Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 5 1887.djvu/309

Rh Sunday take each other by the hand and dance while they sang hymns of jubilation. He also has pointed out several churches then existing in which the choir was constructed in a theatrical form." The same writer further observes "that the name of choir is still retained in our churches. The choir was formerly separated from the altar, and elevated in the form of a theatre; it had a pulpit on each side, in which the epistle and gospel were sung. At Rome the churches of SS. Clemente and Pancratius are the only two that remain in this antique form." "Spain," he continues, "has preserved in the church and in solemn processions the use of dancing to this day, and has theatrical representations made expressly for great festivals, which are called Aules Sacramentales." France seems to have had the same custom till the twelfth century, when Odo, Bishop of Paris, in his Synodical Constitutions, expressly orders the priests of his diocese to abolish it in the church, cemeteries, and public processions. According to some of the Fathers the angels are always dancing, and the glorious company of the Apostles is really a chorus of dancers. "After the middle of the eighteenth century there were still traces of religious dancing in the cathedrals of Spain, Portugal, and Rousillon, especially in the Musarabian Mass at Toledo." (A brief account of this ritual may not be unacceptable to our readers.)

"The Goths established their kingdom in Spain in 409; it was finally overthownoverthrown [sic] three centuries later. The religion of the Goths was that of the Eastern Christian Church. They followed the doctrines of Alius; both rulers and people were at times very intolerant to those in their midst who belonged to the Western or Latin Church. One of their kings named Theudis (567), though an Arian, showed complete toleration to every sect and religion. Sisebert, who ascended the throne in 612, was of the orthodox faith; his persecutions of both Jews and Arians were too horrible. In 653, by the interest of Dagobert I. King of France, Sisenand, a soldier of great reputation, suc-