medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On 06/10/2010 14:58, Paul Chandler wrote:
>
> After the baptism with water, the person is/was anointed on the head with
> the oil of chrism (a consecratory gesture, generally restricted to baptism,
> confirmation, ordination, and the anointing of monarchs, although there were
> other uses, such as for altars, bells, etc.). The idea of adding balsam to
> the oil was to perfume it, so in theory one could smell the fragrance. I
> suppose in practice the strength of the scent would depend on various
> factors, such as how much balsam had been added to the oil, how much was
> used in the anointing, how close one was standing, perhaps ambient
> temperature, etc.
There were, of course, *three* types of holy oils, all consecrated by
the bishop at a special service on Maundy Thursday: oil for anointing
the sick; oil of catechumens or oil of exorcism, used for pre-baptismal
rituals (probably pure - extra-virgin? - olive oil); and chrism itelf,
as described above, a mixture of oil and balsam.
John Briggs
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