HOLY WEEK.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIX, Issue 13, 28 March 1901, Page 3

HOLY WEEK.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE CEREMONIES. The ceremonies of the Church during the last week of the Holy Season remind u« of Christ's solemn entry into Jerusalem, the institution of the Blessed Sacrament, His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, His betrayal, trial, scourging, crucifixion, death, and burial, and all are significant and profound. Although the exact dftfe of the institution of the observance of Holy Week, aa a time of special religious ceremony, ia not known, it is generally believed to have dntpd from R post olio times. Strictly speaking, Holy Week is not confined to the celebration of Christ's most sorrowful events, as on Palm Sunday, the first day of the week, the triumphant entry of Christ into Jerusalem is chiefly contemplated. As a matter of fact Holy Week begins with the Monday, not with the Sunday. PALM SUNDAY. On Palm Sunday the Church commemorates Our Lord's entry into Jerusalem, a few days before His Passion, when many of the Jews ' cut down boughs from the trees and strewed them in the way.' The peculiarity of the ceremonies of Palm Sunday consists in the blessing of the palms, the procession (wherever a procession can be conveniently conducted"), and the reading of the Passion, at Mats. The blessing of the palms takes place before Mass. The blessing consists of several prayers, a lesson from the Book of Exodufl, a Gospel, a Preface, and various Antiphons. The blessed branches remind us not only of the triumphant entry of our King into Jerusalem, but also of His crown, His sceptre, and His throne — the crown of thorns, the reed, and the cross. After the blessing of the palms the procession takes place. The procession is an aot of homage paid to the divinity of Jesus Christ. Imitating the first adorers of Christ, the faithful carry palms in their hands, and, marching in procession, sing the praises of Christ, their Saviour and their King. By taking in our hands a branch of the blessed palm we proclaim our faith in Christ, our allegiance to Him as our King, our readiness to follow His example, to carry His cross, to share His sufferings, and to fight with Him against the powers of death and hell. In churches where High Mass is celebrated, during the High Mass the history of Christ's Passion is sung by three deacona — one singing the words of Christ, another the words of the other persons who took part in the events of the Passion, and the third the text of the Evangelist. This custom of reading or singing the Pasßion during Holy Week goes back to the early ages of the Church. SPY WEDNESDAY. Wednesday in Holy Week is properly called ' Spy Wednesday.' It is so called from the spying and seeking of the Jews to find Our Divine Lord, and arrest him. Already the Chief Priests and Pharisees had resolved in council to put him to death, and had issued orders that if anyone knew where He was he should tell them, that they might have Him apprehended. TENEBR^E. In the Tenebrse Office we are reminded by the gradual darkening of the church, of the more than natural darkness that overshadowed the world at the death of Jesus Christ. On Wednesday evening tha Tenebrse of Thursday is sung in preparation for the Mass and Office of Thursday ; on Thursday evening is sung by anticipation the Office of Good Friday : on Friday evening is sung the preparation for the Office and Mass of Easter Eve. A triangular candlestick is in front of the altar having one white and fourteen yellow candles. At the end of each psalm of Matins and Lauds, one of the yellow candles is extinguished to symbolise the treachery of Judas and the flight and disappearance of the other apostles. During the singing of the ' Benedictns ' the six candles on the altar are also extinguished, to signify the complete abandonment of Christ as the hour of His death approaches. After the 'Bendictus' the white candle is removed from the triangle, concealed behind the altar during the chanting of the 'Miserere ' and then brought out, to signify the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. HOLY THUBSDAY. On this day one Mass only can be said in the same church, and that Mass must be a public one. The Mate is celebrated in white vestments, because the institution of the Eucharist is joyfully commemorated, but at the same time there are certain signs of the mourning proper to Holy Week. The bells, which ring at the ' Gloria,' do not sound again till the ' Gloria ' in the Mass of Holy Saturday, and the Church returns to her ancient use of summoning the faithful or arousing their attention by a wooden clapper. Nor is the embrace of peace given. The celebrant consecrates an additional Host, which is placed in a chalice and borne in procession after the Mass to a place prepared for it, at another Altar, called the ' Altar of Repose.' After Vespers the altar is stripped, in memory of Christ being stripped of His garments before being crucified. On this day, also, the Church blesses by her Bishops the various oils used in the oonBecration of churches, altars, and chalioeß, in the unctions of baptism and confirmation, in the consecration of her bishops, and ordination of her priests, and in the administration of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction. GOOD FBIDAY. Good Friday is the anniversary of the oruoifixion of Jesus Christ, and is always observed by a strict fast, profound ceremonies and a great spirit of reoolleotion and prayer. The entire ceremonial of Good Friday is peculiar. The celebrant, deacon, and subdeaoon, in black vestments, approach the altar, and prostrating themselves before it, meditate for awhile in silenoe on the death of Christ. No candles are lighted on the altar ; no incense is used. After a short time a white oloth is spread on the altar by the attendant, and the

Morning Office of the day begins. A prophecy, a prnyer, a lesson, and tract are sung, and then follows the history of the PasHiou according to St John, which is sung in the same way as St. Matthew's Passion on Palm Sunday. After the Passion, the celebrant offers up solemn prayerß for the Church and Pope, for all Christians and catechumens, for all who are in trouble or danger, and for the conversion of heretics, schismatics, Jews, and pagans. Before eaoh prayer, the deacon sings 'Flectamus genua,' and the Bubdeacon replies, ' Levate.' Before the prayer for the Jews, however, the genuflection is omitted, as the Jews genuflected when mocking our Lord. After this series of intercessory prayers come the tin veiling nnri afterwards thp Adoration of the Dross by the celebrant, clergy, and laity. The phrase ' Adoration of the Cro?s ' ha« been in upp from rhp earliest times and it, is found in th« most ancient monuments of Christian liturgy. The Ambrosian Missal contains four prayers for the ceremony, of which the third is ' A Prayer at the Adoration of the Cross, ' and the fourth ' A Prayer after the Adoration of the Cross.' In the Antiphonarium of St. Gregory, we have an ' Antiphon at the Adoration of the Cross.' By the act of adoration we do not pay to the cross the homage due to God alone ; we merely manifest the sentiment of profound respect and veneration which every Christian mußt feel in the presence of the symbol of our redemption. After the adoration of the cross the clergy go in procession to the chapel of -repose, singing the hymn ' Vexilla Regis.' The celebrant takes the consecrated Host, carries It back in procession to the altar, and commences the Mass of the ' Presanctified,' so called because the Blessed Sacrament is not consecrated during the Mass, and the celebrant consumes the Host consecrated on the previous day. The Chnrch has deemed it right not to celebrate the unbloody sacrifice on the day which she has set apart to commemorate the bloody sacrifice offered on Calvary. Hence during the Mass everything relating to the sacrifice and consecration is omitted. The celebrant having returned to the altar, merely incenses the Blessed Sacrament, recites the ' Pater Noster,' elevates the sacred Host for the adoration of the faithful, says the last of the prayers before the Communion, and the ' Domine non sum dignus,' and receives the Blessed Sacrament. He then retires from the altar, and Vespers are recited. In the evening the office of ' Tenebris 'is recited as on the previous day. HOLY SATURDAY. The first ceremony of this day begins early in the morning with the blessing of the new fire, which takes place at the principal door of the church. During the blessing the priest begs of God to infuse into the hearts of the faithful the light and grace of the Holy Q-host, to enlighten them a 9 the new fire is destined to enlighten the church unceasingly night and day. He also blesses the five grains of incense which represent the five wounds of our Divine Lord, from which flowed His precious Blood to wash away the sins of the world. A procession is then formed and moves into the church, a triple candle b^ing gradually lighted from the new fire durin? the procession, to signify the faith of the Apostles, which was revived by the successive apparitions of Christ, and ■which gave them courage to spread throughout the world the light of the Christian revelation. Whilst the deacon sings the incomparable chant, ' Exultet,' he places the five grains of incense in the Paschal Candle, which, with the lamps of the church, is immediately afterwards lighted. The lighting of the Paschal Caudle represents the resurrection of Christ, while the lighting of the lamp? is a Bymbol of the resurrection of the human racs from th>3 sepulchre of sin, which was brought about by the death of Christ. After the reading of several prophecies and prayers the baptismal font is blessed. The water in the font is scattered toward* the four quarters of the world, to indicate the Catholicity of the Church and the worldwide efficacy of her sacraments ; the priest breathes on the water in the form of a cross and plunges the Pasohal Candle three times into the water, for the Spirit of God in to hallow it, and the power of Christ is to descend upon it ; and lastly, a few drops of the oil of catechumens and of the chrism are poured, to signify the union of Christ our anointed King with His people. On the way back from the font the Litanies of the Saints are begun, they are continued while the sacred ministers lie prostrate before the altar, and, as they end, the altar is decked with flowers and the Mass is begun is white vestments. At the 'Gloria' the organ sounds and bells are rung, and the joyful strains of the ' Alleluia' peal forth after the Epißtle. The Vespers of the day are inHerted in the Mass after the Communion. The kiss of peace is omitted in the Mass on Holy Saturday, because in the ancient rite the faithful kissed each other in the church as day was breaking with the words, ' The Lord is risen ; ' and there was a nitural objection to anticipate the ceremony in the Mass at midnight. The ' Agnus Dei,' which was introduced by Pope Sergius towards the end of the seventh century, was never added to this Mass. The Communion 'and Post-Conimunion are replaced by Vespers, and there is no Offertory. EASTEE SUNDAY. Easter is the feast of our Lord's resurrection. The word Easter is derived from that of the Saxon goddess E;istre, the same deity whom the Germans proper called O^twa, and honored as the divinity of the dawn. The German nations called the great Church-feast which fell at the beginning of spring Easter, and the name continued among us, like such nimes as Thursday, long after the heathen goddess had been forgotten. All Christians, except those of the German family, call the feast of Christ's resurrection by some modification of pasrha, the term which the Church herself uses in her liturgy. This term is of Jewish origin, and therefore we must begin with a few words on the feat-t of Pai-ch, or Passovtr, from which the Christian feast ib in a certain senne derive!. Passover is a literal translation of the Hebrew name for the feaat or pasch or the New Testament and of Christian writers. It i* certain that Christ observed the Passover the night before He died, that He made it the occasion of instituting the Eucharist, and that He, in

His Passion, was the true paschal lamb prefigured by the lamb of the old Hebrew feast. Thus St. John calls special attention to the fact that not a bone of our Lord was broken on the cross ; and St. Paul, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, argue 3 that Christ is the true paschal lamb, and the life of Christians is to be a perpetual feast of thanksgiving for the deliverance they have obtained by Christ's blood. As the Jews removed leaven from their houses at the time of Passover, so Christians are to purge away once for all the leaven of malice and wickedness.

Easter ia, as St. Leo calls it, the ' feast of fea^tn,' th« greatest of Christian solemnities. Down to the twelfth century each day in Easter wppk w,is a holiday of olVi.rnfion At present, this is the case only with the first three days, and now in most countries even Easter Monday n.nr\ Tuesday »rp only days of dfwotion All movable feasts are calculated from Easter. The joyful character of the time is marked in the services of the Church — eg , by the chanting of the ' Vidi Aquam ' instead of the ' Asperges ' before Mass ; by the constant repetition of the ' Alleluia ' in Mass aud office all through the pasohal season — i.e., until Trinity Sunday. On Easter Sunday the office is very short, because in old times the services were prolonged far into the night of Holy Saturday, bo that little time was left for the matins and lauds of Easter Sunday. The short office is continued during the week, probably because the first day determined the office for the days that followed, and because there would have been a special inconvenience in changing it in a week when so many neophytes had just been baptised and were taking part for the first time in the full service of the Church.