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Bible Encyclopedias
Holy-Water Vat
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (French, benitier; Latin, situla, vas), a vessel in which the holy water was carried about, and which, according to Micrologus, was first consecrated by pope Alexander V, as Cranmer says, to "put us in remembrance of our baptism, and the blood of Christ for our redemption, sprinkled on the cross." Eadie says "this vessel was termed ama or amula. Du Cange recognizes aspersol, aspergillum, and aspersorium as the vessels from which the priests sprinkled the water, and guadalerium as that which contained it. The first three are plainly the same as the περιῤῥαντήριον of paganism." "The fixed holy-water stoup (q.v.) was used by those who came too late into church to receive the aspersion by the sprinkler and water carried in the portable vat, which in the churches of the West represented the bodily ablution made by the Oriental Christians. Walcott, Sacred Archeology, p. 315; Eadie, Eccles. Dictionary, p. 313.
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Holy-Water Vat'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/h/holy-water-vat.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
