THE COMING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

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.