FLABELLUM
89
FLAGELLANTS
ferences do marche"; "Vitesse de la lumiere; "In-
terference des rayons calorifiques " ; "Refraction dif-
ferentielle"; "Vitesse de I 'Electricity"; "Dilatation
des cristaux".
Gray, Nature (London, 1896); Cobnd. Anniiairc pour fan 180S of the Bureau des Longitudes (Paris).
William Fox.
St. Paul's Cathedral, London, had a fan made of pea-
cock feathers, and York Cathedral's inventory men-
tions a silver handle of a fan, which was gilded and had
upon it the enamelled picture of the bishop. Hayrao,
Bishop of Rochester (d. 13.52), gave to his church a fan
of silver with an ivory handle.
Rock, Church, of our Fathers (London. 1904), II, 209; Du Cange. Glossarium (Niort, 1885)j Streber in Kirchenlexicon, s. v.; Kraus, Gesch. der kirchl. Kunst (Freiburg. 1896), I, 552.
Francis JIershman.
Flabellum, in liturgical use a fan made of leather,
silk, parchment, or feathers intended to keep away
insects from the Sacred Species and from the priest.
It was in use in the sacrifices of the heathens and in Flaccilla (IlXoiciXXa), jElia, empress, wife of Theo-
the Christian Church from very early days, for in the dosius the Great, died c. a. d. 385 or 386. Like Theo-
Apostolic Constitutions, a work of the fourth century, dosius himself, his first wife, JEVia, Flaccilla, was of
we read (VIII, 12) : " Let two of the deacons, on
each side of the altar, hold a fan, made
up of thin membranes, or of the
feathers of the peacock, or of fine
cloth, and let them silently drive
away the small animals that fly
about, that they may not come
near to the cups". Its use was
continued in the Latin Church to
about the fourteenth century.
In the Greek Church to the
present day, the deacon, at his
ordination, receives the hagion
ripidion, or sacretl fan, which is generally made
to the likeness of a cherub's six-wingeil face, and
^-4
Spanish descent. She may have been the
daughter of Claudius Antonius, Prefect of
Gaul, who was consul in 382. Her mar-
riage with Theodosius probably took
place in the year 376, when his
father, the comes Theodosius, fell
into disfavour and he himself with-
drew to Cauca in Gallaecia, for her
eldest son, afterwards Emperor
Arcadius, was born towards the
end of the following year. In the
succeeding years she presented
two more children to her husband,
Honorius (384). who later became emperor, and
Pulcheria, who died in early childhood, shortly
the sacrifice of the Mass he waves it gently over [ before her mother. Gregory of Nyssa states ex-
the species from the time of the Offertory to the
Communion — in the Liturgy of St. Basil only dur-
ing the Consecration. Among the ornaments found
belonging to the church of St. Riciuier, in Ponthieu
(813), there is a silver flabellum (Migne, P. L.,
CLXXIV, 12.57), and for the chapel of Cisoin, near
Lisle, another flabellum of silver is noted in the will of
Everard (d. '.(37), the founder of that abbey. When,
in 1777, Martene wrote his " Voy.age Litt^raire", the
Abbey of Tournus, on the Sa(5ne 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 the Mus^e Cluny at Paris, and in the
Collection Carrand. The circular disc is also found in
the Sla\'ic flabellum of the thirteenth century, pre-
served at Moscow, and in the one shown in the 5legas-
pileon monastery in Greece. On this latter disc are
carved the Madonna and Child and it is encircled by
eight medallions containing the images of cherubim
and of the Four Evangelists. The inventory, taken in
1222, of the treasury of Salisbury, enumerates a silver
fan and two of parchment. The richest and most
beautiful specimen is the flabellum of the thirteenth
century in the Abbey of Kremsmiinster in Upper Aus-
tria. It has the shape of a Greek Papal
cross and is ornamented with fret- Museum of Universtry of Pennsylvania ^ saint, and her feast is kept on 14 work and the representation of the September. The Bollandists (Acta
Resurrection of Our Lord. A kind of fan with a hoop SS., Sept., IV, 142) are of the opinion that she is not of little bells is used by the Maronites and other Orien- regarded as a saint but only as venerable, but her tals and is generally made of silver or brass. name stands in the Greek Mena^a and Synaxaria
Apart from the foregoing liturgical uses, a flabellum, followed by words of eulogy, as is the case with the in the shape of a fan. later of an umbrella or canopy, other saints (cf. e.g. Synaxarium eccl. Constantino- was used as a mark of honour for bishops and princes, politanae, ed. Delehaye, Brussels, 1902, col. 46, under
pres.sly that she had three children; consecjuently
the Gratian mentioned by St. Ambrose, together
with Pulcheria, was probably not her son. Flaccilla
was, like her husband, a zealous supporter of the
Nicene Creed and prevented the conference between
the emperor and the Arian Eunomius (Sozomen,
Hist, eccl., VII, vi). On the throne she was a shining
example of Cliristian virtue and ardent charity.
St. Ambro.se describes her as "a soul true to God"
(Fiiktis animn Deo. — " De obitu Theodosii", n. 40,
in P. L., XVI, 1462). In his panegyric St. Gregory
of Nyssa bestowed the highest praise on her virtuous
life and pictured her as the helpmate of the emperor
in all good works, an ornament of the empire, a leader
of justice, an image of beneficence. He praises her
as filled with zeal for the Faith, as a pUlar of the
Church, as a mother of the indigent. "Theodoret in
particular exalts her charity and benevolence (Hist,
eccles., V, xix, ed. Valesius, III, 192 sq.). He tells us
how she personally tended cripples, and quotes a say-
ing of hers: " To distribute money belongs to the im-
perial dignity, but I offer up for the imperial dignity
it.self personal service to the Giver." Her humility
also attracts a special meed of praise from the church
historian. Flaccilla was buried in Con.stantinople, St.
Gregory of Nyssa delivering her funeral oration. She
is venerated in the Greek Church as
Flabellum
14 Sept.).
Gregory of Nyssa, Oratio funebris de Placilla in P. G., XLVI, 877-92; Themistius, Oratio, ed. Dindorf. 637 sqq.;
TiLLEHONT, Histoire des empereurs, V (Br
sq., notes 33, 40 sq.; .\rgles in Diet. Chr
cilia (1); Guldenpennin'g and Ifland, De
Two fans of this kind are used at the Vatican when-
ever the pope is carried in state on the sedia gestatoria
to or from the altar or audience-chamber. Through
the influence of Count Ditalmo di Brozza, the fans
formerly used at the Vatican were, in 1902, presented
to Mrs." Joseph Drexel of Philadelphia, U. S. A., by «• «™se (Halle, 1878), 56, 13: Leo XIII, and in return she gave a new pair to the Vatican. The old ones are exhibited in the museum
of the University of Pennsylvania. They are splendid Flagellants, a fanatical and heretical sect that creations. The spread is formed of great ostrich flourished in the thirteenth and succeeding centuries, plumes tipped with peacock feathers; on the sticks Their origin was at one time attributed to the mission- are the papal arms, worked in a crimson field in heavy ary efforts of St. .4nthony of Padvia, in the cities of gold, the crown studded with rubies and emeralds. Northern Italy, early in the thirteenth century; but
1732), 62, 109
- (. Biog.. s. V. Flac-
• Kaiser Theodosius
J. P. KiRSCH.
