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Religious Dramas THE NEW SCHAFF HERZOG 478

In all this the Church endeavored not only to provide a substitute for pagan and secular plays, but also to teach the masses, who were ignorant of Latin, the lessons of Scripture and

2. Gradual doctrine which they would not other­Extensioa wise comprehend. The gradual ex 

of Action. tension of the text gave increasing in­

dependence of diction, and new pas­

sages in prose and poetry were gradually added to

the mosaic of passages from the Bible and the

chants of the Church which make up the oldest re­

ligious plays. The richness of the popular Latin

poetry of the period is a component in the Daniel

of Abelard's pupil Hilarius, the first definite per­

sonality in the history of the religious drama (b.,

probably in England, about the middle of the

twelfth century), as well as in the eleventh century

Antichrist, preserved in a manuscript from the

monastery of Tegernsee. Beginning with the twelfth

century the Easter plays manifest a tendency to

extend the time of action, one of the early thirteenth

century beginning with the calling of Peter and

Andrew, and, though now ending abruptly with the

negotiations between Pilate and Joseph of Arimar

thea concerning the sepulcher of Christ, once evi­

dently carried on to the resurrection. This is, ac­

cordingly, the oldest specimen thus far known of

the Passion play, which was to become the chief

theme of medieval drama; but this type was not

developed from the liturgy for Good Friday in the

same sense as the Easter play from the liturgy for

Easter, the deep solemnity of Good Friday forbid­

ding free play to dramatic imagination. The twelfth

century also witnessed the rise of dramas dealing

with the saints, although these seem to have been

intended primarily for schools, since they all deal

with St. Nicholas, the patron of younger pupils,

with the exception of one, which is devoted to St.

Catherine, the patron of the older scholars.

The departure of the religious drama from its original limits was unpleasant to some of the more rigorous, and complaints were made as early as the twelfth century, when Gerhoh of Reichersberg and Abbess Harrod of Landsberg both attacked the drama as the work of the devil, the latter especially objecting that, while the plays were laudable and useful in their primary form, they had degenerated into irreligion and license. The costuming of monks as warriors, women, and devils, instead of symbolic renderings of the r81es, was evidently offensive, and the abbess particularly objected to the horse play, thus evidencing a further departure from classic models in the melodramatic mingling of comic and tragic elements. The production of plays in churches was finally forbidden, though the prohibition seems to have been aimed at unworthy productions rather than at religious dramas proper, the latter being expressly excepted from condemnation in the de­cretals of Gregory (" Decretals," book III., tit. i., chap. xii.).

The first traces of the use of the vernacular in religious dramas date from the twelfth century. In Germany this was effected by a spoken German paraphrase following the chanted Latin sentence, and with the triumph of the vernacular over Latin also went the gradual supremacy of spoken over

chanted lines. The earliest extant specimen of the vernacular religious drama is the twelfth­century French Adam. A number of 3. Rise of French dramas of the saints have also Objections; been preserved, the most important of Vernacular which is the St. Nicholas of Jean Bodel

Plays. of Arras (c. 1200), which, as in the

later romantic style, combines religious,

knightly, and imaginative elements with a realis­

tically burlesque presentation of everyday life. A

later cycle of dramas shows how the Virgin miracu­

lously intervenes in time of need or danger to suc­

cor those who adore her. The grotesque element

comes to the fore in certain fourteenth century

German Easter plays, especially in those scenes

where Satan, having lost so many souls through

the descent of Christ to hell, sends the devil to re­

coup, this affording an opportunity for the satirizar

tion of the most varied estates of man. To the

same period belongs the play of The Wise and Fool­

ish Virgins, an eschatological drama. No texts of

religious dramas.in England have been preserved

from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,

though it is certain that such plays were then pro­

duced; and the only Spanish play of the period is

a fragment of an Epiphany drama of the twelfth

century, which, like the French Adam, is a very

early specimen of the vernacular religious drama.

In Italy the beginnings of national religious drama

came, not from the Latin liturgy, but from the

songs, rich in dialogue, of the Flagellants of the

thirteenth century (see FLAGELLATION, FLAoEIr

r.AtTs, II., § 5); and apparently after the Flagel­

lant brotherhoods had been permanently organ­

ized, the dramatic elements of their songs were

given appropriate theatrical action.

Though numerous specimens have been preserved of the Latin drama, which may be said to have come to an end about 1200, few examples survive of the national plays of the oldest period (1200­1400), so that their process of development must remain uncertain; yet the dramatic merit of even the earliest vernacular plays is far su­4. Increa  perior to the Latin mysteries of the sing Elabo  closing medieval period. In the cities rareness of the presentations became more im­Production. posing and the casts larger; in the great squares were erected stages, the loca­tion permitting the action to proceed without need­ing change of scenery; above was the throne of God and heaven, whence angels could descend to aid the good; and at the end of the stage was the abyss of hell, from which figures of grotesque devils constantly ascended. Since such productions required fair weather, the time of presentation tended to aban­don the seasons of Christmas and Easter; and with increasing frequency the time of action extended throughout the earthly life of Christ, or even from the creation to the last day, the actual time of pres­entation now covering several days. This growth also involved the increasing introduction of the laity, although the clergy jealously arrogated to themselves the preparation of texts and the train­ing of actors. The presentation of a religious drama, moreover, was held to be essentially pleasing to God, and was often motived either by thanksgiving foe

477 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Religions Drama

divine protection or to deprecate threatening calam­ity, while occasionally indulgences were attached to such presentations. While the educational pur­pose, already noted, was frequently stressed, there are only rare allusions to the moral influence of the plays, although it is once remarked that sin­ners would be terrified by the tortures of the damned or of those in purgatory represented on the stage. The cycles dealing with the saints often advocated openly the veneration of their heroes, and the Passion plays were designed to awaken a living sympathy with the agony of Christ and to call forth the grace of tears; while the plea was also advanced that man needs amusement, and that the religious drama was better adapted for this than many other forms of enjoyment. There is scant trace in the Middle Ages of the modern scruples against the dramatic representation of sacred themes, and the attitude in general toward them finds its modern counterpart in the Oberammergau Passion Play.

Not only was the medieval playwright gifted with scanty dramaturgic art, but the length of time and the number of r61es at his disposal led him into pro­lixity and unessential details. In the psychology of the leading parts and in the evolving of motives, he was mainly dependent on the theologians, especially those of the contemplative school who g. Literary had pondered long upon the Passion. Style; From these sources are borrowed such Corpus pathetic scenes as that in which the Christi Virgin intrusts Christ to the care of

Plays and the traitor Judas, and also scenes of

Moralities. horror. The greatest originality is dis­

played in comic scenes, although the

wit here was of a breadth that sometimes caused

the clergy to interfere. Thus, in the scene of the

crucifixion, the Jews executed a grotesque song and

dance with exaggerated caricatures of contempo­

rary Jewish characteristics; and the beggars and

cripples on whom the saints worked miracles like­

wise came in for their share of satire. In critici­

zing medieval religious dramas, however, it must be

borne in mind that their authors did not aim at

literary style, but only at the conversion from narra­

tive to drama of their Biblical and legendary themes.

Yet even the weakest plays mirror forth the thought

of their time; and the uniformity of development

in various countries likewise finds its explanation in

the common source, the Latin literature of the

Church, as well as in the uniform religious conditions

prevailing throughout Western Christendom, not in

international communication.

International communication did, however, have some part, and the people here most concerned were the French, among whom the religious drama, here called " mystery," attained its richest and highest development, aided by dramas of the legends of the saints, especially those in which their intercession aids those who venerate them, these dramas of the saints being specifically termed " miracle plays." Yet another form of religious drama was evolved from the Corpus Christi processions dating from the latter part of the thirteenth century. Here it became possible to represent the entire history of the world, the division of the presentation between

the various gilds and parishes heightening the mag­nificence of the whole, especially as the different scenes were given at designated places along the route. This form of drama reached its zenith in England, as in the " York plays," Spain not com­ing to the fore until much later. The older Latin liturgical dramas still lingered on, though steadily declining until they disappeared altogether, except for a few modern attempts at revival.

In addition to plots taken from the Bible and legend, the later Middle Ages developed the alle­gorical drama, or " morality." The idea of a con­flict between the virtues and the vices was, indeed, no new one, but the firtt dramas built upon such plots date from the last decades of the fourteenth century, and reached perfection only in the fifteenth century, especially in France, the Netherlands, and England. To this category belongs, for example, the English Everyman, showing how each one, in his progress to the judgment of God, is deserted by kindred, wealth, and friends, only Good Deeds clinging to him. A variant of the moralities was afforded by the dance of death, apparently first de­vised by a preacher, probably a Franciscan, to illus­trate the power of death over all classes, each of which, represented by a character appropriately costumed, holds dialogue with death before passing to the grave.

The spread of the Reformation naturally affected the religious drama. The adherents of the ancient

faith redoubled their zeal in France in 6. Early the production of mysteries, but the

Protestant civil authorities no longer were as fav 

Attitude. vorable as in the past; many points,

such as the coarse jests of the comic scenes, were now regarded as exposed to Protestant attack; the Roman Catholics themselves, under the literary influence of the school of Ronsard, came to regard the medieval drama as barbarous and devoid of style; and there was apprehension of the faulty presentation of the doctrines of the Church. The attitude of the Calvinists was at first not unfavor­able to the religious drama, but about 1570 the posi­tion changed, and the synods of Nimes (1572) and Figeac (1579) condemned them. In German Swit­zerland the Protestants took delight in religious dramas until late in the sixteenth century, and Luther, at least once supported by Melanchthon, expressly approved them if presented reverently and without unseemly levity. The numerous Ger­man dramas now written were modeled largely on Terence and on the Latin school plays based on the Bible; and the best specimen of this type, the Aco­lastus of Gnapheus, based on the parable of the prodigal son, was produced in 1529, while an Eng. lish translation was published by John Palsgrave in 1540. The Protestant religious drama likewise mingled polemic elements in its plots, the priests of Baal in Old Testament plays being favorite covers for attacks on the Roman Catholic clergy. This spirit, however, was especially manifest in the moralities from the earliest decades of the Reforma­tion Period. An entire cycle of French moralities represent sick faith seeking assistance in vain from a scholastic theologian, and find healing only from Text of Holy Writ; or permit Simony and Avarice

Religious Dramas

Seligious Pedagogy

THE NEW SCHAFF HERZOG

478

to imprison Truth until she is freed by a layman versed in the Bible. The English Everyman was Protestantized by having the hero saved by Faith instead of by Good Deeds. The Roman Catholics long lacked, both in the drama and elsewhere, such determined protagonists as their opponents pos­sessed, nor was the situation changed until toward the end of the sixteenth century, when the Jesuits began their dramatic propaganda with the aid of all the refinements of the Barocco style. In Spain, beginning with the middle of the sixteenth century, the Corpus Christi processions assumed the form of moralities rigidly Roman Catholic in spirit, filled with hatred of heresy, and usually exalting the mys­tery of transubstantiation. In the following cen­tury, through the genius of Calderon, they attained their zenith, and by their rich mysticism, allegory, and diction they impressed even the Protestant mind.

While dramas based on the Bible and on legends of the saints maintained their existence in Roman Catholic lands, and even spread to such countries as Poland and Croatia, they gradually retreated from the cities to the rural districts, where

7. The they may still be witnessed. By far the Oberammer  most famous of this type is the passion gau Passion play of Ober Ammergau (q.v.), which

Play. in its original form, represented by a

manuscript of 1662, was a combination

of a fifteenth century Augsburg passion play with a

sixteenth century passion play of the Augsburg mei­

stersinger Sebastian Wild, who drew from the Cris­

tus redivivus of the Englishman Nicholas Grimald

(1519 62). In 1750 the play was entirely revised,

at the request of the villagers of Ober Ammergau, by

a Benedictine friar, Ferdinand Rosner, who intro­

duced scenic effects borrowed from the Jesuit stage

as well as arias and choruses modeled on Italian

opera. The most striking innovation, however, was

the representation of prefiguration of New Testa­

ment events in the Old Testament. This motive,

apparently found in the Middle Ages only in the

Heidelberg passion play (manuscript of 1513),

which, for instance, prefigures Jesus and the woman

of Samaria by Eliezer and Rebecca at the well, was

a favorite device in the Jesuit drama, whence Rosner

incorporated it in the Ober Ammergau play. In the

second half of the eighteenth century the mocking

spirit of the Enlightenment caused the governments

of Bavaria and Austria to assume an unfavorable

position toward the religious drama, and the pro­

duction of passion plays was forbidden. In 1780,

however, after " amendment " by the clergy of

Ettal, the Ober Ammergau play was excepted from

the prohibition, and though again forbidden in 1801,

it was officially sanctioned after 1811. By 1850 the

text had again been revised and the verse of the

dialogue had been turned into prose, while it now

contained clear traces of the influence of the senti­

mentalism of the eighteenth century and of the re­

ligious poetry of I0opstock. The play as now

presented is exceedingly impressive and reverent;

each actor is chosen in conformity with his charac­

ter and is schooled both by tradition and practise;

but the stage is no longer that of medieval times.

The success of the Ober Ammergau Passion Play has

led to the revival of the religious drama in other parts of southern Germany, as at Brixlegg in the Tyrol and at HBritz in Bohemia.

The Christmas plays, still produced even among Protestants, are less ambitious. As already noted, the late Middle Ages witnessed a tendency to trans 

fer the drama of the birth and child 

8. The hood of Christ from Christmas to the Christmas summer, but the Christmas play proper

Plays. still survived, though in simpler form:

Among the German Christmas plays special interest attaches to one of the fifteenth cen­tury in the Hessian dialect, presenting many traits which became traditional in the cycle, such as the humorous character of the aged Joseph and the comic shepherd scenes with their allusions to con­temporary peasant life. The scenes of the three kings and Herod are often reminiscent of the Ent­Pfengnms ttnd Geburdt Johannis tend Christi of Hans Sachs, and they were often amalgamated with the Christmas play, which was also sometimes combined with the Advent play, in which the Christ child goes about to see whether the children have been good and industrious. See also POEMS, ANoNrmous, of xm, ANCIENT CHURCH, 18; ROBwITHA.

(WIT IM ClUDIZENACH.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Among texts may be noted: Digby Miracle Plays, ed. W. Sharpe for Abbotsford Club, Edinburgh, 1835; ~Towndey Mysteries, ed. J. Raine for Surtees Society, Durham, 1836; T. Wright, Early Mysteries and other Latin Poems of the 18th and 13th Centuries, London, 1838; Ludus Coventria, ed. J. O. Halliwell for Shakespeare So­ciety, London, 1841; The Chester Plays, ed. T. Wright for Shakespeare Society, 2 vole., London, 1843 47; W. Marriott, Collection of English Miracle Plays or Mys­teries, London, 1843; Migne, Dictionnaire de mysti!res, Paris, 1854; Dipby Mysteries, ed. J.Y. Furnivall, London, 1882; Miracles de nostre dame par peraonnapea, ed. G. Paris and U. Robert, 7 vols., Paris, 187680 (cf. H. Schnell, Unterawhungen fiber den Verfasaer des Miracles Marburg, 1885); A. Greban, Myegre de la passion, ed. G. Paris and G. Raynaud, Paris, 1878; L. T. Smith, York Plays, Oxford, 1885; Miracles de la bienheureuse Vibrqe Marie, ed. C. Bouehet, Orll•ans, 1888; Midhre de S. Bernard de Merthon, ed. Lecoy de la Marche, Paris, 1889; Misthre du Viel Testament, ed. J. de Rothschild, Paris, 1891; C. Davidson, Studies in the English Mystery Plays, New York, 1892; Mysthre de la passion, ed. J. M. Richard, Paris, 1894; A. W. Pollard, English Miracle Plays, Moralities, and Interludes, 4th ed., Oxford and New York, 1904; Everyman: a morality Play; with an Introduction by A. T. Quiller Couch, New York, 1908; W. Meyer, Fragments burana, Berlin, 1901:

Discussions are: J. L. Mein, Geschic)de des Dramas, iii. 599 754, iv. 1 242, viii. 218 298, ix. 412 489, xi. 2, pp. 60254, xii. 293 382, 711 754, xiii. 1 121, 13 vols., Leipsic, 185676 (deals with medieval playa in Italy, Spain, and England); W. Hone, Ancient Mysteries De­scribed, especially the English Lyrical Playa founded on Apocryphal N. T. Story, London, 1823; F. J. Mone, Schauspiele dea Mittelalters, 2 vols., Carleruhe, 1848; E. L. N. Viollet le Due, Ancien thd&re franfois, 10 vols., Paris, 1854 57; E. Norris, Ancient Cornish Drama, 2 vols., Ox­ford, 1859; C. E. H. de Coussemaker, Dramea liturpiquea de moyen dpe, Rennes, 1860; C. Wilken, Geachichte der geistlichen Spiels in Deutschland, Gbttingen, 1872; M. Sepet, Lea Proph&ea du Christ, Paris, 1878 (fundamental for this class of play); idem, Oripinea catholiquea de thbdlre moderns, ib. 1901; idem, Le Drams relipieux au moyen dpe, ib. 1903; K. A. Hase, Miracle Playa and Sacred Dramas, London, 1880; W. Blades, Account of the Ger­man Morality Play •• Depositio cornuti typopraphici,•. London, 1885; L. Gautier, Hint. de la poeaie liturgique au moyen dge, vol. i., Paris, 1886; Petit de Julleville, Les Myd&ea, 2 vols., Paris, 1888 (the main work for France); F. M. Stoddard, References for Students of Miracle Playa

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ENCYCLOPEDIA

Religions Dramas

8 1igiona Pedagogy

and Mysteries, Berkeley Cal., 1888; A. d'Ancona, Oripini del teatro italiano, 2d ed., Turin, 1891; K. Froning, Dos Drama des Mittelaltera, 3 vols., Stuttgart, 1891; L. Bates, The English Religious Drama, New York, 1893; W. Creizenach, Geschichte des neueren Dramas, 3 vols., Halle, 1893 1903; W. Seelmann, Die Totentdnze lea Mittelaltem, Nordlingen, 1893; J. E. Wackernell, Alddeutache Paasions­apiele aus Tirol, Graz, 1897; R. Heinzel, Beschrerbunp lea geistlichen Schauapiela im deutschen Mifelalter, Leipsic, 1898• A. W. Ward, Hiat. of English Dramatic Literature, i. 1 157, new ed., 3 vols., London, 1899; E. K. Chambers, The Afediaroal Stage, 2 vole.,. Oxford, 1903; E. Lintilhac, Le Th€atre serieuz du moyen dpe, Paris, 1904 (indispensa­ble); Worp, Geschiedenia van het Drama . . . in Neder­land, vol. i., Groningen, 1904; H. Auz, Die Weinischen Magierapiele, Leipsic, 1905; C. M. Gayley, Plays of our Forefathers and Some of the Traditions upon which they were founded, New York, 1907; H. Diemer, Oberammer­gau and its Passion Play. A Survey of the History of Oberammergau and its Passion Play from their Origin down to the present Day, 2d ed., London, 1910; Schaff, v. 1, pp. 889 sqq.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION ASSOCIATION: An organization effected in 1903 aiming so to unite workers in religious and educational fields that the religious shall permeate the educational and the educational shall permeate the religious forces at work in the country. The stimulus came from the late William R,. Harper, and the executive offices are in Chicago. The membership is composed of four classes active, sustaining, life, and corresponding or honorary members, the last class limited to fifty who are not residents of America and pay no dues. Members receive without further charge than the dues the volumes containing the proceedings of the annual conventions, as well as Religions Education, the bimonthly of the association. The general officers are a president and sixteen vice presidents elected yearly, treasurer, recording secretary, and general secretary; the last named is the active ex­ecutive, upon whom devolves the oversight of the issue of printed matter and extensive travel in the interests of the association, as well as the arrange­ments for the general conventions. There is a board of diredtors consisting of forty seven members, one representing each state, territory, and province which has twenty five members in the association; twenty members are chosen at large; this board decides where the meetings of the association are to be held. Annual conventions have been held at Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Rochester, and Washington, at each of which about 100 addresses were delivered by leaders in religion and education. More than 200 local conferences have been held under the auspices of the association. The execu­tive board is the corporate body and manages the finances. Besides the bimonthly named above and the Proceedings, many pamphlets upon special sub­jects are issued, as well as bulletins, programs, plans, and the like. Up to 1908 over $65,000 has been ex­pended in behalf of education.

The departments of work are: the council of religious education, universities, and colleges, theo­logical seminaries, churches and pastors, Sunday­schools, secondary schools, elementary schools, fra­ternal and social service, training of teachers, Chris­tian associations, young people's societies, the home, libraries, the press, foreign mission schools, summer assemblies, and religious art and music seventeen in all. Each department has an executive commit 

tee, consisting of president, a recording and an ex­ecutive secretary, and from three to seven other members, the executive secretary being the responsi­ble officer. Departments often have special meet­ings, but the annual assemblies of the departments furnish the most important feature of the great con­ventions. Departmental action becomes action of the association when approved by the executive board, which publishes special researches and papers prepared by departmental experts. Other depart­ments than the council obtain their membership by special registration of members of the association, who choose their department of work. The council has sixty members, half elected by the executive board and half by its own members. Its functions are to reach and to disseminate sound thinking upon all general subjects relating to education in religion and morality; to initiate, conduct, and guide in­vestigation of important educational questions within the scope of the association. It is thus the brain center of the association, and its meetings are more numerous than those of any other department, and include summer conferences. It has prepared and issued an address to the higher educational in­stitutions upon the necessity of courses for training leaders in religious and educational science, for workers in Sunday schools, and for teachers and skilled workers in industrial and social reconstruc­tion. , It has also arranged for the publication of a bibliography of religious education, with editor and editorial board. The department of Sunday­schools has organized a bureau of information for the compiling of statistics, and a committee of twenty one experts to formulate a Sunday school curriculum; it has also begun a bibliography for Sunday school teachers, and has furnished an ex­hibit, which is being constantly increased, of Sun­day school literature.

Interest in the work is being manifested in foreign lands, the general secretary having received invita­tions to organize associations in Japan, India, and Norway, and to speak in several other countries.

RICHARD MORSE HODGE.