THE GROWTH OF THE PASSION-PLAY 295 



so in this, several of the responses recur in the 

 passion-play entombment scenes. 1 The widespread 

 character of this ritual, and some interesting variations 

 in type, will be found illustrated in the references 

 given below. 2 



(iii.) The Elevatio Crucis. The elevation of the 

 cross, or the resurrection of the Corpus Christi t took 

 place between Easter Eve and Easter Day matins, some- 

 times in the night. In one version, all the church 

 doors being closed and the populace excluded, the 



1 For example, the Sepulto Domino of the ritual (G, p. 122) will be found in 

 the Alsf elder Spiel (C, p. 214), the Egerer Spiel (F, p. 275), and others. 



2 I have been able from various printed sources to considerably extend the 

 collection published by Dr. Milchsack. In the first place, I may note a 

 Directorium Missae for the diocese of Mainz, published without date or printer's 

 name about 1490. On folio a. viii. will be found, in the De officio in die parasceves, 

 an Adoratio Crucis, with the usual responses and hymns (Ecce lignum crucis and 

 Crux fidelis). We read : 



Deinde sacerdos officium celebratimis casula hulutus acceclat ad locum ubi corpus 

 Christi histerna die reservatum fiiit. 



The host being brought to the altar, the Directory continues : 



Sed sacerdos exuat casulum qua indutus erat accepto corpore Christi in mundis- 

 sima theta reconditum sive imaginum crucis procedentibus candelis et processione cum 

 pulsu in tabula lignea cantanclo submissa voce : Ecce quomodo moritur Justus, usque 

 ad locum sepulchri. Et in eodem loco corpus Christi sive imago sanctae crucis quasi 

 sepeliendo devote ponatur et thurih'cetur cum incenso et aspergatur aqua benedicta. 

 Et ponantur candelae et lumina apud sepulcrum quae die noctuque usque ad elevationem 

 crucis in nocte pascali ardebunt. Et in recessu de sepulcro cantetur sub silencio re- 

 sponsorium ; Sepulto Domino, qiiibus omnibus finitis, exuat se et recedat. (I In aliquibus 

 ecclesiis legetur psalterium die et nocte apud sepulcrum usque ad elevationem crucis 

 in nocte pasce. 



The Directorium thus contains evidence of the existence of the Elevatio Crucis 

 ritual, although it gives no directions for this, nor for a Visitatio. Durandus 

 (Rationale divinorum Officiorum, Liber vi. cap. 77. 19 et scq.) gives some account 

 of the Adoration, but none of the Sepulture. Additional information and various 

 rituals will be found in Martene, De antiquis Ecdesiae Ritibus, Liber iv. cap. 23. 

 14 Adoratio Crucis, and 27 De Officio Sepulturae, with the texts at the end of 

 the chapter. From English sources a good deal may be extracted. In the earliest 

 portion of the Leofric Missal (Warren, A.) there is no ritual for the ceremony, but 

 the Good Friday service ends : Adorata cruce communicent omnes. which shows 

 its existence. In the eleventh-century Canterbury Missal (Corpus College, Cam- 

 bridge) there is a rubric Adorata sancta cruce et reposita in loco solito (Warren, 

 p. 96 footnote), which shows that the adoration, but not the deposit of the cross in 



