Responsory prosae and the post-Christmas ‘Choir Solemnities’ at Salisbury Cathedral

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe Christmas octave in the Sarum rite included the singing of prosae on Christmas Day and on the three days following Christmas – the feasts of St Stephen, St John the Evangelist and the Holy Innocents. After the Vespers preceding each of these three days, a procession was made to an appropriate altar in the church, during which a responsory was sung with its prosa and wordless melismas after each prosa verse, with two responsory prosae based upon the melody from Christmas. These processions featured, in turn, the deacons, the priests and the choirboys, vested in silken copes and carrying lighted candles, going to the altar of St Stephen, of St Peter and All Apostles, and of Trinity and All Saints (the Lady Chapel). Rubrics indicate their special character, especially for St Stephen, described as solemnitas diaconorum, but also for all three, described as being for the sake of deacons, priests and choirboys in turn. Processions to altars in Salisbury Cathedral were strictly limited to one each year; these processions took up those three altars, which then had no further processions on their proper days. The processions had been established during the initial building-phases of the cathedral, when only these three altars existed. This exceptional series of processions emphasised the distinct importance of the Christmas octave and honoured the hierarchy of the choir, who served the liturgy throughout the year.