Collum Vinarium

(from collum, a neck). A colander or wine-strainer. The custom of straining wine dates back beyond our era, and Christ made an allusion to it when he told the Pharisees that their coll a allowed a camel to pa , while they kept back a gnat. Snow was put into a strainer or a bag, called respectively collum nivarium, saccus nivarius, through which the wine was allowed to filter, not only to cool it, but because the intense cold cleared the wine, and rendered it sparkling and transparent; it was then called vinum saccatum. The Christian Church from the first adopted this instrument in its liturgy; another name for it was colatorium. (See Na a.) The colander for wine was made of silver, or bronze, or other metal. The linen cloth called saccus was not used for wine of any delicacy, as it spoiled its flavour.