894 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters . 
None of these formulas is in any way associated with the no¬ 
tion of the descent to hell. 
In the Ceremonial for the Dedication of a Church, the case 
seems to he somewhat altered. The early adoption of the 'Tol¬ 
lite portas formula into the Rituale is shown in the following 
passage from an Ordo Dedicationis of the ninth century: * 1 
. . . Incipit pontifex aquam aspargere consecratam a foris se- 
quendo feretro reliquiarum, cleroque canente antifonam Asperges me 
Domine cum psalmo L™°, sed uno ex clericis in nova ecclesia clausis 
hostiis quasi latent©. Nam pontifex circumit ecclesiam ab hostio in 
partem aquilonarem prima vice usque iterum ad idem hostium; et 
cum illic perventum fuerit pulsat hostium tribus vicibus, dicendo: 
Tollite portas, prinCipes, vestras, et elevamini, portae aeternales, et 
introibit Rex gloriae. Ille deintus respondens dicat: Quis est iste 
rex gloriae? Iterum circumienda est ecclesia secunda vice sicut prius, 
cum eadem antiphona et eodem psalmo, usquedum perveniatur ad 
hostium, atque iterum pulsetur sicut prius eisdem verbis et idem re¬ 
spondent© deintus latente. Tunc tertio iterum circumienda est eodem 
modo cum eodem cantu usque iterum ad hostium. Tunc dicenti ponti- 
fici et pulsanti respondum est ei sicut prius: Quis est iste rex gloriae? 
Pontifex respondeat: Dominus virtutum ipse est Rex gloriae. 
Tunc aperientur hostia et canenda est antiphona Ambulate sancti 
Deli, ingredimini in domum Domini, cum psalmo Laetatus sum in his 
quae dicta sunt mihi, et cetera. Et ille qui prius fuerat intus quasi 
fugiens egrediatur ad illud hostium foras, iterum ingressurus per 
primum hostium vestitus vestimentis ecclesiasticis. 
Although the text itself of the Dedicatio may seem in places 
clearly to echo the words of the Psalm, 2 and although the rite 
certainly carries the intention of a triumphal entry “in domum 
Domini,” the ceremonial contains clear suggestions also of 
Christ’s entry into hell. The notion of the harrowing of hell 
seems to he suggested in at least two ways: namely, by the 
Nicodemi ] makes use of the Tollite portas passage from the twenty- 
fourth Psalm.” 
1 Printed from the Sacramentary of Drogo, Bishop of Metz (826- 
855), by L. Duchesne, Christian Worship, Its Origin and Evolution, 
translated by M. L. McClure, London, 1904, pp. 487-488. On the Dedi¬ 
catio Ecclesiae see J. Baudot, La Dedicace des Eglises, Paris, 1909. 
2 The expression. Dominus virtutum, for example, seems to come 
from the psalm. For the opinion that Psalm xxiv, 7-10 was itself a 
formula of Dedication see Duhm, p. 76. 
