# St. Ignatius water

**Aqua Sancti Ignatii**

**Known today as.** Water blessed with a relic or medal of St. Ignatius of Loyola, by a formula of the Society of Jesus.

Kind: Sacramental

## What was it used for?

Given to the sick and to women in childbirth, and used against fever and the harassment of evil spirits, above all in the Jesuit missions.

## What does modern science say?

Still blessed in some Jesuit churches.

## What lore surrounds it?

It belongs to a family of saints’ waters, each blessed by contact with a relic, through which a saint’s protection was carried far from the shrine.

## What did the older authorities say?

**The Catholic Encyclopedia.** The Catholic Encyclopedia notes that the Rituale Romanum “contains a number of such blessings, for example ‘Modus benedicendi aquam’ with other similar formulae in honour of St. Adelhaid, St. Willibrord, St. Vincent Ferrer etc., particularly. The purpose of this is generally medicinal.” Such waters are “blessed with various special formulae for devotional purposes,” and the Ritual's appendices of blessings “grow continually. As soon as the Sacred Congregation of Rites approves a new blessing it is added to the next edition.”

## Sources

- *The Catholic Encyclopedia* (New York, 1907–1914), “Water, Liturgical Use of.” newadvent.org/cathen/15564a.htm
- *The Catholic Encyclopedia* (New York, 1907–1914), “Ritual.” newadvent.org/cathen/13088b.htm

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*St. Ignatius water.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-01. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/st-ignatius-water

Historical description, not medical advice.