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How Is Holy Water Made?
Catholic churches make new holy water every week. It is simply made by having a priest bless Holy Water. Orthodox priests can make Holy Water by mixing Holy Oil with clean tap water.
It is also made on the Saturday before Easter. This water is blessed in a more elaborate way.
Holy water uses:
- Baptisms
- Blessing anything worth sanctifying
- Inspire devotion
Government warnings about Holy Water:
- Holy water would, therefore, seem to be a potential risk factor for hospital-acquired infection.
According to the Department of Microbiology, Whiston Hospital, Prescot, Merseyside, UK, a case of hospital-acquired infection due to Acinetobacter baumanii in a burns patient after exposure to holy water is described. In order to assess the infection risk, 13 samples of holy water were cultured for bacteria, (including legionellae) and yeasts. Viable bacterial counts ranged from 1 center dot 3 x 10(3)-3 center dot 8 x 10(8) cfu/L (mean 3 center dot 1 x 10(7) cfu/L). A wide range of bacterial species was isolated including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter spp. Escherichia coli and Aeromonas hydrophila. Candida spp. were isolated from two samples, but legionellae from none. Holy water would, therefore, seem to be a potential risk factor for hospital-acquired infection.
Other government documents warn that Holy water fonts are reservoirs of pathogenic bacteria:
- According to studies by Jurado V, Ortiz-Martinez A, Gonzalez-delValle M, Hermosin B, Saiz-Jimenez C. at the Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiologia de Sevilla, the holy water fonts from the churches of Seville, Spain have a strong bacterial contamination. Coliforms, Enterobacteriaceae and other pathogenic bacteria are widely represented in the fonts investigated. Thirty out of the 37 different species isolated from holy waters are known human pathogens. The high bacterial contamination is related to human skin transmission and, probably, to misuse of the water.
- Holy water is a potential source of cross-infection with various coliform bacteria, including A. baumanii and Aeromonas hydrophila (33).
- Holy Water causes stains
- The Holy Water Fonts in my church have quite the build up. How do I keep this from building up again once (IF) the scale and stain is removed?
- He told of growing up in Brooklyn and how he put tadpoles in the Holy Water in his parish church to the astonishment of the parishioners.
Holy water mentioned in criminal cases:
- He prayed, burned fish, and used holy water to drive away the demons and fallen angels he believed to be at that location (id. at 158-159).
- Criminals try to profit from desire for holy water:
- MANHATTAN BEACH AND THOUSAND OAKS ‘PSYCHICS’ ARRESTED IN $600,000 FRAUD AND TAX EVASION SCHEME
- Court documents filed in relation to this case indicate that Sonia Merino sold at least one victim a vial of “holy water” from the Vatican that a chemical analysis showed was nothing more than Manhattan Beach tap water. Nasta Merino is accused of selling one victim “holy water” from Ste. Anne de Beaupre in Canada, when the product was nothing more than local tap water.
Other uses of holy water:
- The log is sprinkled with holy water or wine. Then children strike it with a stick in hopes of chasing away evil spirits.
Other holy water links:
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