OLDEN—On the Culebath. OOr 
But though adopted in the West, it isnot mentioned in any Western 
Ritual, and never occupied the same oe aa as in the East. There it 
is known to this day as the ‘‘ Holy Fan”; the manner of its use is 
prescribed ; the time appointed, and the ecclesiastics by whom it is 
to be waved ; and in the ordination of deacons it holds a prominent 
place. 
In that ceremony one of the rubrics runs as follows :— 
“« After the Amen he puts the stole on the newly ordained over the 
left shoulder, saying ‘worthy’, and ‘ worthy’ is repeated thrice, ac- 
cording to custom, by those in the Bema, and thrice by the singers. 
Then the bishop gives him the Holy Fan, saying as before, ‘ worthy’, 
and all the deacons give him the kiss. And he, taking the Fan, stands 
corner-wise at the holy table at the right side, and fans above the 
blessed sacrament.” * 
The material of which the fans were made was originally of the 
simplest kind. In the Apostolic Constitutions referred to by Cardinal 
Bona they are said to be of ‘‘ thin membrane, or peacock’s feathers, or 
fine cloth.” This was in the third or fourth century, but in after- 
times they were made in a more costly fashion, being generally of 
silver, as those represented in the illuminations of the Book of Kells 
appear to have been, and if those paintings are coeval with St. Columba, 
they no doubt represent that actually used by him. 
Cardinal Bona describes one form of fan, but there were many 
others, such as those depicted in the Book of Kells, which were of a 
circular form with an ornament attached, apparently a tassel. This is 
the kind said to be used by the Maronites at the present day. 
The term by which they are known in the Greek liturgy is puriéd.a, 
as already mentioned. In the West they were indifferently named 
fiabellum, flabrum, ventilabrum, muscatorium, muscifugium. ‘The Irish 
term is variously spelt, the earliest form being culebath, which is that 
of the Soliloguia, the glosses in which are ascribed by Windisch to the 
ninth century. It appears to be a vernacular term compounded of 
cul, pl. cwili, ‘a fly”? (Lat. culex, ‘‘ a midge,” ‘‘a gnat”); and badh, 
‘* suppression or destruction” ; and it approaches nearest in meaning 
to the muscifugium above mentioned. 
Similiar compounds are dunebadh, ‘‘ man-destruction” ; bobhadh, 
‘* cow-destruction’’.* 
3 Littledale, Offices of the Holy Eastern Church. 
+ The following are the different forms of the word ;— 
culebath, in the Soliloquia. 
cule badh, 
he bade Annals of Ulster. 
cuile bad, St. Evin. 
cuili-bad, Book of Ballymote. 
chuille-baigh, Tigernach. 
cuilefaidh, Snedgus and MacRigail. 
I have adopted the form eulebath as the earliest, but the last of the forms here 
given represents the pronunciation accurately enough. 
