Paschal Vigil for SS. Rufina e Seconda in Trastevere
Fragment of a leaf of the Paschal Vigil from a Liturgical book in Latin, decorated manuscript on vellum [Italy, probably Rome, 12th century].
An important liturgical text with a large decorated initial and a Litany of saints suggesting that it was made for use in the 12th-century church of SS. Rufina e Seconda in Trastevere, Rome.

c.310 × 205mm. Preserving 2 columns of 34 lines, the text comprises the final reading of the Paschal Vigil, Daniel 3:4–26, followed by a Litany of Saints and the Blessing for the Baptismal Font, decorated with a historiated initial depicting a cross and a crucifixion nail(?) (losses to text along outer and upper edge due to cropping, staining across first two lines of the recto, small wormholes).

Provenance:
(1) Probably made for use in church of SS. Rufina e Seconda in Trastevere: the short litany’s most distinctive feature is that among only five virgins the first two are these relatively uncommon saints.
(2) Colker MS 535; acquired from Quaritch.

The Paschal Vigil, Easter Vigil, or Great Vigil of Easter, was (and still is) performed between sunset on Holy Saturday and sunrise on Easter Day, as the first official celebration of Jesus’s Resurrection.

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