324 BuoniCattolici
day. After a prostration and the opening collect came the scriptural readings
and a sermon by the bishop. He usually preached on reconciliation and
peace, themes that were a suitable preparation for the Easter general Com-
munion that followed in two days.^91
As three deacons chanted the Passion, other deacons removed two cloths
covering a temporary altar below the pulpit—the ‘‘altar of the shroud’’—
and divided them, thus symbolizing the stripping of Christ for his execution
and the division of his garments.^92 During Lent a veil blocked the view
through the screen to the sanctuary. In some cities, as the story of Christ’s
crucifixion reached the climax of his death and the deacon chanted the
words ‘‘the veil of the temple was torn in two,’’ the Lenten veil was dramati-
cally parted, revealing a great cross in the sanctuary. At least one canon of
Siena, writing in that church’s ordo, thought this rite ‘‘beautiful’’ (pulchre); it
saddened him that his city omitted it.^93 The Passion completed, deacons
announced intentions for prayer and bid the congregation kneel and pray.
After each intention, subdeacons told them to stand for a collect sung by the
bishop.^94 The intentions included the needs of the hierarchy and rulers, the
conversion of Jews and pagans, and the needs of the various orders of the
laity. In most cities, the cross was unveiled at this point, and not by parting
the veil blocking the view through the screen, as described above. The usual
rite, as at Cremona, had two priests and two deacons leave the choir, carry-
ing a covered cross, and then, as the deacons chanted three times ‘‘Behold
the wood of the cross,’’ the priests progressively unveiled it. This was the
signal to unveil all the crosses in the church and to part the Lenten veil of
the choir.^95
At the final ‘‘Behold,’’ the priests raised the cross on high, and the congre-
gation prostrated themselves.^96 This gesture recalled Moses’ raising the heal-
ing bronze serpent in the desert.^97 At Pisa, the bishop himself went to the
high altar and, using a long rod, removed the cloth that covered the crucifix
above it. The clergy chanted the ‘‘Reproaches,’’ orImproperia,at the end of
which the people could come forward to venerate two crosses presented by
kneeling priests at the door of the choir.^98 The people prostrated themselves,
women before one cross, men before the other, and kissed the wood.^99
- As in Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria,ms 1785, Rolando the Deacon,Liber de Ordine Officiorum,
fols. 24 r–v, andOrdo Senensis, 1. 163 , pp. 143. - On thealtare sindonae,see Sicardo,Mitrale, 6. 13 , col. 315 ; Verona, Biblioteca Capitolare,ms lxxxiv,
fol. 96 r; Parma, Biblioteca Palatina,msPar. 996 , fols. 42 v– 43 r;Ordo Senensis, 1. 158 , pp. 136 – 37.
93 .Ordo Senensis, 1. 162 ,p. 141. - Sicardo,Mitrale, 6. 13 , col. 317 ;Ordo Senensis, 1. 159 , pp. 138 – 39.
- As in Volterra:Ordo Officiorum della cattedrale [volterrana], 113 (Volterrams 222, fol. 43 v).
- Sicardo,Mitrale, 6. 13 , cols. 318 – 19.
- Verona, Biblioteca Capitolare,ms lxxxiv, fol. 95 v.
- Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria,ms 1785, Rolando the Deacon,Liber de Ordine Officiorum,fols.
24 v– 25 v; as also inOrdo Senensis, 1. 160 – 61 , pp. 139 – 40. - For these rites, see Parma, Biblioteca Palatina,msPar. 996 , fol. 47 v; Verona, Biblioteca Capitol-
are,ms lxxxiv, fol. 97 r;Ordo Officiorum della cattedrale [volterrana], 107 – 13 (Volterrams 222, fols. 40 v– 44 r).