AMPULLA. - A small vessel with a narrow neck and a body of varying shape, intended to hold the wine and water for Holy Mass, the holy oils, aromatic essences and the like.
1. LITURGY
In the first centuries of the Church, when the faithful provided the matter of the Eucharist through their offerings, and communion was practiced under both species, the vessels (amae or amulae) intended for the collection of the wine were fairly large: mostly of silver, or even of gold, sometimes finely chased and adorned with precious stones. In the Liber Pontificalis we have a list of these vessels that Constantine donated to the various basilicas. Today two cruets of crystal or glass are prescribed, so that their contents can easily be verified. Those of metal are tolerated, if precious, provided they are clearly distinct from one another.
For the holy oils and the chrism, small cruets or vessels with a wide mouth, mostly of metal, are still used.
Famous is the cruet of Reims (the holy cruet par excellence), which, according to Hincmar, contained the chrism used for the baptism and the consecration of Clovis, first king of the Franks. Kept near the tomb of St. Remigius, it was destroyed during the French Revolution.
Enrico Dante
2. ARCHAEOLOGY
Various types of cruets are known, in glass, terracotta, ivory, found quite often either placed in or affixed to the sealing lime of the tombs in the cemeteries in the underground cemeteries or placed inside near the head of the deceased. The early scholars of subterranean Rome, such as Bosio, Boldetti, Lupi, Marangoni, held that they had contained the blood of martyrs (v. A. DI SANGUE), holy water, consecrated wine, perfumes. All the ampullae found in the excavations carried out recently by the Pontifical Commission of Sacred Archaeology in the cemeteries of Commodilla, of Pamphilus, of Praetextatus, of Novatian, of the Via Latina, show that they contained oily liquid substances, the liquid odores mentioned by Prudentius (PL 13, 888). In a single gallery of the cemetery of Pamphilus ten of them were found, some with the opening slanted to facilitate filling (E. Josi, Il Cimitero di Panfilo, in Riv. arch. crist., 3 [1926], p. 138).
Ampullae of terracotta, glass and metal were used by the faithful to carry back to their homes the oil that burned in the sanctuaries of the Holy Places and of the martyrs, or a little earth taken from those same places. The practice is attested as early as St. John Chrysostom (In Martyres homilia: PG 50, 664) and by Gregory of Tours (Miracula s. Martini*: PL 71, 914 ff., 955). In such cases the ampulla is called εὐλογία.
The best-known ampullae of this category are the following: at Bobbio, in the crypt of St. Columbanus, a series of tin ampullae was found in 1910, with decorations inspired by monumental subjects, mosaics and frescoes that adorned the basilicas of Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth, such as the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the shepherds at Bethlehem, the Magi, the Baptism of the Lord, Calvary, the women at the tomb, Christ appearing at the tomb, Christ in glory.
In the treasury of the cathedral of Monza, 28 glass phials are preserved, coming from Rome, containing oil taken by a certain John from the tombs of the Roman martyrs and brought to Queen Theodelinda in the time of St. Gregory the Great (590-604); 16 metal ampullae for oil collected in the holy places of Palestine, likewise with scenes of the type of those of Bobbio and no later than the beginning of the 7th century.
From the sanctuary of the martyr St. Menas come the many ampullae of yellowish terracotta now scattered among the various museums. There the martyr is depicted in military dress and with a halo, between two camels prostrate at his feet. Many bear the inscription ETÀOTIA TOY ATTOY MHNA or O ATIOC MHNAC or equivalents. In the Benedictine monastery of Farfa, from the 11th century onward, a collection of 28 glass phials has been preserved, each contained in a silk pouch, provided with its own parchment label bearing the inscription indicating the sanctuary to which the earth collected in the various holy places of Palestine refers.
Bibliography6 works
Enrico Josi
3. ART
Most precious ampullae, of Byzantine origin, in the form of a handled jug of crystal, agate or onyx with a gold or silver mount, are those of the treasury of St. Mark's in Venice, dated to the 11th-12th century. Among the most choice examples of the Renaissance are the two ampullae in the Louvre of Venetian manufacture in rock crystal with gilded silver branches and a handle in the form of a dragon (16th century). Noteworthy for their elegant simplicity of line are certain other modern examples, especially French ones.
Bibliography2 works
Guglielmo Matthiae