« This thesis will be structured around the relationship between two worlds: that of the elite and that of the common man. Chapter one will provide the background for our study. We shall discuss changes in western society which caused the division between official and popular art and religion. At the end of this first chapter we shall examine Quebec's place within this broader context. Chapter two will begin by discussing the differences between a true Crucifixion and the Crucifixion as portrayed by artists over the centuries. We shall then discuss the Quebec corpus itself. The one hundred and twenty-six Crucifixes have been arranged so as to make clear the continuum between official and popular works. In this first examination, we shall concentrate on different formal interpretations of the image of Christ. We shall then consider the Cross, itself, and symbols attached to it. Chapter three will be devoted to questions on form. We shall suggest possible reasons for the enormous variety of forms found in the corpus and the contrasting approaches found in the official and popular Crucifixes. Finally, the fourth chapter will show how a continuum between the official and popular realms exists in religious rites and beliefs in much the same way as it does in sculptural forms. We shall discuss the role of the Crucifix in public ceremony, in the privacy of the home, and finally, in superstition, magic and sacrilege. »--Pages 8-9