New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-06-12
CORPUS CHRISTI SHOWS.
OLD TINE PROFESSIONS AND PLAYS.
PAGEAXTEY or PAST CFXTrMEs-A TRINITY
SUNDAY CUSTOM.


SUNDAY CUSTOM.
In tn, old days when the people OF England anu
OF other European countrlc, had less done to ami'e
them than nov, and consequently had 10 Il" Hi"'o ~
aulse Themselves there Used to be- between the great
I, ,liya OF Wh,untde ana ihe Midsummer Day "hch
all who have ever been children and readers OF Hi'r'
tales remember with affection, certain DINER u'S y,
feast and mcrrment. loss notable. perhaps DIV sum
worthy OF note. The chief Of these was the o'l Vi
Corpus Christi sacred In the Church to the d'c''''
e Standardization. The day fell. and oil course
still fnlls, on the Thursday after Trinity snhaay'
which I'm the present year will be Thursday Oh lhs
week. Trinity Is the sunday after Whlisnhd1S ,ha'
Is, the eighth after Easier. or in othrr WoTus' '
This day had some peculiar customs Of It's own ana
perhaps never any more curious than one Who" p'c-
vailed in the latter part OF the seventeenth cc'l"'
at a place called Newton IN North Wiltsmrc N'"s
Athc,tan once gave u this Town II common anu "
mouse for the hayward, ana thc little ceremony OF
Trinity sunday WIS in commemoration OF ms git-
II may De well TO explain that the hayward N'H ''o
man employed TO keep watclfll eye over inc AM
mails pasiurcd the common.
ON Trinity sunday the Practitioners us"d I'd 20 "
fhe bovwards honsc and knock the door three
lines I'm honor OF the Trinity. When they lad Deem
admitted prayers were read, and then ghr'hhu %
flowers was brought forward 10y n young girl oil inc
parish who wore IL on her neck. Then ior'nha'c
young OF other parish Kissed the giti '"ee
times In honor OF the Trinity, whereupoh sue put Tue
garland on his neck and Kissed him three times lie
then put the garland back on the girPS meek anu
kissed her three times Finally, he took IL from
Icr again and gave her at least penny 1t
mus, have been felt that this was q merely
nominal pllce for the youth to pay. Tor the
old account says that he often gave more ana
sometimes n, much y. Cd. The purchasing power
Of money was indeed large in those days
Corpus Christi day Of PROFESSIONS The most
u
admiration of the popuacc. and II WAS followed py
representations Of such saints could be most pct
nrcsouclv presented There were II. Ursula ana her
II 600 virgins. or A. mony Of them ns thcr" were
people mt hand to play the parts. and this company
must have been In itself most attractive paT OF the
procession ST. George, always such popular iaV0rtc'
pursued tho dragon: It. Christopher carried the infant
Christ on his shoulder. as when he bore Him across
the swollen and ri,hinG stream and Won his title to
santship It sebastian. with hi, BODY stuck full OF
orr,,y. was there and 80 were st. Catherine with her
Wheel and many more. In many places whore There
were not such elaborate PROFESSIONS ~ these people
went about Tie and >rcwci sweet herbs before
! The doors The custom Of professions at Corpus
Christi still survives 10 extent ana In some OF
the Roman Catholic churchcs Of This city the services
f,r the sunday after Corpus Christi commonly spoken
OF a. the sunday within the octave include professions
more pre,cntlous than the usual ones These VIII Oh
! course occur week from today
Miracle paws, WHICH IN f.'Flihd III III ''h'l ''"H
tries were common various church fcStival' were
especially 50 ON Corpus Christi. In article published
in these columns week ago m account was gwen o'
the Chester plays which were performed a few days
earlier ut whit>un'Idc. part Of what was 'aid
II those plays would apply 10 all. The PLAYS second
in importance TO those - Chester. or pcri2p' even
equal TO them wcn those # Coventry. which were
given on Corpn, Christi Like The Chester PLAYS, they
covered tine whole of the Bible history, but they con
tanned more from the apocrypa b'h, and the legends
| ~ the Church than the exhibitions at Chester. Tie
editor OF Homes Every Day Book" thinks that TINS
W. bcc,r-e he monks who made them. considerable
time after the Chester PLAYS were written, tried TO
Offset the lalors Of WyclGc n TRANSMITTING The Bible
and spr,adirg the knowledge II II among the H. pie
I,v Introducing foreign elements and confusing IN"
| popular understanding Il u. But IN sober and
Impartial view thi, explanation seems far fetched ana
| unnecessary. The two set OF PLAYS were prohob'i
different simply because they were made by different
mon and nj different times. II pleased the authors
! ~ the ore TO connnc themselves the scrpiur"
narrative while the authors Of the Other chose 10 n>c
all the ma-ria that they had at their own discretn
The Coventry plays acted by the GRAY frlarS
| The ,hcn,lrs were on Wheels. that th"v miEht be
moved aloat 10 various pats Of The town. and
! thoy were probable much like the plc-ants
uscd nj Chester. Tile performance, drew pcop''
10 see them from far and ani ,Dnc'im"~ p pIr
81 consequence. for In lf-3 King Richard III came
10 witncs, them Il IN 1iJ2. 400 year, arp next
Thursday king Henry VII and hi' Queen were pr :"
eni Miracle plays wore also don" 90 this day ri
Ncwca.; lcupon 1tuc. ana here th"y we've acted by
,r,d, guilds, T., e., Chester. Iui thcy sem to have
boru .inglc plays. performed by suec guilds ii.st"ai
Of q great ,crics q NJ chester. They ncvcr had
nrrtancc apprOach that # the Chester or Coventry
plays.
Tho tradc.mcl Of shrewsbury. instead Of acting
! -criuturTI plays. lad q great show on ia" second
Monday after Trinity sunday. In Ilfce at the south
81 the { WI. caII KinGlani thry Eai buIldines
erected enc for each guild. c,ci harb,rs "rt-ors.
nttei with tables for eating AMI drinking. a d some
~ them decidedly fine u ar.hiieciur, anl drcra-
| ton. Tho guild, marched thiiher Ia PROCESSION ana
| gnent the day I'm fcasti e. II the procession each
guild hal lis distinguishing pageant. That Il the
,hcarmcn represented King Edward VI or Bishop
Elaisc that Of the .io"mlhels their patron saints,
Crispin and Cnsplnianus. that Of the taiprs Queen
! Elizabeth and Adam d Eve. who were conceived
| 10 be the frat who lowed the ia!lors iIai' me
butchers had kneh ni inc ,lt'et, ii %" ;fh
n spinning wheel though The wheel appropriate 10 81
catherine IS int dcd for torture The hrlcklayrrs
Henry VIII the halter, AMI clbl ctmakcrs had an
indian chief fer their emblem and the lah"r' hld INC
| 1uuicrs represented the sknnu> and gOvcrs, while
Vulcan. dressed In armur. stool for the ,lnhs II ~ u
hcr:e for The saddles N SOM Of hese caSts ne en-
which they stand. and N some they seem altogether
arbitrary. ,,,,, ,-,c -.
yr,cI, the account Il the Shrewsbury show l. con
do SD scnls Of II still going on in ieecneIac
u-v and describes the show II appeared IN IaiO.
issEionaiic home. aud The utter decay d IN, show
was already gccSai t~EM c% m me +, ora
Syc ,hc nj glores + the show have been mnfe. but
vtthont success. When the spirit Of an institution
----