Crotalus alert

For anybody who's curious about what the crotalus sounds like - it's a wooden rattle-like implement used only once during the liturgical year, at the consecration of the elements on Maundy Thursday, in place of Sanctus bells - you can hear at the St. Thomas streaming audio page. Click to listen to The Solemn Liturgy of Maundy Thursday.

I posted about this once before, and at that time offered an image of a crotalus:

The crotalus (also called a "clapper") is "a wood rattle-like object which makes a terrifying sound. It replaces the Sanctus Bell during certain Holy Week Masses when the ringing of bells is surpressed." After the ringing of the Sanctus Bells throughout the Gloria at Maundy Thursday Eucharist, the bells go quiet until the Great Vigil. And in truth, the noise of the crotalus can be shiver-inducing. (Crotalus is also the genus name for the rattlesnake.)