rogations celebrated there in the week that follows As- cension thai the procession stops on the firsl day al
twelve, on the sc nd at nine, and on the third al eleven
chun ins (comp. MabUl. Lit. Gallic, p. 153), is a custom of great antiquity. The Gallican liturgy mentions it as a well-known matter (Missale Gothic; MissaU Gallic. Vet.; Cod. 306). Gregory of Tours speaks of il as an established custom (Hist. Franc i. '.'. c. 6). The seven- bodied procession of Gregory the Great started from seven churches and Btopped al the I Ihnrch of < >ur Lady (Greg.Tur. Hist, /'nun. i. 10, c. I). The reception by the clergy of the church where the procession slops is also a very old custom i Leo III in Libr. Pontif. <: ii was called " Occurrere," As processions in Buch cases, es- pecially in the country, have often io walk an hour or
re before' they reach another place- of worship, the
Church has found ii necessary, from time to time, to warn the faithful nol to make of these intervals an oc- casion for feasting and tippling i Rit. Rom. : comp. Cone Clovesh. a. 717. c. 16). When the procession walks in- side of the places of worship, or in their immediate neighborhood, the- bells of the steeple are rung. This reminds one of the procession which followed the body of St, Anasiasius. and at w hich a noise- was produced by
PROCESSIONS
615
PROCHET
striking on consecrated woods (Cone. Niecen. a. 787, act. 4). Processions of less importance move only inside the walls of the house of worship. Such is the case with all processions in countries where the Catholic religion does not enjoy complete freedom of worship. According to the rules, processions should precede the high-mass, but this is practically the case with very few (comp. the Rit. Rom., the Ceerem. epp., and the Kubri- cists).— Aschbach, Kirchen-Lex. s. v.
The origin of processions may have been an imita- tion of the motion of the heavenly spheres, the courses of the stars, and the revolutions of seasons, and more immediately of ancient religious dances. They were always accompanied by singers, and generally by mu- sicians. Procession is progression, says Durand, when a multitude, headed by the clergy, goes forth in reg- ular order and ranks to implore the divine grace. It represents the pilgrimage of man upon earth on his way to the better land, from the cradle to the grave, as St. Paul says that we are pilgrims and sojourners in this world. Processions round cloisters and cemeteries still more vividly brought before the mind the thought of the last home to which man must come at length, as waters, after the most devious course, are lost in the great sea. In a procession to the altar, in reverse order to that of the recession, first went the verger, the cross- bearer, attended on either side by acolytes carrying- candlesticks and lighted tapers ; then came the censers, or thurifers, the chanters in copes and carrying batons, the subdeacon, deacon, and celebrant ; then choir boys, clerks of the second grade, and the more honorable fol- lowing. In the cathedral the precentor, the sub-chanter of canons (prechantre), and the succentor of vicars (sous- chantre), each with his chanter's baton, preceded the bishop, carrying his cross, or staff. In the middle of the loth century the capitular tenants went in proces- sion on St. Peter's Eve at Exeter, preceded by the chor- isters carrying painted shields of arms.
In England processions were made with litanies and prayers, (1) for the prosperity of the king; (2) for the wealth of the realm ; (3) for pureness of the air; (4) for the increase of the fruits of the earth. Two processions for the good success of a king were made on Sundays about the church and churchyard, by English canons, in 1359 and 1398. On Ash-Wednesday, after confession in church, there was a solemn procession for ejecting the penitents, who were not readmitted until Maundy- Thursday. On Easter-day was a grand procession in memory of the disciples going to meet our Lord in Gali- lee, and in imitation of it there was a humbler proces- sion on every Sunday. The other great procession was annual, on Palm-Sunday. Bishops were also met with processions of the chapter and vicars, or a convent, at the west door of the church and the cemetery gate, by decree of Honorius III, 1221. In 1471 all curates of the diocese were required to visit the high-altar of Lincoln Cathedral in procession, and make their offerings. In the nave the great processions were arranged. At Can- terbury two parallel lines, and at Fountains, Lincoln, Chichester, and York two rows of circular processional stones were arranged at proper intervals, and specifi- cally allotted. At Exeter the antiphon was sung daily at the screen, and the procession passed through the north gate of the choir to the vestibule of the Lady Chapel, and then by the south gate of the choir near the throne to the high-altar. It afterwards traversed the nave and cloisters, concluding before the rood-loft; and if there was no sermon, the procession returned to the altar. Carpets were strewn along the way on great festivals. Bishop Edyngdon desired to be buried at Winchester, where the monks stood in procession on Sundays and holydays. These monks, being aggrieved by a bishop, on one occasion went round their cloisters from west to east, out of their usual manner, in order to show that all things were out of order. At Chichester at Epiphany an image " of the Spirit" was carried round the church by the dean or senior canon and two vicars.