Anonymous: Processiones Solemnes

This text gives the order of the solemn processions of the cathedral church of Rouen through the city to other churches during the year. The sections cover Palm Sunday, when the Body of the Lord was carried to Saint-Gildard and clergy and people assembled at the mother church for the blessing of palms; the feast of Saint Mark and the feast of Saint Ouen, with processions to Saint-Ouen; the three Rogation days, with processions to Saint-Éloi, Saint-Gervais and Saint-Nicaise; Ascension; and Corpus Christi. The rubrics specify who carries the relics, torches and candles, the place of the confraternities with their candlesticks, and the parish priests who keep order among the chaplains with peeled rods.

Processions linked the cathedral to the other churches of a medieval city and displayed its clergy, relics and confraternities in public. This text is a source for the topography and religious life of Rouen, naming many of its churches and showing the involvement of lay confraternities. The inclusion of the feast of Corpus Christi, which spread through the Western Church from the late thirteenth century, indicates that this form of the text is late medieval. Its compiler is not named.