Ampulla, a Roman vessel, like a bottle, used for holding wine, oil, or water. The ampulla Rhemensis (la sainte ampoule) was a glass flask filled with holy oil, which, according to tradition, was brought down from heaven by a dove at the time of the coronation of Clovis, at Rheims, in 496. From the 9th century, if not before, down to Louis XVI., all the kings of France were anointed with the oil contained in the sacred ampulla. During the revolution the ampulla was broken and its fragments thrown away. A pious person preserved one of the pieces, and after the restoration of the Bourbons it was delivered to the archbishop of Rheims, with a little of the original oil, as was asserted. Charles X. was anointed from it, and the oil then failed.