Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 3.djvu/84

64 Much may be said on the subject of chrism and chrismatories, large and small; but we forbear to enter into the subject at any great length at present. In the mean time, whether such rude vessels as these Trinity jars and cruets were ever used for any sacred purpose, or not, as receptacles for chrism, &c., must be left as matter of opinion. No argument can be derived from their large size; when we consider that the chrism was solemnly hallowed, or consecrated, only once a year in early times, namely, just before Easter, and by the archbishops of the provinces; that many thousands were sometimes confirmed in a day, when the use of chrism was always a principal part of the ceremony, as also in baptism, extreme unction, &c.; from all which we may conclude, that many vessels, and in all probability of many different sizes and dimensions, must have been required for the ordinary services and ministrations of the Church; and some of them may have been of homely materials and rude workmanship.

William of Malmesbury, in his Life of St. Wulfstan, the Saxon bishop of Worcester in the eleventh century, having occasion to mention that, even in the latest period of his life the bishop frequently confirmed two or three thousand persons or more in a day, records it as a subject of astonishment to all, that whilst so many as eight officiating clerks sunk under their task by turns in carrying round the chrismatory during the ceremony, the prelate himself persevered to the end without the least fatigue. His journey to York before Easter is described by the same historian as a solemn embassy by command of King William I., and the archbishop Thomas, for the purpose of consecrating the chrism. The vessels, therefore, in which this whole year's consumption of chrism was preserved, and from which it was poured into smaller vessels for immediate use, must have been very different from those diminutive phials, in which a very small portion of the consecrated oil was inclosed, to be used as an amulet, or charm, like the sainte ampoule, to cure or guard against diseases.