Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Map 1 Medieval Europe showing locations of principal play-texts and records cited in this study
- Map 2 Enlargement of central area showing locations of liturgical and feast-day plays as defined in chapter 1
- Map 3 Enlargement of central area showing locations of civic and community plays as defined in chapter 2
- Introduction: Christian Europe and the Play of God
- PART ONE THE THEATRICAL COMMUNITY
- PART TWO THE THEATRICAL TEXT
- 4 Creation and Fall
- 5 The Covenant and the Kingdom
- 6 Prophets and precursors of Redemption
- 7 The Birth and childhood of Jesus
- 8 The public life of Jesus
- 9 The Passion and Resurrection
- 10 Pentecost to Judgement
- Conclusion: survival and revival
- Appendix: the liturgical context of the plays
- Notes
- Bibliographical index of plays
- Performance records and references
- General bibliography
- Index
10 - Pentecost to Judgement
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Map 1 Medieval Europe showing locations of principal play-texts and records cited in this study
- Map 2 Enlargement of central area showing locations of liturgical and feast-day plays as defined in chapter 1
- Map 3 Enlargement of central area showing locations of civic and community plays as defined in chapter 2
- Introduction: Christian Europe and the Play of God
- PART ONE THE THEATRICAL COMMUNITY
- PART TWO THE THEATRICAL TEXT
- 4 Creation and Fall
- 5 The Covenant and the Kingdom
- 6 Prophets and precursors of Redemption
- 7 The Birth and childhood of Jesus
- 8 The public life of Jesus
- 9 The Passion and Resurrection
- 10 Pentecost to Judgement
- Conclusion: survival and revival
- Appendix: the liturgical context of the plays
- Notes
- Bibliographical index of plays
- Performance records and references
- General bibliography
- Index
Summary
THE COMING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
But when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will teach you all truth.
(John 16: 13)The liturgy of Pentecost was often enlivened by symbolic representations of the descent of the Holy Spirit on Whitsunday (Acts 2: 1–4). The ceremonial with dove, rays of light and flames used in Ferrara cathedral for centuries was banned by the bishop in 1590 (D'Ancona, Origini, II 183). In Florence there was an annual play of the Descent of the Holy Spirit in the church of Spirito Santo: in 1471 the flames destroyed the whole building (ibid., I 273). The descent of the Holy Spirit was included in the (probably Latin) Ludus Christi from Cividale in 1298/1303 and there are also seasonal laude from Perugia, Siena, Aquila and Abruzzi.
Several plays include here or earlier the scene of the apostles composing the Creed. A probably unique liturgical Creed play is recorded in a fifteenth-century ceremonial from Perpignan. After the descent of the Spirit – in the form of a dove bringing fire from which the apostles and the Virgin light candles – the former then sing in turn their sentence of the Creed from prepared ‘rotols’. In the Angers Resurrection 866 the apostles wait impatiently for the promised gift, each expecting it on a different day of the week for a different reason.
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- The Biblical Drama of Medieval Europe , pp. 144 - 157Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1995