The Independent News Source
NCR on Kindle - NCR classifieds - YouTube - Twitter - Facebook - Email Alerts - RSS
Printer-friendly version
PDF versionThe origins of Holy Week liturgies
by Richard McBrien on Apr. 18, 2011
I have been writing this weekly column now for almost 45 years. Thanks to my friend and former graduate assistant Kern Trembath, his two sons Alex and Cal, who are about to graduate this year from the University of California Berkeley, his step-daughter Emily, and, of course, my own longtime (25 years and 6 months) assistant Donna Shearer, all of these columns are now saved electronically and can be retrieved by subject matter at www.richardmcbrien.com.
I regularly consult the Web site as I approach key topics, like anniversaries or major liturgical feasts, such as Christmas and Easter, liturgical seasons, such as Advent and Lent, and major annual observances, such as the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
I am surprised, however, by how few times I have devoted entire columns to Holy Week, even though there have been over 275 references to Holy Week since this column began in July 1966.
For those who might wonder about the column’s origin many years ago, it was thanks to an invitation from the late Msgr. John S. Kennedy, then editor of The Catholic Transcript, the weekly paper of the Hartford, Conn., archdiocese. The archdiocese also happens to be my own ecclesiastical home.
I have written only two full columns on Holy Week, in 2005 and again last year. For both columns I was indebted to the work of my colleague at the University of Notre Dame, Professor Nathan Mitchell, a liturgical scholar of the first rank.
Prof. Mitchell did an entry on Holy Week in a work for which I served as general editor, the one-volume Harpercollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism, published in 1995.
Holy Week is observed during the final week of Lent (technically Lent ends at Mass on Holy Thursday evening), beginning on Palm Sunday and reaching its liturgical climaxes at the Easter Vigil and on the feast of Easter itself.
Holy Week commemorates Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday), his Last Supper with his closest disciples, including the one who would betray him (Holy Thursday), his Passion and Crucifixion (Good Friday), and his Resurrection (the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday).
The final four liturgies of Holy Week -- the evening Mass on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday -- are called the Easter Triduum, three days leading up to and including Easter Sunday itself.
The key venue for the early celebration of Holy Week was in the city of Jerusalem, and the earliest record we have of this celebration is a fourth-century travel diary kept by a European woman whose name, Egeria, is known by all liturgical scholars and their graduate students. She had been part of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the year 383.
Subscribe to NCR
Want to read more about important issues in the life of the Church? A subscription to NCR will keep you up to date and informed.
According to Egeria, the Palm Sunday liturgy began in the afternoon with an elaborate procession which started outside of Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives. The bishop reenacted the role of Jesus, while children waved palm branches as the procession wound its way through the entire city.
On Holy Thursday night, after the Eucharist had been celebrated in the afternoon, the events of Jesus’ Passion were reenacted: his agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, his arrest there, and his trial before Pontius Pilate.
On Good Friday there were four hours of veneration of the cross, beginning just before noon, followed by a solemn afternoon Liturgy of the Word that concluded with a reading of the Passion according to John.
The Easter Vigil began in mid-afternoon on Holy Saturday, with the final preparation of the catechumens. That night, while the catechumens were being baptized, the rest of the faithful kept vigil. As soon as the newly baptized were led into the church, the celebration of the Easter Eucharist began.
According to Nathan Mitchell, these Jerusalem-centered liturgies eventually caught on throughout the then-Christian world. By the fifth and sixth centuries the highly influential churches of Rome and Constantinople (modern Istanbul) had adopted these Holy Week liturgies, which were subsequently spread to other local churches within their vast jurisdictions, both in the West and the East.
Unfortunately, the linkage between the liturgies of Holy Week and the original times and places of the sacred events became obscured in the medieval West, as any former altar boy can attest if he ever served on Holy Saturday morning, with its long readings in Latin and very few worshippers.
The situation was not remedied until the restoration of Holy Week mandated by Pope Pius XII in 1956, and the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council a few years later.
The restoration of Holy Week remains one of Pope Pius XII’s greatest achievements. We can thank him and the liturgists he wisely consulted for the spiritually meaningful ceremonies which we will celebrate at this week.
[Correction: An earlier version of this column had a misspelling in the url for Fr. McBrien's web site. The correct url is www.richardmcbrien.com.]
© 2011 Richard P. McBrien. All rights reserved. Fr. McBrien is the Crowley-O’Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.
| Editor’s Note: We can send you an e-mail alert every time Fr. McBrien’s column, "Essays in Theology," is posted to NCRonline.org. Go to this page and follow the directions: E-mail alert sign-up. If you already receive e-mail alerts from us, click on the "update my profile" button to add "Essays in Theol-ogy" to your list. |
By now I'm sure someone
By now I'm sure someone informed you that your webaddress is wrong. I believe your name is "McBrien".
This is what I got when I
This is what I got when I clicked on the link to Fr. McBrien's website. (See the link in the article.)
Sorry, the term we received "www.richardmacbrien.com" couldn't be resolved.
Did you mean: richard mac brien
However, if one uses "www.richardmcbrien.com", it works.
Thank you for the historical
Thank you for the historical background of Holy Week, Fr. McBrien.
It reminds us that the liturgies and the church itself has changed through the "centuries". All changes happen in God'time, which is limitless. I hope we don't go back the medieval latin ceremonies...
Raquel, While I don't want to
Raquel, While I don't want to go back to medieval LATIN ceremonies just because their old and in Latin, I wouldn't be too hasty in dismissing some of the more beautiful and deeply moving aspects of medieval worship, both in Latin and in the vernacular. Holy Week prior to 1955 was infinitely superior to any form of it I've ever seen since then and I've been to a lot of them.
Fifty-five years! That's how
Fifty-five years! That's how long I have been experiencing changes in the Liturgy, but only because I was an altar boy from 1953 onwards and a seminarian for ten years following 1957. From my liturgical perspective, Vatican II's reforms were only the next major step on the journey I was already traveling. It wasn't until I married in 1972, and my wife was struggling with the reforms, that I realized that she had not been on the same journey. Though born and raised a Catholic, she had not attended any Holy Week liturgies -- or any other services on a weekday, for that matter -- and thus had no preliminary experience with change until the Vatican II reforms were reluctantly introduced in her home parish. The implementation of the changes after the Vatican II reform were sadly implemented and ultimately resented by so many otherwise faithful Catholics!
Even today, the percentage of fairly regular churchgoers who also attend the Holy Week liturgies is sadly low. My fear is that the implementation of the third Roman Missal will have little impact on this statistic, and that the larger percentage of our people will still not experience the Liturgy as source and summit of their spiritual journey.
My fear is that the
My fear is that the implementation of the third Roman Missal will have little impact on this statistic, and that the larger percentage of our people will still not experience the Liturgy as source and summit of their spiritual journey.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I agree the third Roman Missal,i.e. "Pell's Folly", is an unmitigated disaster, but people won't start returning to ANY liturgy "source and summit" or not until the Church has returned to a greater sense of the sacred moment, the sacred place and space, and to a more traditional iconography and architectonic design.
I'm not speaking of a mindless return to Trent and Pius V's missal as a counter reaction to the Novus Ordo which so many SSPX and the neanderthals allied to them have embraced, but, instead, returning to local liturgies, designed by the bishop and his experts amongst clergy and laity. Those with a greater appreciation for western and eastern spirituality with an appreciation for modern modalities and liturgical choreography in it's fullest dimension than we have seen since Vatican II. Unfortunately, we have been starved from partaking in much of that rich patrimony of ritual, rubrics, music, and language for decades, and there are younger generations hungry to see much of it return. Then and only then, will you begin to see the pews fill up again.
My fear is that the
My fear is that the implementation of the third Roman Missal will have little impact on this statistic, and that the larger percentage of our people will still not experience the Liturgy as source and summit of their spiritual journey.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I agree the third Roman Missal,i.e. "Pell's Folly", is an unmitigated disaster, but people won't start returning to ANY liturgy "source and summit" or not until the Church has returned to a greater sense of the sacred moment, the sacred place and space, and to a more traditional iconography and architectonic design.
I'm not speaking of a mindless return to Trent and Pius V's missal as a counter reaction to the Novus Ordo which so many SSPX and the neanderthals allied to them have embraced, but, instead, returning to local liturgies, designed by the bishop and his experts amongst clergy and laity. Those with a greater appreciation for western and eastern spirituality with an appreciation for modern modalities and liturgical choreography in it's fullest dimension than we have seen since Vatican II. Unfortunately, we have been starved from partaking in much of that rich patrimony of ritual, rubrics, music, and language for decades, and there are younger generations hungry to see much of it return. Then and only then, will you begin to see the pews fill up again.
The moving of the times of
The moving of the times of celebration was a stroke of genius. A few comments though:
1. Actually Pius XII's commission originally moved the Easter Vigil to midnight, erroneously parrallelizing it with the Midnight Mass of Christmas. In reality, as the name implies it is a vigil, that is an evening celebration.
2. The Maundy Thursday and Good Friday liturgies were originally celebrated in the afternoon because in the early church all masses in Lent were celebrated in the afternoon, after none, because the faithful fasted throughout the day. The celebrations were later moved to the morning so the faithful could break the fast earlier - it was, in fact, a concession to pastoral needs. Perhaps we ought now to rediscover the fasting fervour of the early church?
3. Pius XII's Holy Week reforms also introduced a number of oddities in the rituals - such as the sacred ministers having to change vestments four times during the Good Friday liturgies. Also, the splendid ancient Good Friday hymn Vexilla Regis was slashed, for no apparent reason. In some regards the reform thus seems to have been a bit unreflected.
Yes, the "Vexilla Regis" was
Yes, the "Vexilla Regis" was axed along with incense for Good Friday. The "Improperia" (minus some of the more objectionable parts which needed to go) were very beautiful, whether in Latin or in English (the latter as the high church Anglicans sing it). Let's not mindlessly go back to the past, but good liturgy never forgets it's roots and always appreciates the power and majesty of mind-blowing beauty in ritual and art. Many of those "medieval" rites had loads of it too.
Fr. McBrien is simply posting
Fr. McBrien is simply posting his columns as blog pieces, which is why they're not generating much discussion. He can do much better than this.
What a difference a year
What a difference a year makes...
http://ncronline.org/blogs/essays-theology/holy-week%E2%80%99s-liturgica...
Just ask the Vatican! They're having a much better Holy Week in 2011.
Unfortunately, the linkage
Unfortunately, the linkage between the liturgies of Holy Week and the original times and places of the sacred events became obscured in the medieval West, as any former altar boy can attest if he ever served on Holy Saturday morning, with its long readings in Latin and very few worshippers.
The situation was not remedied until the restoration of Holy Week mandated by Pope Pius XII in 1956, and the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council a few years later.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Fr.McBrien, Thanks for your terrific trip down memory lane in preparing us for the Sacred Triduum. I well remember serving as an acolyte for Holy Week in the years immediately preceding the changes made by Pope Pius XII. While I agree that having the hours changed from morning to afternoon and evening was a significant and a wonderful improvement, I think many of the rites were unnecessarily shortened or eliminated altogether. They were deeply stirring ceremonies removed by archbishop Anibale Bugnini, who was Pius XII's liturgical adviser on this project starting I think in 1948.
While I have no time for the SSPX desire and plan to take Catholicism back to the good old days of Pius V and Alexander VI, the liturgies since 1955 have lost much of their beauty and haunting appeal. For example, The Holy Saturday vigil as we have it today really isn't a vigil at all, but a scriptural preclude to the Mass of Easter. Once there were 12 prophecies rich in significance in their association with the paschal mysteries. You knew you were in a vigil sitting through the seemingly endless chanting of the prophecies by the lectors or subdeacons in their "folded chasuables". Why not return to the early Church with the "lection continua" of scripture throughout Good Friday.
Then there is the three-branched, Byzantine-style, candlestick (symbolizing the 3 Marys rushing to the tomb)used in blessing the Holy Fire on Great Saturday, and the anointing of the font. They were other unfortunate losses to the Bugnini reforms. Surely, the three branched candlestick (still used by the Premonstratensians I believe) could be incorporated into our Holy Saturday rites.
I hope someday the pope will permit greater liturgical variety at the diocesan level and permit the use of these older rites, at least as local options. Now I go to the Anglo Catholic (Anglican) churches for Holy Saturday. Fortunately, the Anglo Catholics never dropped the older rites as Rome did. They're rich and moving ceremonies are truly moving.
The Anglo Catholic Good Friday is the same because they've retained these pre-1955 rites,including the much fuller form of the Presanctified Mass. Why can't Rome restore the "easter sepulchre" with the burial of the cross and host on Good Friday later brought out at the Easter vigil as the the first Mass of Easter starts at the chiming of bells and the singing of the Gloria in Excelsis Deo?
Unfortunately, the linkage
Unfortunately, the linkage between the liturgies of Holy Week and the original times and places of the sacred events became obscured in the medieval West, as any former altar boy can attest if he ever served on Holy Saturday morning, with its long readings in Latin and very few worshippers.
The situation was not remedied until the restoration of Holy Week mandated by Pope Pius XII in 1956, and the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council a few years later.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Fr.McBrien, Thanks for your terrific trip down memory lane in preparing us for the Sacred Triduum. I well remember serving as an acolyte for Holy Week in the years immediately preceding the changes made by Pope Pius XII. While I agree that having the hours changed from morning to afternoon and evening was a significant and a wonderful improvement, I think many of the rites were unnecessarily shortened or eliminated altogether. They were deeply stirring ceremonies removed by archbishop Anibale Bugnini, who was Pius XII's liturgical adviser on this project starting I think in 1948.
While I have no time for the SSPX desire and plan to take Catholicism back to the good old days of Pius V and Alexander VI, the liturgies since 1955 have lost much of their beauty and haunting appeal. For example, The Holy Saturday vigil as we have it today really isn't a vigil at all, but a scriptural preclude to the Mass of Easter. Once there were 12 prophecies rich in significance in their association with the paschal mysteries. You knew you were in a vigil sitting through the seemingly endless chanting of the prophecies by the lectors or subdeacons in their "folded chasuables". Why not return to the early Church with the "lection continua" of scripture throughout Good Friday.
Then there is the three-branched, Byzantine-style, candlestick (symbolizing the 3 Marys rushing to the tomb)used in blessing the Holy Fire on Great Saturday, and the anointing of the font. They were other unfortunate losses to the Bugnini reforms. Surely, the three branched candlestick (still used by the Premonstratensians I believe) could be incorporated into our Holy Saturday rites.
I hope someday the pope will permit greater liturgical variety at the diocesan level and permit the use of these older rites, at least as local options. Now I go to the Anglo Catholic (Anglican) churches for Holy Saturday. Fortunately, the Anglo Catholics never dropped the older rites as Rome did. They're rich and moving ceremonies are truly moving.
The Anglo Catholic Good Friday is the same because they've retained these pre-1955 rites,including the much fuller form of the Presanctified Mass. Why can't Rome restore the "easter sepulchre" with the burial of the cross and host on Good Friday later brought out at the Easter vigil as the the first Mass of Easter starts at the chiming of bells and the singing of the Gloria in Excelsis Deo?
Post new comment