Silence, devotional readings, set prayers, the rosary (beads used as a devotional aid in Roman Catholicism), bodily postures and attitudes, music, and works of art, including the icons (images) of Eastern Christian churches, all serve to help the worshipper to concentrate his apprehension of the power of the holy and to intensify his sense of the presence of the holy.
Not only does the melody of the antiphon vary strikingly from the Roman, but it has in addition a "trope" exclusive to England: five stanzas of devotional poetry, set to an exquisitely distinctive melody.
"Mary Magdalene is a strong character, who was so unique in her time, and her story will give audiences a chance to experience the cultural turbulence, human passions, and devotional beliefs that set in motion so much of modern history," said Peter Kujawski and Robert Walak of Universal Pictures International Productions.
Those who would frame Bach as austere, academic and joyless have their ammunition in Elias Gottlob Haussmann's paintings, and in the death-shadowed devotional texts that the composer set to music.
Musicologist Stephen Rose terms the Cantiones "the composer's "most impassioned pieces" and notes: "They set first-person devotional texts to avant-garde madrigalism", evoking the crucifixion by extreme harmonies and "joy in Christ by dance rhythms".
There is no set form for devotions and meditations, though the devotional prayers written by the central figures of the Bahá'í Faith and collected in prayer books are held in high esteem.
In fact, the whole record sounds like a devotional, albeit one set to an electronic accompaniment.
Node-man, a Gibson fan, has duly set up a website with the devotional URL node.tumblr.com.tumblr.com
He completed portraits, much admired, of Ludovico's mistresses, and set up a workshop that turned out devotional pictures for a wealthy clientele.
Beatles biographer Peter Doggett suggests that Harrison had intended to make an entire album of devotional songs but, with that not being "an appropriate dish to set before Phil Spector, Harrisonn chose to delay starting work on All Things Must Pass and instead continued his activities with the Radha Krishna Temple.
During the Middle Ages, characteristic jewels were the reliquary, or devotional, pendant and the cross, chased or enamelled with religious subjects and often set in an architectural frame.
