7. Vexilla Regis prodeunt

According to the violinist Adolfo Betti,Note: *See Enrico Pardini: Adolfo Betti. Vita di un celebre quartettista attraverso le sue stesse lettere (Lucca: Pacini Fazzi, 1979).  who in 1936 sold the autograph to US-Wc, the piece originated at the wish of his father, Adelson Betti (1841–1903), who was a pharmacist in Bagni di Lucca, as well as the organist and choirmaster of the local church. In his youth, Puccini frequented Bagni di Lucca to play in a dance band at the Casino, and on those occasions he often visited the Betti family. The details reported by Adolfo Betti surrounding the composition (quoted in Kaye 1987) are probably recollections from hearsay, for at that time Betti was just a small child.
Puccini’s processional chorus is the setting of the first two verses of a Latin hymn by Venantius Fortunatus (ca. 600), celebrating the Holy Cross and used in the catholic liturgy of the Holy Week, for which Puccini’s composition certainly was intended.