Re-Reading Sacrosanctum Concilium: Article 70

Vatican website translation:

70. Except during Eastertide, baptismal water may be blessed within the rite of baptism itself by an approved shorter formula.
Latin text:

70. Aqua baptismalis, extra tempus paschale, in ipso ritu Baptismi probata formula breviore benedici potest.


Slavishly literal translation:

70. Baptismal water, outside of Eastertide, can be blessed with a shorter approved formula during the rite of Baptism itself.

 

In Article 70 the Council Fathers respond to a custom that had prevailed in the Roman Rite since the Middle Ages that the Easter water blessed on Holy Saturday was to be preserved in the font for baptisms throughout the year. Part of the blessing of the Easter water included pouring sacred chrism into the water; in certain climates, as time passed this chrism could turn color or serve as the base for fungal growths, neither of which supported the central sign of water as life-giving and/or cleansing. Therefore the Council Fathers in effect limited the use of Easter water in the baptismal font to the Eastertide itself and permitted the use of other water, blessed by a shorter formula, in the baptismal font at other times during the year.

Pray Tell readers may wish to discuss how these concerns for the cleanliness and the life-giving signification of the baptismal water are responded to in present practice. Have any issues arisen when greater quantities of water are retained in immersion pool baptismal fonts or when pumps keep the baptismal water constantly flowing?

Michael Joncas

Ordained in 1980 as a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, MN, Fr. (Jan) Michael Joncas holds degrees in English from the (then) College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN, and in liturgical studies from the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN and the Pontificio Istituto Liturgico of the Ateneo S. Anselmo in Rome. He has served as a parochial vicar, a campus minister, and a parochial administrator (pastor). He is the author of six books and more than two hundred fifty articles and reviews in journals such as Worship, Ecclesia Orans, and Questions Liturgiques. He has composed and arranged more than 300 pieces of liturgical music. He has recently retired as a faculty member in the Theology and Catholic Studies departments and as Artist in Residence and Research Fellow in Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota.

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Comments

2 responses to “Re-Reading Sacrosanctum Concilium: Article 70”

  1. Jonathan Day

    I recall reading somewhere that the oil in the chrism was — in addition to its symbolic significance — also meant to protect the water in the font from the air, and hence from algae, fungi and the like.

    There has been a certain amount of fuss “out there” that the newer, shorter formulas of blessing omit the exorcism of the water, not to mention the exorcism of salt which was then used to exorcise the water.

    Omitting the exorcisms sure makes sense to me; why would devils hang about in boxes of salt or containers of water? Surely there are herds of swine around, or humans, or internet browsers…

    Reply
  2. Michael Silhavy

    One can do no better than to remember those fantastic words from Aidan Kavanagh in Elements of Rite:

    The (baptismal) pool is kept clean. It contains what is called “living waters” not because things grow in it but because it moves to give life to those who lie in death’s bonds.

    Long before the Worship, Wit and Wisdom of Pray Tell there was Elements of Rite. What a classic.

    Reply

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