The procession which precedes the mass of Ascension Thursday is of the highest antiquity; but nowhere was it carried out with greater ceremony, or attended by a larger number of pilgrims, than at the church built in Palestine by St. Helen, mother of Constantine, on the very spot where the ascension took place, and where still might be seen on the stone the last footprints of our Saviour, as He left this earth and ascended to heaven. [Illustration: Fig. 198.--The Adoration of the Magi.--From a pax attributed to Maso Finiguerra (Fifteenth Century), preserved at Florence. One of the kings is on his knees, and has taken off his crown to present incense and myrrh to the Infant Jesus; the others are riding towards the manger, escorted by their varlets and pages, and followed by a long caravan; there are angels on the roof playing the viol and the lute.] In fact, in the Middle Ages there were an immense number of festivals which gave rise to processions (Fig. 196) and to other religious ceremonies. It must not be forgotten that all great festivals were indifferently termed Easters. The anniversary of the resurrection of Jesus Christ was the great Easter, and in order to prepare worthily for it, the body was purified by baths, and the hair and the beard were cut, as tokens of the care with which the Christian ought to preserve the purity of his soul, and to remove the vices that infect the unregenerated man. The Nativity, Epiphany, Ascension, and Pentecost were also called Easter. In some churches, at Great Easter, dramatic representations were given of the mysteries the festival celebrated. A procession was undertaken to a tomb cut in a rock. Three women and two men in Israelitish dress represented the three Marys and the disciples John and Peter, and others dressed in white, with crowns on their heads and wings on their shoulders, played the part of the angels who communed with them. _Pentecost_ (Fig. 197), or the _Easter of Roses_, was accompanied with the same dramatic and religious accessories. In many churches during mass, at the words _Veni, Sancte Spiritus_, a sudden blast of the trumpet was given to recall the great noise in the midst of which the Holy Ghost descended upon the apostles. Sometimes, indeed, to add to the scenic imitation of the mystery, tongues of fire fell from the roof, or a shower of red rose-leaves took place; and doves, emblems of the Holy Ghost, were allowed to flutter about the church. [Illustration: Fig. 199.--Knife with which the consecrated bread was cut; on the blade may be read on one side a prayer for a blessing on the food, on the other a thanksgiving, both with music (Sixteenth Century).--Collection of M. Ach. Jubinal, Paris.]