BACILE. –
I. IN THE LITURGY
A large dish, usually made of metal, used for the various ablutions practiced in the liturgy. Especially in the first centuries, when the faithful offered bread and wine for the sacrifice, vessels were necessary to enable the celebrant to purify himself before beginning the sacred action. When the Church herself began to provide the offerings, the ablutions diminished and were retained only for their symbolic value; the size of the vessels intended for these ablutions therefore decreased. Today, in addition to b. of sufficient capacity to contain holy water or for washing the hands in sacristies, there are others of various sizes for liturgical uses. Bishops use a b. with a silver or metal ewer; other prelates also enjoy this privilege. Smaller b. are used to contain objects that must be blessed during the various rites, such as salt, ashes, rings, medals, etc., or even to carry certain sacred vestments to the altar during pontifical Masses.II. IN SACRED ART
Medieval sources, from the Statuta antiqua of ca. 500 onward, frequently mention the liturgical b. (bacimum, aquamanile, pelvis, concha, patena, discus, manipulus, lanx, fons), which differs from other examples only in its decoration, in which Christian motifs appear, as on the Eastern plates of the 6th-7th centuries depicting the Communion of the Apostles (e.g., those from Riha in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and from Stuma in the Constantinople Museum) or the angels before the cross (Leningrad, Hermitage; London, British Museum; and New York, Metropolitan Museum, from Cyprus). Other silver plates are simpler in their decoration, such as, for example, the examples from Ostia (4th century, Vatican, Museo Sacro), from Canoscio (Perugia, Soprintendenza), from Poltava (Leningrad, Hermitage), from Lampsacus and Sutton Koo (London, British Museum), and from Hamah (Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery). The plates of the treasure of Nagy Szent Miklos, with Bulgarian inscriptions of the 9th century (Budapest, National Museum), served rather for profane use. A large number of bronze b., corresponding in form and decoration to Coptic types, were also found in the barbarian tombs of the 6th and 7th centuries.Numerous and varied in form are the b. of the early Middle Ages; in many treasuries, brass b. with allegorical representations are preserved, perhaps made in northern Germany (e.g., some of those in the museum of Padua), which served, in addition to the « lavabo », perhaps also for Baptism. From the 14th century through the Renaissance, the schools of Flanders and the Rhineland and, from the 15th century, that of Nuremberg produced b., often with scenes hammered in brass (Beckenschlägerei), intended for export, especially to Spain and northern Italy.
More precious are the enamelled copper b. of the Limoges school of the 13th and 14th centuries, which are often found in pairs with identical decoration (Vatican, Museo Sacro; Paris, Cluny Museum; collections in Dresden, Baltimore, London, etc.).
During the Renaissance, the liturgical b. was used especially in the pontifical Mass; it became broader, very heavy, and often decorated with engraving or repoussé work. Almost all the great «treasuries» preserve rich examples of b. made together with the ewer (Vatican, Sistine Chapel; Siena, cathedral, etc.). Neoclassicism also changed the taste for the form of the b., which became simpler and was almost always paired with the ewer (Vatican, Museo Sacro).