Can you guess what is taking place in this illustration from a liturgical book? Please give your answer in the comments, and give whatever detail you can about the context, and the type of liturgical book from which the image is taken. To make this more interesting, please make your answer in the combox before reading the other comments.
Permission to use this image has been very kindly granted by the courtesy of the Pitts Theological Library, Candler School of Theology at Emory University. (Going to their website to look up the answer totally counts as cheating; I may never know, but God will!)
The answer: Considering that this ritual has been out of use for centuries, an impressively large number of people correctly answered that this is the reconciliation of the public penitents on Holy Thursday. In accordance with my devious plan, a few of you were fooled by the day I chose for the post into thinking this was the expulsion of the public penitents on Ash Wednesday. In the Pontifical of
1595 from which this image was taken, said expulsion looks like this. (Also courtesy of the Pitts Theological Library.)
The complete correct answer (Holy Thursday, Reconciliation of Penitents, image taken from the Pontificale) was given by only two people, TJVigg3 and John Ridgewaywood; well done! The Most Creative Wildly Incorrect Answer goes to Biedrik; nice guess, but if it were an anathematization, the candles would be upside down. The competition for the Best Non-Serious Answer was pretty stiff, and has been determined by the fact that I laughed aloud at Mcarson' answer "Blessing of the Arsonists." I wish you all a most salutary Lenten season!
