THE GROWTH OF THE PASSION-PLA Y 291 



It does not, however, appear that a really comprehensive 

 search has hitherto been made. I pass now to the 

 rituals more closely connected with the passion-plays. 



(i.) The Officium Stellae. The earliest version of this 

 ritual that I .have come across is published by Martene 

 (De antiquis Ecclesiae Ritibus, Liber iv. cap. 14. 

 9) and is entitled Officium trium Regum secundum 

 usum Ecclesiae Rotomagensis. Martene merely tells us 

 that he has taken it from " an ancient manuscript " at 

 Eouen, which leaves us in some doubt as to its actual 

 date. It is clearly a ritual so fully developed that it 

 may fairly be termed a religious play, and its comparison 

 with the Orleans * and Freising 2 Magi-plays will impress 

 the reader with the amount the religious drama really 

 owes to the Church ritual. The frequency of the ritual 

 is demonstrated by another form from Limoges, given by 

 Martene ( 12). As the student who has never read 

 through one of these scenic rituals can have little 

 appreciation of their spirit, nor have grasped the extent 

 to which the drama had invaded the Church, I venture 

 to print the Eouen ritual at length, merely requesting 

 the reader who has no interest in mediaeval Latin to 

 pass it by with measured protest. 3 



Die Epiphaniae, tertia cantata, tres de major! sede, cappis et 

 coronis ornati, et debent esse scripti in tabula, ex tribus partibus 

 ante altare conveniant, cum suis famulis portantibus Regum 

 oblationes, indutis tunicis et amictis, et debent esse de secunda sede 

 scripti in tabula ad placitum scriptoris. Ex tribus Regibus medius 

 ab Oriente veniens, stellam cum baculo ostendens dicat alte : Stella 

 fulgore nimio rutilat. Secundus Rex a dextra parte veniens respondeat : 



1 Wright's Early Mysteries, p. 23. 2 Q, pp. 56 et seq. 



3 A translation would fail to give much of the character of the original. 



