Scriptorium of Palermo, 12th-13th c.
Sacramentary used for a period by the women of the Court
O GOD HELP YOUR SERVANT, OUR EMPRESS, CONSTANCE (of Aragon)
(f. 184r/v)
Parchment manuscript (29×23,5 cm)
Palermo, Diocesan Historical Archive, ms. 3

The Sacramentary from Palermo on display (Focus cat. 17), perhaps unfinished, does not present the dazzling ornamentation of contemporary specimens, and its writing is still rooted in Franco-Norman culture.
It was created for a community of Benedictine monks (San Giovanni degli Eremiti in Palermo?), but after a few decades it ended up being used by the women of the royal court: on this occasion, all the references to the faithful for whom the rite was celebrated, which were originally in the masculine form, were corrected or integrated into the feminine.
And so, together with the prayer for Emperor Frederick II, you can also read the one for his wife, Empress Constance of Aragon.
The only significant image is the evocative picture of Christ on the cross with the head reclined on his right shoulder and the body fixed by four nails, which refers to the painted specimens of large size, the processional crosses and reliquaries of the True Cross of the same period.