ASPERGES. – It is an instrument made of silver, gold, or other metal, used to sprinkle holy water on persons and objects. Besides the holy water stoups at the entrances of churches, smaller portable vessels soon came into use to facilitate the various sprinklings required by the liturgy. The early Christians performed these sprinklings with branches of hyssop or other fragrant herbs, such as laurel, myrtle, or olive. In the form most commonly used today, the aspergillum consists of a metal rod ending in a perforated ball or in white bristles. The Roman Pontifical prescribes the use of the hyssop aspergillum for the consecration or blessing of churches and altars, in accordance with the blessing formula: *Asperges me hyssopo*.
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