332 BuoniCattolici
then went in procession to purify the canons’ dormitory by sprinkling the
rooms with the new Easter water.^144
Easter morning brought special adaptions to the liturgy, calling attention
to the unique status of the day. From this day until Pentecost, seven weeks
later, the night Office of Matins consisted of only three psalms and three
short readings—a welcome respite after the interminable Vigils of Lent. On
this morning, many churches added a Gloria Patri to each of the three re-
sponsories, in thanksgiving for the gift of baptism. In Bishop Sicardo’s Crem-
ona and elsewhere in north Italy, the Easter-morning Office concluded with
a dramatization of the apostles’ visit to the empty tomb. After the last respon-
sory, a group in costume, representing Saint John, Saint Peter, and the holy
women, entered the nave, where an image of Christ’s empty tomb was dis-
played. A choir dressed as angels met them. The two groups sang a respon-
sory, rehearsing the dialogue between the women and the angels. It ended
with the proclamation: ‘‘Jesus, whom you seek, is not here; he is risen!’’ The
‘‘apostles’’ then intoned the Te Deum. Other churches performed this little
rite before Matins—a practice Bishop Sicardo disliked because it did not put
the Te Deum in its proper place at the end of Matins. Sicardo began Matins
by having a priest incense the cross venerated on Good Friday, sprinkle it
with holy water, and place it on the high altar. The priest then proclaimed
three times that Christ was risen from the dead, to which the choir re-
sponded, ‘‘Deo gratias.’’^145
A dramatic rite embellished the singing of the Matins’ Gospel. Three
precious cloths covered the high altar. The outer cover was black, the next
off-white, and the last flaming red. As a deacon chanted the Gospel, minis-
ters removed each of these veils, symbolically presenting salvation history’s
ages of nature, law, and grace. The red of the last veil was the fire of the
holy grace-giving Spirit.^146 Later, during Prime, a procession, led by crosses
and banners showing the resurrected Christ, left the cathedral. The canons,
clothed in white albs, followed in procession throughout the city, sprinkling
Easter baptismal water and chanting hymns in honor of the Resurrection.
Sicardo said the people of the neighborhoods crowded to greet the proces-
sion.^147 When it returned to the duomo, the day Mass began. Verona, too,
called attention to the solemn day Mass of Easter by having the bishop vest
elsewhere and enter the duomo in procession with all his clergy, singing the
antiphon ‘‘Salve Festa Dies.’’^148 At Siena, the Mass underlined the universal
- Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria,ms 1785, Rolando the Deacon,Liber de Ordine Officiorum,fol.
28 v. - On these rites, see Sicardo,Mitrale, 6. 15 , col. 345 – 46.
- Ibid., col. 344. The colors used in this rite are reminiscent of those of the three steps described
by Dante inPurgatorio, 9 : 94 – 102 , although the order is different. Perhaps Dante’s order represents the
practice in Florence. - Sicardo,Mitrale, 6. 15 , cols. 346 – 47.
148 .Carpsum, 263 (Verona, Biblioteca Capitolare,ms xciv, fol. 47 r).