Young—Officium Pastorum. 
299 
OFFICIUM PASTORUM: A STUDY OF THE DRAMATIC 
DEVELOPMENTS WITHIN THE LITURGY 
OF CHRISTMAS. 
KAKL YOUNG 
The liturgical plays of tlie Christmas season constitute, no 
doubt, the most varied and most appealing dramatic group of 
the liturgical year. Although the plays attached to the liturgy 
of Holy Week and of Easter are inspired by a more profound 
doctrinal intent, the Christmas plays, in their intimacy, pictur¬ 
esqueness, and variety, are more stimulating to humble personal 
piety and more lively to a humble dramatic sense. 
These plays connected with the Nativity may he grouped as 
follows: (1) a play of the prophets (Processus Pro^hetarum ), 
associated with Christmas Hay, or with the octave of Christ¬ 
mas; (2) a play of the shepherds (Officium Pastorum), per¬ 
formed on Christmas day; (3) a play of the killing of the chil¬ 
dren (Ordo Rachelis), for Innocents’ Hay (Dec. 28); and 
(4) a play of the Magi (Officium Stellas), for Epiphany (Jan. 
6). Although none of these dramatic offices has been over¬ 
looked by historians of the drama, 1 recent accessions of fresh 
materials from manuscripts call for renewed discussion. In 
the following pages, then, I confine my attention to the liturgy 
of Christmas Day and attempt a fresh account of the develop¬ 
ment and associations of the Officium Pastorum . 2 
1 See E. K. Chambers, The Medieval Stage , Oxford, 1903, Vol. II, 
pp. 41-56. 
2 In the present study I am under constant obligation to my friends 
Reverend H. M. Bannister, of Rome, and Le Reverend P§re Dom 
G. M. Beyssac, O. S. B., of the Abbey of Solesmes. In general reply 
to more than one inquiry I may be allowed to say here that the 
present article, along with several others already published, repre- 
