Albans, which does not seem to have contemplated the
admission of the laity to its services? The monks' services were
chaunted in the choir: the people had the parish church of St. Andrew
for their use, in which, however, the priests of the Abbey officiated.
But we must remember that in mediaeval times, on Sundays and on other
great festivals, grand processions formed part of the ritual. The monks,
leaving the choir, perambulated the church. The general order of the
procession was probably as follows: the north arm of the transept, the
north aisle of the presbytery into the Saint's Chapel, thence back into
the aisle round the ambulatory or retro-choir, through the south
presbytery aisle into the south arm of the transept, through the Abbot's
door into the cloister, along the east, south, and west alleys back into
the church by the blocked-up door in the south wall, up the nave, and
through the two doors of the rood screen into the choir.
On special occasions it was customary for the shrines or feretories
containing the relics of the saints--in this Abbey those of St. Alban
and St. Amphibalus--to be removed from the pedestals on which they
stood, and carried in solemn procession round the church and sometimes
even outside it.
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