FISTULA : A tube, usually of gold or silver, through which the consecrated wine of the Eucharist was administered to the communicant. Its use came up in the sixth century, when the particularly holy character of this wine was generally recognized. The priests had never used it themselves, and so, when the cup was withdrawn from the laity, the fistula was entirely laid aside, except in the papal masses, where to-day the pope receives the Eucharistic wine through a golden fistula.