The Fate of the Second Bird

An aspergillum sometimes looks something like this: And sometimes something like this: Here is one being used by a ram in a late thirteenth-century book of hours: Mostly, though, the aspergillum was used by Catholic priests to sprinkle holy water on the congregation. After the use of holy water was written out of the English liturgy in the 1549 Prayer Book, the aspergillum (or “holy water sprinkle,” as it was more commonly called) didn’t get used so much, in England, at least not as an element in the official liturgy.1 But it was still good for a few laughs, as in the following jest from the popular joke book, Nugae venales (1642):Mulier Hugenota & Papistica quaenam?Hugenota est, quae omni tempore desiderat carnem; papistica quae saepe voluit & tractat aspergillum. [Which is a Huguenot woman, and which a Papist? A Huguenot woman is one who at all times longs for meat; a papist woman is one who often craves, and handles, the aspergillum.]