Leaf from a Gradual, with the Initial I ("In medio"): The Translation of the Body of St. Dominic

Large, often multi-volume choir books recorded the musical component of communal worship in the Middle Ages. Known today as graduals and antiphonaries, these choir books were used in conjunction with service books during the public services of Mass and the Divine Office, respectively. Standing before a lectern, choir members read from these books in unison or responsorially, reciting or singing lyrics that corresponded with each day’s worship.

Used each day of the liturgical year, graduals and antiphonaries were composed of heavy parchment bound between leather-covered planks of wood. Though built to withstand daily use, their historiated initials and embellishments were delicately illuminated and often made of valuable materials such as gold leaf. Beyond enabling readers to keep their place within the large volumes, these illuminations provided visual counterparts to the subjects included throughout the text of the choir books and served as devotional aids for their readers.

This gradual was made for use in a church of the Dominican order. The order’s founder, Dominic de Guzman, died in 1221. In 1233, anticipating his canonization as a saint, his Dominican followers moved his body from its humble burial spot to a more prominent tomb at their convent in Bologna, Italy. According to legend, when Dominic’s tomb was opened, the saint’s body miraculously issued a sweet odor, which witnesses interpreted as a sign of his holiness. Five friars in this historiated initial lift Dominic’s body, as a halo of light, signifying his sanctity, encircles the saint’s head. Pope Gregory IX officially declared Dominic to be a saint on July 3, 1234, a year after his body was translated. Following Dominic’s canonization, churches commemorated the anniversary of his body’s translation on May 24.