Ampulla
Ampulla
1. the name, among Roman ecclesiastical writers, of one of the vessels used at the altar to hold the wine.
2. The vessel for holding the oil in chrismation, consecration, coronation, etc., which frequently appears in the inventory of church furniture, was also called ampulla. The ampulla is used in the coronation of the sovereigns of England.
Ampulla
(prob. for amb-olla, from its swelling out in every direction) was a flask for holding water and wine for the eucharist, and also a vessel () for the Oil used in chrism (Opt. Milevitanus, Contra Donat. 2, 19, p. 42). One of the most celebrated of these utensils was the one said to have been brought from heaven by a dove at the baptism of Clovis, and afterwards used at the coronation of the Frankish kings (Hincmar, Hist. Eccles. Remensis, 1, 13).