Wonderful customs come with the Feast of the Epiphany. Real Epiphany is 6 January, by the way. Happily, this year it doesn’t get transferred to a Sunday because it falls on a Sunday.
On Epiphany we find in the Roman Ritual a blessing for gold, frankincense and myrrh. Please bring all your spare, unblessed myrrh to your priest… and your gold. Bring lots of gold to your priest… or send it to me if your priest isn’t around.
By the way, we use pure frankincense in our thurible. I just bought a bunch more which I will bless. I also have a bag of real myrrh.
On Epiphany there is also the famous blessing for homes. Father can bless chalk which can be used then to mark the lintel of the house with the year.
However, today, on the Vigil of Epiphany, there is a special blessing for Epiphany Water. Here is a photo from a few years ago, of yours truly blessing Epiphany Water. In subsequent years people brought 5 gallon containers and lots of boxes of salt!
The Rite is very cool. It begins with the Litany of Saints, with a couple special petitions about the blessing of the water to follow. Satan and the demons are then driven from the place with a mighty prayer.
This is NOT a prayer for lay people to recite. Period. Understand? Just don’t.
Exorcism against Satan and the apostate angels [In Latin, of course. The “+” is where the celebrant makes the Sign of the Cross.]
In the name of our Lord Jesus + Christ and by His power, we cast you out, every unclean spirit, every devilish power, every assault of the infernal adversary, every legion, every diabolical group and sect; begone and stay far from the Church of God, from all who are made in the image of God and redeemed by the precious blood of the divine + Lamb. Never again dare, you cunning serpent, to deceive the human race, to persecute the Church of God, nor to strike the chosen of God and to sift them as + wheat. For it is the Most High God who commands you, + He to whom you heretofore in your great pride considered yourself equal; He who desires that all men might be saved and come to the knowledge of truth. God the Father + commands you. God the Son + commands you. God the Holy + Spirit commands you. The majesty of Christ, the eternal Word of God made flesh + commands you; He who for the salvation of our race, the race that was lost through your envy, humbled Himself and became obedient even unto death; He who built His Church upon a solid rock, and proclaimed that the gates of hell should never prevail against her, and that He would remain with her all days, even to the end of the world. The sacred mystery of the cross + commands you, as well as the power of all the mysteries of Christian faith. The exalted Virgin Mary, Mother of God + commands you, who in her lowliness crushed your proud head from the first moment of her Immaculate Conception. The faith of the holy apostles Peter and Paul and the other apostles + commands you. The blood of the martyrs and the devout intercession of all holy men and women commands you.
Therefore, accursed dragon and every diabolical legion, we adjure you by the living + God, by the true + God, by the holy + God, by the God who so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have life everlasting; cease your deception of the human race and your giving them to drink of the poison of everlasting damnation; desist from harming the Church and fettering her freedom. Begone Satan, you father and teacher of lies and enemy of mankind. Give place to Christ in whom you found none of your works; give place to the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church, which Christ Himself purchased with His blood. May you be brought low under God’s mighty hand. May you tremble and flee as we call upon the holy and awesome name of Jesus, before whom hell quakes, and to whom the virtues, powers, and dominations are subject; whom the cherubim and seraphim praise with unwearied voices, saying: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts!
The salt and water are exorcised, blessed, blended.
Thus, all these elements are ripped from the domination of the Prince of this world and handed over wholly to the King, ready for use in our spiritual warfare.
At the end of the rite the Te Deum is sung. Spiffy.
Epiphany and its Vigil, once more important than Christmas. Very ancient and very cool feast.
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Yesterday, after High Mass, young men were carrying many large buckets of water into the church, in preparation for the blessing of Epiphany Water (which is to take place after the Mass of the Vigil of Epiphany). That blessing is definitely the stronger stuff in the Church’s arsenal.
At the risk of jumping ahead by a liturgical month, this reminds me of the Candlemas blessing of candles, which our pastor gradually reintroduced in the Ordinary Form. The first year, I brought a couple of candles. Then I read, “blessing of candles to be used throughout the year” and so I brought as many packaged tea-lights as I could carry. And that was where our pastor blessed an approved set of candles, and handed those out to the faithful. It was the most orderly thing to do.
But the Blessing of Waters was most impressed upon me in the days I was worshiping with the Byzantine Ruthenians, where Theophany celebrates the Baptism of the Lord, mostly. And they brought an impressively-sized pool into the front of the church, and plunging the lit candles into the water repeatedly, the meeting of wax and fire and water is rich with drama and symbolism.
It was last year when I learned that a “vale” is a valley with a river flowing through it, and since we parishioners live in an actual vale, I have insisted on that pronunciation for the “Hail, Holy Queen” in English, and the bees keep working around here, and the chandlers keep on dipping.
In some parts of the Catholic world it is still more culturally important than Christmas.
I have a lifetime supply of Epiphany water. Had an 18.5 L jug of water blessed a while back. We got a very clear instructive email complete with pictures from our priests urging us not to bring those small 500 ml bottles of water with tiny openings to bless.
Meanwhile I came across an amusing local Facebook group for my city from someone looking for Epiphany water. She had called the cathedral to ask if the bishop was blessing Epiphany water and where she could get some. The secretary who answered the phone had no idea what she was talking about, never heard of Epiphany water before or even Epiphany. I directed her to our Latin Mass Community for some Epiphany water. I didn’t realize they were having a solemn Mass beforehand.