Holy water font

Holy water font with the inscription Asperges me , Domine, hyssopo et mundabor from Ps. 50

Holy water basins (also Kolymbion or Colymbion ) are vessels in the Catholic Church for receiving holy water , a sacramental . They can already be found in Romanesque churches, can be made of different materials and have different shapes. Simple, purpose-oriented containers stand alongside highly stylized and figurative works of art (especially from the Baroque era ). Smaller holy water fonts that are used in the home are also known as holy water kettles or holy well kettles .

Holy water kettle in the devotional trade

The holy water fonts are almost always firmly attached, at about elbow height, and often one with a wall or pillar. Here and there there are free-standing holy water basins on small pillars or with a solid substructure, and in some churches where the baptismal font is in a suitable place, it is filled with holy water.

Holy water fonts are located at the church entrance, on the door of a monastery cell or in private rooms. They offer the consecrated water to wet the fingers for the sign of the cross , as a rite of preparation for prayer and the memory of baptism .

Holy water font with disinfectant during the Covid19 pandemic

The occasional red color of the bottom of holy water fonts is caused by the blood rain algae . Basins with water for symbolic cleaning before entering a sanctuary or temple (περιρραντήριον perirrhantérion , ἁγιστήριον hagistérion , λουτήριον loutérion ) already existed in ancient Greece.

As part of the hygiene rules due to the COVID-19 pandemic , many holy water fonts were closed and emptied in 2020 in order to avoid the transfer of germs between people.

literature

Cordula Mauß: Holy water font of the 15th and 16th centuries in Italy. Layout. Function. Meaning. Publications of the Bibliotheca Hertziana Max Planck Institute for Art History Rome, Hirmer Verlag GmbH, Munich 2018. (The book also contains chapters on the cultural history of the holy water and the holy water basin.)

Web links

Commons : Holy Water Font - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

Wiktionary: holy water font - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Wiktionary: holy water kettle - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

^ McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia
^ Catechism of the Catholic Church , 1668
^ Franz Wiesehöfer, The holy water in the early days of Christianity and among the classical peoples of antiquity: a study of the history of religion and liturgy , Westfälische Vereinsdruckerei 1933, p. Vi
↑ Rules for masses: Communion in hand, no holy water orf.at, May 3, 2020, called July 22, 2020. - For services that are permitted again from May 15, 2020, the Bishops' Conference has issued rules for Catholic masses: No use of holy water.

[1] McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia

[2] Catechism of the Catholic Church , 1668

[3] Franz Wiesehöfer, The holy water in the early days of Christianity and among the classical peoples of antiquity: a study of the history of religion and liturgy , Westfälische Vereinsdruckerei 1933, p. Vi

[4] Rules for masses: Communion in hand, no holy water orf.at, May 3, 2020, called July 22, 2020. - For services that are permitted again from May 15, 2020, the Bishops' Conference has issued rules for Catholic masses: No use of holy water.