coterminous - having the same boundaries or extent in space, time, or meaning.
The crotalus, also known as a crotalum or clapper, is a wooden liturgical rattle or clapper that replaces altar bells during the celebration of the Tridentine Paschal Triduum at the end of Lent in the Catholic Church ¹. It is also occasionally used during the celebration of the Ordinary Form Roman Missal during the Paschal Triduum, but its popularity decreased following the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council ¹. The crotalus is also sometimes used in Episcopal Church parishes ¹.
The Latin words crotalus (also less frequently in reference to the liturgical instrument crotalum) derive from the Ancient Greek krotalon (κρόταλον). The latter term referred to a type of clapper, rattle, or castanet as used in Ancient Greece and Egypt ¹.
Made from wood, the particular style and manner of noise-making varies between different clappers. Some use an integral hammer that strikes the wood, while others use a piece of wood that rides over a gear to make a clicking noise ¹. Historian James Stevens Curl considered the crotalus a descendant of earlier sistrum, an ancient Egyptian ritual instrument. Historically, the crotalus was common in Maundy Thursday Ethiopic liturgies ¹.
The Memoriale Rituum, a former Roman Rite liturgical book for parochial usage in certain times of the liturgical calendar, prescribed that the altar bells would not be rung after being used to announce the Gloria at Mass on Maundy Thursday until the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday, a practice which remains in some use. The Memoriale Rituum prescribed that the crotalus replaced bells for announcing the Angelus following both the Mass and the Stripping of the Altar ¹. Ritual books do not prescribe the crotalus's use in other instances where the bells would have been rung, but rattling the crotalus in the stead of each bell ring has been accepted as appropriate practice during the Paschal Triduum liturgies ¹.
The crotalus was universally used but fell out of use in recent decades. However, it seems to have made a little bit of a comeback due to an increase of interest in traditional liturgy ².
For further research on this topic, you may refer to sources such as "Crotalus (liturgy) - Wikipedia" ¹, "The Fascinating Story Behind the Rarest of Liturgical Devices: The Crotalus" ², and "The Art of the Paschal Triduum: The Crotalus ~ Liturgical Arts Journal" ³.
Source: Conversation with Bing, 4/10/2023
(1) Crotalus (liturgy) - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crotalus_(liturgy).
(2) The Fascinating Story Behind the Rarest of Liturgical Devices: the Crotalus. https://www.churchpop.com/2016/03/23/rarest-liturgical-objects-crotalus/.
(3) The Art of the Paschal Triduum: The Crotalus ~ Liturgical Arts Journal. https://www.liturgicalartsjournal.com/2018/04/the-art-of-paschal-triduum-crotalus.html.
(4) my ANYTHING prompt : r/GptDiaries - Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/GptDiaries/comments/129zc58/my_anything_prompt/.
