colori^d calyx, ami similarly segmfntcd or absent corolla. Several rows of filamentois i)rocesses spring from within the eup, which is formed by tlie consolidated calyx and corolla. The genus received its name from fanciful persons among the first Spanish settlers in America who imag- ined a representation of the Lord's passion, the filamentous processes being taken to represent the crown of thorns, the three styles the nails of the cross, and the five anthers the marks of (he wounds. On account of the large and beauti- ful flowers, many of the species are cultivated in greenhouses; some are aJso grown in tropical countries for their fruit, particularly Passifiora ediilis, or granadilla (q.v.). Passifiora quad-' ranyularis is a larger edible species known as the large granadilla. One of the best known species is Pussi/lora cwrnlea, a na- tive of Peru and Brazil, extensively gro for its beautiful white, pale blue, or rose-colored flowers. Like most species, it succeeds in the open only in tro]iical and snbtro])ieal climates. Among the popular cultivated species are Passi- fiora gracilis and Passifiora rncemosa. About ten species are natives of the L'nited States, among which are Passifiora incarnata, the ilay-pop of the Southern States, a showy flowered edible fruited species. The passion-flower is propagated by seeds and bj^ cuttings of the young wood.
PASSIONISTS. The name generally applied
to the order formally known as '"Barefooted
Clerks of the Holy Cross and Passion of Our
Lord," founded by Saint Paul of the Cross (q.v.).
Their first permanent settlement was made on
Monte Argentarn. near Genoa, in 1737: they re-
ceived the first Papal approbation as a society
of mission preachers from Benedict XIV. in 1741,
and their rule, modified in some points, was
again confirmed by Clement XIV. in 1769. who
four years later gave them the Church of Saints
John and Paul on the Ctelian Hill in Rome, now
the headquarters of the Order. The members
take, besides the usual monastic vows, a fourth
to remember and meditate continually upon the
sufl'erings of Christ. Their work is principally
the conversion of sinners, especially by preaching
missions. Their habit is black, with a white
heart-shaped piece of stufT sewed on the left
breast, in which are represented the instruments
of the passion — cross, nails, crown of thorns, etc.
The general (prwpositus) is elected by the gen-
eral chapter for six years; each house has a
rector, chosen for three years. The Order has
now eight provinces — four in Italy, one in Eng-
land, one in America, one in France, and one in
Spain. In 1901 they numbered eighty-seven pro-
fessed fathers in the United States (to which
they came in 1852), with ten monasteries.
PASSION PLAY. A performance which
takes ])lace every tenth year in the village of
Oborammergau, in the Bavarian highlands^ In
1033, as an act of gratitude for the cessation of
a plague which had desolated the surrounding
country, the villagers vowed to represent the
passion of Christ every ten years, and have ever
since observed their vow. The inhabitants of
this secluded spot, long noted for their skill in
carving wood and ivory, have a rare iniion of
artistic cultivation with perfect simplicity. The
personator of Christ considers his part an act
of religious devotion; he and the other principal
performers are said to be selected for their holy
life, and consecrated to their work with prayer.
Tlie i)layers, about six hundred in number, are
all villagers, who, though they have no artistic
instruction except from the parish priest, act
their parts with much dramatic power and a
delicate appreciation of character. The tJospel
narrative is closely followed; the acts .alternate
with tableaux from the Old Testament and choral
odes. Many thousands of the peasantry arc at
tracted by the spectacle from all parts of the
Tyrol and Bavaria, among whom the same
earnest and devout demeanor prevails as amoni.'
the performers. Consult: iStead, The Passiim
Play (London, 1890); Grein, Uas Ohframmii-
gatier Passionspiel (Leipzig, 1880), See Mys-
tery.
PASSOVER (translation of Heb. pesach. a
passing over, from piisach, to pass over). The
first of the three chief festivals prescribed liv
the Pentateuchal codes (Ex. xii.; Lev. xxiii. 4-s';
Xum. ix. 1-14: xxviii. l(i-25; Deut. xvi. 1-8). It-
celebration begins on the evening of the f(;ur
teenth day of Xisan (corresponding to the older
Abib) and lasts for eight daj-s. The .Jewish
Church associates the festival with the Exodus
from Egypt, and this historical character was so
impressed upon it as to obscure its original sig-
nificance. By a careful study, however, of the
passages referring to the Passover in the various
Pentateuchal codes, modern scholars claim that
they have traced the gradual development of the
festival and have .shown that it was a mixture
of various elements, originally having notliing to
do one with the other. In the first place, dis-
tinction must be made between two festivals com-
bined in the Passover, viz. ( 1 ) a feast of un-
leavened bread known as massoth, and (2) a
festival in wliieh the chief rite was the sacrifice
of a sheep within the family circle and the
sprinkling of the lintels and doorposts of the
houses with the blood. This sacrifice was called
pesach. Of these two festivals the former is the
old Canaanitish harvest festival, commemorative
of the first ripening of the corn, which the He-
brews naturally adojited when they took posses-
sion of the Canaanitish soil. Thanksgiving of-
ferings were made on this occasion to Yahweli
as the 'Baal,' to whom the land belonged. Since
the presentation of such gifts, consisting of the
first-fruit sheaf, involved a visit to a Yahweh
sanctuary, the occasion became a khag — the an-
cient Semitic designation for a mirthful festival
with dances and processions at a sanctviary and
a sacrificial meal as the symbol of communion
between the god and his worshipers. It was cvis-
tomary at this festival to eat only unleavened
bread, which merelj- represents the usual food
during the harvest season, when the people, busy
with field labors, did not take time to wait in
baking their bread imtil the completion of the
slow process involved in the leavening of the
dough; hence the festival became known as the
Ihag ham-mnssoth, i.e. the festival of unleavened
bread. On the other hand, the sacrifice of the
pesach stands in no connection with agriculture
and is originally a rite of propitiation or lustra-
tion observed during a pestilence or on some
other speei.al occasion. It consisted in sprinkling
with blood the entrance to the house (or tent),
which was particularly sacred. It is still cus-
tomary among the Bedouins to sprinkle their
camels and (locks with blood as a protection
against the ravages of a pestilence. This blood
