Performing the liturgy

Eric Palazzo (1)

1 CESCM [Poitiers] - Centre d'études supérieures de civilisation médiévale [UMR 6223]

In effecting, at the very highest level of existence, the connection and constant transactions between man and God, between the tangible universe and eternity, the liturgy illustrated this propensity [for sensory participation] in an exemplary way. Spectacular, even in its smallest aspects, it signified the truths of the faith by means of a complex play on the senses of hearing (through music, chants, reading), sight (through the grandeur of the edifices ; by the actors, their dress, their gestures, their dance and by the setting) and even touch ; the sacred wall was touched ; the foot, the reliquary, the episcopal ring kissed ; the fragrance of incense and of candlewax inhaled.

Mots clés: iconography; art; liturgy

Domaines: Histoire; Religions

Eric Palazzo. Performing the liturgy. edited by Thomas F.X. Noble and Julia M.H. Smith. The Cambridge history of christianity. Vol. 3, Early medieval christianities, c.600-c.1100., Cambridge Univ. Press, pp.472-488, 2008. ⟨halshs-00673362⟩