MINIATURIST, Italian
(active 1080s in Montecassino)

Exultet Rolls of Southern Italy

c. 1087
Manuscript (Ms. Barb. Lat. 592)
Biblioteca Apostolica, Vatican

This picture, showing the Pope with bishop (right) and clergy (left) is from Exultet Rolls of southern Italy.

At least as early as the fourth century, it was common practice in the Western Church to intone a solemn hymn of praise at the time of the blessing of the Easter Candle during the Easter Vigil. At first the words of this blessing varied from region to region, but the efforts to standardize the liturgy which were actively initiated by the Emperor Charlemagne at the beginning of the ninth century ensured that the text favoured by the Anglo-Saxon Alcuin, an influential court scholar, eventually prevailed throughout the West. The text begins with the exhortation: Exultet iam angelica turba caelorum (Rejoice now, all you heavenly choirs of angels) so that this hymn is commonly called "the Exultet."

Probably due to strong Byzantine influence in Southern Italy, liturgical practices in that area had evolved somewhat differently from elsewhere. In particular the liturgical roll (a lengthy strip of parchment which had to be unrolled for reading) was still much used in the tenth century, especially on solemn occasions - as opposed to the codex (that is, the book format we all know). The most important parts of the Easter Vigil ceremonies were recorded on rolls, which were solemnly read from the ambo, an elevated lectern facing the people in the church.

During the tenth century, under the renewed effort at unification of liturgical practices led by Pope Gregory VII, the Beneventan liturgy was replaced by the Roman liturgy. This meant that the official text of the Exultet now replaced the local text on the liturgical roll.