PURIFICATORIO (abstensorium, exstorsorium). - A small rectangle of linen (25/30 × 40/50 cm.) used at Mass to dry the fingers, the lips, and the chalice after the second ablution; to purify the paten before placing the consecrated Host upon it after the «Pater noster»; and the chalice before pouring wine and water into it at the Offertory.
Until this moment, as also after the ablution, the p. remains folded over the chalice, above or below the paten (Decr. Aut. S. Rit. Congr., no. 2572, 14 and 15). From the Offertory until the ablution, the p. lies unfolded on the corporal to the right of the celebrant. The purification of the chalice and fingers was necessary in order that no remnants of the consecrated elements might remain, but ecclesiastical writers do not mention special cloths for this purification.
The « consuetudines Cluniacenses » are the first to refer to it, whereas the « consuetudines » of S. Vittore di Parigi distinguish the « tersoria » for the purification of the chalice and the « mapulac » for that of the priest’s fingers after Holy Communion. In the Ordo Rom. XIV, 53, the pope had a tersorium for purifying his fingers and lips. The name of the p. occurs in an inventory of the Papal Treasury of 1295. In the aforementioned inventory, the p. were kept in a « copertorio », the corporals in the « repositorio ». The use of the p. became general with the Roman Missal of Pio V. No special blessing is prescribed for the p. (Decret. auth., 2572 ad 12 et 13). An embroidered cross in the middle of the p., already mentioned by s. Carlo Borromeo, distinguishes the p. from the towel used for the « Lavabo ». The first washing of the p. must be done by clerics (CIC 1306, 1, 2).