294 THE GERMAN PASSION-PLA Y 



Good Friday, the rood taken from its usual place, or a 

 veiled crucifix, was carried by the officiating clergy with 

 bare feet towards the altar. Here followed the Adoratio 

 Grucis, with prayer, response, and hymn, notably the 

 grand 



Crux fidelis inter omnes 

 Arbor una nobilis, etc. 1 



The rood was gradually unveiled and elevated; then 

 the priest, having washed his hands and brought the 

 host, consecrated on the previous day, to the altar, sings 

 portions of the mass. After this the rood, the Corpus 

 Christi, and the chalice, one or all, were deposited in 

 the sepulchre a ritual symbolic of the entombment. 

 The priest intoned the verse : In peace his place is 

 made, and the choir gave the response : And in Sion 

 his habitation. So ended the first portion of the Easter 

 ritual. 2 In a rubric to one of its versions we are told 

 that, if the host could not be left under safe custody 

 in the sepulchre for three days, the priest should remove 

 it to his cell after vespers were concluded. Generally, 

 in the larger churches, watchers were appointed to sing 

 psalms and take charge of the sepulchre until Easter 

 Eve or Easter Morn. It will be seen at once that this 

 ritual gives scope for a considerable amount of dramatic 

 action. As in the Officium Stellae, the deity is as 

 yet only represented by symbols ; but, as in that case, 



1 Mone, Lateinische Hymnen des Mtttelalters, No. 101. 



2 For the general description here, as in the other two Easter rituals, I have 

 followed as a comprehensive version the Ordo Augustensis of 1487 (see G, p. 126, 

 and compare with other versions in the Appendix). So far as the scenic ritual of 

 the resurrection is concerned, this version is identical with those of the eleventh 

 century. It has the advantage, however, of throwing light on the Passion- as 

 well as the Easter-plays. 



