Holy wells
Clootie wells; fontes sancti
- Known today as
- Springs dedicated to saints, many of them sacred long before Christianity, visited for cures.
- Kind
- Sacramental, in 1 older authority
- Earliest authority here
- The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York, 1907–1914)
Revised October 1, 2026: An authority added from a text read in full. Version 1, first published September 28, 2026.
Holy wells: what was it used for?
Pilgrims drank and bathed, walked sunwise round the well, and left pins, coins, or strips of cloth tied to a nearby tree, the illness said to fade as the rag rotted.
Holy wells: what does modern science say?
Many wells are still visited; the rag trees of Scotland and Ireland are hung with cloth to this day.
What Medicine Makes of It
- The Cures at LourdesSeven thousand claims, seventy miracles, and the criteria of Benedict XIV.
Holy wells: what lore surrounds it?
St. Winefride’s Well at Holywell in Wales has drawn pilgrims since the Middle Ages and was visited through the Reformation, when most shrines were suppressed.
Holy wells: what did the older authorities say?
- The Catholic Encyclopedia
- The Catholic Encyclopedia lists among the oils of saints “the water that flows from the wells near their burial places,” and reports Kaufmann's excavations of 1905-8 in the Libyan desert, which showed that the famous flasks of St. Menas, long thought to hold lamp-oil, “contained water from a holy well near the shrine of St. Menas, and were given as remembrances to the pilgrims.” Of holy wells generally it concedes “that these hallowed spots and things have occasioned many legends; that popular credulity was in some cases the principal cause of their celebrity; that here and there instances of fraud can be adduced,” while holding that “if superstition there be, it is only material.”
Sources
- Rattue, J. (1995). The Living Stream: Holy Wells in Historical Context. Woodbridge: Boydell. Verified against its record · doi:10.2307/4052174
- The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York, 1907–1914), “Oil of Saints.” newadvent.org/cathen/11228d.htm Standard reference work
- The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York, 1907–1914), “Superstition.” newadvent.org/cathen/14339a.htm Read in full · the text read
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Each quotation from the older authorities checked word for word against the text, read in full
- Sources
- 3 cited: 1 read in full, 1 verified against its record, 1 standard reference work.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 28, 2026 · last revised October 1, 2026
- Chicago
“Holy wells.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 1, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/holy-wells.
- MLA
“Holy wells.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 1 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/holy-wells. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Holy wells. (2026, October 1). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/holy-wells
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See Also
Also in The Catholic Encyclopedia
Letters from Heaven in The Catholic Encyclopedia · The holy water stoup in The Catholic Encyclopedia · Lourdes water in The Catholic Encyclopedia · Holy water in The Catholic Encyclopedia · everything The Catholic Encyclopedia names →
Nearby in the alphabet
Honey (Honey of bees) · Honey fungus (from black cords, the “shoestrings,” that spread beneath the bark) · Honeyed wine and honeyed water (Wine or water sweetened with honey) · The Holy Name, IHS (the first three letters of Jesus in Greek, often within a sunburst) · Hop (Humulus lupulus) · Hiera with agaric
Historical description, not medical advice.