CHURCH FESTIVALS
The round of Church festivals was followed with a lively interest by
the people of every English parish. From Advent to Advent the sequence
of ecclesiastical feasts was calculated to bring before the minds of
practical Christians the great drama of the Redemption of mankind; and
the joyous participation of the people in the various celebrations was
outwardly marked by the decoration of their churches for the greater
solemnities with hangings and banners, with garlands of flowers, and
with the multitude of lights which on those days were set burning
before altars and statues.
The ecclesiastical year began always with _Advent_--the time of
preparation for the coming of our Lord into the world, when the
old-world yearning of the nations for the promised Redeemer was ever
brought prominently by the Church before the Christian people in the
words of the liturgy, from the _Ad Te levavi_, “To Thee have I lifted
up mine eyes,” of the Introit for the first Sunday, to the _Hodie
scietis_, “Know ye to-day that the Lord will come, and will bring you
salvation,” of the Christmas Eve. In a fifteenth-century English book
of _Instructions for Parish Priests_, it is said that fasting during
Advent was counselled, though not ordered by the Church. The Church
of Rome kept this practice of preparing strictly for the festival of
Christmas, and priests, in the opinion of the writer, ought to follow
this example. Lay people were free of any obligation, but those who
intended to receive Holy Communion on the Nativity were to be strongly
urged to prepare by this salutary fasting. The festival of Christmas
was celebrated with the customary three Masses--the first at midnight,
preceded by Matins; the second in the early morning; and the third at
the usual time of nine or ten. In many places in the time of Christmas,
a religious play suitable to the season enlivened the winter evenings,
and impressed on the minds of the people the chief incidents in the
history of our Lord’s birth. The coming of the Kings on the Epiphany
was also a subject lending itself to picturesque illustration,
which never failed to delight the simple-minded parish audience of
pre-Reformation days. At Great Yarmouth, year after year, the people
kept the _Feast of the Star_; and such entries occur in the accounts as
“for making a new Star,” “for leading the Star,” “for a new balk-line
to the Star, and ryving the same.” Manship, in his _History_ of that
town, says that “in the chancel aisles were performed those sacred
dramas intended to give the people a living representation of the
leading occurrences narrated in Holy Writ, and of the principal events
in our Lord’s life.”
On the feast of Holy Innocents, or, as it was called frequently,
“Childermas,” there was kept a feast which may seem somewhat strange
to our notions, but which our forefathers evidently loved well. It was
the festival of the boy-bishop, attended by his youthful ministers.
Sometimes the celebration was associated with the name of St.
Nicholas, and was thus kept on December 6th, rather than on the 28th;
but the method of the festival was the same. Dr. Rock, in _The Church
of our Fathers_, has described this pageant for us. In every cathedral,
collegiate, and parish church the boys of the place--and in those days
every little boy either sang or served about the altar at church--met
together on the eve of the feast, and chose of their number a “St.
Nicholas and his clerks.” This boy-bishop and his ministers then sang
the first Vespers of the Saint, and in the evening walked all round
the parish making collections for their feast. All who could afford
it asked them into their houses and made them presents of various
kinds. In 1299 Edward I., for instance, attended Vespers in his chapel
at Heton, near Newcastle-on-Tyne, at which the “boy-bishop” and his
fellows sang, and he gave them 40s. for singing before him; and the
_Northumberland Household Book_ tells us that “My Lord useth and
accustomyth to gyfe yerly, upon Saynt Nicolas--even, if he kepe chapell
for Saynt Nicolas, to the mester of his children of his chapell for one
of the childeren of his chapell, yerely 6_s._ 8_d._”
It was upon this feast that, in memory of the Holy Innocents, some
father of a family in the parish would make an entertainment for
his children, and invite those of his neighbours to join in the
festivities. In such a case, of course, the “Nicholas and his clerks”
sat in the most honoured place. The _Golden Legend_ relates a story
illustrating the practice: “A man, for the love of his sone that wente
to scole for to lerne, halowed every year the fest of Saynt Nicholas
moche solemnly. On a tyme it happed that the fader had doo make redy
the dyner, and called many clerkes to this diner.”
It was, however, on Holy Innocents’ day that the boy-bishop, chosen
on the feast of St. Nicholas, played his part in a set of pontificals
provided for him. At St. Paul’s, at York Minster, and at Lincoln, we
find recorded in the inventories pontificals provided for his use. In
the parish church of St. Mary-at-Hill, in London, the churchwardens
paid for “a myter for a bysshop at St. Nicholas tyde.” At this parish
church, too, there was a store of copes, a mitre, and a crosier for the
boy-bishop; whilst at St. Mary’s, Sandwich, the inventory contains “a
lytyll chasebyll for Seynt Nicholas bysschop,” and at York there were
“nine copes” for the boy attendants.
On the feast of Holy Innocents the boy-bishop was frequently expected
to preach a sermon, which had been written for him. One such, written
for a boy in St. Paul’s school by Erasmus, is still extant. Until
Archbishop Peckham’s day the “little Nicholas and his clerks” used
to take a conspicuous place in the services of the church during
the octave of the feast, but in 1279 that prelate decreed that the
celebration should be confined to the one day of the feast only. That
this feast was popular, and that our forefathers delighted in coming
to their parish churches to witness their children associated in this
ceremonial around God’s altar, may be judged from the statute of Roger
de Mortival, Bishop of Sarum in 1319, in which he forbids too much
treating of the children, and orders that the crowd at the procession
are not to hustle or hinder the boys as they do their ceremonies.
Hardly had the festivals connected with Christmas been celebrated,
than on the second day of February the _Feast of the Purification_,
known as _Candlemas Day_, was kept. From the earliest times our English
forefathers gathered together in their parish churches on that day,
for the blessing of the candles and for the procession with lighted
tapers, as the symbols of the burning love of their hearts for Christ,
and in memory of the presentation of our Blessed Lord in the Temple.
Ælfric, the Saxon homilist, speaks of the feast in his days, and the
celebration remained the same till the change of religion.
“Be it known also to every one,” he says, “that it is appointed in the
ecclesiastical observances, that we on this day bear our lights to
church and let them there be blessed: and that we should go afterwards
with the light among God’s houses and sing the hymn that is thereto
appointed. Though some men cannot sing, they can, nevertheless, bear
the light in their hands; for on this day was Christ the true light
borne to the temple, Who redeemed us from darkness, and bringeth us to
the Eternal Light, who liveth and ruleth for ever.”
ASH WEDNESDAY.--The great fast of Lent, which was a time devoted to
penance for sins, and in which sorrow for offences was increased by
the continual memory of Christ’s suffering and death for mankind, was
ushered in by what was known as _Shrove-tide_. This was the week that
followed _Quinquagesima_ Sunday, the Sunday before Ash Wednesday.
As its name imports, it was the time when Christians were urged to
prepare their souls for the weeks of Lenten penance by confessing
their sins to God through their parish priest, or, as they said,
shriving themselves. “Now is a clean and holy tide drawing nigh,” said
a homilist, “in which we should make amends for our heedlessness; let,
therefore, every Christian man come unto his confessor, and confess his
secret guilt.”
[Illustration: THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE]
On _Ash Wednesday_ in each parish church, before the celebration of
Mass, ashes were blessed, and each man, woman, and child came and knelt
before their priest to have them strewn upon their heads, whilst his
words reminded them that they “were dust, and unto dust they would
return.” After the distribution of the ashes, according to an ancient
English custom, if there were another church in the same district, all
the people went to it in procession, and, having made there “a stay,”
or _statio_, for prayer, returned to their own church for Mass. With
Ash Wednesday began the strict fast of Lent, which had to be kept on
all days except Sundays; and even then no meat was permitted. On the
week-days the fast was not allowed to be broken till after Mass and
Vespers had been said in the parish church; that is, before eleven or
twelve o’clock. The Anglo-Saxon _Ecclesiastical Institutes_ speaks of
those days of Lent as “the tithing-days of the year,” which all good
Christians should render to God most strictly. “Every Sunday at this
holy tide,” says the same authority, “people should go to housel,” a
practice which was not preserved in the later middle ages. The time of
Lent was also known as the “holy time,” and unnecessary and distracting
business was as far as possible avoided. Thus, for instance, the
assizes were prohibited during the whole period.
THE LENTEN CURTAIN.--From the evening before the first Sunday of
Lent till the Thursday before Easter, what was known as the “Lenten
curtain,” or “Lenten veil,” hung down in all parish churches between
the chancel and the nave. It was one of the “ornaments” which the
parishioners were bound to provide, and the churchwardens’ accounts
contain many references to it, both as to its provision and as to the
expenses of erection. It was made of white stuff or linen, and hid
the sanctuary from the people, except at the reading of the Gospel
and until the _Orate Fratres_, when it was pulled aside. It was also
drawn back on all feast days kept during Lent. The order that the
confessions of women should be heard “outside the veil,” in the sight
of all but out of hearing, refers to the Lenten veil. “The veil,” says
the _Liber Festivalis_, “that all the Lent has been drawn between the
altar and the choir betokeneth the prophecy of Christ’s Passion, which
was hidden and unknown till these days.” But in these three last days
of Holy Week it “is done away (with), and the altar openly schowed to
all men; for on these days Christ suffered openly His Passion.”
Upon the first Monday in Lent all the crucifixes and images of every
kind, both large and small, were covered with white cloths; or in the
case of those niches which had their own wooden doors, these were
closed till the eve of Easter. The linen or silk coverings were worked
or painted with a red cross, and the “red cross” had its peculiar
significance in the ritual of the English Church. The procession on
each Sunday in Lent was not allowed to be headed by the ordinary _Crux
processionalis_, but a wooden cross painted red, in reference to the
shedding of our Lord’s blood upon the cross in the throes of His
crucifixion, was substituted for it. That the practice had a special
meaning to our forefathers seems to be the case, since Sir Thomas More
walked to execution, as Cresacre More says, “carrying in his hands a
red cross.” Langland, too, in his vision makes “Conscience” say that
“These aren Cristes armes.
Hus colours and hus cote-armure, and he that cometh so blody,
Hit is Crist with his crois, conqueror of crystine.”
PALM SUNDAY.--The dramatic ceremonies of Holy Week commenced with those
of Palm Sunday. “This week now begun,” says an old fifteenth-century
writer, “is called _penosa_, because people, in this more than in any
other week, keep their sins before their minds, and mortify themselves
in their sorrow.” From the earliest times, as Ælfric tells us, it was
the custom in England on this Sunday that “the priest should bless
palm-twigs and distribute them so blessed to the people,” and that then
the people should go forth in procession with him, singing the “hymn
which the Jewish people sang before Christ when He was approaching to
His Passion.” The so-called “palms” in England were probably willow,
box, and yew, charges for which appear in the churchwardens’ accounts.
In fact, one sixteenth-century authority states that the yew trees so
frequently to be found in the neighbourhood of churches were planted in
the churchyards of England to furnish the yew-branches which usually
served for palms on Palm Sunday.
Dr. Rock thus describes the procession and other ceremonies in the
first part of the service on this day--
“In many parts of the country a large and splendidly ornamented tent
was set up at the furthermost end of the close or burial-ground,
and thither, early in service time, was carried by two priests,
accompanied with lights, a sort of beautiful shrine of open work,
within which hung the Blessed Sacrament, enclosed in a rich cup or
pix. The long-drawn procession, gay and gladsome with its palms and
flowers, went forth, and halted now and then, as it winded round the
outside of the church to make a station. While they were going from
the North side towards the East, and had just ended the Gospel read
at the first of these stations, the shrine with the Sacrament,” borne
by priests under a canopy, “surrounded with lights in lanterns and
streaming banners, and preceded by a silver cross and by a thurifer
with incense, was borne forward, so that they might meet it as it
were; and our Lord was hailed by the singers chanting _En rex venit
mansuetus_. Kneeling lowly down and kissing the ground, they saluted
the Sacrament again and again, in many appropriate sentences out of
Holy Writ; and the red cross withdrew from the presence of the silver
crucifix.”
The procession then moved forward in parish churches to the churchyard
cross, where it halted, and there, falling down, all, priests and
people, worshipped Him who had died on the cross for the sins of men.
Then palms and flowers were strewn round about it, and after the
Passion had been read, palms were brought and the churchyard cross was
wreathed as for a victory, in memory of Christ’s triumph over death.
From the cross the procession now went to the closed door of the
church for the singing of the _Gloria laus_--the joyous imitation of
the hymns the Jews sung on that day when bringing our Saviour to the
gates of Jerusalem. When this part of the ceremony was ended, the
church doors flew open, and the priests who bore the shrine with the
Blessed Sacrament, held their sacred burden aloft in the doorway, “so
that all who went in had to go under this shrine, and in this way the
procession came back into the church, each one bowing his head in token
of reverence and obedience” as he passed beneath the Sacrament.
The fourth and last “station” of the Palm Sunday procession was held
before the great Rood, from which the large curtain, which all Lent had
hidden the figure of the crucified Saviour, was now drawn aside. At the
sight of the crucifix the celebrant and his assistants, together with
all the people, knelt and saluted it thrice with the words _Ave Rex
noster, fili David, Redemptor_. A fifteenth-century preacher, giving
only a brief instruction on this day, because, as he notes, of the
length of the service, says--
“Holy Church this day in a sollempne procession makes in mynd of that
procession of our Lord to Jerusalem.... And as they songen and diden
worship to Christ in ther procession, rythe so we this day worchep the
crosse in our procession, thries kneeling to the cross in worchep, in
ye mynde of Hym that was for us done on the crosse, and we welcome Him
with songe in the chirch as they welcomed Him to the citie Jerusalem.”
The true inward meaning of this great act of worship done to the cross
at this time was carefully taught to the people. The author of _Dives
and Pauper_ has the passage which follows, about the worship of the
Rood on Palm Sunday--
“_Dives._--On Palm Sunday at the procession the priest draweth up
the veil before the rode and falleth down to the ground with all the
people, and sayeth thrice thus: ‘_Ave Rex noster_’-‘Hail be Thou our
King,’ and so he worships the thing as King.
“_Pauper._--_Absit!_ God forbid! He speaks not to the image that the
carpenter hath made and the painter painted, unless the priest be
a fool; for the stock and stone was never King; but he speaketh to
Him that died upon the cross for us all--to Him that is King of all
things.”
For this and the other ceremonies of Holy Week in many parishes
additional help was, if possible, obtained by the clergy and people,
and the churchwardens’ accounts frequently show items of expense under
this head. In one case we have the sum of 8_d._ charged for “the old
friar who came to sing for the parish.” At St. Michael’s, Cornhill,
the wardens paid for “two clerks for singing” at this time; and at
St. Peter Cheap, in 1447, there is an entry: “Item--payde on Palme
Sundaye for bread and wine to the readers of the Passion, 3_d._” This
refers, of course, to the chanting of the Gospel according to St.
Matthew, which took place during the Mass, that on this day followed
the unveiling of the Rood. Before evensong on Palm Sunday the great
crucifix was again covered with the veil, and it so remained hidden
until the morning service of Good Friday.
TENEBRÆ.--“On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday you shall come,” says
a fourteenth-century writer, “to Matins, which we call _tenebræ_.”
At this service a triangular candlestick with twenty-five candles
was placed in the choir. This candle-stand was called in England
the “tenebræ,” or Lenten “herse,” and it is so named in many church
accounts. It was one of the ornaments which had to be paid for by the
parish, and it was sometimes known as the “Judas” candle.
In a sermon intended to explain the meaning of the peculiar ceremonies
of “tenebræ,” the preacher says--
“God men and wymine, as ye see theise thre days for to service ye
go in ye evontyde in darknesse. Wherfore hit is callyd with you
‘tenabulles;’ but holy churche calleth hit _tenebras_, that is to say,
‘derknesse.’ Than why this service is done in darkness holy fathers
wrytuth to us thre skylles.” Then, after giving these reasons, he
continues, “Wherefore to this service is no bell irongon, bot a sownde
makuth of tre, whereby uche criston man and woman is enformede for
to comon to this service withowtyn noyse makyng, and alle that thei
spek on going, shall sown of ye tree that Cryste was done onne. Also
at this service is sette on herce with candulles brennyng aftur as
ye use is, yn some place more, yn some place lesse, the which bene
quenchyt uch one after othur in showing how Christes discipules stolne
from hym. Yet when all be quenched one levyth leight, the which is
borne away a wyle yt the clerkes syngone hymis and ye versus, ye which
betokeneth ye whymmen yt made lamentation at Crystus Sepulcur....
Then aftur this, ye candul is brougt agayne and all othur at that ben
lygte; ye which betokeneth that Christus y^t was for a gwile dede and
hid in hys sepulchre, but soon aftur he was from dethe to lyfe and
gave the lyghte of lyfe to all them that weren quenchud....
“The strokys that ye prestes geveth on the boke betokynneth the
clappus of thunder yt Christ brake helle gattys wyth when he com
thedur and spoylud helle.”
MAUNDY, OR SHEER THURSDAY.--On Thursday in Holy Week was commemorated
the Institution of the Blessed Eucharist by our Lord in His last
Supper. The _Liber Festivalis_ makes the following explanation of the
feast, for the benefit of those who ask for the reason of such things--
“First if men aske why _Schere_ Thursday is so called, say y^t in holy
churche it is called Our Lord’s Soper day. For that day he soupud with
hys disciple oponly.... Hit is also in English tong ‘Schere Thursday,’
for in owr elde fadur days men wold on y^t day makon scheron hem
honest, and dode here hedes ond clypon here berdes and poll here
hedes, ond so makon hem honest agen Estur day; for on ye moro (Good
Friday) yei woldon done here bodies non ease, but suffur penaunce, in
mynde of Hym y^t suffrud so harte for hem. On Saturday they myghte
mote whyle, whate for longe service, what for other occupacion that
they haddon for the wake comynge and after mote was no tyme for haly
daye.... Therefore as John Belette telluth and techuth, on ‘Schere
Thursday’ a man shall dodun his heres and clypponde his berde, and
a prest schal schave his crowne so that there schall no thynge bene
betwene God Almythy and hym.”
_The Maundy._--On this day in all cathedral churches, in the greater
parish churches, and even in some of the smaller ones, the feet of
thirteen poor people were washed with great solemnity, and they were
fed and served at their meal by the dignitaries of the place, in memory
of our Lord’s act of humility in washing the feet of His disciples.
This “Maundy” was kept also in England by kings and nobles, and even by
private individuals, who on this day entertained Christ’s poor in their
houses.
_The Absolution._--Thursday in Holy Week was also known to our
forefathers as “absolution day,” because, after tenebræ, in the
evening, in larger churches, the people knelt before the penitentiary
in acknowledgment of their repentance of sin, and received from him
a token of God’s acceptance by a rod being placed on their heads.
Sometimes this voluntary humiliation and discipline was performed on
Good Friday, and the rods touched the hands of the penitent. It was to
this rite Sir Thomas More refers in his book against Tyndall, where he
says--
“Tyndale is as lothe, good, tender pernell, to take a lyttle penaunce
of the prieste, as the lady was to come any more to dyspelying that
wept even for tender heart twoo dayes after when she talked of it,
that the priest had on Good Friday with the dyspelyng rodde beaten her
hard on her lylye white hands.”
The church accounts sometimes refer to the purchase of rods for this
purpose by the wardens.
_The Sepulchre._--The service of Maundy Thursday morning included the
consecration of two hosts, besides that which the celebrant received
at the Communion of the Mass. At the conclusion of the service these
two hosts were carried to some becoming place till the following day,
when one was used in the Mass of the Presanctified, and the other was
placed in a pyx and put along with the cross, which had just been
kissed and venerated, into what was known as the “Easter Sepulchre.” On
the afternoon of Good Friday it was customary for people in the towns
to make visits to the various churches to pray at these sepulchres.
There is no expense more constantly recorded in all the parochial
accounts than that for the erection and taking down of the Easter
Sepulchre. Generally, no doubt, it was a more or less elaborate,
although temporary, erection of wood, hung over with the most precious
curtains and hangings which the church possessed, some of which were
even frequently left for this special purpose. Here in this “chapel of
repose” the Blessed Sacrament was placed at the conclusion of the Mass
of the Presanctified, and here the priest and people watched and prayed
before it till early in the morning of Easter day.
[Illustration: EASTER SEPULCHRE, ARNOLD, NOTTS]
There are, however, in England some interesting instances of permanent
“tombs” being erected to serve as the Easter Sepulchre. Some people in
their wills left money to have a structure for the “altar of repose,”
worthy of its purpose, built over the spot on which they themselves
desired to be buried.
After the morning service of Maundy Thursday, the high altar, and then
all the altars in the church, were stripped of their ornaments and
cloths and were left bare, in memory of the way our Blessed Lord was
stripped of His garments before His crucifixion. In the evening of the
same day all the altars were washed with wine and blessed water, the
minister saying at each the prayer of the Saint to whom the altar was
dedicated; then he and all the clerks, having devoutly kissed the stone
slab, retired in silence.
GOOD FRIDAY.--The chief feature in the morning service of Good Friday
was undoubtedly the “adoration of the Cross” and the ceremonial kissing
of it, better known in England as the “Creeping to the Cross.” The
meaning of this act of worship is set out in _Dives and Pauper_ so
clearly that there can be no doubt as to what our forefathers intended
by it.
“_Pauper._--In the same manner lewd men should do their worship before
the thing, making his prayer before the thing and not to the thing.
“_Dives._--On the other hand, on Good Friday above all in holy Church
men creep to the church and worship the cross.
“_Pauper._--That is so, but not as thou meanest: the cross that we
creep to and worship so highly that time is Christ himself that died
on the cross that day for our sins and our sake. For the shape of man
is a cross, and as He hung upon the rood He was a very cross. He is
that cross, as all doctors say, to whom we pray and say, _Ave crux,
spes unica_--‘Hail be thou Cross, our only hope,’ etc. And as Bede
saith; for as much as Christ was most despised of mankind on Good
Fryday, therefore Holy Church hath ordeyned that on the Good Fryday
men should do Him that great high worship that day, not to the crosse
that the priest holdeth in his hand, but to Hym that died for us all
that day upon the crosse.”
Archbishop Simon Mepham (1327-1333) issued a special Constitution as to
the way in which this solemn day was to be kept throughout England.
“We order and ordain,” he says, “that this holy day of Good Friday, on
which our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ after many stripes laid down
His precious life on the Cross for the salvation of men, according to
the custom of the Church should be passed in reading, silence, prayer
and fasting with tearful sorrow.”
For which reason this Synod forbade all servile work on this great
day; the archbishop adding, however, that this did not apply to the
poor, and that the rich might show their charity to the poor by aiding
them in work upon their land. The canonist Lyndwood points out,
in commenting on this provision, that by “silence” the archbishop
probably intends to prohibit all shouting or noise, all loud talking
or disputes, which might interfere with the solemnity of this
commemoration.
HOLY SATURDAY.--The service of this day probably began at a late hour,
as, according to primitive custom, it was the Office of a Vigil. The
first act in the long Office was the blessing of the new fire, which
had previously been struck by a steel out of flint. After a candle
had been lit at the new fire, the procession passed from outside the
western door, where this first portion of the ceremony had been
held, into the church for the blessing of the _Paschal Candle_. The
preparation of this symbol of “the risen Lord,” with the five glorified
grains of incense, to remind all of His five sacred wounds, was one
of the yearly parochial works. The charges for it are to be found in
every book of church accounts: money was collected for the purpose,
people gave presents towards it, and in some places--at St. Dunstan’s,
Canterbury, for instance--goods in kind were placed in the hands of
the wardens, in order that the hiring-out of them might pay for the
annual “paschal.” To this practice of having their annual “paschal,”
the people clung somewhat tenaciously on the change of religion; and as
late as 1586, at Great Yarmouth, charges were made by the churchwardens
for taking down and putting up “the Paschal.”
The _Paschal_, apparently, was commonly a lofty construction: a tall
thick piece of wood painted to represent a candle, and ornamented,
rested in the socket of the candlestick, and on the top of this, at
a great height, was the real candle. For some reason not known, the
wooden part was called by our English ancestors the “Judas of the
Paschal.” On this day also, in every parish church, the font was
hallowed with impressive and symbolic ceremonies.
EASTER DAY.--“On this day,” says an English fourteenth-century sermon
book--“on this day all the people receive the Holy Communion.” This
was apparently the universal custom; and although in preparation for
this Easter duty the parishioners were advised to go to their parish
priest at the beginning of Lent, there are indications that during the
last days of Holy Week there was sometimes a press of penitents. At
St. Mary’s, Dover, for example, in 1538 and 1539, the churchwardens
enter in their expenses, “Item--paid to two priests at Easter to help
shrive--2_s._” And in 1540 the entry runs, “Item--paid to three priests
to help shrive and to minister on Maunday Thursday, Easter even, and
Easter day, 2_s._ 4_d._”
Early in the morning of Easter, at the first streak of dawn, the people
hastened to the church to be present when the Blessed Sacrament was
brought by the priests from the sepulchre to the usual place where it
hung over the altar. Sometimes the image of our Lord, which had been
placed with it in the figurative tomb of the Easter sepulchre, was
made movable, and on Easter day was placed on the altar in a standing
position. This probably was the case at St. Mary’s, Cambridge, where
in 1537 the churchwardens paid “for mending of the Vice for the
Resurrection.” Generally, however, the crucifix was brought out of the
place of repose and taken to some side altar, and there once more, as
on Good Friday, all clergy and people knelt to honour it and kiss it.
This was the practice in many large churches, and a description of the
“Resurrection figure” is given in the _Rites of Durham_.
“There was in the Abbye church of Duresme,” says the writer, “a very
solemn service uppon Easter day, between three and four of the cloche
in the morninge in honour of the Resurrection, where two of the oldest
monkes came to the sepulchre, being sett upp upon Good Friday after
the Passion, all covered with red velvett and embrodered with gold,
and then did sence it, either monke with a pair of silver sencers
sitting on their knees before the Sepulchre. Then they both rising
came to the sepulchre, out of the which, with great devotion and
reverence, they tooke a marvelous beautiful image of our Saviour,
representing the Resurrection, with a cross in his hand, in the breast
whereof was enclosed in bright christall the Holy Sacrament of the
Altar, through the which christall the Blessed Host was conspicuous to
the beholders. Then, after the elevation of the said picture, carryed
by the said two monkes uppon a faire velvett cushion all embrodered,
singinge the anthem of _Christus resurgens_, they brought it to the
high altar, settinge that on the midst thereof, whereon it stood, the
two monkes kneelinge on their knees before the altar and senceing
it, all the time that the rest of the whole quire was in singinge
the aforesaid anthem of _Christus resurgens_. The which anthem being
ended, the two monkes took up the cushions and the picture from the
altar, supportinge it betwixt them, proceeding in procession from
the high altar to the South quire door, where there was four antient
gentlemen belonginge to the prior, appointed to attend their cominge,
holding up a moste rich canopye of purple velvett, tacked round about
with redd silk and gold fringe; and at every corner did stand one
of these gentlemen to beare it over the said image, with the Holy
Sacrament carried by two monkes round about the church, the whole
quire waiting uppon it with goodly torches and great store of other
lights till they came to the high altar againe, whereon they did place
the said image, there to remaine untill the Ascension day.”
An English Easter custom is referred to in more than one book of
sermons.
“Fryndys,” says one preacher, “you schall understonde that hyt ys a
custome in plasys of worschyp, and in many other dyvers plasys, that
at thys solempe fest of Estern, the whyche ys ye day and fest of the
glorious Resurexcion of our Lorde Ihesu, now to put owghte and remove
ye fire owghte of ye hall wt ye blakke wynture brondys defyllyd and
made blakke wt vyle smoke, and instede of ye seyde fyre and blakke
wynter brondys to strewe ye hall wythe green rushys and other swete
flewres.”
And another preacher adds the moral--
“Shewing example to all men and women that they should in like wise
clense the house of their soules.”
Langland gives us a slight sketch of an Easter morning in England as he
knew it in the fourteenth century.
“Men rang to ye resurrection and with that ich awakede
and kallyd Kytte my wyf, and Kalote my daughter,
A-ryse and go reverence, Godes resurrection,
and creep on knees to he cryos and cusse hit, for
And ryghtfullokest a relyk. Non riccher juwel on erthe
for Godes blesside body hit bar for oure bote
And hit afereth ye feonde for such is ye myghte
may no grysliche gost glyde ther hit shadeweth.”
ROGATION DAYS.--During the entire week of Easter all work not actually
necessary was ordered to be laid aside, that the people might have
time for spiritual rejoicing. During this time also, in most of the
larger churches, after Evensong, a procession with all the ministers
vested in albs was formed to the newly hallowed font, which, wreathed
with flowers and evergreens, was censed by the parish priest, and a
“station” for prayer was held at that spot.
On the three days before the feast of our Lord’s Ascension, the
ancient practice of going in procession singing the litany of the
Saints was kept up in every church, unless it was one of the churches
in a cathedral city, for in that case the various parishes had to
attend at the Mother church and join together in one procession. These
“rogations,” as they were called, passed out of the church precincts,
and wound their way about streets or country roads of the parish,
unless bad weather confined them to the church itself.
“Gode men,” says the _Liber Festivalis_, “theis thre dayes suying,
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, ye schall faston and com to chyrche,
husbond and wyfe and servaunde, for alle we be syners and neduth to
have mercy of God.... So holy Chyrch ordaineth yt none schall excuson
hym from theise processions yt may godely ben there.”
The celebrated Richard FitzRalph, Archbishop of Armagh, in 1346, when
Dean of Lichfield, preached to the people at St. Nicholas’ Chapel on
the meaning and obligation of these days of intercession, or rogation,
and explained why men prayed to the Saints, and why they sang their
_Miserere_ to God. He also told the people why the cross went at the
head of the procession, and why the image of a dragon with its tail out
was carried the two first days before the procession and the third day
without its tail after the procession. It is to those standards that
the Sarum processional refers in regard to these litanies, and to the
same are to be referred the items to be found in church accounts, such
as those of Salisbury, where in 1462 boys are paid “to carry the poles
and standards on Rogation days.”
The rest of the Christian year, with its round of feasts, does not here
require to be specially noted. The celebration of one differed from
that of another merely in the degree of splendour with which the people
decked their churches and brought forth their precious vestments. At
Whitsuntide and Corpus Christi day; on Assumption and on All Hallows,
as well as on its own dedication day, each church endeavoured to outdo
its neighbour by the splendour of its services. In the processions of
Corpus Christi day, not unfrequently several churches united their
forces together, and made a brave show in honour of the most Blessed
Sacrament with their various processional crosses and banners, torches
and thuribles, not to speak of the amalgamated choirs and the throng
of devout worshippers who accompanied the Sacred Host in a triumphant
progress through the streets of our English cities, or along the roads
and lanes of rural England.