HOLY WATER, technically the water with which Christian be'ievers sign the cross on their foreheads on entering or leaving church. The decretum of Gratian enjoins that it should be exorcized and blessed by the priest and sprinkled with exorcized salt. This rite is found in the Gelasian, Gregorian and other sacramentaries. In the East the water was blessed once a month; in the Latin Church it is now blessed every Sunday. In the 4th century in the East it was usual to wash the hands on entering the church (see ABLUTION) . In the early church water was not expressly consecrated for baptisms and other lustrations.