medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
George H. Brown wrote:
>
> There seems to be some confusion about the function of the piscina.
> I always understood the need for the piscine to be not for the water
> from the washing of the priest's hands at the "lavabo" (they're not
> THAT sacred), but for the cleansing of the chalice (and ciborium)
> which held the sacred species (even if the chalice is rinsed once and
> the water from it drunk after communion) and the cleansing of the
> priest's or deacon's hands after touching the hosts. Most Catholic
> churches, including cathedrals,have only one such sink for the
> priests or sacristan to use. Even though Ockham as a priest used
> another basin for his shaving razor, I don't see any need to multiply
> piscinae unnecessarily. We should, however, check the medieval
> regulations.
There is the phenomenon of the double piscina. This can be dated precisely:
first half of the 14th century, I believe. This was in direct response to
the requrement that a separate drain be provided for the ablutions. This
was then changed to the priest consuming the ablutions, and a single piscina
thereafter sufficed. (This from memory, so the precise details may not be
correct.)
John Briggs
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