D’une leçon en Sorbonne à la prédication populaire Le Mistere de l’Institution de l’Ordre des Freres Prescheurs (1511 ?)

This anonymous mystery play is unusual. St. Dominic, the drama’s central figure, yields his place to Blessed Reginald. The drama unfolds around two symmetrical discourses pronounced by Reginald : a Canon Law lecture delivered at the Sorbonne, and a sermon preached at the Priory of Saint-Jacques. Comparative analysis of these discourses captures something of play’s specific concern. More than an apologia for the Order of Preachers, this mystery play conducts an investigation, through the mediation of theater, into the officium praedicationis which the play portrays as both a mission and a challenge.