Holy Place. See Tabernacle ; Temple.
Holy Places. See Hebron ; Jerusaleji ; Mec- ca; Palestine, etc.
Holy Rood {rode or rod), " the name of the cross so often erected in churches." — Eadie, Eccles. Diet. p. 312. See Cross ; Rood.
Holy-Rood Day, a festival on the 14th of Sep- tember to commemorate in churches the Exaltation of the Cross; the Invention or Finding of the Holy Cross being celebrated on the 3d of May. — Walcott, Sac. A r- chcBol. p. 314; Eadie, Eccl. Diet. p. 312. See Cross.
Holy Saturday. In some churches the Saturday before Easter is so called. See Holy Week.
Holy Scripture. See Scripture, holy.
Holy Sepulchre. Sec Sepulchre of Christ.
Holy Sepulchre, Orders of. 1. A religious order in the Roman Catholic Church according to the rule of St. Augustine, founded in 1114 by the archdeacon (subsequently patriarch of Jerusalem) Arnold; accord- ing to others, it was founded in 1099 by Godfrey of Bouillon. It embraced regular canons and canoncsses, was at one time established all through Europe, and re- ceived a new rule under Urban YIIL The canons be- came extinct soon after the renewal of their nile, but the canonesses still have a iniml)er of houses in France, Germany (Baden), and the Netherlands, and, living in strict seclusion, occupy themselves with the instruction and education of young girls. 2. The Order of Knights of the Holy Sepulchre in England, established in 1 174 ; extinct since the 16th centurj-. The knights were obliged to guard, at least during two years, the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. 3. Knights of the Holy Sepul- chre, an order founded very likely Ijy pope Aicxandcr VI to guard the Hoh^ Sepulchre, and at tlie same time to afford relief and protection to pilgrims to the Holy Land. Originally the pope was the grand master of the order, but he finally ceded this right to the " guardian father of the Holy Sepulchre." The knights must be, according to the rules of the order, of noble descent, hear mass daily, fight, live, and die for the Roman Catholic faith, etc. But they enjoyed also extraordinary privileges, as ex- emption from taxation, permission to marr}', possession of Church property, etc. When Jerusalem was recap- tured by the Tiurks, the knights of the Holy Sepulchre went to Perugia, in Italy. "After a temporarj- union with the Hospitallers, the order was reconstructed in 1814 both in France and in Poland, and is still in exist- ence within a very small circle of knights elected by the guardian father from the most respectable pilgrims who come to Jerusalem." — Chambers, Cyclop, v, 393 sq.
Holy Spear {ayia \6yxn)i as it is called in the Greek Church, is a kind of spear with a long handle, ending in a cross, " with which the altar-bread, called sphragis or holy lamb, is cut out from the loaf for con- secration by the priest, with a solemn form in the litur- gy of Chrs'sostom founded on Isa. liii, 78 ; John xix, 34." — Walcott, Sacred A rchceol, p. 314.
Holy Spirit. See Spirit, Work of the; Holy Ghost; Paraclete; Witness of the Spirit.
Holy Synod is the title in the Greek Church of the liighcst govemmg body.
Holy Table, as it is called in some churches, is the table on which are placed the bread and wine, the ap- pointed emblems of the Saviour's death. See Altar,
Holy Thursday (called also JIaun-dy Thursday, from mandatum [commandment], the first word with which the Church services of the day begin), a day observed in some churches in commemoration of our Lord's ascension. In the Roman Calendar it is the thir- ty-ninth day after Easter Simday. See Ascension Day; Holy Week.
Holy Union. See Holy League.
Holy "Wars. See Crusades.
Holy Water, in the Romish, as also in the Greek, Russian, and ( )riental churches, denotes water blessed by a priest or bishop for certain religious uses. The theory of its first introduction seems to have been that water is a fitting symbol of purity, and accordingly, in most of the ancient religions, the use of lustral or purifying wa- ter not only formed part of the public worship, but also entered largely into the personal acts of sanctification prescribed to individuals. The Jewish law also pre- scribed this, and it was a practice held in common by many Pagan nations (compare Riddle, Christ. A nt. p. 725). The sprinkling of the hands and face with water before
HOLY-WATER SPRINKLER
312
HOLYOKE
entering the sanctuary, still generally observed by the ad- herents to that law, was retained, or, no doubt, may have given rise to its adoption by the early Christian Church. But its use was certainly for a very different purpose. Thus bishop Marcellus ordered Equitius, his deacon, to sprinkle holy water, hallowed by him, in houses and churches, to exorcise devils, which is said to have been done also by pope Alexander I. " Joseph, the convert- ed Jew, Epiphanius says, used consecrated water in ex- orcism. Holy water was used in all benedictions of palm and olive branches, vestments, corporals, candles, houses, herds, fields, and in private houses. By the can- on law it is mingled with salt. The Council of Nantes ordered the priest before mass to sprinkle the church court and close, oifering prayers for the departed, and to give water to all who asked it for their houses, food, cat- tle, fodder, fields, and vineyards. By the Capitulars of Charlemagne, Louis, and Lothaire, on Easter and Whit- sun eves all the faithful might take, for purposes of as- persion in their houses, consecrated water before its ad- mixture with chrism (q. v.). In monasteries, a novice carried the holy water before the cross in procession" (Walcott, Sac. A rchmol. p. 311). In the Romish Church of to-day holy water is directed to be made of pure spring water, with the admixture of a little consecrated salt. This water (generally placed at the entrance of places of worship, and sanctified by a solemn benedic- tion, prescribed in the diocesan ritual) the Romanist has come to look upon with the most superstitious regard, and it is used not merely for the sprinkling of persons on entering and leaving the church, but also in sprink- ling books, bells, etc., and it is frequently taken to their homes, as having some peculiar virtue. Its use has thus become nothing more than a charm. In the Greek Church, holy water is usually consecrated by the bishop or his vicar-general on the eve of the Epiphan3% No salt is employed, and they regard the use of it by the Latins as a grievous and unauthorized corruption. The Greeks perform the ceremony on January 6, the day on which they believe that Christ was baptized by John, and twice a year it is usual to drink a portion, viz. at the end of the midnight mass of Christmas and on the feast of Epiphany. In the Armenian Church, holy water is con- secrated by plunging a cross into it on the day of the Epiphany, after which it is distributed among the con- gregation, who take it to their homes. The offerings made on this occasion form a considerable portion of the emoluments of the Armenian priesthood. On the prac- tice of using water for baptism, see Baptisji, vol. i, p. 650. — Bingham, Orig. Eccles. bk. viii, ch. iii, § 67 ; Eadie, Eccl. Cijclop. p. 313, 658, 659; Coleman, ^Ihc. Christiaii- ifi/, p. 369, 395 ; Chambers, Cyclop, v, 391. For mono- graphs, see Volbeding, Index Pi-0(jram. p. 112.