Expresando el cambio litúrgico en la Iberia de los siglos XI y XII a través de la festividad de los Santos Inocentes

Abstract

The feast of the Holy Innocents is a particularly informative example of liturgical change from the Old Hispanic to the Roman rite in Iberia after 1080. Not only did it involve a change of name and date, but also a shift in the tenor and meaning of the feast, one that always had to fi nd a balance between tragedy and celebration. The elaborate allegorical lamentation of the Old Hispanic rite was fi rst replaced with more neutral readings and chants that concentrated on the infants as holy martyrs, but more narrative presentations of the Massacre of the Innocents came to dominate in the 12 century. Collections of sermons or homilies played an important role in this process. Images in wall paintings –and after 1150 sculpture– began to express the full drama of this feast.