CREPITACOLO. — From the Latin crepitaculum, crepitaculum: a wooden toy which, when shaken, produces a noise. It is also called battola, tabella, or raganella. The most common types are the toothed cylinder and the wooden hammer. The c. is used in the liturgy from Holy Thursday through Holy Saturday in place of the bells. The Roman Missal prescribes that for the Mandatum the «signum cum tabula» be given, and the Ambrosian Missal that on Good Friday the «signum Vesperarum cum crotalo seu tabula lignea» be given. The Memoriale rituum prescribes keeping a crotalum (v. CROTALI) ready to summon the people and to give the signal for the Angelus (tit. IV, 1, n. 9; V. 1, n. 5; vi, 1, n. 12). For this purpose, large c. are often found on bell towers; in churches and religious houses, portable c. are used during the final days of Holy Week to give the signals during ceremonies and for community exercises.
HISTORICAL NOTES. – Two pieces of wood struck against one another constitute one of the most primitive instruments for giving signals. From the ancient East such instruments passed directly into Christian usage. The Rule of s. Pacomius, for example, just as it speaks of a «tuba» for summoning the monks (cap. 2), elsewhere also mentions c. and wooden hammers (Regula 1. Pachomii, capp. 16, 35, 72; PL 49, 277, 281, 285, 290; cf. also De vitis patrum, III: ibid., 73, 977; Palladio, Historia lausiaca, 104: ibid., 1192). In the Rule of s. Benedict there is repeated mention of a signum, without its being possible to determine whether it then referred to wooden c. or to a little bell. It is certain, however, that, according to various medieval customary books, the use of c. persisted in Benedictine monasteries, as did waking by means of the mallet, the summoning of the monks to the weekly pedilacium,
etc. (cf. E. Martène, De antiquis Ecclesiae ritibus, IV: De antiquis monachorum ritibus, Antwerp 1744, passim; Br. Albers, Consuetudines monasticae, II, Montecassino 1905, passim). From the monasteries the use of c. passed to basilicas and churches. The Ordo romanus, t (according to Mabillon, XII, according to Andrieu) prescribes that the bells not be rung from Matins of feria V until Matins of Holy Saturday (n. 29: PL 78, 951); now Amalarius, a profound knower of Roman usages, attests that during these days the people were summoned by signals made with wooden instruments (Liber officialis, II, ed. by I. M. Hanssens, Vatican City 1949, p. 470). From Amalarius’s statement it follows that such signals were an ancient Roman usage, which, along with so many other customs, remained alive during the Sacred Triduum; «Roma iunior» (Constantinople) likewise used c. «propter vetustatem» (Amalario, loc. cit.). The Eastern Churches introduced bells very late, preserving instead the ancient use of the «sacred woods» (ἀγιάντρα). We read, for example, in the Acts of the Second Council of Nicaea (787): «cum appropinquasset sanctae civitati almum cadaver [del martire Anastasio], notum factum universae civitati, et letitia magna repleti sunt omnes. Et surgentes, sacraque ligna percutientes (τὸ τε ἱερὸ ξύλα σμῆλαντες) congregaverunt semeti-pso in venerabilissimo templo Dei Genitricis» (Mansi, XIII, p. 22). In the monasteries of Mount Athos the semantra have never fallen out of use.
Medieval liturgists discuss at length the symbolism of c. and of their sound: Onorio d'Autun (Gemma animae, III, 88: PL 172, 666), il Belet (Divinorum officiorum explicatio, 100: ibid., 202, 103), Sicardo di Cremona (Mitrale, VI, 11: ibid., 213, 207), and above all Durando in his Rationale divinorum officiorum (VI, 72).
The use of the various kinds of clappers and rattles soon became, especially in the hands of boys, a characteristic feature of folkloric celebrations during Holy Week (v.).