An Easter Drama is a liturgical drama or religious theatrical performance in the Roman Catholic tradition, largely limited to the Middle Ages. These performances evolved from celebrations of the liturgy to incorporate later dramatic and secular elements, and came to be performed in local languages. They were succeeded by the Passion Plays. Liturgical origins In the Middle Ages, the celebration of liturgical feasts was as rich and varied as they were numerous; poetry and music, in particular, were used to impress on the congregation the significance of the events commemorated. Liturgical worship is in itself dramatic, with its stylized dialogues and the use of choirs. Often, as at Christmas, Epiphany, and Easter, the text of the Gospel called for a variety of roles. The Benedictines of St. Gallen, in Switzerland, in the 10th century wrote sequences, hymns, litanies, and tropes and set them to music. The tropes—elaborations of parts of the Liturgy, particularly the Introit—found universal acceptance and remained in use in various forms until the end of the 17th century. These tropes were dramatic in construction and, as their musical settings prove, were sung alternately by two choirs of men and boys, or by two halfchoirs. The history of the ecclesiastical drama begins with the trope sung as Introit of the Mass on Easter Sunday. It has come down to us in a St. Gallen manuscript dating from the time of the 10th century monk Tutilo. The conversation held between the holy women and the angels at Christ's sepulchre forms the text of this trope, which consists of the four sentences: Quem quaeritis in sepulchro, o christicolae Jesum Nazarenum, o coelicolae Non est hic. Surrexit, sicut praedixerat. Ite nuntiate quia surrexit de sepulchro. Resurrexi, postquam factus homo, tua jussa paterna peregi. The first three sentences are found in many liturgical books dating from the 10th to the 18th century. The trope, however, did not develop into a dramatic scene until it was brought into connection with the Descent from the Cross. It was widely commemorated in Continental monasteries, but appears first in a ritual of English origin, attributed to St. Dunstan (967). In giving directions for public services, the Ritual refers to this custom particularly as observed at Fleury-sur-Loire and Ghent. On Good Friday, after the morning services, a crucifix swathed in cloth was laid in a sort of grave arranged near the altar, where it remained until Easter