Rite of Sprinkling With Holy Water
And More on Blessed Oils
ROME, FEB. 13, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.
Q: Is it OK to do the traditional asperges before Mass, blessing the people with that beautiful music and prayer, and then simply using the normal penitential rite without sprinkling during Mass? The asperges is mentioned in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal under the sprinkling rite, but the new prayer is very shallow compared to the older prayer. We would love to restore that beautiful experience for our people. -- D.P., New Orleans, Louisiana
A: Before the present reform the asperges, or rite of sprinkling with holy water, was done before the principal Mass every Sunday. It was not considered as being part of the Mass in any way.
The priest would enter dressed in alb, stole and cope. He would intone the antiphon "Asperges me" or during Eastertide the "Vidi acquam" and would sprinkle the altar, the clergy and the assembly with holy water while the choir continued the antiphon. After this he would conclude with a prayer that implored the Father to send his holy angel to protect and defend those present at the Mass.
Having concluded this rite the priest would then go to the "sedilia," or seats at the south side of the sanctuary, remove the cope and vest with the maniple and chasuble for Mass.
The present rite is more closely tied to the Mass itself as well as designedly recalling baptism. Its full title is the "Rite of Blessing and Sprinkling Holy Water." As the title indicates, it does not just involve sprinkling with previously blessed water but the actual rite of blessing itself.
The poverty of the prayers lamented by our correspondent is probably due to a singularly inadequate English translation that greatly impoverishes the Latin original. We can hope that this will be remedied in the new translation currently being prepared.
In this revised rite the priest enters vested for Mass and greets the people in the usual way. After this he introduces the rite with a brief formula and after a brief silence blesses the holy water using one of the formulas proposed in the missal. Where customary, salt may also be added to the newly blessed water, and a brief prayer said.
The priest then sprinkles himself, the ministers and the assembly while an antiphon or other appropriate song is sung.
When he returns to his place the priest says the following prayer: "May almighty God cleanse us of our sins, and through the Eucharist we celebrate make us worthy to sit at his table in his heavenly kingdom." The people respond "Amen."
This prayer suits the new setting of the ceremony, which substitutes the penitential rite, more than the former prayer. The prayer is followed by either the Gloria or the collect of the Mass.
Can the old rite still be used? Even though the asperges was not formally part of the Mass, it was mandated to be held in association with Mass and formed part of the missal. It cannot, therefore, be considered as a simple pious practice.
The fact that it was not continued in that form but rather replaced by the new optional rite is clearly the result of a deliberated choice by Church authority.
For this reason I do not believe that it is a legitimate possibility to simply restore the old rite before the principal Mass every Sunday.
While most parishes would probably not want to hold the new rite of sprinkling every Sunday, it could be done once a month or so, either at the principal Mass or all Masses, or rotating between different Masses on a weekly basis so that the whole parish may experience this rite.
Also, the choir can freely sing the beautiful music of the Latin antiphons that traditionally accompanied the sprinkling rite.
* * *
Follow-up: Mixing Blessed and Unblessed Oils
After our Jan. 30 column, some readers offered further information on the use of holy oils in various Catholic rites.
A Canadian reader commented: "As a matter of information, in both the Orthodox Church and in the Byzantine-rite Catholic Churches, the oil for holy unction is always blessed by the priest during the course of the mystery; 'pre-blessed' oil is never to be used."
I am grateful for this kind of information, for I am less familiar with all of the practices of the Eastern Churches than with the Latin rite.
For this reason I am unable to offer a documented response to an American Ukrainian Catholic who asks: "Our pastor accumulates the leftover holy oils in a very nice crystal flask which he keeps in the tabernacle. Is this allowed? Should he not dispose of this oil upon receiving a new supply on Holy Thursday? If he is to dispose of it -- what is the way to do it? Would soaking cotton with it and burning it be the way?"
With respect to keeping the holy oils (above all, the chrism for confirmation) it would appear that traditions vary. A cleric from another Byzantine Church, a Greek Melkite from Syria, informed me that it is customary in some places to keep the chrism along with the Eucharist. He also told me that there are several customs for older oils, including mixing newly blessed chrism with the old.
It would appear, therefore, that the actions of the Ukrainian priest probably fall within the range of his liturgical tradition.
Regarding the disposal of old oils: In the Latin rite it they are usually burned, but may also be consumed in lamps. Any burning of the oils should preferably be done outdoors as the oils generally produce a lot of smoke.
A writer from Ireland asked about the rite of blessing the holy oils: "At this year's Chrism Mass, the oils that were to be blessed by the bishop during the Mass were placed in front of the altar in sealed individual plastic bottles. The bottles were on three different trays, one for chrism, one for catechumens and one for the sick. During the Mass the bishop made no reference to the bottles; instead, three large vessels were presented to him for consecration in the usual way. At the end of the Mass, the priests of the diocese took the sealed bottles home with them while not receiving oil from the larger vessel. My question is: Since these individual plastic bottles were sealed and separate from the large containers that were consecrated, are they properly consecrated?"
I would not doubt the validity of the consecration of these oils. Some large dioceses necessarily consecrate more than one vessel as the amount of oil required may be too heavy for a single large container and the bishop would clearly intend to bless them, even if they remain sealed.
These extra vessels, however, are usually few in number and of the same style as the vessel brought before the bishop at the moment of blessing. While the use of individual bottles, plastic or otherwise, is not invalid, it does not correspond to the rite foreseen by the Church. It gives the impression of being cheap and sloppy and detracts from the solemnity and beauty of the Chrism Mass liturgy.
It was probably concocted as a pragmatic "solution" so that the priests could immediately collect the holy oils after Mass. However, there are surely more dignified means of expeditiously distributing the oils to all that need them.
