ARCHIVED - First Covid-safe holy water dispenser blessed and ready for use in Madrid church
The dispensers, which were developed by a Valencian company, enables the holy water that had been removed from churches at the start of the pandemic as a safety precaution, to return
The coronavirus crisis has certainly created a significant need for innovation in order to resolve the many problems caused by the need for restrictions and safety measures, and amongst these is the thorny topic of the use of holy water in religious worship!
For centuries, worshippers have dipped their fingers into communal dispensers containing blessed water inside places of worship, but after the wisdom of this was questioned during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the practice ceased and worshippers have had to become accustomed to a “dry run” up to the altar.
Now however, a new system has provided a solution and this week a parish priest has blessed the first hygienic holy water dispenser to be installed in Madrid, at the Santa Maria Soledad church in Las Tablas.
Designed by AquaSanctus, a company based in Valencia, the system avoids the risk of worshippers coming into contact with coronavirus in fonts.
The new dispensers have already been installed in Valencia’s Santo Tomás Apóstol and San Felipe Neri parishes and the Monteolivete church, as well as emblematic pilgrimage sites such as Fatima and Lourdes, AquaSanctus reports.
Worshippers entering the churches receive the necessary amount of holy water to cross themselves with directly into their hands from the pedal-activated dispensers, thus avoiding contact with any surfaces and minimizing risks.