Old Hispanic pre-baptism initiation rites, chants and processions

ABSTRACT Themes of Christian initiation permeate the Old Hispanic liturgy for the three weeks before Easter, culminating in the Easter Vigil baptisms. Previous scholars have examined the initiation prayers, readings, and sermons in detail, exploring their connections with the writings of Ildephonsus of Toledo (d. 667). In this article, we consider the initiation rituals from the perspectives of liturgical movement and chant. On Mid-Lent Sunday (three weeks before Easter) and Palm Sunday, the themes of these rituals were developed both in the processional chants and the initiation-themed chants that surrounded them. These materials provide a rich source of information about how initiation theology was enacted through ritual movement and sound.


Introduction
Themes of Christian initiation permeate the Old Hispanic liturgy for the three weeks before Easter, appearing in chants, prayers, readings and sermons, and culminating in the Easter Vigil baptisms. 1 Previous scholars have examined these materials in detail, exploring their connections with the writings of Visigothic bishops, particularly Ildephonsus of Toledo (d. 667). 2 Here we consider the initiation materials from the perspectives of liturgical movement and chant. Focusing on Mid-Lent Sunday (three weeks before Easter) and Palm Sunday, we show how the primary themes and emphases of these rituals were enacted visually and aurally. 3 To provide a wider context for the sound and movement within the ecclesiastical space, we consider both the processional chants and the initiation-themed chants that surrounded ritual movements were performed each day until Palm Sunday. Much of this ritual was either carried out in silence or consisted of simple blessings, repeated for each baptisand. The usual ritual and spatial separation of clergy and laity was overturned as the bishop and his clergy emerged from the restricted area of the apse and choir, coming out into the nave where the deacons and subdeacons interacted physically with the baptisands and their sponsors. Liturgical objects were integral: a Gospel book, a gold cross, a silver cross, and three libelli of exorcisms were carried around. 12 Although this ritual structurally reflects the Visigothic writings about Christian initiation, 13 L8 is the first extant manuscript in which it is preserved. Notation is included for two prayers and for the sacrificium (offertory), which coincided with the end of the ritual. The initiation ritual began after the gospel. After three deacons called for the names of those wishing to be baptised at Easter, the bishop read the sermon from the pulpitum. 14 This anonymous sermon, cued by incipit in L8, is thought to date from the seventh century and sheds light on a specifically Iberian approach to initiation (see Appendix 2). 15 The sermon emphasizes the salvific power of baptism, cautioning initiates to evade the devil's temptations, admonishing them to be "hearers" as they are instructed, and to worship only one God. As long recognised, the sermon has specific verbal and thematic links to Ildephonsus's De cognitione baptismi, including a reference to catechumens as "hearers" and to God as speaking through the priest as he spoke to Moses. 16 A further parallel lies in the sermon's quotation of Deut. 6:4, and allusion to the overcoming of superstition: "I say to you: 'hear Israel the Lord your God is one' … You have heard that there is one God. May all superstition of vanity recede." Ildephonsus similarly comments on Deut. 6:4: "By this statement the superstitions in which the created was worshipped instead of the creator are removed". 17 Ildephonsus's conception of baptism as rebirth or regeneration resonates in the sermon's references to Genesis: "hear and discern the power of God, just as you acquired strength when that same author of life breathed into your face and man was made a living being." 18 Whether the sermon is based on Ildephonsus, or whether Ildephonsus knew a sermon similar to the one to which L8 alludes, 19 certain conceptual foundations of L8's ritual date back to the seventh century. 20 The sermon and De cognitione baptismi may be addressed either to adult initiates or to the sponsors of child initiates. Although adult baptism remained rhetorically normative through the Visigothic period, baptismal pools reduced in size over the period. There was 12 A libellus is a manuscript comprising only a few folios, usually containing liturgical materials for one or a few feasts. See Palazzo, "Le rôle des libelli dans la pratique liturgique." 13 For detailed discussion of Isidore of Seville's and Ildefonsus of Toledo's descriptions of the catechumens receiving exorcism, exsufflation (the action of blowing as a component of exorcism or to symbolise renunciation of the devil) and anointing, see McConnell, "Baptism in Visigothic Spain," 52-54 (Isidore) and [85][86][87][88][89]. For the episcopal gathering of the catechumens for exorcism and to learn the creed twenty days before Easter see the second council of Braga, canon 1 (572). Vives, Concilios visigóticos, 81. 14 The pulpitum was most likely a raised platform in the nave, at the entrance to the choir. On the meaning and probable placement of the tribunal/ambo/pulpit, see Rico Camps, "Arquitectura y epigrafía;" Quevedo Chigas, "Early Medieval Iberian Architecture," 109-12. 15 The complete sermon is edited in Prado, Textos inéditos, 20-23. It is preserved in the Toledo Homiliary (London,British Library Add. MS 30853,. For a recent study of the homiliary, see Chase,The Homiliae Toletanae,[40][41][42] Ramis Miquel,La iniciación cristiana,246. 17 Ildefonsus, De cognitione baptismi, Chapter 10. 18 On Ildefonsus and rebirth through baptism, see McConnell,"Baptism in Visigothic Spain," 80,[95][96][97][98][110][111][112][113][114][115][116][117][118][119][120] theme in Isidore's writings: 59, 67). 19 For the first possibility, see Ramis Miquel,La iniciación cristiana,247. 20 For another analysis of this sermon, see Chase,The Homiliae Toletanae,[95][96][97] a shift from pools (for total immersion) to elevated fonts, suggesting a transition to infant baptism. 21 L8's rubrics are directed towards children, reflecting the routine presence of infant baptism by the tenth century.
The rubrics following the sermon in L8 indicate that the initiation rite involved a complex physical ceremony in which many different clerics participated. In silence, the elder clerics carried the Gospel book and a golden cross down from the pulpit to the choir and then to the preparatorium, followed by the bishop. 22 Preceded by a second crosssilver this timethe bishop was led to his seat, probably placed right by the entrance to the nave. 23 A deacon, standing in front of the bishop's chair, publicly announced the names of those to be baptised and assigned their sponsors to them. The treasurer brought three libelli of exorcisms to the bishop. 24 Three deacons stepped forward, each receiving a libellus from the bishop, and kissing his hand. This ceremony echoes Ildephonsus's description of exorcists receiving books from the bishop. 25 No music accompanied these movements, but the presence of several ritual objects and clerics of many ranks added to the solemnity of the moment.
Two sung prayers provided the auditory context for the next part of the ritual. The children were carried forward by their mothers, divided by sex on either side of the bishop's seat. Subdeacons then individually exorcised them, checking that they were alert, and held in their mothers' right arms. 26 After the exorcisms, each child was brought forward to be touched by a subdeacon's hand, while the subdeacon(s) sang a prayer asking that the children escape the reign of Satan. 27 At this moment, the baptisands and their mothers were moving ritually, while interacting directly and physically with subdeacons. In the next part of the ceremony, another deacon approached, singing a second prayer that calls on God to receive the baptisands. Exceptionally, both prayers have musical notation in L8. Old Hispanic prayers are rarely notated, suggesting that they were usually sung to simple familiar recitation tones that were known by heart. The L8 initiation prayers instead have a more complex melodic structure, apparently comprising fully composed melodies ( Figure 1). These melodies were presumably distinct from the (unnotated) daily tones for singing prayers, thus helping to mark the solemnity of this moment. The baptisands and their mothers stood so close to the singer(s) that they could distinctly hear and see what was occurring. 21 On the normative role of adult baptism, see Chase, "From Arianism to Orthodoxy," 427-28, 433. On the shift in the archaeological evidence, see Godoy Fernández, "Los ritos bautismales." 22 On the preparatorium and an argument that it was probably located in the northern side apse at the east end of the church, see Quevedo Chigas, "Early Medieval Iberian Architecture," 165-79. 23 For discussion of the placement of the bishop's chair, drawing on this rubric, see Quevedo Chigas, "Early Medieval Iberian Architecture," 105-08. 24 Since the treasurer was in charge of these books, they were presumably kept in the treasury. On the difficulty of identifying the location of this space or room within the church, see Quevedo Chigas, "Early Medieval Iberian Architecture," 168-83. 25 McConnell, "Baptism in Visigothic Spain," 86. 26 For detailed descriptions of the ritual, see Akeley, Christian Initiation, 149-52; Quevedo Chigas, "Early Medieval Iberian Architecture," 106. Contrary to the impression given by Quevedo Chigas and Akeley, the fathers are not mentioned at this point in the L8 text. 27 The rubric is ambiguous about whether this oration was sung by one subdeacon or by more than one: "dicens [h]as orationes decantando" ("saying these orations by singing"). It is also unclear whether the oration was sung just once, or once for each baptisand.
These prayers share some melodic elements with notated preces for the Easter Vigil, helping to establish a heightened auditory environment for Passiontide. 28 The Easter Vigil preces are preserved only in one eleventh-century manuscript (S4), each with a simple recitation tone. 29 Several of those preces tones begin with the same notational gesture as Deus pater omnipotens (Table 1, Row 1). 30 The ends of major grammatical divisions in Deus pater omnipotens and Deus auctor are marked in L8 with , a punctuation mark. 31 These sentence and clause endings must have coincided with a melodic cadence. There are two recurring notational outlines at these points in the Mid-Lent Sunday prayers (Table 1, rows 2 and 3). Several of the Easter vigil preces also end in a similar way, although S4 lacks the notational nuance on the penultimate syllable. 32 Although these notational similarities suggest some melodic kinship with Easter Vigil preces, the Mid-Lent Sunday prayers are much longer, more elaborate in some passages, and contain more melodic variety. The Easter Vigil preces comprise only a single phrase each, whereas these prayers comprise up to four full sentences, with further internal grammatical divisions. Further recurring notational patterns are found at the ends of these shorter grammatical units in the prayers, probably also coinciding with musical cadences (for examples, see Table 1, rows 4 and 5). In the Easter Vigil preces, the opening and closing syllables can have two or more notes, but the middle part of each melody has only a single note on each syllable. Some phrases of the Mid-Lent Sunday prayers have the same structure, but others tend to have two or more notes per syllable throughout, or for longer stretches than in the preces. The prayers thus have considerable melodic variety, partly linked to the (quite complex) grammatical structure of the text, and they have some lengthy repeated stretches of melody. 33 Although some of these elements link closely to the grammatical hierarchy, and pairs of closely related phrases tend to occur close to each other, overall the pattern of cadences and repeated melody is not predictable. To articulate a prayer using a composed melody like this will have aurally amplified the ritual at this moment.
The next auditory event was the elaborate offertory chant known as the sacrificium. After the second prayer, the bishop offered the children the sign of the cross, from a distance rather than touching their foreheads. The bishop, deacon and subdeacons then returned to the choir during the singing of the sacrificium Averte. At the same time, or shortly thereafter, clergy carried the bread and wine from the sacrarium to the altar. 34 The choice of Psalm 50 as the text source for this sacrificium, with its narrative of personal penitence, stands out for two reasons. Although personal penitence is thematically congruent with the first half of Lent, it contrasts with the thematic focus of Mid-Lent Sunday. On Mid-Lent Sunday, the thematic emphasis shifted from penitence to persecution by the speaker's 29 S4 = Monasterio de Santo Domingo de Silos, MS 4, an eleventh-century liber ordinum, edited in Janini, Liber ordinum episcopal. For a brief introduction to the liturgical context of the Easter Vigil preces, see Hornby and Maloy,Music and Meaning, This distinctive neume can also be seen near the opening of these Easter Vigil preces: Pro sacerdotibus (S4, 163v); Pro his qui hunc (S4, 164v); Pro virginibus (S4, 165r); and Pro his qui elemosinas (S4, 165v). 31 On the equivalence of this mark to a modern full stop, or sometimes a paragraph break, see Castro Correa, "Punctuation in Visigothic Script Manuscripts." 32 Post hec clamat (161v); Pro pace eclesiarum (162r); Pro sacerdotibus (163v); Pro habundantia (164v); and Pro his qui elemosinas (165v). For transcriptions of all of the Easter Vigil preces preserving their notational shapes, see http://neumes. org.uk/view. 33 In Deus pater omnipotens, compare "et quum ille inter te et hominem esset medius, homo posset per eum" and "quos erutos tenebrarum potestate cupimus transire in regnum." In Deus auctor, compare "redemptor humane condicionis," "in adoptionem filiorum tuorum recipiantur" and "et repulso antiquo hoste cum maci-." 34 Although there is no direct Iberian evidence for this procession with the bread and wine, it is described in the anonymous eighth-century Expositio on the Gallican liturgy. See Bernard, Epistolae de ordine sacrae oblationis, 345-46. The Expositio uses Isidore's De ecclesiasticis officiis as a primary source, and this has typically been taken as evidence of connection between the two rites. See discussion in Maloy,Songs of Sacrifice,[20][21][22] enemies. 35 The first-person voice speaking in the passiontide chants is identified, in the prayers that accompany them, as being that of Christ or the Church. 36 Averte, moreover, is the only Lenten sacrificium to participate in the theme of penitence, echoing Mid-Lent Sunday's emphasis on catechumenal penitence. 37 For the clergy this was a very familiar text, sung nightly during ad nocturnos and, on most days, repeated at the dawn office (matutinum). 38 In the daily office, Psalm 50 was sung to a simple melody that is rarely written out in chant manuscripts. 39 At the Mid-Lent Sunday mass, by contrast, the text of part of the psalm was set in the framework of the most musically rich genre of the mass, the sacrificium. For the clergy, this provided a new experience of a very familiar psalm. Averte's elaborate melody stresses this penitential theme through melodic repetition and changes of pacing ( Figure 2). The first section of the chant is atypically repetitive. Near the opening, the words "peccatis meis" are accommodated by a repeated and distinctive notational gesture ( Figure 2, box 1). This kind of repetition on three successive syllables is unusual, both in the sacrificia and in the Old Hispanic repertory as a whole. The repetition of this particular gesture is also rare in the repertory. 40 "Meis" ends with a standard cadential gesture, marking the end of the phrase (Figure 2, box 2). The following word, "omnes," consists of a passage of textless music (melisma) and another standard cadential neume ( Figure 2, box 3), creating a rhetorical pause that separates "omnes" from "iniquitates meas." "Iniquitates meas" (Figure 2, box 4) is then set with a repetition of the neumes on "peccatis meis," drawing attention to the semantic parallel between the texts. The section then closes with partial repetition on "dele" and "meus" (Figure 2, boxes 5 and 6). Thus, throughout this section of the chant, melodic repetition lends emphasis to the speaker's sins and the closing hope for God's mercy. Typical of the genre, the final section of the chant (marked "III") is the most melismatic. The word "peccatis" is lengthened with a 57-note melisma (Figure 2, box 7), 41 contrasting with the typical pacing of 1-7 notes per syllable. The melodic repetition within the melisma, typical of the genre, slows the text delivery sufficiently that at this point the text may have been transcended, drawing listeners' attention to the melody itself, and to praise of God beyond words. Alternatively, given that Psalm 50 was entirely assimilated Reproduced with permission of Archivo de la catedral de León. 40 In our database, http://neumes.org.uk, it occurs twice successively in only eight chants, and three times successively in one other chant, the sacrificium Munera. 41 We do not include the notational signs written at the bottom of the melisma (marked in small ovals) as part of the note count because, here and throughout L8, these are so consistently written underneath a particular notational sign in the main part of the melisma that we believe they were intended as alternatives or corrections to it, adding an extra note at the beginning of the gesture.
by all monks and clerics through daily repetition, the melisma may have invited them to meditate on "sin" through the ornate melisma. In either case, "peccavi" was set apart from the chant text's normal temporal flow. The following melisma, on "feci," similarly emphasizes the text "I have done [evil]" (Figure 2, box 8). In Averte, then, the clergy's daily penitential text was turned into a virtuosic finale for the catechumens as they were dismissed. As the clergy walked away from them into the clerical spaces of the cathedral, the melodic rhetoric exhorted them to penitence.

Summary
While the Mid-Lent Sunday initiation ceremonies preserved in L8 are well known to scholars, they have tended to be considered primarily as texts. The sensory experience, as outlined here, will also have been fundamental to the impact of the occasion. The liturgical movements were accompanied by chant: a decorated recitation melody for the two sung prayers; and a highly melismatic melody for the sacrificium. Precious liturgical objects were carried and displayed. During the initiation ceremonies, some of the laity came much closer to the sanctuary than usual, interacting directly with the clergy's liturgical movements, with all the sights, smells and tactile sensations that that would have involved. The baptisands and their sponsors were expected to attend vespers on Saturdays, and to attend both terce and none (which was immediately followed by the mass) on weekdays. This gave them something of the experience of penitential monasticism through the second half of Lent. 42 This proximity to the liturgical action was thus replicated daily over the subsequent fortnight, drawing the baptisandsand, by default, their mothersinto the centre of the liturgical action. On each occasion, clergy, baptisands and sponsors interacted physically, further cementing the physical integration of the baptisands into the body of the church through the daily liturgy.

Palm Sunday
On Palm Sunday, the initiation topic forms a thematic strand throughout the day. The catechumens were expected to be present for all the public services of Palm Sunday, and in this way they were initiated into the routine of the full liturgical day, including the dawn service of matutinum. Initiation ceremonies including liturgical movement are (in part) woven into the usual sequence of events in matutinum. 43 Some of the liturgical movement was accompanied by complex melodies. In examining initiation as a thematic strand of the Palm Sunday chants, our work complements earlier studies of this extensive ritual. Gabriel Ramis Miquel has discussed the Palm Sunday initiation rituals in detail, including the exorcisms and giving of the creed, from a theological 42 According to a rubric in L8, the baptisands were exorcised multiple times between mid-Lent Sunday and Palm Sunday, just before the public terce service on each weekday. Further, during weekday none, weekday terce, and Saturday vespers in these two weeks, a deacon recited the "Conpetentes orate" prayer that was used after the sacrificium on mid-Lent Sunday. The priests, deacons and subdeacons came out and passed along the children, from left to right. A priest signed them on their foreheads, saying "I sign you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, ruling for ever and ever, amen." A deacon also absolved all of the baptisands, saying "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, go in peace." Akeley, Christian Initiation, 152, considers it unlikely that, in the tenth century, the children really were marked with the sign of the cross so many times in the two weeks before Palm Sunday. 43 As noted by Pinell, Liturgia hispánica, 290-98. There is also a description in Ramis Miquel,La iniciación cristiana,[62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77] perspective. 44 T.C. Akeley focused on the Palm Sunday effetatio ceremony, during matutinum, in which the oil was exorcised and blessed and the catechumens were exorcised and anointed. 45 Germán Prado described the matutinum ceremonies in detail. 46 None of these authors, however, considered the chants, beyond textual discussion of those linked to ritual movement. We consider how the initiation theme extends across the chant texts and melodies of the entire day, interacting with prayers, readings, liturgical actions, processions, and objects. The Palm Sunday texts are preserved in three manuscripts from liturgical tradition A: L8 (providing chants and the rubrics pertaining to liturgical movement), OV, and BL52 (providing the matutinum missa prayers and incipits for their linked chants, together with the closing vespers and matutinum prayers). 47 In the late thirteenth-century Tradition B manuscript T5, Palm Sunday has a different repertoire of chants and prayers, and its only processional rubric on this day is for the pre-mass palms procession; it thus lacks the explicit ritual movements associated with the catechumens that are attested in the tenth-century L8. We have chosen to focus here on L8 and the closely-related materials in OV and BL52.

Vespers
Vespers typically articulates the key topics of the liturgical day to come and, on Palm Sunday, it focuses entirely on initiation. In L8, Palm Sunday vespers comprises a sequence of four chants (vespertinus and three antiphons) and a hymn incipit followed by a biblical verse (see Table 2). 48 The vespers chants take the form of an extended dialogue between the catechumens, God, and the clerics. The initial chant, the vespertinus, is sung in the voice of the children, twice asking the Lord to "teach us your righteousness," 49 with a long melisma on "(justificati)o(nes)" (Figure 3, box 1). The vespertinus verse asks that God's words illuminate the faithful and give the children understanding. 50 God responds in the words of the first antiphon, referring to the gathering of the faithful and to the Eucharist: "Gather my saints to me, who set my covenant before sacrifices. Hear my people and I will speak; I am God, your God." The second and third antiphons are in the voice of the clerics, instructing the children to "approach the Lord for enlightenment" and to "praise the Lord." A later addition to this third antiphon specifies the verse as "Gustate et videte," a text universally associated with the Eucharist. Through these chants, then, the children are invited to become full initiates of the church. The themes are encapsulated in the following hymn, sung to a simple repetitive melody. 51 44 Ramis Miquel, La iniciación cristiana, 263-328. 45 Akeley, Christian Initiation, 153-56. 46 Prado, Textos inéditos, 79-100. 47 BL52 is London, British Library, Add. MS 30852, a late-ninth-century orational. In matutinum, a missa is a sequence of chants alternating with prayers. The structure is: antiphon+prayer; antiphon+prayer; alleluiaticus/antiphon+prayer; responsory (sometimes followed by an prayer). Each chant was sung with one specified verse, rather than with a whole psalm. 48 Usually, the Old Hispanic vespers chants instead comprise a vespertinus, a sono, and two antiphons before the hymn. 49 This phrase appears once in the main section of the chant, and was repeated after the verse. 50 The theme of "illumination" or "enlightenment" is common in the vespertini, as discussed in Rojo Carrillo, Text, Liturgy, and Music. 51 The melody is not preserved; it is very common for hymn texts only to be copied in the manuscripts. See Boynton, "Orality, Literacy." Praise the Lord, children, who makes a barren woman dwell in a house, the joyful mother of children.   Lord who will come to judgement in sight of all with all your saints, and nonetheless now make your people to dwell in the lap of mother church in accord through faith: receive the prayers of your servants, and bless your inheritance in peace; so that both all we who are already born again through water and the spirit may have remission of sins, and upon these, who are initiated with the sacraments of faith may be imprinted the mystery of perfect belief. By this may the true sacraments of faith so bear fruit both in us and in them, that you alone, the only author of those same sacraments, may rejoice in us now and in eternity. The Redeemer invites the children to come to him, to be rescued from sin by God who will cause them to be "received into the sheepfold of joy." The ritual events of the preceding two weeks are recalled: "May your forehead be marked by making the sign of the cross, and the unction poured over them sign your ears and mouth; offer your heart's ear to what is said, sing a lively canticle of confession." The closing prayers of vespers in OV and BL52 anticipate the baptisms to come: "so that both all we who are already born again through water and the spirit may have remission of sins, and upon these, who are initiated with the sacraments of faith may be imprinted the mystery of perfect belief," and "May God … both bestow his grace upon those who have been born again, and may he grant to those who are about to be born again to attain the complete mystery of the holy faith." On the evening that begins Palm Sunday, then, initiation is the topical focus, rather than Passiontide or Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

Matutinum
Initiation is similarly the sole focus throughout the two missas of L8's Palm Sunday matutinum. The first missa was compiled in the Visigothic period, as indicated by its presence in the OV, which includes prayers and chant incipits (for all missa 1 texts and translations, see Table 3). Its texts relate to the initiation themes stressed by other Visigothic writers. In De cognitione baptismi, Ildephonsus cites three scripture passages that were also read in conjunction with the exorcisms. All three are preserved as Palm Sunday matutinum readings in the Liber comicus and, after the second matutinum missa, in L8. 52 One phrase from one of these readings seems to have been particularly  These, Lord, are your sons whom the true mother church begets for you, established like new shoots on a plant: therefore bring them, we beseech you, to the realm of your glory, whom we receive into the lap of mother church by the office of our enlistment of them; so that in the realm of homeland in which we undertake to enrol them, we may be worthy to exult with them perpetually.
The commander of Judah is the expectation of nations; his nazarites are more beautiful than wine and purer than milk; upon his head, the daughters run about growing with his grace  formative in the compilation of the chant repertory, which is based on similar texts: "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation" (1 Peter 2:9). The verse of the second antiphon (Expectatio gentium) and the third antiphon (Haec est generatio), for example, refer to the catechumens as the "the generation of those that seek him" (Psalm 23:6). Exceptionally, the responsory Oves meae has three verses, attesting to the importance of the initiation rite, with 1 Peter 2:9 used as the second verse. Oves meae refers to the faithful as God's flock of sheep and closes with a text that had been heard in vespers: "I am your Lord, says the Lord" (here taken from Ezekiel 34:15). The word "dicit" is heightened with melismas on both syllables (Figure 4, box 1), as if to emphasise God's speaking voice. This resonates with the characterisation of the catechumens as "hearers" of God's word, as noted above. The responsory verses were sung to a simple, familiar reciting tone, making the text very audible (Figure 4, box 2). Verse 1 is about the sheep that need bringing to the fold (John 10:16), verse 2 uses 1 Peter 2:9 (as noted above), and verse 3 asserts the role of Christ as shepherd once more (John 10:11). In this missa, the new generation of Christians is thus identified as the sheep who will be cared for by Christ, the Good Shepherd. The ritual context of initiation is spelled out explicitly in the missa prayers: "[those] whom we receive into the lap of mother church by the office of our enlistment of them; so that in the realm of homeland in which we undertake to enrol them … ," and "that those who are to be born again may together with those who have been born again through baptism be worthy to obtain the solace of eternal salvation." Rebirth and redemption, both for the baptisands and for existing Christians, is another important aspect of these chants, again building on Visigothic initiation themes. 53 In the first missa, antiphon 1 introduces the children to God as the "new vines" of the mother church, and "in the similitude of a temple" is emphasised by a long melisma ( Figure 5, box 1). The prayer following the second antiphon, Expectatio gentium, characterises baptism as regeneration. 54 A second matutinum missa is preserved in full only in L8 (Table 4). The same themes are present as earlier on Palm Sunday: the bringing to God of a new, converted generation, 55 and the invitation to come to be taught "the fear of the Lord." This second message, conveyed in the responsory Inquirentes dominum, explicitly anticipates the sermon "Filioli, quum babtizati fueritis," which will follow after the three bible readings and exorcisms. 56 It is also a ritually striking moment. Responsories were among the chants sung by specialist singers. 57 On this occasion, however, the rubric indicates that this genre was (ideally) sung by the bishop himself, articulating his own role as a teacher. The melody is relatively simple, for a responsory. Its five musical phrases are built from melodic gestures that are familiar from the rest of the repertory, and there 53 On regeneration as a central theme of De Cognitione Baptismi, building on earlier Iberian theology, see McConnell, "Baptism in Visigothic Spain," 79-80, 89-90, 97-98, 106-07, 220-25. 54 " … ut regeneraturi cum regeneratis per lavacrum aeterne salvationis." 55 See especially antiphon 2, whose text (Psalm 21:32 "there shall be declared to the Lord a generation to come"), once again alludes to the "chosen generation" of 1 Peter 2:9. 56 For the sermon, see Prado, Textos inéditos, 35-37. It is discussed in Chase, The Homiliae Toletanae, 100-02. 57 Randel, "Responsorial Psalmody," 87-90. The letter to Leudefredus, sometimes attributed to Isidore, specifies this as the role of the psalmist. Although this letter dates to the seventh or early eighth century, Isidorian authenticity was doubted by Reynolds, "The 'Isidorian' Epistula," but recently reaffirmed by Deswarte, "Isidore of Seville and the Hispanic Order of Grades." is just one melisma that would require greater breath control and technical skill from the bishop, comprising 16 notes ( Figure 6; the melisma is in box 1). 58 Antiphon 1 and its prayer, preserved in the OV, ask that all the ends of the earth should be converted to God. Through melodic repetition and use of melismas, the universality of praising God is emphasised ("ALL the lands of the gentiles shall ADORE in his sight"; the repeated melismas are shown in Figure 7, boxes 1 and 2). The red % and G under the text signal where singers would repeat after the verse and doxology, respectively. In total, the repeated melody on "all" and "adore" would be heard no fewer than six times, driving home the emphasis.
The second antiphon, Annuntiabitur, was associated with this matutinum service in OV, BL52 and T5, as well as L8. In L8, however, there is an instruction for a procession while the deacons in the choir sing of the "generation to come" and of their praises to God "in the midst of the church." 59 At the same time, the bishop and other deacons    VR I will declare thy name to my brethren: in the midst of the church will I praise you Lord.
Behold, Lord, the generation which the prophet once foretold would come, which certainly hastens through faith, to come to you. Therefore receive it [the generation], so that soaked in the perfection of the baptism of salvation, it may possess, with us, the unlimited joys of the eternal Jerusalem.
OV 90r (Vives, item 763) BL52, 65v T5, 110v Qua finita in coro secunda antifona et collecta oratione, stans episcopus in sacrario et ante oleum benedictum, tenente eo diacono, qui exorcismum dicturus est, exeuntes alii diacones in via sacra, inponunt hanc antiphona decantando, advocantes episcopum dicentes: When this second antiphon and collect is finished in the choir, the bishop, [is] standing in the sacrarium and before the blessed oil, which the deacon who is to say the exorcism holds up for him, while other deacons go out on the sacred way, and begin singing this antiphon, calling the bishop and saying: Antiphon Egredere in occursum pharaonis, et noli timere; angelus domini praecedet te; hoc erit signum tibi quoniam dominus dilexit te Go in to meet pharaoh and do not be afraid. The angels of the Lord will go before you. This will be a sign to you that the Lord loves you. went out to the sacrarium to put on albs and receive candles, and for the bishop to exsufflate and exorcise oil. 60 The third chant of the missa in L8 also accompanied a procession. During Egredere, deacons exited along the via sacra, summoning the bishop. 61 When they returned to the choir singing Egredere, the deacons stood around the altar in albs, holding candles, ready for the bishop to sing the responsory Inquirentes dominum. In Egredere, there is an internal musical repetition, reflecting the assonant text: "Angelus domini praecedet te" and "quoniam dominus dilexit te" 62 ( Figure 8, boxes 1 and 2). The invitation to "Go in to meet pharaoh" may have been understood as an invitation to the baptisands and their mothers, who would be brought up to the front of the church after the responsory, ready for an exorcism. We cannot know how widespread this procession and  accompanying ceremony was, since the other three manuscripts preserving Palm Sunday prayers and chants lack rubrics. OV has only the first two missa orations; BL52 and T5 have different chants than L8 for the third chant of the missa. 63 This variety of repertoire may reflect different ritual practices.
There was further initiation-related liturgical movement after this missa. 64 A deacon ascended to the tribunal, preceded by two deacons with candles. Three times, he intoned "Recordare satanas … " and each time the choir responded with the antiphon Resistite diabolo. 65 The third time the choir sang the antiphon, they descended to the chair. The boys to be baptised were placed to the right of the chair and the girls to the left. Once the bishop sat in the chair, the three biblical readings began, followed by the "rebukes" and then an exorcism. 66 This ceremony had some echoes of the initiation ceremonies that had taken place daily over the preceding fortnight, with the boys and girls separated around the bishop's chair, although the dramatic "Recordare"/ "Resistite" Figure 8. León Catedral MS 8, mid-tenth century, León: Palm Sunday matutinum missa 2, antiphon 3 on 152r. Reproduced with permission of Archivo de la catedral de León. 63 BL52 has a chant whose text is drawn from 1 Peter 2:9 and Psalm 33:12, texts that have already been used on this day: "Vos estis genus electum regale sacerdotium gens sancta populus adquisitionis. VR Venite filii audite … ". This is followed by a unique prayer that refers to initiation themes: "Ecce, Domine Iesu, bone pontifex, summe et magne, plebs tua ex prevaricationis traduce antiqua a cruento existens captiva ad te rediit sitiens haurire aquam vivam, quae nunc usque verbi tui exsors existerat arida, ut, suscipiens cognitionis tuae notitiam et unguine sacro linita, fiat regale sacerdotium adque gens sancta: proinde auxilium tuum cernui petimus invictum, ut nunc, per crucis alme signum alligans sevientem contra te tyrannum, ut ea que eius fuerant per culpam, ita per salutare lavacrum in tuum transferas regnum, quo conpaginata cum eclesia corpus unum locumque tecum in futuro redemtare etheream." The third chant of the single matutinum missa in the thirteenth-century Tradition B manuscript T5 also reflects the theme of initiation into the Lord's praise, drawn from Psalm 99:4-5 and 2: "Intrate portas domini in confessione, atria eius in imnis confessionum laudate nomen eius quia suabe est. VR Jubilate domino" ("Go into the gates of the Lord in confession, into his courts with hymns of confession, Praise ye his name for it is sweet. VR Sing joyfully to God … "). It is followed by a short prayer: "Servientes tibi, domine, in timore intremus portas tuas in confesione, et atria tua in imnis confessionum; laudemus nomen tuum quoniam suabis est. Adque ut os nostrum dilatetur in tuis laudibus, cor nostrum instiges et in seculum protelet veritas infinita. Amen" ("Let us who serve you, Lord, in fear enter into your gates in confession, and into your courts in hymns of confession; let us praise your name for it is sweet. And so that our mouth may be opened in your praises, prompt our hearts and may the truth increase without bounds for ever. Amen."). The final chant of the missa in T5 is the responsory Oves meae, present in missa 1 in L8; BL52 has no responsory for this missa. The final missa of a matutinum service often lacks a prayer to accompany the responsory, and we would not therefore expect to encounter the responsory in an orational like BL52. 64 Finito responsorio, ascendit diaconus in tribunal, precedens eum alii duo diacones cum cereis, et sic exorcismum imponunt: "Recordare satanas … " Et respondunt in choro hanc antiphona: "Resistite diabolo … " Ordo hoc dicitur tribus vicibus. Finita hanc antiffona, dicit iterum diaconus: "Recordare Sathanas." Respondunt similiter in coro: "Resistite diabolo." Dicit iterum diaconus tertio: "Recordare Satanas." Respondunt similiter: "Resistite." "Descendunt ad sedem ea[n]dem antiphona[m] decantando, infantibus vero dispositis, masculi ad dexteram episcopi, femine vero ad sinistram eius. Quumque sederit episcopus, salutat, et legitur lectio Esaye profete." There is further liturgical movement signalled in L8, 153r, pertaining to the effetatio and imposition of hands, but this does not include notated music and we do not discuss it further here. For a description, see Prado, Textos inéditos, 87-100; Akeley, Christian Initiation, 153-55. 65 As noted by Akeley, Christian Initiation, 153, this James 4 text had been read at matutinum a fortnight previously. 66 The ceremony is laid out in Akeley,Christian Initiation,154. exchange was not used during that fortnight. While there is internal melodic repetition in "Recordare" (Figure 9, boxes 1-3), most of the melody is not shared with the Mid-Lent Sunday initiation prayers discussed above. There is a parallel, though: both moments share two of the same cadential gestures at major text divisions (see Table 1, rows 2 and 3; Figure 9, boxes 4-5). This may have helped to establish an aural connection with the prayer that had accompanied the exorcisms across the preceding fortnight, although this Palm Sunday chant also has a distinctive melodic character.
The answering antiphon, Resistite diabolo, has an internal repetition ( Figure 10, boxes 1) that highlights the opposition between God and the devil: "Resist the devil and he will fly from you; draw near to God and he will draw near to you." This antiphon uses commonly recurring neume combinations and familiar cadences.

Summary
The theme of initiation permeated the Palm Sunday liturgy, including the "new generation" or "chosen generation" and the idea of the baptisands as sheep. Such themes were sometimes emphasised musically, as we have shown. In the second matutinum responsory, the bishop (most unusually) was supposed to sing the responsory himself, articulating the invitation to the children to come and be taught. The liturgical movements around the blessing of the oil, exorcisms and anointing were unique to this day.

Conclusion
The second half of Old Hispanic Lent was not only a time of fasting in preparation for Easter, but it also functioned as a preparation for baptism. There were daily initiation ceremonies for the three weeks before Easter, aimed at children by the tenth century, but with clear roots in the Visigothic adult baptismal rites. These ceremonies involved texts, movement, and melody. The very presence of composed melody gave the liturgical texts greater weight, which is particularly noticeable with the Mid-Lent Sunday exorcism prayers (since prayers would usually be articulated using a simple recitation tone), and with the virtuosic melismas of the Mid-Lent Sunday sacrificium. The melodies could give a particular focus to the texts through melismas, placement of cadences, internal repetitions. On Palm Sunday, the unaccustomed sound of the bishop himself (ideally) singing a responsory heightened this text.
The initiation rites invited the baptisands into the Christian community using both texts and physical movement. On Palm Sunday, the deacons came into the nave, along the via sacra, bringing the liturgical action and musical sounds out to the laity. In the exorcisms across the preceding two weeks, the baptisands were brought into the part of the church where the liturgical action was concentrated, and they were touched in blessing. The physical proximity was experienced aurally as well. The baptisands had direct musical contact with the deacons as they sang prayers close to them. Further, on Palm Sunday, the exorcisms were introduced by a three-fold dialogue, hammering home both the verbal and musical message. Strikingly, this could be a cumulative experience for the mothers, who may have entered this privileged (and otherwise primarily male) space multiple times over the years, carrying each of their children in turn. During the Visigothic period in which this ceremony emerged, the parents would likely have understood much of what was being said to them. 67 By the tenth century, comprehensibility would not have been certain, and would have depended in part on the pronunciation of the liturgical Latin. Nonetheless, during the Lenten preparation for baptism, members of the laity were far more closely involved in the liturgy than at other times of year. The baptisands and their mothers were immersed in the initiation rites, through texts directly aimed at them, together with the melodies, liturgical actions, and their physical proximity to the clerics performing the ceremonies.

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Funding
This work was supported by Leverhulme Trust [grant number INT-2016 034]. 67 The liturgy varied in its degree of linguistic complexity. Some texts were undoubtedly composed for a clerical elite, as argued in Díaz y Díaz, "Literary Aspects." See also Kurt,"Lay Piety,[20][21][22]. Other aspects of the liturgy, however, communicated on a more basic level, and the gulf between the "rustic" speech of the illiterate and written Latin could be bridged by oral reading. See Banniard, Viva voce, 181-251; Wright, Late Latin. On Vicesima Saturday, the message is given to the city at the first hour that whoever has unbaptised children should bring them to the church on the Sunday before mass. Then on the same Sunday and on the following Sundays after Vicesima, when the gospel has been read through to the end, the deacons announce these three verses, saying these public messages: Accedens primus dicit: "Si quis initiari querit sacramentum sancte fidei, det nomen." Secundus vero veniens dicit: "Si quis ad vitam eternam desiderat, det nomen." Tertius vero dicit: "Si quis vult ad Pascha babtizari, det nomen." Approaching, the first says, "whoever seeks to be baptised into the sacrament of holy faith, let them give their name." The second, coming forward, says, "whoever desires eternal life, let them give their name." And a third says, "Whoever wants to be baptised at Easter, let them give their name." Is dictis, legitur sermo tantum: "Homo ille quem Dominus," quia in sequenti dominico de Lazaro legitur sermo. When it is finished, the seniores reverence the bishop and they descend from the pulpit, preceded by the gospel book and the gold cross, to the choir. And when they have reached the choir, that gold cross with the gospel book sits at the preparatorium. And another silver cross goes before the bishop and with that going before, they go down to the seats where the children will afterwards be brought. As the bishop sits in the seat, the deacon stands before him, it being announced by him that whoever has children ready for baptism should impress upon his notice the names of those infants. That deacon announces to the bishop each one as they commit each child. Dicens ita: "Ille adsignat illum," id est, pater filium suum. Si pater non fuerit, matrem suam nominat dicens: "Illa adsignat illum" aut "illam." Saying thus: "This person commits this child," that is, a father his son. If there is no father present, he names his or her mother, saying "this person assigns this boy" or "this girl. God, our omnipotent father: not wanting the human race that you had created to perish in perpetual damnation, you willed your only begotten son to be made; and since he is the mediator between you and man, man is able through him to come to you to be saved. Attend to your male and female servants, whom we desire will cross over into the kingdom of your glory, rescued from the power of darkness. May they who are called to be the children of your adoption cease to be the sons of wrath. Let them escape the dominion of him [Satan], who, though [or when] he was unwilling to be subject to you, but did not have the strength to escape the law of your power, is bound by the necessity of his condition; so that henceforth they [the children] may cease to adhere to the reign of the adversary, out of which they may now begin to attain the hyssop of salvation and the grace of the redeemer. Respondunt. "Amen."-Item ille: "Quia Deus est benedictus in secula seculorum." They respond Amen. He also sings: Because God is blessed for ever and ever. RS. "Amen." Respond: Amen. Accedens alter diaconus canet hanc secundam orationem: Coming forward, another deacon sings this second prayer: Deus auctor universe formationis, redemptor humane condicionis et conlatio vite perennis, concurrentes ad te famulos famulasque suscipe; his esto defensor quorum esse cognosceris auctor; in adoptione filiorum tuorum recipiantur qui huc usque filii ire esse noscuntur; ut repulso antiquo oste cum macinationibus ipsius, letetur in te eclesia de conquisitione et salute populi huius.
God, author of all that has been created, redeemer of the human condition and bearer of eternal life, receive your male and female servants who run to you; be a defender to these [children] whose creator you are acknowledged to be. May they be received in adoption as your children, who, up to now are known to be the sons of wrath, so that the ancient enemy may be driven back along with his machinations, and the church may rejoice in you because of your conquest and salvation of this people. RS. "Amen. Quia deus es benedictus et regnas in secula seculorum. Amen." Respond: Amen. Because you, God, are blessed and you reign for ever and ever. Amen. Deinde signat eos episcopus a longe non in frontibus suis, salutat dicens: "Dominus sit semper vobiscum." Respondunt: "Et cum spiritu tuo." Then the bishop signs them from a distance, not on their foreheads, greeting them, saying "the Lord be always with you." They respond "and with your spirit." Deinde ad corum revertentes sacrificium dicunt. Explicito sacrificio, dicit diaconus: "Conpetentes orate, humiliate vos ante Dominum; conpleta oratione vestra simul Deo gratias agentes, dicite: Amen." Respondunt: "Amen." Iterum dicit diaconus: "Accedite ad signaculum, et ite cum pace." Dicunt omnes: "Deo gratias." Then, going back to the choir, they sing the sacrificium. When the sacrificium is finished, the deacon says: Pray, competentes, humble [prostrate] yourself before the Lord; when you have finished your prayer, at the same time giving thanks to God, say "Amen." They respond, "Amen." Again the deacon says "come here to be signed, and go in peace." All say "thanks be to God." After a little while that angel [Satan] who was superior to all angels by the exaltedness of his excellence, in his haste and special arrogance, since he did not stand in the truth, was soon cast down in the ruin of his damnation from heaven's glory, has in his malevolence awaited you and come to meet you. And he, instantly conducting the business of wickedness with you in transgression of the law, has led you astray with his promise, has deceived you with his persuasiveness, has slain you by his deception, and sent you to everlasting death by so slaying you. But just as pride could not approach the likeness of the most excellent majesty of God, so the malevolent one has not extinguished the superabundant mercy of the boundless love of God in you, so long as the utterly marvellous dispensation remains in God's disposition towards the plan of eternity; so that he who made all things from nothing may restore you from something, and this restoration of yours may be nothing other than the humbled sublimity of the one mediator of God and man and his taking the lowliness of true humanity. By this, you are invited to come, by this you are called forth in God's love, to leave behind the death that you have encountered and hasten to the life which calls you. Your condition was by grace of the Creator, and now you his wrath remains that you have come into damnation: you who existed through the God of abundant favour, you do not remain a son of accursed wrath, and you cannot be released from the damnation of this guilt, unless the redeemer's mercy both goes before you, so that you may wish to return to him, and after you, so that having been helped by him you may be able to. Through the grace of the God of boundless mercy, who wishes all people to be saved and come to the recognition of truth, there is shown to you today both salvation and the way of salvation, the truth and the power of truth, the life and the eternity of life. And so hear God speaking in me today, who once spoke through Moses: Having been roused up, have full strength so that you hear and discern the power of God, just as you acquired strength when that same author of life breathed into your face and you were made man in a living spirit [Genesis 2:7]. You have seen that he is the Lord your God, and now out of your former state of perdition you are transformed into the newness of salvation. I say to you: "hear, Israel, the Lord your God is one." And again I say, "You will adore the Lord your God and serve him alone." You have heard that there is one God. May all superstition of vanity pass away, may the honour of the devil and his angels recede, may the cult of idols pass away, may the error of the gentiles pass away, may no created thing be worshipped instead of the creator: for no created thing will have God's honour. He alone is to be worshipped, he alone adored, he alone to be feared above all things, God alone is to be loved above all things, who is blessed for all ages, the Lord who in the trinity of the persons is one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Carried further along the steps that are ordained for you, you will come to know the sacrament of this Trinity which was made with the mystery of But for now it is enough and may it suffice for the beginning of faith, that God wishes to become known to you through me, so that, having nothing else for your God than him, who has become known to you as God today through me, you may with me and with all the people of his inheritance adore him and service him, and be instructed in due course how you may be able to contemplate and attain the wealth of his love, when, having become a competens you desire the grace of baptism, and having been baptised, you are received into the unity of the body of our Redeemer. But we, beloved brothers whom the faith in God has strengthened, whom instruction has taught, whom fear keep right, whom love has filled, whom the Holy Spirit has anointed, with the whole of the holy church, readily and suppliantly beseech the Lord of copious redemption and God of unbounded love with whom there is unending mercy gushing forth, that he may both lead those catechumens to whom we proclaim salvation through his acquaintance, to the perfection of redemption, and concede to us the grace of redemption now gained, which we receive, know, and hold on to, until we are rewarded with blessedness; so that we may lovingly attain to where a full redemption justify these catechumens and the blessedness of eternity raise us, now redeemed, with them; so that they may dwell with us in the house of God through the unity of their faith and through the worthiness of their work, and that we may be glorified with them in the praises of our God through the eternal ages. May God grant this, and his Son Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with him in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for all the ages of ages. Amen.