…why there are holy water fonts at the entrance of the churches?
The refreshing contact of fingertips with holy water, followed by the superior spiritual refreshment of making the Sign of the Cross, usually marks the transition between the hustle and bustle of the street and the peace of the sacred precinct when entering a Catholic church. But have you ever wondered why this happens right at the doors of the church?
In the Book of Exodus, we read that God commanded Moses to install a bronze basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, so that Aaron and his sons could perform their ritual ablutions there before the service of worship (cf. Ex 30:17-21). Solomon later had a large reservoir of water, called the Sea of Bronze, built in the court of the Temple in Jerusalem so that the priests could purify themselves before beginning their daily duties (cf. 1 Kgs 7:23-26).
According to Eusebius of Caesarea (cf. Historia Ecclesiastica. L.X, c.4, n.40), when building places of worship, the Holy Church kept the custom of building fountains or pools in its courts – called cantharus aquarum – where the faithful washed their hands and feet. These ablutions no longer had a ritual purpose, but a hygienic and symbolic one: they were an image of the regenerating bath of Baptism and recalled the inner purity necessary to enter the house of God. However, it was still ordinary water, devoid of any supernatural virtue.
With the passage of time, the primitive fonts gave way to holy water fonts, smaller in size and placed at the entrance to churches. As early as the beginning of the 9th century, Charlemagne prescribed in his Capitularies that at Sunday Masses the priest should pour holy water into an appropriate container so that the faithful could sprinkle themselves before entering the sacred buildings.
By making the Sign of the Cross with holy water at the entrance to churches, we defend ourselves against the snares of the devil, distance ourselves from the things of the world and ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten our hearts, instilling the devotion, reverence and silence proper to the house of God. ◊
…when the custom of singing during the Offertory of the Mass originated?
The Offertory is the rite of the Holy Sacrifice in which the bread and wine are presented to the celebrant. This is done by the deacon, who, representing the faithful, offers their gifts to the priest so that he may offer them to God. The species thus become blessed, ceasing to be profane matter and becoming something sacred, waiting to be definitively transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Christ during the Consecration.
The faithful of the first three centuries remained respectfully silent at this august moment. It was not until the fourth century, the time of St. Augustine, that the church of Carthage began the pious custom of singing melodies in praise of the Divine Majesty during the Offertory. Later, Pope St. Gregory the Great extended this practice to the Universal Church, giving it its own form: an antiphon accompanied by psalmic verses, which were interrupted when the priest turned to the audience and commanded: “Orate fratres…– Pray brethren…”
Gradually, the verses of the Psalms disappeared and only the Offertory antiphon remained, the most beautiful, sublime and mystical melody of the Gregorian sequences for Holy Mass. It expresses the soul of the faithful who, at the moment of the Holy Sacrifice, proclaim their total dependence on God, confess that everything they have belongs to Him and therefore offer Him their whole being. ◊
