Manuscripts

Plimpton MS 034 contains the processions for Purification, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, the feasts of Saint Francis and Saint Clare, and Corpus Christi (added later). The processional chants were widely circulated in Europe except those for the feasts of Saint Francis and Saint Clare. The most extraordinary feature of the Franciscan/Clarissan chants (folia 18r–20r) is the use of double text: the text for Saint Clare is written below the text for Saint Francis, both sung to the same melody above the Franciscan chants. The close proximity of the two texts alludes possibly to the founding history and tradition of the Clarissan order. Under the deep influence of Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Clare with her companions founded “Poor Clares,” a female counterpart to the Franciscan order, also referred to as the “Second Order of Saint Francis.” As Saint Francis cared for Saint Clare’s community, the Franciscan friars continued in the following centuries to provide pastoral service to the Clarissan sisters. Saint Francis and the Franciscan friars had a significant presence in the Clarissan community, and this presence is visually represented by the double text. To show the significance of the Franciscan/Clarissan chants, the initial “O” is decorated with a female figure––the only historiated initial in the entire processional. This female figure is Saint Clare, who holds a chalice with her left hand and a crozier with her right hand.