ASTERISCO. — This term denotes a small stylus used in liturgical books to mark, with a pause, the midpoint of each verse in the psalms, thereby facilitating the harmony of voices in common recitation and the location of the median point in chant. It is also employed in Responsories to distinguish the refrain and in Antiphons to indicate the beginning useful for intonation. Regarding the asterisk as an instrument in Eastern liturgy, see ASTER.
Enciclopedia Cattolica