HOLY WEEK 



MOMK 



753 



Tertullian ill tin- end of tin- 2d ci'Mtury. And 

 tli.-i! tin- water HO employed was blessed by the 

 i we learn from St Jerome, among others, 

 and from tin- Apostolieal Constitutions. Although 

 ii is ilillii'iilt to lix tin- precise time, it cannot he 

 doubted tli.'U tin- practice of mingling suit with the 

 \\ater i- oi \ery ancient origin. In the Western 

 Chnivli there is u soU-mn blessing of water in the 

 >et \i<-e of Holy Saturday, but the ceremonial is 

 lepeated hv the priest whenever necessary. Holy 

 water is placed in Ben i tiers (q.v. ) at the doors of 

 churches that worshippers may sprinkle them 

 selves with it ; before high mass on Sundays the 

 celebrant sprinkles the ]>eople with holy water ; 

 ami it is used in nearly every Messing given by the 

 church. Instructed Catholics regard the use of 

 holy water chiefly as a means of suggesting to 

 the mind the necessity of internal purity ; and 

 although it is supposed to derive from the bless- 

 in x a special efficacy for this end, yet this effi- 

 cacy is held to be mainly subjective and of a 

 character entirely distinct from that ascribed to 

 the sacramental rites of the church. See BENE- 

 DICTION. 



Holy Week, the week immediately preceding 

 Faster, and specially consecrated to the commemora- 

 tion of the Passion of our Redeemer. This institu- 

 tion is of very early origin, and the name Holy 

 \Veck is but one of many by which its sacred 

 character has been described. In English use it 

 is called 'Passion Week' (a name appropriated, 

 in Roman use, to the week before Palm Sunday). 

 It was also called the 'Great Week,' the 'Silent 

 Week,' the ' Week of the Holy Passion,' the 

 4 Vacant Week,' the ' Penitential Week.' In the 

 Koman Catholic Church the special characteristics 

 of the celebration of the Holy Week are increased 

 solemnity and gloom, penitential rigour, and mourn- 

 ing. If any of the ordinary church festivals fall 

 therein, it is deferred till after Easter. All in- 

 strumental music is suspended in the churches, the 

 altars are stripped of their ornaments, the pictures 

 and images are veiled from public sight ; manual 

 labour, although it is no longer entirely prohibited, 

 is by many persons voluntarily suspended ; the 

 rigour of fasting is redoubled, and alms-deeds and 

 other works of mercy sedulously enjoined and 

 practised. All church services of the week, more- 

 over, breathe the spirit of mourning, some of them 

 being specially devoted to the commemoration of 

 1 particular scenes in the Passion of our Lord. The 

 days thus socially solemnised are Palm Sunday, 

 Spy Wednesday, Holy (or Maundy, q.v. ) Thursday, 

 (Jood Friday (q.v.), Holy Saturday. Holy Thurs- 

 day in the Roman Catholic Church is specially 

 designed as a commemoration of the Last Supper, 

 and of the institution of the eucharist, although 

 there are several other features peculiar to the day. 

 To Holy Saturday belongs the solemn blessing of fire 

 and of the water of the baptismal font : and from 

 the earliest times it was set apart for the baptism 

 of catechumens, and for the ordination of candi- 

 dates for the ecclesiastical ministry. From the 

 ' new fire,' struck from a Hint, and solemnly blessed 

 on this day, is lighted the Paschal Light, which is 

 regarded as a symbol of Christ risen from the dead. 

 This symbolical light is kept burning during the 

 reading of the gospel at mass throughout the 

 interval l>etween Easter and Pentecost. It must 

 be added, however, that in many instances the 

 primitive institution of the Holy Week was per- 

 verted, and that the suspension of labour, which 

 was originally designed for purposes of devotion 

 and contemplation, was turned into an occasion of 

 amusement not unfreqnently of a very question- 

 able character. Such abuses are now universally 

 discountenanced by the ecclesiastical authorities 

 See FASTS, FESTIVALS. 

 256 



Holywell (Welsh '/'/.y/ _,//,/,// i, a parliament- 

 HIS borough find market-town of FlinUnire, North 

 Wales, on an eminence 1"> miles N\V. of CheMter. 

 It is the seat of numerous lead, iron, copper, and 

 zinc mines, and has smelting works for the. ex- 

 trartion of these metals, manufacture-, of |*apcr, 

 tlaniiel, and Koman cement, and tanyatds and 

 breweries. The liorough unites with those of Flint, 

 Mold, \-c. in returning one member to parlia- 

 ment. Pop. (1881) 3090; (1891) 3018. Holy- 

 well owes its origin to the renowned well of ot 

 Winifred, which, until diminished by drainage 

 works, was estimated to deliver 4700 gallons of 

 water per minute. The Perpendicular chapel over 

 the well is attributed to Margaret, mother of Henry 

 VII. It is still a place of pilgrimage for Roman 

 Catholics. See Pennant's History of Huti/well 

 (1796). 



Homage ( Old Fr. ; Low Lat. homaticum ; Lat. 

 homo, ' man ' ) is the service due from a knight or 

 vassal to his lord in feudal times, the vassal pro- 

 fessing to become his lord's man. See FEUDALISM. 



Homburg, or HOMBURG VOR DER HOHE, a 



town in the Prussian province of Hesse -Nassau, 

 is situated at the foot of the Taunus Mountains. 

 8 miles NNW. of Frankfort-on-the-Main. It has 

 beautiful environs, and is frequented by alxmt 

 12,000 visitors annually on account of its mineral 

 waters. The springs, five in number, possess saline 

 and chalyl>eate properties. They are considered 

 effective in cases of disordered liver and stomach, 

 for luemorrhoidal and menstrual disorders, and for 

 gout, rheumatism, scrofula, and skin diseases. 

 Al>out 400,000 bottles are sent away annually. 

 The gaming-tables were suppressed in 1872. Pop. 

 (1875) 8294; (1895) 9274. See works by Scbick 

 (14th ed. 1885) and Will ( 1880). 



Home* the name of one of the oldest and most 

 celebrated of the historic families of Scotland. 

 After the Conquest Cospatrick, the great Earl of 

 Northumberland, took refuge in Scotland, and 

 received from Malcolm Canmore the manor of 

 Dunbar, and large estates in the Merse and the 

 Lothians. Patrick, the second son of the third 

 Earl of Dunbar, inherited from his father the manor 

 of Greenlaw, and having married his cousin, daugh- 

 ter of the fifth earl, obtained with her the lauds 

 of Home, from which his descendants took their 

 designation. After the overthrow of the earls of 

 Dunbar ami March in 1436 the Homes succeeded 

 to a portion of their vast estates and to a great 

 deal of their power on the eastern Marches. Sir 

 Alexander Home was created a peer by James III. ; 

 but, disappointed in his attempt to appropriate 

 the revenues of Coldingham Priory, he joined the 

 disaffected nobles who retailed against James, ami 

 took part in the battle of Sauclueburn, where the 

 king was killed. The second l>aron obtained estates 

 and important offices from James IV. Along with 

 Lord Huntly he commanded the vanguard of the 

 Scottish army at Flodden, and routed the English 

 right w ; ng. He was almost the only Scottish 

 noble who returned unhurt from that battle. He 

 was induced by fair promises from the Regent 

 Albany to visit Holy rood along with his brother 

 William in 1516, and'they were arrested, tried for 

 treason, and condemned and executed. The for 

 feited title and estates were restored to hi> brother 

 George in 1522 ; but, though the family took a 

 prominent part in public affairs during the troublous 

 times of Queen Mary and the great civil war, 

 they never regained their former influence. Their 

 extensive estates dwindled down to a patrimony of 

 2000 acres, and they sank into insignificance. But 

 the marriage (1832) of the eleventh earl to the 

 heiress of the Douglas estates restored the decayed 

 fortunes of this ancient house. These estates now. 



