unveiling of the cross on good friday

As the Royal Choral Society prepares to sing Handel's Messiah on Good Friday, one of London's great Easter traditions, I spoke to conductor Richard Cooke about his influences and inspirations, and how one keeps a work like Messiah fresh and exciting after conducting it for over 25 years. There is, perhaps, no office in the whole liturgy so peculiar, so interesting, so composite, so dramatic as the office and ceremonial of Good Friday. There are currently no items in your cart. The first part consists of three lessons from Sacred Scripture (two chants and a prayer being interposed) which are followed by a long series of prayers for various intentions; the second part includes the ceremony of unveiling and adoring the Cross, accompanied by the chanting of the Improperia; the third part is known as the Mass of the Presanctified, which is preceded by a procession and followed by vespers. Because I brought thee out of the land of Egypt, thou hast prepared a cross for thy Savior. Sac. A non-Catholic may say that this is all very dramatic and interesting, but allege a grave deordination in the act of adoration of the Cross on bended knees. This is an astonishing way to travel. They are not found in the old Roman Ordines. . They're sometimes known as the 3 hours of agony. On this day, according to the Bible, the Jewish religious leaderswho had condemned Jesus the night before . From the, first Vespers of Passion Sunday to the unveiling of the cross on Good Friday, even if a solemn feast occur during this interval, the altar-crucifix is covered with a violet veil (Cong. However, when we recognize that we now venerate the Cross not so much as an emblem of victory (as in the Triumph of the Cross) but as an instrument of humiliation and suffering, we will soon understand the spiritual realities which are conveyed through the covering of the crosses. But because the Solemn Collects do that so well, I think the liturgical and homiletical corrections you suggest are unnecessary, and for some worshippers probably unhelpful. After the ritual of public penance fell into disuse but the entire congregation symbolically entered the order of penitents by receiving ashes on Ash Wednesday it was no longer possible to expel them from the church. Veneramur crucem, per quam redemti sumus, et illum deprecamur, qui redemit (While we bend down in body before the cross we bend down in spirit before God. The deacon and subdeacon also divest themselves of their shoes (the deacon and subdeacon may take off their shoes, if that be the custom of the place, S.C.R., n. 2769, ad X, q. Sac. You can also listen to your MP3 at any time in your Digital Library. Everyone kisses the feet. In a 1995 issue of the Bishops Committee on the Liturgy Newsletter, it was stated that the US bishops had never voted on this provision so in the United States at least, this practice is not to be done. Some people have a day off work on Good Friday in the Netherlands, while others work. For thy sake I smote the kings of Chanaan; and thou has smitten My head with a reed. A black fast, black vestments, a denuded altar, the slow and solemn chanting of the sufferings of Christ, prayers for all those for whom He died, the unveiling and reverencing of the Crucifix, these take the place of the usual festal liturgy; while the lights in the chapel of repose and the Mass of the Presanctified remind her children that Christ is with them behind this veil of mourning. The Catholic Encyclopedia. Rit., 2 June, 1883). O Holy God! Sac. I think youre exactly right about the Solemn Collects, which for many years puzzled me, and actually disappointed me. This kind of meeting for worship was derived from the Jewish Synagogue service, and consisted of lessons, chants, and prayers. I). In Johns Gospel, the moment when Jesus is lifted high upon the cross is paradoxically both his moment of greatest humiliation and his moment of greatest exaltation. Indeed, St. Thomas tells us that the figure ceases on the advent of the reality. The Mass of the Presanctified is followed by the recital of vespers, and the removal of the linen cloth from the altar (Vespers are recited without chant and the altar is denuded). Blessing, honor, everlasting, to the immortal Deity; to the Father, Son, and Spirit, equal praises ever be; glory through the earth and heaven. February 28, 2023. var m_names=new Array("Jan.","Feb.","Mar.","Apr.","May","Jun.","Jul.","Aug.","Sept.","Oct.","Nov.","Dec. below); others maintain that it is from the German Gute Freitag, and not specially English. Are you a beginner who started playing last month? The Catholic Encyclopedia describes this custom as follows: Before Vespers of Saturday preceding Passion Sunday [i.e. The priest then advances to the middle of the altar, and, with his face still turned towards the people, he removes the veil entirely from the cross. cit., IV, 279, 280) notes, with interesting detail, a custom followed at one time in England of submitting voluntarily to the rod of penance on Good Friday. It is guarded thus because the custom is that the people, both faithful and catechumens, come one by one and, bowing, down at the table, kiss the sacred wood and pass on (Duchesne, tr. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); The Veiling And Unveiling Of The Cross During Lent. The answer may be found in our smallest catechism. An image of Christ, laid on a bier, is carried through the streets with a kind of funeral pomp, and is offered to those present to be worshiped and kissed (see Nilles, II, 242). 1.) Mixed ChoirMusic The Peregrinatio Sylviae (the real name is Etheria) contains a description of the ceremony as it took place in Jerusalem towards the close of the fourth century. All submitted reviews become the licensed property of Sheet Music Plus and are subject to all laws pertaining thereto. Answer Me. The people fall down upon their knees, and the choir sings again: Come, let us adore. You consent to our cookies and privacy policy if you continue to use this site. Owing to the pious zeal of the Empress St. Helena, the True Cross had then recently been discovered, to the immense joy of the whole Church. At the time when synaxes without liturgy were frequent, the Mass of the Presanctified must have been frequent also. Catholics may ritually kiss the feet of the Jesus figure upon the . It may be well to note that if, according to the Renaissance style of architecture, the throne is a permanent structure above the tabernacle, the altar-crucifix may never be placed under the canopy under which the Blessed Sacrament is publicly exposed, or on the corporal which is used at such exposition (Cong. All other images are unveiled shortly before the Mass of the Easter Vigil. The modern collect is the representative of this old solemn form of prayer. Benedict XIV (De Sacrificio Missae, P. I, 19) holds that this custom comes down from the time of the Apostles. However, if the custom is to return to popularity, it will be necessary to come to some understanding of the meaning behind the veiling. Consider writing about your experience and musical tastes. Porsche claims a fully charged range of 254 miles and an average of 2.52 miles per kWh, but that would require monastic self-control. It is intended as a reparation to our Savior, for the treatment He received in the court of Pilate. When they reach the cross at the steps of the altar, they prostrate . This leaves the decision to cover the crucifixes in the church up to the individual parishes but strongly encourages this tradition. The ceremony originally had immediate connection with the True Cross, which was found by St. Helena in Jerusalem about the year A.D. 326 (see Gilmartins History of the Church, I. The faithful, as might be expected, were desirous of seeing this precious relic, and . Richard ProulxVoice SoloSheet Music Good Friday is the most somber day of the Christian year. 1. Speaking about this ceremony Duchesne (249) says, It is merely the Communion separated from the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist properly so called. The statues of the saints, too, are covered; for it is but just that, if the glory of the Master be eclipsed, the servant should not appear. Text source: Unveiling of the Cross (Good Friday, Roman Missal). I believe it is not permissible to use a bare cross without the Corpus unless it contains a relic of the True Cross. This is followed by another tract (Ps. the order of the earliest Christian prayer meetings, at which, however, the liturgy proper, i.e. It is worthy of our deepest veneration, because of the honor conferred upon it by the Son of God: He consecrated it by His own Blood, He worked our salvation by its means. This urn represents the sepulchre of Christ (decree of S.C.R., n. 3933, ad I). Good Friday Antiphon at the Unveiling of the Cross Holy Saturday. Unveiled let it be upon our altar, for He that died upon it is soon to triumph by a glorious Resurrection! The faithful, as might be expected, were desirous of seeing this precious relic, and accordingly it was exposed every Good Friday. Good Friday falls on the sixth day of Holy weeks which lead to Easter. He then takes off his shoes and approaches the Cross (genuflecting three times on the way) and kisses it. In the Greek Church it was celebrated every day in Lent except on Saturdays and Sundays, but in the Latin Church it was confined to Good Friday. At present the celebrant alone communicates, but it appears from the old Roman Ordines that formerly all present communicated (Martene, III, 367). Traditional Jews will often recite psalms while visiting, study a short passage from the Mishnah . Leave it blank if you wish to appear as "Anonymous". In no way should manifestations of popular piety, either by the time or manner in which they are convoked, substitute for this solemn liturgical action. Schulte, A.J. The theme of victory sounds again in Anthem 2: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, R. Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. Avoid disclosing contact information (email addresses, phone numbers, etc. the preparation that was made on the sixth day for the Sabbath; see Mark, xv, 42) came by metonymy to signify the day on which the preparation was made; but while the Greeks retained this use of the word as applied to every Friday, the Latins confined its application to the one Friday. My parish's custom is apparently a variation of an ancient practice of veiling all crosses, images, relics, etc., during Lent (from either Ash Wednesday or the First Sunday in Lent). viii, cap. Your Screen Name: (optional) This name will appear next to your review. There are two forms of veneration for Good Friday according to the Ceremonial of Bishops. In the Roman Missal we find the instruction, " In the Dioceses of the United States, the practice of covering crosses and images throughout the church from [the fifth . This anticipation of the victory of Christs resurrection becomes even clearer in the Good Friday anthems recited or sung as a devotional response to bringing a wooden cross into the church. He then sings the Ecce lignum on a higher note. Fixating on the violence and gore of Jesus suffering misses the central point. A setting of the Crux Fidelis refrain by King John IV of . I always thought that a recitation of the litany of Ash Wednesday would make a better set of prayers for Good Friday. He unveils the right arm of the cross, and holds up the holy sign of our redemption higher than the first time. cxxxix), at the close of which the third lesson, viz.

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