Piscinas in Crusader Churches of the Latin East
Résumé
In the medieval period the clergy used liturgical piscinas during Mass for the performance of the rite of ablutions, the washing of both hands and sacred vessels. The waste water deriving from these actions, which was considered to have been in close contact with the Body and Blood of Christ and so could carry sacred remnants, had therefore to be poured into a special basin and thus emptied through a drain into the earth, away from human interference. These particular basins were set in churches’ apses next to the altar and were to be found very frequently in the western.