This _obedience_ was evidently an external sign of their acknowledging
Victor as Pope in place of Alexander, the legitimate pontiff.
Anciently the Pope received the homage of the deacons in the sacristy;
they afterwards went out of the sacristy to put on their dalmatics.
Cancellieri de Secretariis T.I. In the sacristy the Pope gave the
_peace_ to the Bishops, Cardinals, Prefect, Senator, and other lay
princes according to the canon Benedict, Cencius Camerarius and
Cajetan. The ordines Romani mention the bowing of the Subdeacon at the
knees of the Pontiff, and the kissing of his hand by the priests, the
archdeacon and secundarius De secretariis T. I, p. 409.]

[Footnote 33: Many forms of benediction of persons and things taken
from ancient Pontificals and manuscript rituals may be seen in
Martene, De antiquis Ecclesiae Ritibus. The church generally uses
holy-water and incense when blessing God's creatures, which are
"sanctified by the word of God and prayer" 1 Tom. IV, 5. God had
appointed water of expiation to be used by the Jews, Numbers XIX.
Lustral water used to be sprinkled also by the Pagans; Terque senem
flamma, ter aqua, ter sulphure purget. Ov. Met. l. 7. Anastasius
says that Alexander I, who was Pope in 108 "appointed that water
for sprinkling should be blessed with salt in private houses." It
is mentioned also in the apostolic constitutions. Boldetti in his
_Cemeterii de' martiri_ notices the short columns supporting small
vases, in corners of the chapels in the catacombs; and Bottari has
published and illustrated in his _Roma sotterranea_ an interesting
fresco discovered in the catacombs of S. Agnese, and representing five
figures carrying vessels closely resembling those still used for holy
water; four of those figures carry branches supposed to be of the
palm-tree: the fifth holds an aspergillum with which holy water is