Previous parts in this series:
On Good Friday, the Savior of the world died on a Cross. At his first miracle at the Wedding at Cana, when Jesus first showed his divinity, Jesus told his mother, “My hour is not yet come” (John 2:4). After the Last Supper, when he began his Passion, Jesus said to his apostles, “The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified” (John 12:23). On the day our Lord was crucified, darkness fell over the earth (Mark 15:33). The last words that St. John records Jesus saying on the Cross are, “It is finished,” also translated as, “It is consummated” (John 19:30). The Old Covenant is consummated. The sin of Adam is propitiated. The redemption of the world is complete. Now, because God has become man and died for us, we can be free of sin and have the hope of eternal salvation. Good Friday is known in Latin as Feria VI Parasceve, or Friday of Preparation, because it was the day of preparation for the Sabbath (Luke 23:54).
All
Catholics between the ages of 18 and 59 are bound to fast on Good
Friday. Fasting means only one full meal and two small meals that
combined do not equal the full meal. Those who are medically unable
to fast are exempt. As with every other Friday, Catholics aged 14 and
older are bound to abstain from meat. There is no option to
substitute an equivalent act of penance during Lent.
There
is no Mass on Good Friday. This is the only day of the entire year on
which the Mass is not offered. Every Mass is a re-presentation of the
Crucifixion of Christ. On Good Friday, the day of the Crucifixion, we
abstain from offering the Mass. The priest receives Communion from
the Host that was consecrated and reserved on Holy Thursday. For this
reason, the solemn liturgy of Good Friday is called the Mass of the
Presanctified. It is also sometimes described as a dry Mass
or missa sicca,
meaning a liturgy following most of the structure of the Mass but
without the consecration of the Host and Chalice. Dry Masses were
once a popular devotion for sailors and others who were away from the
Mass for a long period of time, so that they could still unite
themselves with the Church's liturgy.
The
Mass of the Presanctified on Good Friday has a special connection
with the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday. The Last Supper
was the Passover meal that Jesus shared with his disciples, but the
Crucifixion was the Passover sacrifice. Neither is complete without
the other. Furthermore, the Mass of the Presanctified requires that
an extra Host be
consecrated and reserved at the Mass of the Lord's Supper. For these
reasons, neither liturgy may be offered in a particular church unless
the other is also offered.
The
solemn liturgy begins in the afternoon, after None.
The liturgical color is black, which is also used for Masses for the
dead. The altar, having
been stripped on Holy Thursday,
is bare except for the crucifix (veiled in either purple or black)
and six unlighted candles of unbleached beeswax.
(Fr. Adrian Fortescue, one of the foremost liturgists of the
twentieth century, devotes an entire paragraph to whether the veil
for the crucifix should be purple or black. It appears either is
acceptable.)
Readings
from Sacred Scripture
The
servers and ministers
vest as for Mass in
black vestments.
After
entering the sanctuary, they
lie prostrate before the altar for a few moments of silent prayer.
Meanwhile,
the acolytes spread a single white linen cloth over the altar.
The liturgy is in five parts, the first of which is readings from
Sacred Scripture. There
are no Prayers at the Foot of the Altar, Introit, or Kyrie.
Instead,
a
lector begins
with
the first lesson from the Prophecy of Hosea (page
2 of the PDF booklet).
This
lesson takes the place of the Introit.
There
is no title at the beginning, nor do we respond “Deo gratias”
afterwards.
This passage exhorts us to prayer and penance and reminds us to trust
in the Lord. Hosea foretells the Resurrection of Christ, saying, “He
will revive us after two days: on the third day he will raise us up
and we shall live in his sight.”
This
first reading is followed by a Tract from
the Prophecy of Habakkuk, foretelling both the Messiah's humble first
coming and his glorious second coming. Habakkuk says, “In the midst
of two animals thou shalt be made known,” referring either to the
animals present at our Lord's birth or to the two thieves with whom
he was crucified. The Tract concludes, “His majesty covered the
heavens: and the earth is full of his praise.” After
the Tract, the priest sings the collect of Good Friday, which is the
same collect from the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday.
This is another connection between the two liturgies.
Next,
the subdeacon sings the second lesson, the Epistle of our dry Mass,
which
is taken
from Exodus (pages 3-4). In this passage, God gives the law of
Passover. This was the greatest of the burnt offerings required of
the Jews. The Jews, living in captivity in Egypt, were commanded to
sacrifice a one-year-old male lamb without blemish for a burnt
offering to God. They were to eat its flesh with unleavened
bread and wild lettuce, and they were to sprinkle the blood of the
lamb on their door posts so that they would be saved from death. In
all the houses not marked by the blood of the Passover lamb, God
killed the first-born son, the twelfth plague that finally won for
the Jews their freedom and hope of the Promised Land. This
passage is extremely important on Good Friday, because Jesus is the
true Passover lamb who was sacrificed. By his Precious Blood, we are
freed from bondage to sin and death and have the hope of eternal life
in heaven. This
reading is followed by a long Tract from Psalm 139.
Three
deacons then sing the fourth and final Passion, the Passion according
to St. John (pages
6-24).
This
is the shortest of the four Passions.
Like
with the previous Passions, one deacon sings the Christus, one sings
the Chronicler, and one sings the Synagoga. St.
John is the only one of the four evangelists who was actually present
at the Crucifixion. He
sat with the Blessed Virgin Mary at the foot of the Cross, never
wavering in his love for Jesus Christ. St.
John does not include the institution of the Eucharist, so the
Passion begins with the Agony in the Garden. St.
John also elaborates more on Jesus's dialogue with Pontius Pilate,
with Pilate ultimately asking, “What is truth?” (John 18:38).
Three
of the seven last words of Christ appear only in St. John's Gospel,
including, “Woman, behold thy Son. Behold thy mother” (John
19:26-27).
With these words from the Cross, Jesus gave us his Blessed Mother,
conceived without sin, to be the mother and patron of all mankind. As
with the other Passions, the
last part is sung by the deacon of the Mass to a special, melismatic
tone, with most of the ceremonies of the Gospel of the Mass. The
difference is that, on Good Friday, the
deacon does not receive the priest's blessing, and there are no
candles or incense. This
is the same as at Masses for the dead.
Solemn
Collects
There
is no Credo.
After the Passion, we offer solemn prayer for the Church and for the
world, known
as the Solemn
Collects.
In ancient times, these intercessory prayers were part of the Mass,
after the Credo
and before the Offertory. They are preserved in the Mass of the
Presanctified on Good Friday. (The Novus Ordo Mass attempts to
imitate this ancient practice with the Prayer of the Faithful before
the Offertory.)
For
each collect, the priest sings an invitation to pray for a particular
cause, beginning with “Oremus.” This invitation is sung in the
tone of the Preface. The
priest then sings again,
“Oremus,” and the deacon sings, “Flectamus genua.” All then
kneel for a moment to silently pray for the given intention, and then
the subdeacon sings, “Levate,” and all rise. The priest sings the
collect.
Like
in the Canon of the Mass, we begin by praying for the holy Catholic
Church (page
26).
The
priest's invitation to prayer quotes the prayer for the Church in the
Canon. We
also pray to God that
all
principalities
and powers be
subject to the Church.
The traditional liturgy rejects the heresy of Americanism,
which promotes
a radical separation of Church and state and suggests
that the Catholic Church should be treated the same as any other
religion by secular governments. Also
like the Canon of the Mass, we
then pray for the Pope, who always needs our prayers. In
the third prayer, we pray for all clergy and religious. The priest
lists each of the four major orders (bishops,
priests, deacons, and subdeacons)
and four minor orders (acolytes,
exorcists, lectors, and porters),
along with confessors, holy virgins, and widows, who have also
devoted their lives to the service of God. Jesus
commanded us to pray for clergy and vocations when he said, “Pray
ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth labourers
into his harvest” (Matthew 9:38).
The
next prayer in the 1920 Roman Missal is a prayer for the Holy Roman
Emperor. The priest invites the congregation, “Let us pray also for
the most Christian Emperor __ that the Lord God may reduce to his
obedience all barbarous nations for our perpetual peace.” It is
specifically for the Holy Roman Emperor, not any other king or ruler.
Since the Holy Roman Empire ceased to exist in 1806, this prayer is
now always omitted. It was officially removed when Pope Pius XII
published his Holy Week reforms, which means the first typical
edition of the Roman Missal without this prayer was in 1962. It
speaks to how slowly the liturgy changed before Vatican II that the
Church had a prayer for a nonexistent emperor in her liturgy for 156
years. (Since this prayer is now always omitted, it is not included
in the PDF booklet.)
Next,
we pray for the catechumens who are preparing to be received into the
Church at
the Easter Vigil the next day
(page 28). After that is a prayer for anyone in need. We pray to God
to “take away diseases, drive away famine, open prisons, break
chains, grant a sure return to travellers, health to the sick, and a
safe haven to those at sea.” Jesus said of those who are to receive
eternal life in heaven, “For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat;
I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you
took me in: Naked, and you covered me: sick, and you visited me: I
was in prison, and you came to me” (Matthew 25:35-36). Thus, we
pray for God to protect the health and safety of everyone.
Just
as we pray for the catechumens who are learning about the faith, we
also pray for heretics and schismatics who do not yet know the
Catholic faith. The
Catholic Church is the one true Church founded by Jesus Christ.
God
wishes everyone to be Catholic. It is an act of charity to pray for
the conversion of non-Catholics. Outside the Church, there is no
salvation. (In Latin, extra
Ecclesiam nulla salus.)
Again, this contradicts the popular idea that the Catholic Church is
just one of many equally valid religions, and that non-Catholics do
not need to convert in order to be saved. That idea is heresy. This
is not to say that all non-Catholics are automatically going to hell,
because it is God alone who judges souls, but we do know from God's
revelation that the Catholic Church is the only true Church and that
her sacraments are the only ordinary means of sanctifying grace.
Thus, we ought to pray for the conversion of everyone in the world to
the true Catholic faith.
The
prayer for the Jews
The
next prayer, the infamous
prayer for the
Jews,
must be the most controversial prayer in the history of the Church's
liturgy. Like the last prayer, we pray for the conversion of all to
the Catholic faith. In this prayer, we pray specifically for the
conversion of the Jews, who reject Jesus Christ as the Messiah. The
prayer printed in the 1920 Roman Missal is as follows:
| Orémus et pro pérfidis
Iudæis: ut Deus et Dóminus noster áuferat velámen de córdibus
eórum; ut et ipsi agnóscant Iesum Christum, Dóminum nostrum. Omnípotens sempitérne Deus, qui étiam iudáicam perfídiam a tua misericórdia non repéllis: exáudi preces nostras, quas pro illíus pópuli obcæcatióne deférimus; ut, ágnita veritátis tuæ luce, quæ Christus est, a suis ténebris eruántur. Per eúndem Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum, Filium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen. |
Let us pray also for the
faithless Jews: that our God and Lord would withdraw the veil from
their hearts: that they also may acknowledge our Lord Jesus
Christ. Almighty and eternal God, who drivest not away from thy mercy even the faithless Jews: hear our prayers, which we offer for the blindness of that people: that acknowledging the light of thy truth, which is Christ, they may be delivered from their darkness. Through our Lord. Amen. |
“Flectamus
genua” and “Levate” were not sung at this prayer, in
order to avoid imitating the Jews, mocking and striking Jesus (Luke
22:63-65). “Withdraw
the veil from their hearts” is taken from 2 Corinthians 3:14.
Judaism
is a false religion. The Jews rejected their Messiah and crucified
him. They
took full responsibility for this crime, shouting, “His blood be
upon us and our children” (Matthew 27:25). Thus, it is especially
important that we pray for the conversion of the Jews. St. Paul was a
Jew who persecuted Christians before he converted and became one of
the Church's greatest saints. Praying
for the conversion of the Jews has always been an important element
of the liturgy of Good Friday. Once
again, it is an act of charity to pray for their conversion, so that
they too may have the hope of salvation.
However,
this prayer angered the Jews. At their insistence, the prayer was
revised several times. First, when Pope
Pius
XII published his revised Holy Week in 1955, “Flectamus genua /
Levate” was added into the prayer for the Jews like at all the
other prayers. In 1959, Pope
John
XXIII removed the word perfidis
(meaning “faithless” or “perfidious”) from the prayer, so
that it began, “Let us pray also for the Jews...” When the Novus
Ordo Mass was published in 1969, an entirely new prayer took its
place, this time not praying for the conversion of the Jews at all,
but rather praying that they may “advance in love of his name and
in faithfulness to his covenant.” This is heresy. The Jews have no
faithfulness to his Covenant; rather, they completely reject it. This
prayer says exactly the opposite of what the traditional prayer said.
In
2007, Pope Benedict XVI published Summorum
Pontificum,
granting wider freedom to use the traditional liturgy. The
Anti-Defamation League, an anti-Catholic liberal extremist
organization run by the Jewish Freemasonic group B'nai B'rith,
attacked the Church for bringing back the traditional prayer for the
Jews. In response, Benedict XVI composed yet another prayer, this
time asking God
to “illuminate their hearts, that they acknowledge that Jesus
Christ is the Savior of all men” (pages 29-30). This is the prayer
now used by the FSSP and other traditionalist groups in communion
with the Holy See. (The one time I went to a Good Friday liturgy at
an SSPX chapel, the priest used the traditional prayer, “Oremus et
pro perfidis Judaeis...” but I do not know whether
this is the SSPX's official policy or the
priest did it on his own initiative.)
Two thousand years later, we remain in fear of the Jews (John
19:38, 20:19).
Even sadder, the Church leaders who were ordained to defend the true
faith felt it necessary to capitulate to the demands of persecutors
and false religions.
The
final prayer of the Solemn Collects prays
for pagans, who worship idols and false Gods, praying that they too
may see the truth and convert to the Catholic Church. Once
again, the Catholic Church is the only true religion, and outside the
Church there is no salvation, so
in charity, we pray for all to convert to the true faith.
Adoration
of the Cross
After
the Solemn Collects, the priest and subdeacon remove their chasubles.
(The deacon has already removed his chasuble and is wearing the broad
stole.) The
third part of the liturgy is the Adoration
of the Cross.
The deacon takes the veiled crucifix from the altar and brings it to
the priest. The crucifix has been veiled since Passion Sunday, but
today, we unveil the crucifix and venerate the image of our crucified
Lord. The
priest uncovers the top part of the crucifix, down to the inscription
INRI,
while he sings, “Ecce lignum crucis.” All three sacred ministers
together continue, “in quo salus mundi pependit.” Everyone in the
church kneels in adoration and responds, “Venite adoremus.” The
priest then uncovers Christ's head and the right arm of the cross,
singing again a step higher, “Ecce lignum crucis,” and the rest
as before. The priest sings these words a third time another step
higher as he removes the veil completely. Each time, all kneel and
sing, “Venite adoremus.” All
other crucifixes in the church are then unveiled.
The
priest lays the crucifix on a cushion on the lowest step of the
altar. The
sacred ministers remove their maniples and their shoes. Each one in
turn approaches the crucifix, worshipping it with three prostrations
and kissing our Lord's feet. The
triple prostration originates in the Anglo-Saxon ceremony of
“Creeping to the Cross,” in which the ministers would approach
the cross on their hands and knees. This in turn is based on a
ceremony from fourth century Jerusalem, which is where the Adoration
of the Cross comes from. After the ministers, clergy, and servers
have all adored the cross in this manner, the cross is brought before
the people, who all come forward and adore the cross by making a
single prostration and kissing our Lord's feet.
During
the Adoration of the Cross, the choir sings a particularly beautiful
and haunting series of chants known as the Reproaches
or Improperia.
They date to at least the ninth century, possibly earlier, and
have been set polyphonically by the Renaissance composers Giovanni
Pierluigi da Palestrina and Tomas Luis de Victoria.
They
are written as poetic cries from our Lord to the Jews, who crucified
him. They begin, “O my people, what have I done to thee? or wherein
have I afflicted thee? Answer me” (cf.
Micah 6:3).
We can also view the Reproaches as being addressed to ourselves,
because it was truly our sins that caused our Lord to suffer. In the
Reproaches, Christ mentions all the good works that God did in the
Old Testament, which have been repaid with cruelty and rejection. God
has been so good to us, and we have been so terrible to him.
After
each of the first three Reproaches,
we sing the Trisagion,
an ancient prayer for mercy. Each line is sung first in Greek and
then in Latin. This is one
of only two cases when Greek is used in the liturgy, the other being
the Kyrie
at Mass. After
each of the nine
remaining Reproaches, we repeat the antiphon Popule
meus
(“O my people...”). The
Old Testament events recalled in the Reproaches surround the
deliverance of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt through the Red
Sea. This is one of the central events of the Old Testament and one
of the strongest allusions to our redemption. It is therefore
remembered in the Holy Week liturgy.
The
Reproaches conclude with a very simple, syllabic chant in the form of
an Introit. We sing the antiphon, “We adore thy Cross, O Lord: and
we praise and glorify thy holy Resurrection: for behold by the wood
of the Cross joy has come into the whole world,” along with Psalm
66:2: “May God have mercy on us, and bless us: May he cause the
light of his countenance to shine upon us, and have mercy on us.”
This psalm verse was used as a blessing in the Jewish liturgy. Thus,
we conclude by expressing our hope in the Resurrection of Christ.
After
finishing the Reproaches, if there is time, the choir sings the hymn
Pange
lingua.
This is not to be confused with another hymn, also called Pange
lingua,
that was sung on Holy Thursday. The Pange
lingua
on Good Friday is much more
ancient
than the hymn on Holy Thursday and was written for the feast of the
Exaltation of the Holy Cross. We
covered it in depth in our
article on the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
The
Mass of the Presanctified itself
The
fourth part is the Mass of the Presanctified itself. Near the end of
the Adoration of the Cross, the acolytes light the six candles on the
altar, and
the deacon spreads the corporal in the center of the altar. After the
Adoration is finished, the servers and ministers proceed to the Altar
of Repose in silence by the shortest way. The priest retrieves the
Chalice containing the reserved Host, and they process back to the
sanctuary. During the procession back to the sanctuary, the choir
sings the hymn Vexilla
Regis
(pages
43-45).
This hymn sings of Christ's Crucifixion as a victory over Satan's
army. The Holy Cross is the heraldic standard of the Church Militant.
The Cross will always triumph over evil. This
is also the hymn at both First
and Second
Vespers of Passion Sunday. The procession to the Altar of Repose
mirrors the procession from the day before.
Returning
to the main altar, the deacon takes the Chalice from the priest and
puts it on the corporal. The Chalice is unveiled. The priest places
the paten in front of the Chalice and lets the Host slip out of the
Chalice onto the paten and
then onto the corporal.
He does not touch the Host with his fingers. Recall that, once the
priest touches a consecrated Host, he must keep his thumbs and
forefingers joined until he has washed his hands after Communion to
prevent any particle from being profaned. The
deacon pours wine into the chalice, and the subdeacon pours water.
The chalice is covered with the pall. All this is exactly as at the
Offertory at Mass, except that the Host is already consecrated, and
the wine will remain unconsecrated. Additionally, the
Mass of the Presanctified is marked by a great amount of silence.
All
of the preceding is done in silence.
The usual prayers are not said.
The
priest then puts incense into the thurible without blessing it, as is
done at Masses for the dead. He incenses the Host, chalice, and altar
as at Mass, saying the usual prayers (pages
45-46).
(These are the first words said since the Blessed Sacrament was
brought back to the altar.) He
washes his hands in silence, and then bows down in the middle of the
altar and says the prayer In
spiritu humilitatis,
as at Mass. This is one of the only prayers from the Offertory at
Mass that is retained
here.
On Good Friday, we simply pray for the humility and contrition to
offer ourselves completely to God. The prayer In
spiritu humilitatis
works well for this purpose. The
other prayers, offering the Host and chalice to God, are not said.
The
priest kisses the altar and turns to the people, standing off to the
side so as to not turn his back to the Blessed Sacrament, and says
the Orate fratres
in the usual way. There is no response. Thus, the priest still asks
us to pray for his sacrifice and ours to be acceptable to God, but
since this sacrifice is merely our personal sacrifice of contrition
and devotion and
not the Holy
Sacrifice
of the Mass,
we do not pray the Suscipiat.
The
Pater noster
is next. The Preface, Sanctus,
and Canon are all omitted.
The
Missal has the rubric, “omissis aliis,” meaning, “omitting
everything else,” which
has the tacit implication that the Mass of the Presanctified feels
like an actual Mass (i.e.
the priest would otherwise assume that he was to sing the Preface and
what follows).
The
priest sings, “Oremus. Praeceptis salutaribus...” as at Mass, and
then sings the Pater
noster
(page 46). The embolism, Libera
nos,
which is usually said silently, is instead sung aloud. At
its conclusion, the priest elevates the Host, as at the consecration
at Mass, so that all may look upon it and adore it. The
Host is not incensed, nor is the clapper sounded.
He
then breaks the Host over the Chalice
and
places a particle in the Chalice,
as at Mass, saying nothing. All
of this mirrors the Mass. Even though we do not offer the Mass and
the Host is already consecrated, we still imitate as much of the Mass
as possible. However,
so much more is in silence. Through
all of this ceremony, the only things sung aloud are the Pater
noster
and the Libera
nos.
The choir sings nothing. There is silence.
Whereas
at Mass, the priest says three prayers quietly before receiving
Communion; at the Mass of the Presanctified, he only says the prayer
Perceptio Corporis
tui
(page
47).
Unlike
the other two prayers, this prayer does
not mention the Blood of Christ, only the Body. It is thus more
appropriate on Good Friday, when the priest receives only under the
species of bread, not of wine. Although the entire Body and Blood of
Christ is present in the Host, the species of bread more particularly
represents the Body of Christ, and the species of wine more
particularly represents the Precious Blood.
The
priest says Panem
coelestem accipiam
and three times Domine
non sum dignus,
as at Mass, and then says
Corpus Domini
nostri
and
consumes the sacred Host (page
47).
No
one else besides the priest receives Communion today. Just
as we abstain from offering the Mass, we abstain from receiving our
Lord in Communion. Only the priest, acting in
persona Christi,
fulfills the daily duty of visiting
our Lord in
Holy Communion.
In
silence, the priest then drinks the wine from the Chalice with the
particle of the Host. The subdeacon pours wine and water into the
chalice over the priest's fingers, like the second ablution at Mass,
and the priest drinks it in silence. (The first ablution from Mass is
omitted.)
The
subdeacon wipes and covers the chalice, as he usually does after
Communion at Mass. Meanwhile, the priest bows and says the prayer
Quod ore sumpsimus
quietly, as he usually does at the first ablution. Again, this prayer
is retained because it makes no mention of the Sacrifice of the Mass
or of receiving the Precious Blood. This is the last prayer of the
Mass of the Presanctified. There is no postcommunion, dismissal,
blessing, or Last Gospel. After the prayer Quod
ore sumpsimus,
the priest descends from the altar and leaves with the ministers.
This disconcertingly abrupt ending further represents our sorrow on
the day of our Lord's Crucifixion. After
the ministers have left, the servers strip the altar once more in
silence, leaving only the crucifix and the six lighted candles.
Vespers
After
the altar is stripped and the ministers have removed their Mass
vestments, they return to the sanctuary to recite Vespers in choir.
Vespers today are identical to the day before. The entire Divine
Office during the Triduum except for Tenebrae is recited, not sung.
It begins with the prayers Aperi
Domine,
Our Father, and Hail Mary, said silently (pages 48-49). The verse
Deus in adjutorium
is omitted. Vespers begins with the first antiphon. Each of the
antiphons are verses from the psalms to which they are attached,
reflecting Christ's suffering on the Cross.
We
begin with Psalm 115 (page
49),
expressing thanksgiving to God for his sacrifice. The antiphon is the
prayer that the priest says at Mass before drinking the Precious
Blood: “I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of
the Lord.” Next is Psalm 119, in which we express
our longing for Christ and our cry to God in our distress. In the
next psalm, Psalm 139, we pray for deliverance from all the forces of
evil that try to separate us from God. In Psalm 140, we pray for
safety and protection from temptation. Finally, in Psalm 141, we
unite ourselves to our Lord's suffering and agony.
The
capitulum,
hymn, and verse are all omitted. We proceed immediately to the
Magnificat
(pages
53-54).
Even on the most sorrowful day of the year, the Church never abstains
from singing the joyful canticle of the Blessed Virgin Mary as her
evening prayer. Today,
we can view this canticle as giving thanks to God for his mercy and
his triumph over evil.
In
the words of our Lady, “His mercy is from generation unto
generations to them that fear him.” The
antiphon at the Magnificat is from John 19:30, the last words that
St. John records Jesus saying on the Cross: “It is consummated!”
Because
it is such a sorrowful day, the altar is not incensed during the
Magnificat.
To
conclude Vespers of Good Friday, we say the antiphon Christus
factus est
from Philippians 2:7-8, like at Tenebrae: “Christ became obedient
for us unto death, even to the death of the cross.” The Our Father
is then said silently. In the 1912 Roman Breviary, Psalm 50, the
Miserere,
is said at the end of every hour during the Triduum. However, my
understanding is that FSSP priests are still bound to the 1961
Breviary (even when they are using the 1920 Missal), in which the
Miserere
is not said at the ends of the hour. (Everything else is the same
between the two Breviaries.) Finally, the priest says the prayer
Respice quaesumus,
and then all leave in silence. The six candles on the altar are
extinguished after Vespers.
New
terms
-
dry Mass or missa sicca – A liturgy following most of the structure of the Mass but without the consecration of the Host and Chalice.
-
Solemn Collects – The second part of the Mass of the Presanctified, in which prayer is offered for the Church and for the world.
-
prayer for the Jews – The prayer in the Solemn Collects that prays for the conversion of the Jews, which has been very controversial over the past century and has been revised several times.
-
Adoration of the Cross – The third part of the Mass of the Presanctified, in which the crucifix is unveiled and all come forward to adore it.
-
Reproaches or Improperia – A series of chants sung during the Adoration of the Cross, representing Christ's cries to the Jews who crucified him.
-
Trisagion – “Thrice holy,” a short prayer for mercy sung during the Reproaches.
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