HAGIOSCOPE, in architecture, any opening, usually oblique, through the side or front walls of a church chancel to enable the congregation in transepts, chapels or other portions of the church, from which the altar would not otherwise be visible, to witness the elevation of the host during mass. Similar openings are sometimes furnished to allow an attendant to ring the sanctus bell at the proper time, or to permit someone in a vestry vision of the service so that he can notify the bell ringer. Hagioscopes or squints (q.v.) are more common in England than on the continent of Europe.