font. I don’t know if they were non-Christians, though. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2000, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-ingredients-in-holy-water/17822/38 "2000-05-04T04:33:11Z")
I know how to make holy water. You just boil the hell out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2000, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-ingredients-in-holy-water/17822/39 "2000-05-04T05:43:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > If you were to try to exorcise demons with a cross but didn’t believe in Christ, it’d be useless. If you did deeply believe in Christ, you wouldn’t need the cross but it’d give you something to focus on. Hence, Catholic exorcism rituals might involve material “holy” possessions but it’s not the materials themselves that are doing the job. > \*\* –I believe deeply in focusing on a stake or silver bullet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-ingredients-in-holy-water/17822.md?page=1)