The Rad Trad's most viewed post is his summary of the pre-Pius XII rites for Good Friday, accompanied by photographs from a celebration by the Institute of Christ the King in 2003 at their seminary. What the Rad Trad neglected to mention is that a noble custom, now often out of practice, of "deposing" the Corpus of the Lord from the Crucifix often followed the Mass of the Pre-Sanctified on Good Friday. The Corpus would then be buried in a "sepulcher" in a manner akin to the epitaphios in the Byzantine rite, which has maintained their venerable liturgical rite. The Rad Trad has discovered what such a rite might look like. What follows below is the tale end of such a deposition ceremony on Good Friday, 2013 at the Franciscan monastery in Jerusalem (this particular Franciscan community runs the Latin segment of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher). The Corpus is given the customary funerary rites, then wrapped in a sheet, and reposed in a tomb. This seems to "drive home the point" better than the customary Stations of the Cross, albeit not all parishes will have a side chapel large enough to create a sepulcher.
Beautiful! What a loss :-( Do we know the reasons why it was chucked?
ReplyDeleteA confluence of forces probably "chucked" it. In the 19th and 20th centuries parishes would often pool their resources with one another and put on a sung Holy Week in only one church out of several, which meant that there were already few candidates for this ceremony. It has survived in some places in northern Europe (no trouble finding a "sepulcher" in Poland). Another factor might be the timing of the post-1956 Holy Week which, madly, mandates the "Solemn Liturgical Action" start at 3:00PM (when the Passion is OVER!!!!!), limiting the amount of remaining time in the day. Plus near every parish feels the obligation to do Stations of the Cross, meaning the day is over by the time everyone's had "Solemn Liturgical Action" and Stations.
DeleteI think the older way was much wiser:
-Mass of the Pre-Sanctified at noon(ish) ending around 2:30, leaving the congregation in silence to contemplate the death of the Lord at 3:00PM
-Later on the Deposition service as shown above
-Compline in the late afternoon or early evening
-Stations of the Cross some time around 4:30 or 5:00
-Tenebrae of Holy Saturday at 8:00PM or later
Really the older way strikes me as more pastoral, too, because, if fully practiced, it gave people with differing availability options. Someone who cannot take the day off can go to Tenebrae or Stations. Parents may not want their children up to 10:00Pm for Tenebrae so they go to the Mass of the Pre-Sanctified. Perhaps the children are infants and the parents do not want to keep them in the church indefinitely, so they attend Compline and the Deposition.
That's just my opinion though.
The 1570 - 1955 arrangement of the Mass of the Pre-Sanctified does end terribly abruptly. A comparison with Medieval Rites demonstrates the richness of the latter with the ceremonies of Deposition and Burial with a corresponding 'rising' service before, during or after Paschal Mattins. The Good Friday burials were closely linked with Vespers that immediately followed or were integrated into the Mass of the Pre-Sanctified.
DeleteYour 12:00 start would be a tad late for my taste. I would do Hours at 10:30 followed by MofTP-S and Vespers.
Apologies for a lack of clarity. I was simply pointing out the pastoral wisdom of how the timing was done in the 20th century (where it was done at all) on the grounds that the spreading out of services gave people with different needs some options.
DeleteI personally would not have Stations of the Cross unless I had already done the more important parts of the day, including the Hours (which can be monotoned in an expedient and time saving fashion). For those who do seek to give Stations some precedent: http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2013/02/fiuv-position-paper-14-1955-holy-week.html
Are there any pictures of what those "sepulchures" loked like?
DeleteThe Rad Trad, No need for apologies, I agree with you in essence. One of my co-directors at The Saint Lawrence Press related how her parents had always gone away during Holy Week to the coast (both were teachers and bound by school holidays). The family went to the services during the mornings of Holy Week and the Triduum and then did other things in the afternoons like visiting museums, places of interest etc. When the 1956 change came Mr. & Mrs D. continued with their holiday to the coast but only went to church on Easter Sunday. They remarked that whoever had thought out the new order were ignorant of dealing with families and children.
ReplyDeleteRubricarius: which are in essence the differences between Medieval and Tridentine Ordines of the Pre-sanctified Mass?
ReplyDeleteThank you.
Kyrie eleison
Ἰουστινιανός,
ReplyDeleteIn essence as The Rad Trad describes in his post above. Towards the end of the service, either just before or after the communion of the celebrant, there was a procession to the Sepulchre with the Cross (later with Cross and a third Host consecrated on Maundy Thursday) where there was an entombment ceremony with texts generally from Tenebrae of Holy Saturday, Sepulto Domino etc, often with the Gospel Altera autem die. In countries like England the Sepulchre was often an elaborate, permanent, feature in the north of the chancel. After the Cross was laid i the Sepulche it was surrounded by lights and a watch kept through the night of Good Friday through to Paschal Mattins. There is an exact parallel with contemporary parish praxis in the Byzantine rite with the ceremonies of the Epitaphios. Contrawise there was no adoration of the reserved Sacrament on Maudy Thursday until very late. A good start is Kroesen, J.E.A., 'The Sepulchrum Domini through the Ages', Peeters, 1975.
Is the Entombment rite something Latins picked up from the Byzantines?
ReplyDeleteIt's not really that straightforward. The 'modern' Byzantine Typicon does not mention the Processions with the Epitaphios (nor for that matter the increasingly popular one on the same theme for the Dormition of the Mother of God). Holy Week ceremonies developed by a desire to emulate what had been observed in Jerusalem. That process accelerated after the re-capture of the city. It seems that what was seen at various times in the Holy Places was adopted by local churches, Eastern and Western. There was probably mutual borrowing of customs going on too and it is noticeable that where Sepulchre ceremonies continue today that Easter influence is not too far, geographically, away.
DeleteMy parish had a procession on the feast of the Dormition.
DeleteThank you for reminding us of the "mutual borrowing." As Fr Robert Taft reminds us, the idea that everything Eastern is pure, ancient, and born in a vacuum is "romantic rubbish."
Please forgive the typo above and read 'Eastern influence'' for 'Easter influence' although I suspect there may be a Freudian slip there.
Delete