RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Asinarii Asseburg
parish churches every Sunday before the high mass, is called the Asperges, from the first word of the antiphon usually intoned by the officiating priest. The explanation of the use of holy water in aspersions is found in the prayer said at the time when it is blessed, — that, wherever it is sprinkled, the invocation of God's name may drive away all evil spirits and every temptation, and that the Holy Spirit by his presence may comfort all who implore the divine mercy. See Holy Water.
John T. Creagh.
ASS: The wild ass (Heb. pere, poetic 'arodh; asinus onager or hemippus) is often mentioned in the Old Testament, and appears to have been found in earlier times more frequently in Syria than is now the case. It is described as dwelling in the wilderness (Isa. xxxii, 14; Jer. ii, 24); and to the poet it is a type of unbridled love of freedom (Job xi, 12, xxxix, 5-6), and a picture of the wandering Bedouin (Gen. xvi, 12; Job xxiv, 5). Hosea (viii, 9) compares Ephraim wilfully running after Assyria, to a wild ass separated from the herd. It feeds on the vegetation of the salt steppe (Job vi, 5; Jer. xiv, 6). The animal is larger and more beautiful and graceful than the common ass; it is famous for its swiftness, and is hard to catch.
The tame ass has been from ancient times one of the most important domestic animals in the East, whence it was introduced into Greece and Italy (cf . V. Hehn, Kulturpflanzen und Haustiere, Berlin, 1894, pp. 130-131). The Oriental ass is larger, quicker, more enduring, and more intelligent than the European. As in older times, the light-gray asses or white asses are still preferred, which the Sleb Bedouins rear in the desert; the usual color is reddish-brown (hence the name hamor). All classes used them for riding, for which purpose the females were preferred (Num. xxii, 11; Judges x, 4; II Sam. xvii, 23, xix, 26; I Kings xiii, 13; II Kings iv, 24; cf. Matt, xxi, 2-9). In the time of David, mules were used (II Sam. xiii, 29; xviii, 9; I Kings i, 33). The driver went alongside or behind (Judges xix, 3; II Kings iv, 24). The ass was also used as a beast of burden (Gen. xiii, 26, xlix, 14; I Sam. xxv, 18; Neh. xiii, 15), for plowing (Deut. xxii, 10; Isa. xxx, 24, xxxii, 20), and for grinding. Being an unclean animal, it could not be sacrificed (Ex. xiii, 13, xxxiv, 20), nor could its flesh be eaten (but cf. II Kings vi, 25). With other nations, as the Egyptians, it was sacred, and with this may probably be connected the fable circulated by Greek and Roman writers that the Jews worshiped the ass as God (see Asinarii).
I. Benzinger.
Biblioqeapht: An early treatment still valuable is by o. Bochart, Hierozoicon, i, 148-149, ii, 214-215, London, 1663; C. von Lengerke, Kenaan, i, 140-141, 146, 165, Komgsberg, 1844; J. G. Wood, Wild Animals of the Bible, London. 1887; DB, i, 173-174; EB, i, 343-344.
ASS, BROTHERS OF THE (Ordo asinorum). See Trinitarians.
ASS, FEAST OF THE: A popular entertainment provided by the Church in the Middle Ages m several cities of France. The aim, as in the miracle-plays, mysteries, moralities, and many mmor points of the ritual, was to impress the
facts of Bible history upon the minds of the ignorant, and to give general religious instruction. At Rouen a drama was presented at Christmas-tide, in which the prophets, Moses, Aaron, John the Baptist and his parents, Simeon, Nebuchadnezzar, Vergil, and the Sibyl appeared in appropriate dress and announced the coming of a redeemer. The story of Balaam was one of the scenes, and the ass was made to speak by the help of a priest concealed between the legs. At Beauvais a young woman with a child in her arms, and mounted on an ass, was led in procession through the streets on Jan. 14, in commemoration of the flight to Egypt. Mass was then said, during which " hinham " was substituted for certain of the usual responses. There was a similar festival at Sens, and an ass's feast at Madrid on Jan. 17, in the course of which the story of Balaam's ass was recited. In the fifteenth century these feasts were forbidden because abuse hadjcrept in and they had become a scandal. The ass naturally figured frequently in Palm Sunday processions, and a picture of an ass was often introduced in the churches at that time. See Boy- Bishop; Fools, Feast of.
Bibliography: S. du Tilliot, Memoires pour servir h I'histoire de la fete des fous, p. 14, Lausanne, 1741; C. F. du Cange, Glo&mrium, s.v. " Festum asinorum."
ASSEBURG, Qs'se-burg, ROSAMUNDE JTJLIANE VON: Religious enthusiast; b. at Eigenstedt, near Aschersleben (30 m. n.w. of Halle), Prussia, 1672; d. in Dresden Nov. 8, 1712. She might have been forgotten long ago, if the well-known millenarian, Johann Wilhelm Petersen (q.v.), had not called attention to her, and been followed in the study of her case by such men as Spener, Loscher, and Leibnitz. According to her own statement, she received divine revelations and had glorious visions when only seven years old, and was regarded in the neighborhood of her home as an inspired prophetess. She asserted that Christ himself had appeared to her, and that an angel had received her tears in a golden vessel. At first these revelations were confided only to the circle of her friends; but they obtained wider currency when she removed to Magdeburg and became acquainted with Petersen who published a treatise on her case in 1691, discussing the question whether God might be supposed still to reveal himself in direct apparitions. Loscher, at Dresden, and Johann Friedrich Meyer, at Hamburg, warned against believing her; Spener, asked for his opinion by the electress of Saxony, expressed himself with great caution; Leibnitz supported her, and compared her visions to those of St. Bridget and other holy women of the Middle Ages. Petersen received her at Ltineburg, where her mental excitement increased to such a degree as to cause disturbance in the town and to call for an official investigation. Petersen's deposition from the office of superintendent and banishment followed in 1692, and implied the condemnation of his friend She followed him to Wolfenbuttel and to Magdeburg; later she lived in Berlin, and in the house of a Saxon countess, where Petersen used to call and visit her as late as the year 1708. It is said that she died in Dresden Nov. 8, 1712, and was buried at Schonf eld near Pillnitz . Her poem
Assemani Assurance