Missal

From the Getty Museum record

This Romanesque missal was written and illuminated for the Premonstratensian abbey of Saint Mary and Potentius at Steinfeld, near Cologne. This type of manuscript was used by the priest to say the mass. Most illuminated missals, like this one, include a full-page image of the Crucifixion, which marks the beginning of the canon of the Mass, the prayers said by the priest as bread and wine are ritually transformed into the body and blood of Christ. This celebration commemorates his Crucifixion and the salvation it provided humankind. This manuscript also displays large, gold initials filled with curling vines and hybrid animals that mark the texts used by the priest on major feast days during the Christian liturgical year. The book also includes mass chants accompanied by an early form of musical notation, known as neumes, written on a four-line staff with each line executed in a different color to indicate various pitches.