I just spoke to my aunt (a devout catholic) and she asked that I bring back Holy Water from Lourdes. I don't have a clue where this is. My search brought up a convent in Rome. If you have a serious response, I'd appreciate it. Thank you in advance. PS My uncle is very ill and she believes this will help.

Hi Joy, Lourdes is in southern France. There is a spring in a grotto where Mary apparently appeared & the water has been associated with curing diseases & disabilities etc. It attracts huge busloads of people - it was quite a disturbingly commercial town when I visited last year.

Look for signs that say " enoteca" in Italy for a wide choice of holy waters.

Give her a little jar of ordinary tap water. It's easy, cheap and, I assure you, it will be every bit as effective as "holy water."

Joy:<BR><BR>Lourdes is a long way to travel from Rome. For $4.99 you can buy your aunt some holy water from Lourdes online at:<BR><BR>http://shop.store.yahoo.com/bettyfyke/holwatfromlo.html<BR><BR><BR><BR>

On EWTN network at www.ewtn.org you can buy a rosary that contains holy water from Lourdes. M.

I'm astounded --- no need for a pilgrimage to southern France? Now you can buy holy water online !!! Gosh, what will they think of next ....<BR>

If should have guessed that someday Lourdes' shopkeepers would sell their god-approved products online...

You can also buy it in the Vatican gift shop, in St. Peters Cathedral in Rome.

Is the Vatican selling Indulgences online yet?

Joe: I am not Catholic, so what is (are) "Indulgences"? Is that a holy perfume? or what?

Indulgences, yes. And if you hit the Vatican you can shop for sainthoods and divorces as well.

This is vaguely remembered from European History classes taken in college 15 years ago. So I could be completely wrong.<BR><BR>Let me first state that I don't think the Catholic Church sells indulgences anymore (Thank God!!) but there was a time when it did. Apparently, you could "buy" an indulgence and it would "pay" for a given sin. The bigger the sin, the higher the cost of the indulgence. Obviously, only the very rich could afford such indulgences (causing the poorer classes to believe they'd never be able to "buy" their way into heaven). I believe this is one of the major reasons the Protestant Reformation came about.<BR><BR>Again, I don't believe the modern Catholic Church practices this anymore.

<BR>Joy,<BR><BR>The Holy Water will help your Uncle. You can normally go into any Catholic CHurch and get some of their blessed water if you ask the priest, or ask their gift shop!<BR><BR>Good luck and I hope your Uncle feels better.

People, people, i'm surprised you don't know...<BR><BR>How to make any water holy?<BR><BR>Boil the hell out of it!

Actually, indulgences weren't tied to a particular sin, but were overall reductions of the time spent in purgatory. So, one wouldn't buy a "murder indulgence" or "blasphemy indulgence" but would buy a "20 years indulgence" or such a thing...<BR><BR><BR>Actually, I believe indulgences still exists but aren't sold. For instance, there's a general indulgence for people who make a pilgrimage to Rome during the jubilee year (every 25 years), if I remember correctly.

With apologies to my Catholic friends, this helps explain why I choose to be a Baptist.<BR><BR>Holy water being sold over the internet. Any guarantees with that water?<BR><BR>...and BTW aren't indulgences what started Martin Luther to become more than a little bit upset with a corrupt Catholic Church...OTOH, the $$$ did go to build St. Peters.<BR><BR>US

Thank you, clairobscur, for clarifying.<BR><BR>Yes, US, it's one of the 95 that Martin Luther nailed to the church door.