Chapter 5 - Orders for the Stational Mass in Frankish Cities and Monasteries

Summary

The subject is the key and dramatic ritual of the stational Mass. This was undertaken in Rome through the year, involving a lavish procession to a given church in the city, where Mass was performed by the Pope. Many ordines address the stational system, showing it to be a subject of keen interest to the Frankish redactors of such texts. It is revealed how the Franks carefully and thoughtfully distinguished the rituals that were special to the Pope, as they appropriated and refashioned papal rites. A discussion of several Carolingian reworkings of the stational system is discussed, and the ubiquity of this form of appropriation, not only in cities but also monasteries that became the image of the city of Rome during this ritual, is firmly established.