Holy Water During Lent...yes Or No

[hermit]

This is real simple, should Holy Water be restricted all through Lent in the fonts at church or just from Holy Thursday till Easter when the new Holy Water is Blessed...
Thanks
hermit

[Pio Nono]

JMJ
2/15 - First Saturday of Lent

hermit,

Tradition dictates that holy water be present in the church until Holy Thursday, at which point it is removed with the altar cloths. I believe in the new rite one is allowed to remove holy water for the entire duration of Lent. Another possibility would be to remove the holy water on the Fifth Sunday of Lent (traditionally "Passion Sunday") when the images are removed/covered. Hope this helps.

Yours,
Pio Nono

[Theoketos]

Pio Nono is correct. It would be good to note that Holy Thursday is part of the Triduum and so is not the same as Lent. We need Holy Water and other sacramentals during Lent like crazy and so it is crazy to get rid of them.

[cappie]

Can the holy water be removed from fonts during Lent?

Answer No. Here is a letter from the Congregation for Divine Worship responding to this question on 3/14/03:

Prot. N. 569/00/L

Dear Father:
This Congregation for Divine Worship has received your letter sent by fax in which you ask whether it is in accord with liturgical law to remove the Holy Water from the fonts for the duration of the season of Lent.

This Dicastery is able to respond that the removing of Holy Water from the fonts during the season of Lent is not permitted, in particular, for two reasons:

1. The liturgical legislation in force does not foresee this innovation, which in addition to being praeter legem is contrary to a balanced understanding of the season of Lent, which though truly being a season of penance, is also a season rich in the symbolism of water and baptism, constantly evoked in liturgical texts.
2. The encouragement of the Church that the faithful avail themselves frequently of the [sic] of her sacraments is to be understood to apply also to the season of Lent. The "fast" and "abstinence" which the faithful embrace in this season does not extend to abstaining from the sacraments or sacramentals of the Church. The practice of the Church has been to empty the Holy Water fonts on the days of the Sacred Triduum in preparation of the blessing of the water at the Easter Vigil, and it corresponds to those days on which the Eucharist is not celebrated (i.e., Good Friday and Holy Saturda).

Hoping that this resolves the question with every good wish and kind regard, I am,

Sincerely yours in Christ,
Mons. Mario Marini
Undersecretary