What did the Abbess rub on the baby?
What did the Abbess rub on the baby that she abandoned?
shareHoly water. She was baptizing the baby.
shareShe rubbed holy or blessed oil (usually olive oil). It's called "extreme unction" or anointing of the sick...it's usually given as part of the last rites, or in other words, part of the final blessing that usually a priest gives to someone right before they are going to die. I assume that as she left the baby there to die, she basically was giving him part of the last rights, which is the anointing with that holy oil.
I know that it was a bit difficult to interpret, as usually it's done by a priest, and is definitely not usually done by the person that's killing you. But I guess in her warped mind, she was trying to make sure that the baby's soul wouldn't be damned after it died. Here's the wikipedia article describing the practice:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anointing_of_the_Sick_(Catholic_Church)
Holy water more like, to baptize the baby, not last rights. She gave the babies to the Providence, left them under a road cross, where people walk by in the hope someone would take them, and in case they died before anyone showed up they were baptised so they would end up in heaven anyway.
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It was holy water and she did Baptize the baby. It would not have been Chrism Oil as they did not have a Priest at the convent, so would not have had Chrism Oil at the Abbey. Also, she poured it from a traditional holy water vial. Finally, her Baptism would have been a valid sacrament, but she would not have been able to anoint validly as only a Priest or Deacon can do so.
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