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Aflabellum (pluralflabella), inChristian liturgical use, is afan made of metal, leather, silk, parchment or feathers, intended to keep away insects from the consecrated Body and Blood of Christ and from the priest,[1] as well as to show honour. The ceremonial use of such fans dates back toAncient Egypt, and an example was found in the tomb ofTutankhamun. A flabellum is also a fan-shaped structure on the fifth legs ofhorseshoe crabs (Xiphosura).
Flabella were in use in both pagan rituals and in theChristian Church from very early days.[2] TheApostolic Constitutions, a work of the fourth century, state (VIII, 12): "Let two of thedeacons, on each side of thealtar, hold a fan, made up of thin membranes, or of the feathers of thepeacock, or of fine cloth, and let them silently drive away the small animals that fly about, that they may not come near to thecups".[3]
Flabella were originally used liturgically in the West as well as the East,[4] but they fell into disuse for theMass in theLatin Church about the fourteenth century.[5]
Apart from the foregoing liturgical uses, a flabellum, in the shape of a fan, later of anumbrella orcanopy, was used as a mark of honour forbishops andprinces. Prior toVatican II, two fans of this kind were used at theVatican whenever thePope was carried in state on thesedia gestatoria to or from an altar or audience-chamber. Through the influence of Count Ditalmo di Brozza, the fans formerly used at the Vatican were presented byPope Leo XIII in 1902 toJoseph Drexel's widow; in return, she replaced them with a more gorgeous and costly pair. The old ones were subsequently exhibited in the museum of theUniversity of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Drexel's collection of fans never fully fit into the scope of the Penn Museum, however, and was returned to her family in 1930.[6] The spread is formed of great ostrich plumes tipped with peacock feathers; on the palm (base of the fan) are thearms of the Holy See, worked in heavy gold on a crimson field, thetiara being studded with rubies and emeralds. The new pair of flabella is on display in the Vatican museum.
Lisbon Patriarchal Cathedral also holds two flabella and onesedia gestatoria in its museum.[7] It is thought the right of the cardinal patriarchs to use such honour was granted after the efforts of KingJohn V of Portugal that obtained the titles and other honours such as the use of a dove, symbolizing the Holy Spirit, above the cardinal patriarch'scarriage, in imitation of that of the popes.
The church ofSaint-Riquier, inPonthieu (813) has a silver flabellum (Migne, P.L., CLXXIV, 1257), as does the chapel ofCisoin, nearLisle which was noted in the will ofEverard (died 937), the founder of that abbey. When, in 1777, Martène wrote his "Voyage Littéraire", theAbbey of Tournus, on theSaône river in France, possessed an old flabellum, which had an ivory handle two feet long, and was beautifully carved; the two sides of the ivory circular disc were engraved with fourteen figures of saints. Pieces of this fan, dating from the eighth century, are in theMusée Cluny at Paris, and in the Collection Carrand.
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Ornate and impractical flabella were made in gold and jewels in theRomanesque period viz. the example in theMetropolitan Museum.[8]
Examples of the Eastern Christian style is also found in the Slavicripidion of the thirteenth century, preserved in Moscow, and one in theMegaspileon monastery in Greece. On this latter disc are carved theTheotokos and Child and it is encircled by eight medallions containing the images ofcherubim and of theFour Evangelists.
The inventory, taken in 1222, of the treasury ofSalisbury, enumerates a silver fan and two of parchment.
The flabellum of the thirteenth century in theAbbey of Kremsmünster in Upper Austria has the shape of a Greek cross and is ornamented withfretwork and the representation of theResurrection of Christ.
St. Paul's Cathedral, London, had a fan made of peacock feathers, andYork Minster's inventory mentions a silver handle of a fan, which was gilded and had upon it the enamelled picture of the bishop. Haymo (Hamo Hethe),Bishop of Rochester (died 1352), gave to his church a fan of silver with an ivory handle.
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913)."Flabellum".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.| Jurisdiction |
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