Previous parts in this series:
As mentioned in part one of this series, the Holy Week liturgies were overhauled in 1955 by Father Annibale Bugnini, who was later the chief architect of the Novus Ordo Mass. By the grace of God, several parishes of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter have permission to offer the traditional liturgies for Holy Week. However, it remains that most traditional parishes are bound to the 1962 Roman Missal, which includes the revised Holy Week. Many of the revisions parallel and foreshadow the liturgical reforms of the 1960s, and display the same concepts discussed in our series on the Novus Ordo Mass – a horizontal focus rather than a vertical focus, de-emphasis on the sacrificial nature of the Mass, and lesser reverence given to the Blessed Sacrament.
In
addition, the Holy Week revisions heavily focus on reducing and
simplifying the liturgy to make it shorter and easier to understand.
The liturgies for each day are drastically shorter. Although there is
merit in the people understanding the liturgy – the main point of
my blog is to help people understand the liturgy – it should not be
a guiding principle in liturgical reform. The liturgy is meant to be
our greatest, most perfect worship to God and the lifeblood of our
religion. Brevity and simplicity are not the goal. Especially during
Holy Week, we should not be striving to spend less time with our
Lord. Like the Novus Ordo, the revised Holy Week liturgies are
inferior in form to the traditional liturgies.
Mr.
Gregory DiPippo of New Liturgical Movement wrote an
excellent series of articles on these revisions
back in 2009. If you want a more in-depth look at the 1955 liturgical
reform, I highly recommend his articles.
The
first change is one that I discussed in part one. Previously, Mass
was only ever allowed in the morning, so the liturgies for Maundy
Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday were offered in the
mornings. In 1955, the times were changed. The Mass of the Lord's
Supper is now offered in the evening, between 4:00 and 9:00 p.m., to
correspond with the time of the Last Supper. The Solemn Liturgy of
Good Friday (it is no longer called the “Mass of the
Presanctified”) is offered in the afternoon, about 3:00 p.m., to
correspond with the time of the Crucifixion. Finally, the Easter
Vigil is offered late Saturday night so that the Mass begins about
midnight.
Palm
Sunday
The
liturgical color for the Blessing of the Palms has been changed from
violet, the color of penitence and of royalty, to red. The
Asperges
is omitted. The
Blessing of the Palms is extremely shortened. It no longer has the
dignity of imitating the Holy Mass.
The palms are placed on a
table in the middle of the sanctuary. To bless the palms, the priest
faces the people across the table, with his back to the altar, the
crucifix, and the tabernacle. Nowhere else in liturgy would the
priest ever turn his back to the altar and face the people when
offering a prayer to God. Such absurdity was unheardof until 1955. It
was clearly intended to acclimate the faithful to the vandalism that
would occur in the 1960s.
After
the Introit Hosanna
filio David,
the priest immediately sings a single prayer to bless the palms. The
beautiful canon of six
prayers from the traditional liturgy is suppressed. After the
blessing, the palms are distributed to the faithful “in accordance
with local custom” (1962
rubrics).
Alternatively, they may be held by the faithful from the beginning.
After
the distribution of palms, the deacon sings the Gospel, Matthew
21:1-9, with the same ceremonies as at Mass. The
reading from Exodus, formerly sung at the Blessing of the Palms, is
suppressed.
Whereas before, the priest always read the Gospel quietly to himself
in addition to the deacon singing it, here the priest is directed not
to do so, but rather to stand and listen. This was made the case for
the Gospel of Mass in 1962.
That
is the entire Blessing of the Palms. What was once an elaborate
ceremony imitating the Holy Mass is now an antiphon, a prayer, and a
reading. Whereas
the traditional rite contained nine prayers – three corresponding
to the collect,
secret,
and postcommunion
of the Mass, and six forming a “Canon” to bless the palms – the
new rite only has one.
Once
this is done, the procession begins. Before,
the procession was to walk with Christ in the days before his
Passion, joining the people of Jerusalem in greeting their Savior.
Now,
it
is
a procession in honor of Christ the King. The traditional chants have
been replaced by hymns to Christ the King. The hymn Gloria
laus et honor,
formerly sung at the door of the church, is now simply to be sung at
some point during the procession. The ceremony at the door is
suppressed. The
processional cross is not veiled, even though it is veiled the entire
rest of Passiontide.
Like before, the chant Ingrediente
Domino
is sung when the procession enters the church.
To
begin Mass, the ministers change vestments from red to violet, and
the table that held the palms is removed from the center of the
sanctuary. One should always be skeptical of a liturgy that calls for
the moving of furniture.
The
Prayers at the Foot of the Altar are suppressed for the Mass of Palm
Sunday. This is also the case any other time a liturgical action
precedes Mass, namely on Candlemas, Ash Wednesday, and the Easter
Vigil. There is no reason for the suppression except again to
acclimate the faithful to the more drastic reforms to come. We
no longer acknowledge our sinfulness before ascending to God's holy
altar to
offer sacrifice.
The
rest of Mass
is unchanged
except for the Passion. The Passion is now much shorter. The account
of the Last Supper at the beginning is omitted. Ironically, this
means that the account of the first Mass is never read at Mass. In
addition, the deacon
no longer sings the last part of the Passion.
Finally, for the same reason that there were no Prayers at the Foot
of the Altar, there is no Last Gospel.
Holy
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday
Commemorations and prayers
pro diversitate temporum are abolished. Otherwise, there is no
change for Monday. The only changes for Tuesday and Wednesday is the
Passions. Like on Palm Sunday, the account of the Last Supper is
removed from the beginning of the Passion, and the special ceremony
is removed from the end of the Passion. This is done again to shorten
and simplify the liturgy.
Tenebrae
With the Masses of Maundy
Thursday and Good Friday now in the evening, Tenebrae is now directed
to be offered the mornings of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday rather
than the preceding evenings. Although the office of Tenebrae does in
fact belong to those days, there is plenty of historical precedent
for anticipating Matins and Lauds the previous evening. Furthermore,
Tenebrae is meant to be held in darkness, which is difficult to
achieve in the morning. (In Seattle in 2019, sunrise on Holy
Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday was 6:15 a.m., 6:13 a.m.,
and 6:11 a.m. respectively.)
Psalm 50 is removed from the
ends of the hours. In 1961, the ceremony of hiding the last remaining
candle and making a loud noise was suppressed.
Holy
Thursday
The
most significant change on Holy Thursday is one that does not affect
most parishes. The blessing of the holy oils, formerly done at the
Mass of the Lord's Supper at the Cathedral, is now to be done at a
new,
separate Mass. This Mass of the Chrism
is held at the cathedral the morning of Holy Thursday after Terce,
with the Mass of the Lord's Supper held in the evening after None. At
the Mass of the Chrism, the liturgical color is white. Psalm 42 is
omitted like in the rest of Passiontide, but the Gloria
is sung. The
Epistle is James 5:13-16, in which the apostle commands priests to
anoint the sick in the name of Christ. The
Gospel is Mark 6:7-13, in which Christ sent forth his disciples to
anoint the sick and drive out demons.
Strangely, the
Credo
is not sung. A new, unique
preface was written just for the Mass of the Chrism. The actual
blessing of the oils is the same. (No new typical edition of the
Roman Pontifical was issued until after Vatican II.) Even
more strangely, the distribution of Communion to the faithful is
explicitly forbidden at this Mass, as Communion may only be
distributed at the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper.
The
Mass of the Lord's Supper is held in the evening, between 4:00 p.m.
and 9:00 p.m. The first half of Mass is the same as before. The
Gloria
is sung and the bells are rung, as in the traditional liturgy. The
first major difference is that the rubrics explicitly call for the
priest to preach a sermon. This is a completely novel innovation.
Never before in the history of the Church has a sermon been mandatory
or even mentioned in the liturgy at all. A sermon is a devotional,
extra-liturgical act that, although certainly beneficial for the
laity, is in no sense part of the sacred liturgy itself. If
the ceremony of foot washing is to be held, it takes place after the
sermon. Like at the Mass of
the Chrism, the Credo
is not sung, even though Maundy Thursday is a joyful first class
feast of our Lord, which under any sane and consistent set of rubrics
would include the Credo.
One again, liturgical beauty and reverence is being
attacked for the sake of
brevity.
Instead
of a single extra Host, an entire extra ciborium
of Hosts is consecrated.
Otherwise, the
Mass of the faithful is unchanged until the Agnus
Dei, which is changed
to:
Agnus Dei, qui tollis
peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. |
Lamb of God, who takes
away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. |
“Dona
nobis pacem” (“Grant us peace”) is not sung. The
first of the three following prayers is omitted, like at a Mass for
the Dead. As in the traditional Mass, the kiss of peace is not given.
The
Confiteor
immediately before Communion of the faithful is directed to be
omitted in this Mass. It was removed from the Missal altogether in
1962, though many parishes retain it, including the one I attend. In
addition to the regular Communion antiphon, several other psalms are
appointed to be sung during Communion. After
Communion, the extra consecrated ciborium or ciboria remain on the
altar. The ceremony of veiling the Chalice containing the reserved
Host and tying it with ribbon is suppressed. Mass ends with
Benedicamus Domino
rather than Ite Missa
est, despite its
solemnity. The blessing and Last Gospel are omitted. The
ceremony of the translation of the Blessed Sacrament to the Altar of
Repose is fundamentally unchanged, except that a provision is made
for there to be multiple ciboria requiring multiple trips. At
the stripping of the altar, everything is removed from the altar,
even the crucifix and candlesticks.
There
is no Vespers tonight, as the evening Mass replaces it. This is
unheardof before 1955, and it is particularly inappropriate for such
a major hour of the Divine Office to be suppressed on such a major
feast. The Mass of the Lord's Supper is followed by Compline.
Good
Friday
The
liturgy of Good Friday has been altered substantially. It
is no longer the Mass of the Presanctified, but rather the Solemn
Afternoon Liturgy. This
is consistent with one of the major Novus Ordo ideals of
de-emphasizing the sacrificial nature of the Mass and reducing
reverence given to the Blessed Sacrament. Likewise,
the day itself is no longer called Feria
Sexta Parasceve (Friday
of Preparation), but rather Feria
Sexta in Passione et Morte Domini
(Friday of the Lord's Passion and Death).
The liturgy is suggested to
begin about 3:00 p.m., the hour of our Lord's death, though it may
begin any time between 12:00 noon and 9:00 p.m. The
priest and deacon wear amice, alb, cincture, and black stole; the
subdeacon wears the same without the stole. They do not wear
maniples, cope, or chasubles.
The
altar is completely bare, lacking even a crucifix.
After a short period of
silent prayer, the priest sings a newly
introduced collect before
the first reading from Hosea. The readings are unchanged, as
is the collect after the Epistle. However, two
peculiarities
are
introduced with this collect. First,
the priest sings it from the sedilia, not from the altar, which was
never done before except at a Pontifical High Mass. It foreshadows
the same change being made in the Novus Ordo Mass, which disconnects
the Mass from its sacrificial nature at the altar.
Second, normally,
when the priest mentions the Holy Name of Jesus, he bows toward the
crucifix. Since there is no crucifix, he either bows directly forward
(the preferable option in my opinion) or he bows toward an empty
space. As
with previous days, the Passion
is severely shortened. After
the Passion, the priest puts on a black cope, and the deacon
and subdeacon put on a black dalmatic and tunicle. Before 1955, there
was no reason for a black dalmatic or tunicle to even exist, as
folded chasubles were always used. Two
servers spread a single white linen cloth over the altar.
At the Solemn Collects, the
missal is placed directly in the center of the altar – a place
formerly reserved for the sacred vessels – and the deacon and
subdeacon stand on either side of the priest rather than in a line
behind him. The prayer for the Holy Roman Emperor has been replaced
by a generic prayer for rulers. I discussed the changes to the prayer
for the Jews in part six of this series.
The ministers then remove
their cope, dalmatic, and tunicle. The deacon retrieves the cross
from the sacristy. The Adoration of the Cross is fundamentally
unchanged, except that two acolytes hold candles on either side of
the Cross and that the ministers make three simple genuflections
rather than three prostrations. The Reproaches are the same.
Afterwards, the acolytes place the cross and candlesticks on the
altar.
The ministers then change
vestments yet again, this time changing into violet Mass vestments,
except without maniples. The ministers and servers go to the Altar of
Repose in silence. As they bring the Blessed Sacrament back to the
altar, the choir sings three new antiphons. The beautiful, triumphal
hymn Vexilla regis has been abolished. Upon arrival at the
altar, there is nothing resembling an Offertory. There is no wine or
water. Almost everything that was meant to imitate the Holy Mass has
been removed. The priest immediately sings the invitation to the Our
Father, “Oremus. Praeceptis salutaribus moniti...”
What follows is one of the
1955 liturgy's most obvious omens of what was to come. The rubrics
direct everyone present, even the congregation, who were hitherto
barely ever acknowledged by the rubrics, to say the Pater noster
aloud together. The rubric of the Missal explicitly specifies that it
should be in Latin, which is strange, because that never needed
clarification before. The spirit of Vatican II's focus on the
people's active participation rather than the sacredness of the
liturgy begins to bud. The priest says the embolism Libera nos
aloud (he does not sing) and then the prayer Perceptio Corporis
tui silently. The priest then receives Communion himself before
distributing Communion to the faithful, which was traditionally never
done on Good Friday. Psalm 21 is given as an optional Communion
chant.
Since there is no chalice of
water and wine with which to make an ablution, the priest purifies
his fingers in a small dish of water, as is usually done for
assisting clergy distributing Communion. Whereas before, the liturgy
ended quite abruptly after Communion with the silent prayer Quod
ore sumpsimus, the priest now sings three new prayers aloud after
Communion, which conclude the liturgy. The altar is stripped in
silence. Like the previous day, Vespers is abolished.
Thus, the solemn liturgy of
Good Friday is fundamentally changed to strip it of its association
with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It is no longer a Mass of the
Presanctified, but rather a “Solemn Afternoon Liturgy.” In the
1970 Missal, it is called a “service,” the word usually used to
describe Protestant rituals. On the day our Lord sacrificed himself
on the Cross, the sacrifice in which we participate in every Mass,
the Sacred Tradition of the Church gives us a solemn rite to express
our sorrow and our desire to unite ourselves with Christ in the Mass.
Even though it is not a Mass, it still remains centered on the Mass.
The 1955 reformed liturgy is a novelty totally detached from the
Mass.
Easter
Vigil
Like
the liturgies of the preceding two days, the Easter Vigil is moved to
the evening. The Mass is to begin around midnight, as
if it were some sort of New Year's
fireworks. Although midnight
is when the civil day begins, it has never had any special
significance in the liturgy. The liturgical day begins with either
Matins or first Vespers. To
this end, the vigil usually
begins about 10:30 p.m. Thus,
the Easter Vigil does not occur after None like every other vigil,
but after Compline. It replaces Matins. Thus, not only is Paschal
Matins abolished (and with
it the hymn Te Deum),
but first Vespers of Easter is abolished. Beginning feasts with first
Vespers is one of the Church's most ancient traditions, probably
originating with the apostles. Every
other major feast has first Vespers. Easter, however,
the greatest feast of the year, now has neither first Vespers nor
Matins. Such is the malice with which the sacred liturgy has been
vandalized.
The
vigil itself has been substaintially overhauled. The beautiful triple
candlestick is abolished. Instead, the paschal candle itself is
brought to the new fire. After blessing the new fire with a single
prayer, the priest marks a
cross, alpha and omega, and year on the candle. Previously, the
missal assumed that the candle was already marked, and the new missal
comments
that there is no reason why
the candle
should not already be marked, so it remains a mystery why this was
added to the rite at all. The
priest blesses the five grains of incense, saying nothing, and
immediately inserts them into the candle. Finally,
the priest lights the paschal candle and blesses it with the prayer
formerly used to bless the incense.
The
deacon carries the lit paschal candle into the church, pausing thrice
to sing, “Lumen Christi,” as in the traditional rite. Upon
arrival at the sanctuary, he places the candle in a small bracket,
not the large, dignified candlestick in which the paschal candle is
traditionally placed. He
then sings the Exultet
without pause.
Its traditional function is
displaced, as the paschal candle is already blessed and lit. The
traditional prayer for the Holy Roman Emperor in the Exultet
has been replaced with a new prayer for rulers.
The
new Easter Vigil has only four prophecies – the creation, the
deliverance of Israel at the Red Sea, Isaiah's vision of the new
Israel, and Moses's exhortation of the Jewish people to follow God's
law. The remaining eight prophecies have been abolished. Stories such
as Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, the valley of dry bones, and the law
of Passover, which are especially relevant to our Lord's
Resurrection, have been removed from the liturgy. Like
on Good Friday, the priest sings the collects from his chair rather
than from the altar.
After
the collect following the last prophecy, the choir immediately begins
the Litany of the Saints. The
tradition of doubling each line of the litany is abolished. Instead
of blessing baptismal water in the baptistery, the logical place to
do so, the water is blessed in the sanctuary so that the people can
see it. After the line,
“Omnes sancti et sanctae Dei / Intercedite
pro nobis,” the litany is
stopped. The blessing of the
water itself is not changed. If
Baptism is to be administered, it takes place in the sanctuary, not
in the baptistery.
Afterwards, the tract Sicut
cervus is sung as the
ministers process to the baptistery to deposit the water.
Alternatively, a footnote in the missal allows the traditional
practice of blessing the
water at the baptistery. However, the rubric is very vague. It says
that Sicut cervus
should be sung on the way to the baptistery, but also that the choir
should remain in the church singing the litany, repeating the litany
if necessary. The most reasonable possibility seems to be that the
Sicut cervus
should be sung upon conclusion of the first half
of the litany. However,
DiPippo suggests the alarming possibility that the choir is to repeat
the litany continuously during the entire blessing of the font. This
is a foreshadowing of the vague and poorly written rubrics that
dominate the Novus Ordo liturgy.
Next
is the Renewal of the Promises of Baptism.
This was previously only done as a private devotion, not as part of
the liturgy. It is all done
in the vernacular. This marks the first time in history that the
vernacular tongue was called
for in the sacred liturgy.
It is a clear foreboding of even more radical liturgical reform. The
priest first reads a short exhortation and then invites the faithful
to renew their threefold renunciation of Satan and threefold
profession of belief from the rite of Baptism. All
then recite the Our Father together.
The
Litany of the Saints is then resumed, starting from the line,
“Propitius esto / Parce nobis, Domine.” The ministers go to the
sacristy to prepare for Mass, which
is mostly unchanged. As
previously discussed, the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar are
omitted.
The prayer Domine Jesu
Christe, qui dixisti
before Communion is omitted.
After
Communion, instead of first Vespers of Easter, we sing Lauds of
Easter at about 1:00 a.m., a strange time to sing morning praises.
Lauds is abbreviated the
same way that Vespers was formerly abbreviated. Psalm 150 is sung
with the antiphon, “Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia,” and then the
Benedictus
is sung with the following antiphon:
Et
valde mane una sabbatorum, veniunt ad monumentum, orto jam sole,
alleluia.
|
And very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they come to the sepulcher, the sun now being risen, alleluia. |
We
should be skeptical of a liturgy that sings about the sun being risen
at 1:00 a.m. Perhaps this is the perfect liturgy for Catholics living
in the northern regions of Alaska or Scandinavia, but I digress.
There is no Last Gospel.
Easter
Sunday
As
previously mentioned, the tradition of Paschal Matins and Lauds has
been completely destroyed. Matins of Easter no longer exists, and
Lauds is part of the new Easter Vigil. The
only change to Mass on
Easter Sunday is that the final line of the Sequence is changed from,
“praecedet suos
in Galileam,” to, “praecedet vos
in Galileam.”
Thus
are the reforms of 1955. The same themes visible in the reforms of
1969 are visible here. The focus is more on the people than on God,
and there is less emphasis on the sacrifical nature of the Mass and
on the Blessed Sacrament. Since the liturgy is considered less sacred
than before, there is less diligence in the composition of the text
and ceremonies, resulting in very strange, inconsistent, and vague
rubrics. I hope and pray that permisison to use the traditional Holy
Week liturgies is retained and expanded.
New
terms
-
Mass of the Chrism – A new Mass celebrated in the cathedral on Holy Thursday morning, at which the bishop blesses holy oils.
-
Solemn Afternoon Liturgy – The new liturgy for Good Friday, since it is no longer a Mass of the Presanctified.
-
Renewal of Baptismal Promises – A former private devotion that has been inserted into the 1955 Easter Vigil, in which the faithful reaffirm the threefold renunciation of Satan and the threefold profession of faith from the rite of Baptism.