CREPITACOLO. — From the Latin *crepitaculum*, *crepitaculum*: a wooden toy that makes a noise when shaken. It is also called *battola*, *tabella*, or *raganella*. The most common types are the toothed cylinder with a wooden hammer and the clapper. The *crepitaculum* is used in liturgy from Holy Thursday to Holy Saturday in place of bells. The Roman Missal prescribes that for the Mandatum the “signum cum tabula” be given, and the Ambrosian Missal prescribes that on Good Friday the “signum Vesperarum cum crotalo seu tabula lignea” be given. The *Memoriale ritualum* prescribes that a *crotalum* (q.V. CROTAL) be kept ready to summon the people and to give the sign of the Angelus (tit. IV, 1, n. 9; V, 1, n. 5; VI, 1, n. 12). For this purpose large *crepitacoli* are often found on bell towers; in churches and religious houses portable *crepitacoli* are used to give the signals during the final days of Holy Week and for community exercises.
HISTORICAL NOTES. — Two pieces of wood struck together constitute one of the most primitive instruments for giving signals. From ancient times in the East such instruments passed directly into Christian use. The Rule of St. Pachomius, for example, speaks of a “tuba” to summon the monks (ch. 2), and elsewhere mentions *crepitacoli* and wooden mallets (Regula s. Pachomii, chs. 16, 35, 72: PL 49, 277, 281, 285, 290; cf. also De vitis patrum, III: ibid., 73, 977; Palladius, Historia lausica, 104: ibid., 1102). In the Rule of St. Benedict the word *signum* is used several times, though it cannot be determined whether it referred then to a wooden *crepitaculum* or to a handbell. It is certain, however, that according to various medieval customary books the use of *crepitacoli* persisted in Benedictine monasteries, as in waking by the mallet, summoning the monks to the weekly foot-washing, 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 *crepitacoli* spread to basilicas and churches. The *Ordo romanus* I (according to Mabillon, XII; according to Andrieu) prescribes that bells not be rung from Matins of Friday until Matins of Holy Saturday (n. 29: PL 78, 951); now Amalarius, a profound connoisseur 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’ statement it appears that such signals were an ancient Roman usage, which survived, along with many other customs, in the Sacred Triduum; even the “Romania” (Constantinople) used *crepitacoli* “propter vetustatem” (Amalarius, loc. cit.). The Eastern churches introduced bells much later, while preserving the ancient use of “sacred wood” (ἀγιαννῆρα). One reads, for example, in the Acts of the Second Council of Nicaea (787): “when the body [of the martyr Anastasius] approached the holy city, it was announced to the whole city, and great joy spread among all. And rising up and striking the sacred wood (τὰ ἐπὶ λεξὰ ξύλοι σχημάντωντες), they gathered themselves in the most venerable temple of the Mother of God” (Mansi, XIII, p. 22). In the monasteries of Mount Athos the *semantra* have never fallen into disuse.
Medieval liturgical writers extensively expound the symbolism of the *crepitacoli* and their sound: Honorius of Autun (Gemina animae, III, 88: PL 172, 666), Beleth (Divinorum officiorum explicatio, 100: ibid., 202, 105), Sicard of Cremona (Mitrale, VI, 11: ibid., 213, 297), and especially Durandus in his Rationale divinorum officiorum (VI, 72).
The use of various kinds of clappers and rattles soon became, especially in the hands of boys, a characteristic of folk celebrations during Holy Week (q.v.).