What is done in material semblance, he then argues, is repeated in the unseen medium of the Spirit. The stains of idolatry, vice and fraud are not visible on the flesh, yet they resemble real dirt. “The waters are medicated in a manner through the intervention of the angel, and the Spirit is corporeally washed in the water and the flesh is spiritually purified in the same.”
Tertullian believed that an angel was sent down, when God was invoked, like that which stirred the pool of Bethesda. As regards rival Isiac and Mithraic baptisms, he asserts that their waters are destitute of divine power; nay, are rather tenanted by the devil who in this matter sets himself to rival God. “Without any religious rite at all,” he urges, “unclean spirits brood upon waters, aspiring to repeat that primordial gestation of the divine Spirit.” And he instances the “darkling springs and lonely rivers which are said to snatch, to wit by force of a harmful spirit.” In the sequel he defines the rôle of the angel of baptism who does not infuse himself in waters, already holy from the first; but merely presides over the washing of the faithful, and ensures their being made pure for the reception of the holy Spirit in the rite of confirmation which immediately follows. “The devil who till now ruled over us, we leave behind overwhelmed in the water.”
From all this we conclude that what is poetry to us—akin to the folk-lore of water-sprites, naiads, kelpies, river-gods and water-worship in general—was to Tertullian and to the generations of believers who fashioned the baptismal rites, ablutions and beliefs of the church, nothing less than grim reality and unquestionable fact.
See John, marquess of Bute, and E. A. Wallis Budge, The Blessing of the Waters (London, 1901); E. B. Tylor, Primitive Culture (London, 1903).
(F. C. C.)
HOLY WEEK (ἑβδομὰς μεγάλη, ἁγία or τῶν ἁγίων, ξηροφαγίας, ἄπρακτος, also ἡμέραι παθημάτων, ἡμέραι σταυρώσιμαι: hebdomas [or septimana] major, sancta, authentica [i.e. canonizata, du Cange], ultima, poenosa, luctuosa, nigra, inofficiosa, muta, crucis, lamentationum, indulgentiae), in the Christian ecclesiastical year the week immediately preceding Easter. The earliest allusion to the custom of marking this week as a whole with special observances is to be found in the Apostolical Constitutions (v. 18, 19), dating from the latter half of the 3rd century A.D. Abstinence from wine and flesh is there commanded for all the days, while for the Friday and Saturday an absolute fast is enjoined. Dionysius Alexandrinus also, in his canonical epistle (260 A.D.), refers to the six fasting days (ἕξ τῶν νηστειῶν ἡμέραι) in a manner which implies that the observance of them had already become an established usage in his time. There is some doubt about the genuineness of an ordinance attributed to Constantine, in which abstinence from public business was enforced for the seven days immediately preceding Easter Sunday, and also for the seven which followed it; the Codex Theodosianus, however, is explicit in ordering that all actions at law should cease, and the doors of all courts of law be closed during those fifteen days (l. ii. tit. viii.). Of the particular days of the “great week” the earliest to emerge into special prominence was naturally Good Friday. Next came the Sabbatum Magnum (Holy Saturday or Easter Eve) with its vigil, which in the early church was associated with an expectation that the second advent would occur on an Easter Sunday.
For details of the ceremonial observed in the Roman Catholic Church during this week, reference must be made to the Missal and Breviary. In the Eastern Church the week is marked by similar practices, but with less elaboration and differentiation of rite. See also [Easter], [Good Friday], [Maundy Thursday], [Palm Sunday] and [Passion Week].
HOLYWELL (Tre’ffynnon, well-town), a market town and contributory parliamentary borough of Flintshire, N. Wales, situated on a height near the left bank of the Dee estuary, 196 m. from London by the London & North-Western railway (the station being 2 m. distant). Pop. of urban district (1901) 2652. The parish church (1769) has some columns of an earlier building, interesting brasses and strong embattled tower. The remains of Basingwerk Abbey (Maes glas, green field), partly Saxon and partly Early English, are near the station. It is of uncertain origin but was used as a monastery before 1119. In 1131 Ranulph, 2nd earl of Chester, introduced the Cistercians. In 1535, when Its revenues were £150, 7s. 3d., it was dissolved, but revived under Mary I. and used as a Roman Catholic burial place in 1647. Scarcely any traces remain of Basingwerk castle, an old fort. Small up to the beginning of the 19th century, Holywell has increasingly prospered, thanks to lime quarries, lead, copper and zinc mines, smelting works, a shot manufactory, copper, brass, iron and zinc works; brewing, tanning and mineral water, flannel and cement works. St Winifred’s holy well, one of the wonders of Wales, sends up water at the rate of 21 tons a minute, of an almost unvarying temperature, higher than that of ordinary spring water. To its curative powers many crutches and ex voto objects, hung round the well, as in the Lourdes Grot, bear ample witness. The stones at the bottom are slightly reddish, owing to vegetable substances. The well itself is covered by a fine Gothic building, said to have been erected by Margaret, countess of Richmond and mother of Henry VII., with some portions of earlier date. The chapel (restored) is used for public service. Catholics and others visit it in great numbers. There are swimming baths for general use. In 1870 a hospice for poorer pilgrims was erected. Other public buildings are St Winifred’s (Catholic) church and a convent, a town hall and a market-hall. The export trade is expedited by quays on the Dee.