Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/495

 HOLY

437

HOLT

tion of penance, on which ground it was sometimes called Dominica Indidgcnlia'.

Tenebrse. — The proper Offices and Masses celebrated during Holy Week do not notably differ from the OfiBce and Mass at other penitential seasons and dur- ing Passion Week. But it has long been customary in all churches to sing Matins and Lauds at an hour of the afternoon or evening of the previous day at which it was possible for all the faithful to be present. The Office in itself presents a very primitive type in which hymns and certain supplementary formulae are not included, l^ut the most conspicuous external feature of the service, apart from the distinctive and very beautiful chant to which the Lamentations of Jere- mias are sung as lessons, is the gradual extinction of the fifteen candles in the "Tenebree hearse", or trian- gular candlestick, as the service proceeds. At the end of the Benedictus at Lauds only the topmost can- dle, considered to be typical of Jesus Clirist, remains alight, and this is then taken down and hidden be- hind the altar while the final Miserere and collect are said. At the conclusion, after a loud noise emljlemat- ical of the convulsion of nature at the death of Christ, the candle is restored to its place, and the congrega- tion disperse. On accovmt of this gradual darkening, the service, since the ninth century or earlier, has been known as "Tenebrce" (darkness). Tenebrae is sung on the evening of the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the antiphons and proper lessons varying each day.

Maundy Thursday, which derives its English name from Mandatum, the first word of the Office of the washing of the feet, is known in the Western liturgies by the heading " In Coena Domini" (upon the Lord's supper). This marks the central rite of the day and the oklest of which we have explicit record. St. Augustine informs us that on that day Mass and Communion followed the evening meal or supper, and that on this occasion Communion was not received fasting. The primitive conception of the festival survives to the present time in this respect at least, that the clergy do not offer Mass privately but are directed to Communicate together at the public Mass, like guests at one table. The Liturgy, as commemo- rating the institution of the Blessed Sacrament, is celebrated in white vestments with some measure of joyous solemnity. The "Gloria in excelsis" is sung, and during it there is a general ringing of bells, after which the bells are silent until the Gloria is heard upon Easter Eve (Holy Saturday). It is probable that both the silence of the bells and the withdrawing of lights, which we remark in the Teneljrae service, are to be referred to the same source — a desire of expressing outwardly the sense of the Church's bereavement dur- ing the time of Cliiist's Passion and Burial. The observance of silence during these three days dates at least from the eighth century, and in Anglo-Saxon times they were known as "the still days"; but the connexion between the beginning of this silence and the ringing of the bells at the Gloria only meets us in the later Middle Ages. In the modern celebration of Maundy Thursday attention centres upon the reserva- tion of a second Host, which is consecrated at the Mass, to be consumed in the service of the Presancti- fied next day. This is borne in solemn procession to an "altar of repose" adorned with flowers and lighted with a profusion of candles, the h>Tnn " Pange lingua gloriosi corporis mysterium" being sung upon the way. So far as regards the fact of the consecra- tion of an additional Host to be reserved for the Mass of the Presanctified, this practice is very ancient, but the elaborate observances which now surround the altar of repose are of comparatively recent date. Something of the same honour used, in the later Middle Ages, to be shown to the "Easter Sepulchre"; but here the Blessed Sacrament was kept, most com- monly, from the Friday to the Sunday, or at least to

the Saturday evening, in imitation of the repose of Christ's sacred Body in the Tomb. For this purpose a third Host was usually consecrated on the Thursday. In the so-called "Gelasian Saeramentary", probably representing seventh-century usage, three separate Masses are provided for Maundy 'Thursday. One of these was associated with the Order of the reconcilia- tion of penitents (see the article Ash Wednesday), which for long ages remained a conspicuous feature of the day's ritual and is still retained in the Pontifi- cale Romanum. The second Mass was that of the blessing of the Holy Oils (q. v.), an important function still attached to this day in every cathedral church. Finally, Maundy Thursday has from an early period been distinguished by the service of the Maundy, or Washing of the Feet, in memory of the preparation of Christ for the Last Supper, as also by the strip- ping and washing of the altars (see M.vundy Thurs- day).

Good Friday is now primarily celebrated by a service combining a number of separate features. We have first the reading of three sets of lessons followed by "bidding prayers". This probably represents a type of aliturgical service of great antiquity of which more extensive survivals remain in the Galilean and Ambrosian Liturgies. The fact that the reading from the Gospel is represented by the whole Passion accord- ing to St. John is merely the accident of the day. Secondly there is the " Adoration" of the Cross, equally a service of great antiquity, the earliest traces of which have already been noticed in connexion with ^theria's account of Holy Week at Jerusalem. With this veneration of the Cross are now associated the Improperia (reproaches) and the hymn " Pange lingua gloriosi lauream certarainis". The Improperia, de- spite their curious mixture of Latin and tireek — affios 6 theos; sanctus Deus, etc. — are probably not so ex- tremely ancient as has been suggested by Probst and others. Although the earliest suggestion of them may be found in the Bobbio Missal, it is only in the Pontificale of Prudentius, who was Bishop of Troyes from 846 to 861, that they are clearly attested (see Edm. Bishop in " Downside Review", Dec, 1899). In the Middle Ages the "creeping to the cross" on Good Friday was a practice which inspired special devotion, and saintly monarchs like St. Louis of France set a conspicuous example of humility in their performance of it. Finally, the Good Friday service ends with the so-called " Mass of the Presanctified", which is of course no real sacrifice,, but, strictly speaking, only a Communion service. The sacred ministers, wearing their black vestments, go to fetch the consecrated Host preserved at the altar of repose, and as they return to the high altar the choir chant the beautiful hymn " Vexilla regis prodcunt", composed by Venan- tius Fortunatus. Then wine is poured into the chal- ice, and a sort of skeleton of the Mass is proceeded with, including an elevation of the Host after the Pater Noster. But the great consecratory prayer of the Canon, ■n'ith the words of Institution, are entirely omitted. In the early Middle Ages Good Friday was quite commonly a day of general Communion, but now only those in danger of death may receive on that day. The Office of Tenebrce, being the Matins and Lauds of Holy Saturday, is sung on Good Friday evening, but the church otherwise remains bare and desolate, only the crucifix being unveiled. Such devotions as the "Three Hours" at midday, or the " Maria Desolata" late in the evening, have of course no liturgical character. (See also Good Friday.)

The service of Holy Saturday has lost much of the significance and importance which it enjoyed in the early Christian centuries owing to the irresistible tendency manifested throughout the ages to advance the hour of its celebration. Originally it was the great Easter vigil, or watch-service, held only in the late hours of the Saturday and baiely terminating