Unscrupulous traders who offered bottles of holy water for sale last weekend before open-air cemetery Masses in Derry have been criticised by a local priest. The traders plied bottles of holy water to relatives attending the annual ‘Cemetery Sunday’ ceremonies after clergy announced that worshippers would have to bring their own holy water to sprinkle on graves.
Father Michael Canny, who is administrator in St Eugene's Cathedral, said he was disappointed that some people tried to cash in on Cemetery Sunday by selling holy water.
He said he had been contacted by parishioners complaining that bottles of holy water had been put on sale after the diocese announced that priests attending Cemetery Sunday would not be blessing each grave individually.
Relatives were asked to bring their own holy water to the cemetery to sprinkle on their family graves.
“I was disappointed on hearing reports that people were making money from those who were honouring the memory of their dead” said Fr Canny.
"I would remind people that there is always holy water available from their local church and it is free of charge” he added.
And he said it was opportune to remind everyone that the Catechism of the Catholic Church (paragraph 2121) defines simony as the buying or selling of spiritual things.
“Simony gets its name from Acts 8:20 when Simon the magician tries to buy the spiritual power he saw at work in the apostles" Fr Canny explained.
One parishioner said she was furious to discover people selling holy water, remarking that "Del Boy wouldn't have had the nerve".
Parishioners had been advised to bring their own holy water with them for Cemetery Sunday because there are fewer priests available in the city.
Fr Canny said that ten years ago there were 26 priests in the mainly Catholic part of Derry west of the Foyle but now there were only fifteen.
Because only about a dozen clergy were available to work on Cemetery Sunday, it was not possible for them to go around and bless each grave.
For the first time, the priests did not supply holy water but asked families to collect some from their local church beforehand and sprinkle it on loved ones’ graves at the appropriate point in the ceremony.
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