The Theology of the Offertory - Part 7.7 - The Use of Seville

March 19, 2015, 2:35 pm

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Seville is a very ancient center of Christianity on the Iberian peninsula; it had a bishop already by 303 A.D., when Ss Justa and Rufina were martyred there in the persecution of Diocletian. It is of course famous as the see of St Isidore, the great encyclopedist of the Middle Ages, and a Doctor of the Church. The cathedral is the largest Gothic church in existence, and the third-largest church in the world; the old Catholic Encyclopedia states that the plan of the chapter was to build a structure “on so vast a scale that posterity should deem it the work of madmen.” It was begun in 1403, and completed in 1506, a miraculously swift achivement in the history of Europe’s great cathedrals.

The cathedral of Seville and its massive bell-tower, La Giralda. The church occupies the site of a former mosque, which was converted into the cathedral when the city was reconquered in 1248, but later torn down to make way for the present structure. The lower part of the Giralda is the minaret of the mosque, the upper part is an additional of the later 16th-century. (image from wikipedia.)

Unlike that of Toledo, the Missal of Seville, printed in the city itself in 1565, contains no Ritus servandus, the long rubric which describes how the Mass is said. Much of the Offertory is similar to that of Toledo, which is described in the previous article but one of this series; the most important difference is that Seville includes in its missal the ancient and widely-used Offertory prayer Suscipe Sancta Trinitas, which Toledo omits. It is not said, however, as part of the Offertory ritual itself. After the introductory prayers (the Judica me, the confession etc.) there are four Apologias; as I did with the Missal of Toledo, I will give the text of these in Latin and English in a separate post. There follow two versions of Suscipe Sancta Trinitas, one to be said “post Offerenda – after the things which will be offered”, and another version “for the dead”, which is as far as I can tell unique to Seville. No rubric is given as to when exactly these prayers are said, with what ritual (if any), or even whether they were obligatory; at Toledo, the Apologias were said “if (the priest) wishes, and time permits.”

The first version reads very much like the longer recension found in the French Uses.

Suscipe, sancta Trinitas, unus Deus, hanc oblationem, quam tibi offero pro me peccatore, omnium hominum miserrimo, et pro omnibus parentibus et benefactoribus meis, et omnibus fidelibus vivis et defunctis, in memoriam Annuntiationis, Incarnationis, Nativitatis, Passionis, Resurrectionis Ascensionisque Domini nostri Jesu Christi, et adventus Spiritus Sancti, et in veneratione beatae Mariae semper Virginis, et in honore omnium Sanctorum tuorum qui tibi placuerunt ab initio mundi, et eorum quorum hodie festivitas celebratur, et eorum quorum hic nomina et reliquiae hic habentur, ut illis proficiat ad honorem, nobis autem ad salutem; ut illi omnes Sancti pro nobis intercedere dignentur in caelis, quorum memoriam facimus in terris. Per.
Receive, o holy Trinity, one God, this offering, which I offer to Thee for myself a sinner, most wretched of all men, and for all my relatives and benefactors, and all the faithful, living and deceased, in memory of the Annunciation, Incarnation, Birth, Passion, Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the coming of the Holy Spirit; and in veneration of the Blessed Mary ever-Virgin, and in honor of all Thy Saints who have pleased you from the beginning of the world, and of those whose feast is celebrated today, and whose names and relics are kept here; that it may profit unto their honor and our salvation; that all those Saints whose memory we keep on earth, may deign to intercede for us in Heaven.

In accordance with the tenor of the whole Roman Rite and its manner of praying for the dead, the version said at Requiem Masses is entirely focused on the deceased then being commemorated.

Suscipe, sancta Trinitas, hanc oblationem, quam tibi offero pro animabus famulorum famularumque tuarum, et omnium fidelium defunctorum, et eorum, quorum hodie memoriam agimus, ut requiem aeternam dones eis inter Sanctos et electos tuos, ut in illorum consortio vita perfruamur aeterna. Per.
Receive, o holy Trinity, one God, this offering, which I offer to Thee for the souls of Thy servants and handmaids, and all the faithful departed, and of those whose memory we keep today; that Thou may give them eternal rest among Thy Saints and elect, that we may enjoy eternal life in their company.

The Offertory proper begins with wine being put in the chalice, with the words of Psalm 74, “Hunc humiliat, et hunc exaltat: quia calix in manu Domini vini meri, plenus misto. – One he putteth down, and another he lifteth up: For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup of strong wine full of mixture.” When the water is put in, the use of Seville prescribes that almost exactly the same words be said as in the Use of Toledo; however, no indication is given as to the ritual that accompanies them.

Ex latere Domini nostri Jesu Christi sanguis et aqua exivit; et ideo nos pariter commiscemus, ut misericors Deus utrumque ad medelam animarum nostrarum sanctificare dignetur. Per eundem etc. – From the side of our Lord Jesus Christ came forth blood and water; and therefore we likewise mix (them), that God in His mercy may deign to sanctify them both for the healing of our souls. Through the same Our Lord etc.

The corporal is then spread, (the rubrics do not say by whom), with the words “In tuo conspectu, Domine, quaesumus, haec munera nostra tibi placita sint; ut nos tibi placere valeamus. Per. – In Thy sight, o Lord, we ask, may these our gifts be pleasing to Thee; that we may be able to please Thee. Through Our Lord etc.”

The beginning of the Mass of Corpus Christi, from the 1565 Missal of Seville.

The next three prayers, at the offering of the host, the offering of the chalice, and the covering of the chalice, are almost identical to those said at Toledo. The first reads “Acceptabilis sit majestati tuae omnipotens Deus, haec oblatio, quam tibi offerimus pro reatibus, et facinoribus nostris, et pro stabilitate sanctae Dei Ecclesiae Catholicae. Per. – May this offering be acceptable to Thy majesty, almighty God, which we offer to Thee for our sins and offenses, and for the stability of God’s holy Catholic Church. Through Our Lord etc.” The second is “Offerimus tibi, Domine, calicem Christi Filii tui, humiliter deprecantes clementiam tuam, ut ante conspectum divinae majestati tuae, cum odore suavitatis ascendat. Per eundum Christum. – We offer to Thee, o Lord, the chalice of Christ, Thy Son, humbly beseeching Thy clemency, that before the sight of Thy divine majesty, it may ascend with the odor of sweetness. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Seville does not use the term “filiola – little daughter”, “hijuela” in Spanish, for the pall, as does the Missal of Toledo. The prayer said at the covering is: “Hanc oblationem, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus, placatus accipe, et omnium offerentium, et eorum pro quibus offertur, peccata indulge. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. – Peaceably accept this offering, we ask, almighty God, and forgive the sins of all who offer (it), and of those for whom it is offered. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

The prayers said at the incensation of the offerings are also similar to those of Toledo. The blessing of the incense is “Ab illo sanctificeris, in cujus honore cremaberis. – May thou be sanctified (‘blessed’ is much more common) by Him in whose honor thou shalt be burned.” While the altar is incensed, the priest says “Placare, quaesumus, Domine, hoc thure, et mise-rere nostri, parcens peccatis nostris; et praesta propitius, ut bonus odor simus in vitam aeternam. Amen. – Be thou reconciled, we ask, o Lord, by this incense, and have mercy upon us, sparing our sins; and grant in Thy mercy, that we may be a good odor unto eternal life. Amen.”

Seville then adds a second prayer for the incensation, which is also found in some medieval sacramentaries: “Omnipotens Deus, qui suscepisti munera Abel, Noe, Melchisedec, Aaron, Samuelis et omnium sanctorum tuorum, sic et de manu peccatorum suscipere digneris incensum istud in conspectu tuo, in odorem suavitatis, in remissionem omnium peccatorum nostrorum. Per. – Almighty God, who received the gifts of Abel, Noah, Melchisedec, Aaron, Samuel, and all Thy Saints; so also may Thou deign to receive this incense in Thy sight from the hand of sinners, unto the odor of sweetness, and the remission of all our sins. Through.”

The parish of the Divine Savior in Seville (image from Spanish wikipedia.)

At the washing of the hands, only a few words of Psalm 25 are given, “I will wash my hands among the innocent.” The priest then says a prayer “Quaeso, omnipotens Deus, da mihi ita manus lavare, ut Dominicum corpus et sanguinem pura mente possim tractare. – I ask, almighty God; grant me so to wash my hands, that I may be able to treat the Lord’s Body and Blood with a pure mind.” There follows the prayer In spiritu humilitatis, which is said bowing low: “In a spirit of humility, and in contrite heart, may we be received by Thee, o Lord; and so may my sacrifice take place in Thy sight this day, that it may be received by Thee, and please Thee, o Lord.” This differs from the Dominican Use only in changing “our” to “my”, as noted in bold. The Veni sanctificator is not said, nor any of the common variants of it.

The priest then stands straight and blesses the bread and wine together, saying “In nomine sanctae Trinitatis, et individuae Unitatis, descendat Angelus benedictionis, et consecrationis super hoc munus – In the name of the Holy Trinity, and undivided Unity, may the angel of blessing and consecration descend upon this gift. Amen.”

Turning to the people, he then says the Orate fratres as follows, again similar to the Use of Toledo: “Obsecro vos, fratres, ut oretis pro me peccatore ad Dominum, ut meum sacrificium, vestrumque votum sit Deo acceptum. - I beseech you, brethren, that you pray for me a sinner to the Lord, that my sacrifice and your prayer may be acceptable to God.” The response is “Suscipiat omnipotens Deus sacrificium de manibus tuis, ad laudem et gloriam nominis sui, et ad tuam et nostram salutem, et omnium circumstantium populorum. – May God almighty receive the sacrifice from thy hands, for thy salvation and ours, and all the peoples here present.”

This series will continue with some prayers from the Missal of Seville.

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St. Joseph in the East

March 20, 2015, 2:09 am

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Today at Wyoming Catholic College there is a general euphoria for the celebration of the Solemnity of St. Joseph. Parties are being given, Italian dinners will be consumed, and in general, the students will be frolicking in the joy of the feast of the Guardian. The feast, however, does not existent on the liturgical calendar for the Ukrainian Greek Catholics. Following the 10th century Typikon of the Monastery of St. Sabas, our only liturgical commemoration for St. Joseph is the Sunday after the Nativity, when we commemorate King David, St. Joseph, and St. James, the brother of Our Lord according to the flesh. The Syriac tradition observes a feast of the Revelation to St. Joseph on the Second Sunday before Christmas, so, while offering a slightly different emphasis it agrees with the the Byzantine tradition in making St Joseph’s feasts part of the Nativity season. I’ll admit to being slightly confused as to why the Latin Church observes her own feast when she does: it is in some proximity to the Annunciation, although one would tend to think a feast that commemorates Joseph taking Mary into his home would fall on the days following the Annunciation, not before it. (I’m told that current liturgical historians think that the date may arise from the previous observance of Joseph of Antioch’s feast on March 20th, and a linking of the two.) For their part, my Latin students are no less puzzled that any Catholic Church does not observe the feast day of the universal patron of the Church. (Even if Joseph’s title of universal patron is not explicitly linked to the current Roman liturgical commemoration of him, I have found that in the hearts of many the title is still linked with the day.)

The mutual bemusement led me to consider the history of devotion to St. Joseph in the Christian East, which seems to have especially flowered in Egypt. This is probably due to the importance the Egyptian Church placed on the the Infant Christ’s entrance into Egypt, and St. Joseph’s integral role in that regard. Many of the local churches of Egypt that claimed to have been a resting spot or even a residence for the Holy Pilgrims came to observe the feast of the Flight into

Egypt on various days, and by the early 15th century, as recorded in the Synaxarion of the Coptic Church of Alexandria, each local church was allowed to commemorate the feast in conjunction with the feast of the dedication of the particular church.

A fifth century (or perhaps earlier) apocryphal text, “The History of Joseph the Carpenter”, gives testimony to the liturgical commemoration of the death of St. Joseph, observed on the 26th of the Egyptian month of Abib (the 2nd of August on the Gregorian Calendar). The text in its present form opens with a doxology that seems designed for liturgical worship, and concludes with a doxology as well. Certainly by the 15th century synaxarion mentioned above, the Alexandrian use had uniformly adopted the feast on August 2 as the feast of the Transition of Joseph into Heaven.

I find the apocryphal text itself to be a beautiful read, admittedly with some occasional eyebrow raising, but on the whole a lovely meditation on Joseph’s relationship to Christ. The narrative of his life and death is placed on the lips of Christ, as He entrusts this story to His Apostles as part of His own Gospel. The text adopts the fairly uniform position of the East that St. Joseph was a widower, and an old man by the time he married the Theotokos. In the account, Joseph is held to be the father of six children, with James the Just still being a child when Joseph, at the spry age of 90, took the Virgin into his home. It also stresses that Joseph was a Patriarch in the ancient tradition, remaining spry and active well past 100, until finally be overtaken by death at the age of 111. Regardless of how much credence one gives to the particulars, the story remains the earliest testimony to devotion to St. Joseph.

From here, the Coptic Church would eventually develop an entire liturgical office for St. Joseph. The office, and implicitly the ranking of St. Joseph himself, is placed in the following order: first the office for the Theotokos, then that of the Angels, then that of John the Baptist, then St. Joseph, then the Apostles and subsequent saints. This ranking is testimony to a tradition seemingly referenced even by St. Thomas Aquinas in the West (Super Sent., lib. 2 d. 11 q. 2 a. 4 ad 2) which sees John the Baptist above all other men, but just after the Angels, in accordance with Christ’s words in Matthew 11, 11. Nevertheless, devotion to St. Joseph does not seem especially active in the current Coptic Church.

In the early 1800’s, the Melkite Patriarch Maximos III introduced the observance of the Feast of St. Joseph into his church’s liturgical year on March 19. However, the title of the feast was given as “The Feast of the Transition of St. Joseph the Betrothed into Heaven.” As such, it is the second feast of St. Joseph on the Melkite calendar, and I am struck by the Patriarch’s thoughtfulness in its regard. He was attempting at the time to balance certain pressures from Rome, and especially the Latin missionary movement, and thus introduced the increasingly popular observance of St. Joseph on the 19th of March. But he also tried to in some way connect it to the liturgical tradition of the East. Since a feast of St. Joseph as the foster father of Christ already existed on the Byzantine calendar on the Sunday after Christmas, he instead looked to Egypt’s long tradition of observing the dormition of Joseph.

The Ukrainian Church, on the other hand, has not yet seen fit to introduce the feast into its own Lenten calendar. Since the Council of Trullo forbade any Divine Liturgies on the weekdays of Lent besides the feast of the Annunciation, it would bring a lot of questions in any case. Would it be observed at a Presanctified liturgy with a Gospel, as is done for the few other weekday liturgical commemorations of Lent (The First and Second Findings of the Head of John the Baptist, and the Feast of the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste)? Would it be transferred to a given Saturday of Lent, as was done with the feast of St. Theodore the Recruit? Or, (this seems very unlikely), would the UGCC adopt a full observance on the 19th of March, with a Divine Liturgy? The Melkite church had, under the influence of the Latin Church, come to observe daily Divine Liturgies through Lent, so the introduction of the March 19th feast did not immediately raise these questions for them; I don’t have enough experience with the current practice of the Melkites to know what they are doing at present.

What has been adopted, by the UGCC, in good Slavic tradition, is the praying of an Akathist to St. Joseph. The Akathist (literally “not sitting”) is a 6th century Marian hymn that has a pride of place in Bzyantine Marian devotion. In the Slavic Churches, a variety of Akathists, patterned on the 6th century exemplar, were composed and dedicated to various saints, themes, or titles of Our Lady. The Church of Kyiv that is in union with Rome, produced a very lovely Akathist to Joseph the Betrothed. The Marian Akathist is actually prayed liturgically as part of the Matins for the fifth Sunday of Lent, and in some monasteries is part of Friday night Compline throughout Lent. The Akathist of St Joseph, however, has no corresponding liturgical commemoration, and thus remains a private devotion. But the more I pray it, the more I am struck by how the prayer weaves in themes from the liturgy of the Byzantine Church, be they themes from the Royal Hours of Christmas Eve, or appropriations of other liturgical texts not connected to Joseph, which offer an interpretation of them in light of St. Joseph’s role. The whole prayer can be found here; for the moment, I will just highlight one of my favorite aspects of the prayer, Joseph’s role as the secret-keeper of the Incarnation. Since the time of St. Ignatius of Antioch, the Church has spoken about the great secret of Mary’s Virginity, and how the secret was kept from men and demons. The Akathist to Joseph highlights his role as the one who was instrumental in guarding this mystery:

Preserving the mystery of the birth of God the Word by the all-Pure Virgin, which is inaccessible even to the angels, from the slander of people and the craft of the devil, God chose you, O righteous Joseph, a lowly carpenter, to be the protector and witness of the virginity of the all-Holy Mary.

Even though my own liturgical tradition has not adopted the feast of March 19, I am sufficiently swayed by the festivities around me, and so in love with this akathist, that I will gladly sing it this evening. For those of you with actual liturgical commemorations happening today, I hope you will take the time to at least pray part of this lovely collection of verses in honor to Joseph the Betrothed.

Rejoice, o righteous Joseph, ready helper and intercessor for our souls!

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Latin and Greek Summer Immersion Program at Ave Maria University

March 20, 2015, 5:00 am

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This news comes to us from the Classics department at AMU in Ave Maria, Florida.

At Ave Maria University in southwest Florida, we have been offering interested students a unique opportunity for the past four years: two three-week summer courses in beginning and intermediate Latin and Greek, teaching students to speak, read, write and respond in the ancient languages. After six weeks, participants build a basic 600-word vocabulary, learn to compose sentences, build basic narratives, and read and analyze all in the target language.

The Summer Intensive Immersion Courses in Latin and Greek at Ave Maria are designed to bring students to an active proficiency in Classical Latin or Koine Greek through immersion and dedicated study. Students learn by communicative exchange from the first day of class. We have taken the successful formula of intensive summer courses in Latin and Greek, as taught at CUNY and the University of California, Berkeley, and added a methodology inspired by applied linguistics: reading skills built through communicative competence. Our goal in speaking Latin or Greek in the classroom is certainly not to learn to speak an ancient language for the sake of it but to read ancient texts without the constant need for analysis through translation.

Latin courses are designed and taught by Dr. Bradley Ritter. Dr. Ritter received his Ph.D. in Classics from the University of California at Berkeley. He has published on Hellenistic and Roman history and Judaism in the ancient world. Greek courses are designed and taught by Dr. Christophe Rico. Dr. Rico received his Ph.D. in Greek linguistics at the Sorbonne and has published on general linguistics, Greek linguistics, and Koine Greek. He is also the founder of Polis, an institute in Jerusalem which offers a two-year M.A. program in Classical languages, philology, and the culture of the Holy Land.

This year, Level 1, for both Greek and Latin, is held from Monday, June 1 until Friday, June 19. Level 2 is held from Monday, June 22 until Friday, July 10.

We invite you to visit us online (classics.avemaria.edu/polis_greek_and_latin/) or contact us directly at summerimmersion@avemaria.edu for more information.

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A New Regular TLM in the Diocese of Dunkeld

March 20, 2015, 1:44 pm

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A new monthly Traditional Mass has begun in Diocese of Dunkeld, Scotland, at the behest of the recently appointed bishop, His Excellency Stephen Robson, supported by the work of Una Voce Scotland. Bishop Robson had been approached by a group of more than sixty people who requested the traditional mass; the inaugural Mass was celebrated on Sunday, March 15th, at St Joseph’s Convent Chapel, Dundee, by Fr John Emerson FSSP, who is based in Edinburgh. Bishop Robson sat in choir, and the event was a great success, with some 130 people present, including many young adults and teenagers. Catholic Students from the University of Dundee provided some of the altar servers, and the Mass was sung some alumni of St Andrew’s. A short article about the event is here, on the website of the diocese: http://www.dunkelddiocese.co.uk/monthly-extraordinary-form-mass/, and a photogallery here: http://www.dunkelddiocese.co.uk/gallery/. The EF community has also put together a facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/EFDundee. Special thanks to His Excellency for his support of and pastoral care for the young Catholics of his diocese!

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A Roman Pilgrim at the Station Churches 2015 (Part 8)

March 20, 2015, 1:46 pm

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Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent - The Four Crowned Martyrs

Scroll down for some especially nice pictures of the procession through the church’s cloister. Once again, thanks to our friend Agnese for sharing them with us.

I have posted pictures of this antependium shown here, and the reliquaries of the titular Saints of this church on the balsutrade next to the altar, a few times in the past.

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent - San Lorenzo in Damaso

On Tuesday, everybody dropped the ball, and the Stational Mass was held without a procession or exposition of relics.

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent - Saint Paul Outside-the-Walls

This station, at the Basilica which houses the tomb of the Apostle of the Gentiles, was traditionally the day of one of the most important scrutinies, the rituals by which the Church prepared the catechumens for baptism on Easter night. The Gospel is historically that of the Man Born Blind (John 9, 1-38, whose anointing, according to the Fathers, represents the anointing of the catechumens.

Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent - San Martino ai Monti

San Martino has been since the 16th-century the home of the generalate of the Carmelites of the Old Observance, some of whom are seen here in the procession before the Mass.

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Photopost Request: Annunciation and Passiontide Veils 2015

March 21, 2015, 2:24 pm

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Our next major photoposts will be for the feast of the Annunciation, March 25; please send your photos (whether of the Ordinary or Extraordinary Form) to photopost@newliturgicalmovement.org for inclusion. We are also always glad to receive photographs of celebrations in the Eastern rites, as well as Vespers and other parts of the Office. Please be sure to include the name and location of the church, and always feel free to add any other information you think important.

This year the feast falls in Passion week, and we will also be doing a photopost of veils for Passiontide, followed by (hopefully) many photoposts of the Holy Week ceremonies. Evangelize through beauty!

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Laetare Sunday, St Joseph, and St. Patrick Photopost

March 21, 2015, 3:30 pm

≫ Next: From the Archives : Liturgical Colours for Lent in the Ambrosian Tradition

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As always, our thanks to all those who sent in photos for Laetare Sunday and the feast of St Joseph. We also received from Northern Ireland some photos of a Mass for St Patrick’s Day, and a nice image of a Cross decorated for the Third Sunday of Lent in the Byzantine Rite, the Sunday of the Veneration of the Holy Cross. (Please do keep in mind that NLM is always very happy to receive and publish photographs of liturgies not covered by specific photopost requests.)

Holy Name of Jesus - Providence, Rhode Island (Laetare Sunday)

St Patrick’s Church - Wangaratta, Australia (Laetare Sunday)

Holy Family - Latrobe, Pennsylvania (Laetare Sunday)

St John the Baptist Ukrainian Greek Catholic Catheral - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross, the Third Sunday of Great Lent)

St Therese of Liseiux - Belfast, Northern Ireland (The Feast of St Patrick)

Shamrocks were blessed and distributed to the congregation before the Mass.

College Seminary of the Immaculate Heart of Mary - Tagbilaran City, Bohol, Philippine Islands (Feast of St Joseph)

St François de Paul Chapel - Bourne-les-Mimosas, France (Feast of St Joseph)

St Joseph Church, Mother of Divine Mercy Parish - Detroit Michigan (Feast of St Joseph)

Masses celebrated in the OF, the Chaldean Rite, and the EF, the last followed by a candelight procession.

His Excellency Donald Hanchon, Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit, celebrated the noon Mass in the OF.

National Shrine of St Maximilian Kolbe - Libertyville, Illinois (Feast of St Joseph)

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From the Archives : Liturgical Colours for Lent in the Ambrosian Tradition

March 22, 2015, 2:38 pm

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This article by our Ambrosian expert Nicola de’ Grandi was originally published on NLM on March 23, 2010. From time to time, we will be reposting earlier articles which may be of interest to our newer readers.

According to the Ambrosian liturgical tradition, this present week is the last week of the ordinary Lenten season, before the beginning of the season “in Authentica”, known as Holy Week in the Roman Rite. In fact, there is no Passiontide in the Ambrosian Rite, and Crucifixes in Ambrosian churches are never veiled.

This shift gives an occasion to give our readership some information about the use of liturgical colours during Lent in the Ambrosian Rite.

First of all, it should be noted that in the Ambrosian Tradition, the whole of Lenten time is “aeortological”, that is no Saint’s feast - apart from St. Joseph and the Annunciation, the latter only since 1902 - is ever celebrated during Lent. Thus, almost on every Lenten weekday, the Mass is de feria, with the only exception of the above mentioned feasts. Fridays are always aliturgical, and the celebration of the Mass in Ambrosian churches is strictly, as is the celebration of Mass by Ambrosian priests in the Roman Rite churches of the diocese.

The liturgical colour for Lenten feriae is that of strict penance: black.

In fact, according to the Ambrosian tradition, black is not only the colour of mourning (and, as such, used for requiem Masses), but also the true color of penance and fast. In this sense it is used at least since the 12th century not only for Lenten ferial days, but also for the Minor Litanies, which in the Ambrosian Rite occur after the Ascension, not before.

It is also worth noting that the use of black for Lenten feriae has been recently restored as an option in the Ordinary Form.

On Sundays, on the contrary, when penance is partially mitigated and the fast is suspended, the colour used for liturgy is -or rather should be- a dark sort of violet called “morello”, which is very different form the Roman “violaceo”.

You see an example of this difference in the photo below, taken during a Pontifical Mass in the Cathedral; the Archbishop of Milan is wearing morello vestments, while the deacon is wearing a roman violet dalmatic. (The imposition of the ashes takes place at the beginning of Lent only in the Ordinary Form.)

Rose-colored vestments are never used in the Ambrosian tradition.

The use of black and morello ends with the Thursday after the Fifth Sunday of Lent; the following Friday is, of course, aliturgical.

The Saturday after the Fifth Sunday of Lent is called “in Traditione Symboli - at the handing down of the Creed”, the day on which the Creed was imparted to the catechumen. From this day forward, the Ambrosian Church drops black and wears only red during the whole week “in Authentica”, even on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, until Easter Eve.

During the Easter Vigil, which has structure very different from the Roman one, the celebrant and major ministers will drop red and wear white, which is used only the Saturday “in albis”.

On the Sunday immediately afterwards, called “Dominica in Albis depositis”, as the neophytes put aside the white dress they received during the Paschal Vigil, so also for liturgical cermonies, white is replaced with green, which will be used for the rest of Eastertide.

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How the Cistercians Can Help Us Disentangle the Washing of the Feet

March 23, 2015, 2:50 pm

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Every year, we come back to the Holy Thursday ceremony of the washing of the feet -- and all the inevitable controversy that surrounds it when women are included among the group whose feet are washed, in spite of the use of the masculine word viri in the liturgical rubrics. Sadly, we seem to be living in a time where liturgy so often becomes another socio-political statement, thanks to a pervasive disregard for the wisdom of Catholic tradition and the simultaneous conviction that we ourselves are the masters and possessors of the liturgy, that we know better than our benighted forebears. Liturgy then risks turning into a declaration of our preconceptions, priorities, and politics. How many people consider themselves bound to do things the traditional way because they have a fundamental trust that this way is good, holy, wise, greater than I am, and ready to teach me spiritual lessons if I but apprentice myself to it?

I would like to suggest, however, that in regard to the Holy Thursday mandatum ceremony, we can learn a valuable lesson from the Cistercian tradition, one that could resolve even this particular dispute in a surprisingly sympathetic manner.

First, we must recognize that Our Lord's washing of the feet has a double aspect to it, which, it seems to me, accounts for some of the confusion we have managed to introduce by not thinking through how these two aspects are related. One aspect is the washing of the apostles’ feet at their ordination and the first Mass. Here, the accent is definitely placed on the apostolic college as the kernel of the new ministerial priesthood of the new covenant. The other aspect, of course, is the washing of the feet as a symbol of serving one’s fellow man in general, even as Christ came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Thus we have something of a paradox here: a symbolic action of universal application is nevertheless being given at a very particular event in salvation history with a very special group of men—not just any human beings, not just any male individuals, but the first priests and bishops of the Church. The Virgin Mary was holier than all of them put together, she offered her Son most perfectly the next day at the foot of the Cross, and she guided the nascent Church in profound ways we will understand only in heaven. And yet she was not called upon to offer the Eucharistic sacrifice nor to govern local churches, as the Apostles and their successors did; nor was she among the men whose feet were washed at the Last Supper. This tension in the mandatum between the universal charity symbolism and the particular apostolic/priestly symbolism makes it necessary to choose ONE or the OTHER as the prime symbol. Yet there is an assymetrical relationship between these. If you mix in the women, you are opting for the universal charity message and excluding the ordination message; whereas if you simply have men, as the rubrics specify, you are opting for a reenactment of what Christ did that evening at the first Mass, but you are not excluding the charity symbolism. After all, the very heart of the sacrifice of Christ was His burning charity for God and man, and this is the love the apostles, as His priests, are to carry into the world. In any case, the way the ceremony is done should not, as it were, garble the message so that one ends up severing the universal message from its original sacramental context.

Here is where the Cistercian tradition can be so helpful. Historically, these related but distinct aspects of the Holy Thursday washing of the feet were highlighted in analogous but still separate monastic ceremonies, as Terryl N. Kinder explains:

While many activities related to water took place in the gallery nearest the fountain, the mandatum was performed in the collation cloister. The weekly mandatum, or ritual washing of the feet, takes its name from the commandment of Jesus (John 13:34), which was also the text of an antiphon sung during the ceremony: “Mandatum novum . . .” (“A new commandment I give you . . .”). The ritual was a reminder of humility and also of charity toward one’s neighbors, whether those in the community or those outside. It was obviously inspired by Christ washing the feet of his disciples, and it was commonly practiced in the early church as a simple act of charity, recommended by Saint Paul (1 Tim. 5:10).
The community mandatum took place just before collation and Compline on Saturday afternoon, and, as specified in chapter 35 of the Rule of Saint Benedict, the weekly cooks—incoming and outgoing—performed the ceremony. The cooks who were leaving their week’s duty were responsible for heating the water in cold weather. The monks sat along the benches in this gallery, and the ritual began when the abbot (or cantor in the abbot’s absence) intoned the antiphon Postquam. After the abbot took off his shoes, the community followed, but as foot modesty was very important, the brothers were instructed to keep their bare feet covered at all times with their cowls. The senior (in monastic rank) of the two monks entering his week’s kitchen service washed the abbot’s feet first, while the junior incoming kitchen brother dried his feet; this pair continued washing and drying the feet of all the monks sitting to the left of the abbot. At the same time the senior of the cooks leaving his weekly service washed the feet of the brothers to the abbot’s right, the junior outgoing cook drying; the pair finishing first went to the other side to help. The cooks then washed their hands along with the vessels and towels, and everyone put their shoes back on before the collation reading began.
On Holy Thursday preceding Easter, this ceremony had a special form, the mandatum of the poor. The porter chose as many poor men from the guesthouse as there were monks in the monastery, and these men were seated in this cloister gallery. The monks left the church after None, the abbot leading and the community following in order of seniority, until each monk was standing in front of a guest. The monks then honored the poor men by washing, drying, and kissing their feet and giving each one a coin (denier) provided by the cellarer.Later the same afternoon, the community mandatum was held, and it, too, had a special form on this day. In imitation of Christ washing the feet of the twelve disciples, the abbot washed, dried, and kissed the feet of twelve members of the community: four monks, four novices, and four lay brothers. His assistants then performed this ceremony for the entire community, including all monks from the infirmary who were able to walk, and all lay brothers.
We see, then, that the activities carried out in the gallery parallel to the church were activities of a spiritual nature—much like those carried out in the church itself. In every case they emphasized the Christian life in community, whether directed inwardly to oneself (the collation reading) or, in the mandatum, shared among others. The weekly mandatum recalled the unity-in-charity of the monastic community; the Holy Thursday mandatum linked that community to Christ and his disciples; and the mandatum of the poor symbolized the responsibilities of the community to the world of poverty and suffering beyond the abbey walls.[1]

Could we not think of ways in which to imitate and adapt the monastic custom in its thoughtful distinction of the two aspects of the mandatum? Could there be a washing of the feet of (e.g.) prisoners or the elderly or the handicapped that was not embedded, misleadingly and acontextually, in the liturgical commemoration of the Last Supper on Holy Thursday? It seems to me that we may be victims of a too limited imagination when it comes to the way the liturgy (and the rich symbols of the liturgy) can spill out into parish activities, outreach programs, or other domains of Catholic life. Are we trying to jam everything into the Mass? We will certainly end up making a mess of it, if that's the line of thinking we are following. Whereas if we allow the powerful deeds of Christ to sink into our consciousness, we will, like the Cistercians, develop a plethora of ways to express the inexhaustible richness of the Gospel, like streams branching off of a river.

Notes

[1] Terryl N. Kinder, Cistercian Europe: Architecture of Contemplation (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans; Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 2000), 136-37. To read more about how the Cistercians at Heiligenkreuz live out this practice even today, see this article by Fr. Edmund Waldstein, O.Cist.

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The New Evangelization and the Domestic Church - Pope Benedict XVI on the Connection between the Two

March 24, 2015, 3:26 pm

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Why the beauty of the prayer corner in the family home is crucial to the New Evangelization

The New Evangelization has become a buzzword of the age. Used by Pope St John Paul II, it refers to the need to reach the faithless in the West whose parents and grandparents were Christian. But how do we reach these people who have no faith, but think they already know enough about Christianity to be hostile to it?

In a short and clear paper written in 2000, Benedict XVI outlined what he believes is the answer to this question. If people are to convert they must believe that the Church has the answer to the fundamental question: ‘Which is the path to happiness?’ We do not tell people the answer to this question, he says, so much as show them. By the example of our own happy lives and loving interactions we show Christ to others. And the only way we can do this is to strive to be walking icons of Christ supernaturally transformed so that we participate in the light of the Transfiguration.

There were two aspects of the Christian message that Pope Benedict felt would resonate today particularly when communicated in this way. First is that we demonstrate Christian joy that transcends human suffering, so that in our own small way (or sometimes not so small) we bear suffering joyfully and with dignity as the martyrs did.

Second is that we should communicate the fact of life after death and a just and merciful judgment by Christ. When we have joyful hope for a future that reaches beyond death, fear is dispelled and we are given a purpose in this present life (anticipating themes discussed later in Spe Salvi in much greater depth). Again this is more powerfully transmitted in the way we are than by us telling people directly that we are joyful and free of fear.

How can we possibly live up to this ideal? The answer is that left to our own devices we can’t, but with God's grace we can. The foundation of such a transformation, says Benedict, is prayer.
Benedict describes prayer life that is a balance of three different sorts of prayer, all ordered to the Eucharist. These are, first, the Sacred Liturgy - the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours; second, ‘para-liturgical’ prayers which are devotional prayers said in common such as the rosary; and third personal prayer which is said alone and in private.

Most of us do not know how to pray well without being taught. Even the Apostles asked Christ to teach them how to pray and Benedict tells us that we need ‘schools of prayer’ where we may learn to pray this transforming prayer.

The most powerful and ideal school of prayer is the domestic church - the family home - where children learn by seeing the example of their parents (and I would say, especially fathers) praying to God, visibly and audibly to the image corner. Benedict tells us that the domestic church is an essential aspect of the new evangelization:

‘The new evangelization depends largely on the Domestic Church. The Christian family, to the extent that it succeeds in living love as communion and service as a reciprocal gift open to all, as a journey of permanent conversion supported by the grace of God, reflects the splendor of Christ in the world and the beauty of the divine Trinity.’

So, he seems to be saying, if we did not learn to pray in our own home (perhaps because you are a convert like me), we have a responsibility to learn and then to pray at home so that we each create our own domestic churches.

Outside the family, a spiritual director is the best way to learn. These are hard to come by and so the next best thing is to look at books on prayer, Thomas Dubay’s for example are good, and of course one of the four sections of the Catechism is devoted to it.

The book The Little Oratory, A Beginner’s Guide to Praying in the Home was written by myself and Leila Lawler with this aim in mind. (The word ‘oratory’, incidentally, derived from the Latin orare - to pray - means literally ‘house of prayer’.) In this we pass on the guidance we were given when we asked of others that question, ‘teach us how to pray’. It describes how to order prayer in accordance with the hierarchy that Benedict describes, so that it lightens the load of daily living rather becoming a burden. It addresses directly how to arrange the images for the icon corner in the home and how to pray to visual imagery.

The traditional layout for the core imagery of the icon corner is as follows: in the center should be the suffering Christ, that is Christ on the cross; to the left should be an image of Our Lady; and to the right should be an image of the glorified Christ (perhaps a Veronica cloth or Christ Enthroned with angels).

It seems that nearly every aspect of the Faith is contained in some way in just these images and there simply isn’t room to talk about it all here. However, it is interesting to note that they speak directly to the concerns that Benedict brought out in regard to the new evangelization: Christ on the cross is the most poignant symbol of consolation in our suffering; and all images of Christ glorified communicate to us the glory of heaven and what is in store for us through deification. This is the transformation by which we participate in the divine nature through Christ. It happens by degrees in this life through participation in the sacramental life.

Iconographic images of the face of Christ are always painted with an expression of compassion tinged with a slight sternness. This enigmatic combination tells us that Christ is a judge (hence the sternness), but that he is a good and merciful judge.

Finally, the role of Mary is crucial in the new evangelization, I believe. All that the Mother of God does is directing us to her son. We see this portrayed directly in many images of Our Lady - she engages us with her eyes while gesturing towards her son.

How will the domestic church evangelize the un-churched? At first sight it is not clear - it is possible that the images of the domestic church might communicate these truths to the faithless directly, who are invited into our homes, for example, but it is unlikely. That is not the point.

The idea is that they are placed in the homes of the faithful for the effect it has on us. The beauty of sacred art communicates something that words alone cannot. When we pray with holy images, especially liturgical prayer as in the Divine Office, what we see impresses itself on our souls and we are raised up to the ideals they portray . Despite ourselves in many cases, we are transformed, partaking in the divine nature so that we may show Christ to others. As we leave our homes and go about our daily business, engaging with our fellows in a secular society, people see in us something greater, the divine person. It is Christ who affects those people, through us. It is a lay 'in persona Christi'. In so doing we emulate also, in our own diminished way, the life of Our Lady showed her son to us and prays for us to Him constantly.

I painted the images below as examples that would be appropriate for an icon corner in a Domestic Church. In addition to the three core images - the face of the glorified Christ, Christ on the cross and Our Lady of Merrimack. The first is in a traditional iconographic style and the other two are in a Western gothic style.

In addition is the image of the Knight of the New Evangelization which I have painted as a symbol of the mission of the Church today. He portrays the need for chivalry and virtue in today's culture which is hostile to Christianity. The battle in the West is spiritual but nevertheless requires courage.

Don't forget the Way of Beauty online courses www.Pontifex.University (go to the Catalog) for college credit, for continuing ed. units, or for audit. A formation through an encounter with a cultural heritage - for artists, architects, priests and seminarians, and all interested in contributing to the 'new epiphany of beauty'.

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A Roman Pilgrim at the Station Churches 2015 (Part 9)

March 25, 2015, 3:02 am

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Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent - Saint Eusebius

In the historical lectionary, this was the day on which the Gospel of the Raising of Lazarus (John 11, 1-45) was read; the station was therefore kept at the church of Saint Eusebius on the Esquiline hill, right next to a very ancient Roman cemetery.

Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent - Saint Nicolas ‘in Carcere’

The peculiar name of this church, Saint Nicholas ‘in prison’, derives from a tradition that Saint Nicholas of Myra was brought to Rome and imprisoned by the Emperor Constantius for his refusal to accept the heresy of Arius. The church encompasses the remains of three temples built in the later years of the Roman Republic, the basements of which were in fact used a prisons in antiquity.

Passion Sunday (The Fifth Sunday of Lent) - Saint Peter’s

On this day, the chapter of St Peter’s Basilica celebrates Vespers with particular solemnity, after which the Veil of St Veronica is exposed for the veneration of the faithful from the balcony of one of the great pillars which support the church’s dome. The procession is held entirely within the church, which is of course the largest in the world; the high altar is covered with relics, as also on the Ember Saturday of Lent, when the Station is also held here.

Monday of Passion Week - Saint Chrysogonus

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Monks of Norcia Sign with Recording Label

March 25, 2015, 7:40 am

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From a press release just made public:

The Monks of Norcia Sign with Recording Label De Montfort Music

Distributed Worldwide Through Decca/Universal Music Classics

Debut International Recording of Ethereal Chant

March 23, 2015 (New York, New York) – The Monks of Norcia, a monastic Benedictine community of men from Norcia, Italy, are releasing their first international album. As the monks sing nine times per day, it is fitting that, after years of inquiries, they decided to release a recording of their classic-style Gregorian chant. The album will be available in early June of 2015.

Their monastery rests in the center of life and culture in the small town of Norcia, Italy and the monks engage the modern world while following in the footsteps of venerated sixth-century monk St. Benedict. Located on the ancient ruins of the home of St. Benedict and his sister St. Scholastica, the monastery is closely tied not only to the townspeople of Norcia, but to many international travelers who visit Monastero di San Benedetto in Norcia, or the Monastery of St. Benedict in Norcia.

Current Prior Fr. Cassian Folsom, an American, founded The Monks of Norcia. Before he became a monk, Fr. Folsom was enrolled in the music program at Indiana University in the United States. Fr. Cassian Folsom has inspired many with his dedication to monastic chant, clearly a central part of the young vibrant community where the average age among the monks is thirty-three. “Music for the monastic life is an essential part of our prayer. The Divine Office as well as the Mass are moments of prayer during the day which are all sung, so chant is part of the air we breathe and since we do it so often, it comes naturally. We wanted to do a recording, focusing on the monks exclusively and on chant only. Moving deliberately, it took several years from the invitation and interest expressed by De Montfort Music to finally being ready to For Immediate Release ecord, the time is right now and we are very happy with this prospect of releasing the music this way,” says Fr. Cassian Folsom.

(...)

Founded in 1998, The Benedictine Monks of Norcia are a young, monastic order of men who reside in Norcia Italy. Their monastery is home to the birthplace of Saint Benedict, set in the beautifully preserved nature of the Umbrian landscape. The Monks seek a life of prayer and work as guided by the Rule of St. Benedict summarized by the motto “Ora et labora” (work and pray). Their monastery rests in the center of town and receives many visitors from far and wide. In addition to chanting the Divine Office in Latin, the Monks sing the Mass and sing their meal prayers. They own their own brewery, which distributes their well-received signature beer called ‘Birra Nursia.’

Photo credit: Christopher Owens (http://cdo.photography)

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The Feast of the Annunciation 2015

March 25, 2015, 4:01 pm

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Today is the beginning of our salvation, and the manifestation of the mystery from the ages; the Son of God becometh the Son of the Virgin, and Gabriel proclaimeth grace. Wherefore, let us also cry out with him to the Mother of God: Rejoice, O full of grace! The Lord is with thee. (Troparion of the Annunciation)

The Annunciation, from the Trebizond Gospels (11th-century)

Σήμερον τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν τὸ κεφάλαιον, καὶ τοῦ ἀπ' αἰῶνος μυστηρίου ἡ φανέρωσις· ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, Υἱὸς τῆς Παρθένου γίνεται, καὶ Γαβριὴλ τὴν χάριν εὐαγγελίζεται. Διὸ καὶ ἡμεῖς σὺν αὐτῷ, τῇ Θεοτόκῳ βοήσωμεν· Χαῖρε Κεχαριτωμένη, ὁ Κύριος μετὰ σοῦ.

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Passiontide Veils 2015 - Your Photos

March 26, 2015, 12:02 pm

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As always, thanks to all of our readers who sent in photographs of their churches with veils for Passiontide. We are looking forward to seeing your pictures of yesterday’s feast, the Annunciation, followed by Palm Sunday and the rest of Holy Week, and then Easter. (This post has been updated with three new submissions, and we will be happy to add more if they arrive.)

St Mary Magdalene - Brighton, England

for more images see Fr. Ray Blake’s blog: http://marymagdalen.blogspot.co.uk/

Missa Cantata in the Premonstratensian Use. Note how right after the Consecration, the priest stretches his hands out in the form of Cross, a very common custom of medieval uses.

Oratory (in formation) of St Philip Neri - Washington, D.C.

Old St. Mary’s Church - Cincinnati, Ohio

Ss. Francis and Anthony - Crawley, West Sussex, England

St. Mary’s on the Quay - Bristol, England

Holy Rosary Paris - Birmingham, Alabama

St Paul’s Cathedral - Birmingham, Alabama

St Jude Chapel at Aquinas College - Nashville, Tennessee

St. Catharine of Alexandria - Újkér, Hungary

More photos available on the church’s facebook page.

St Vincent Seminary - Latrobe, Pennsylvania

San Felipe de Jesús - Los Angeles, California

This church is the temporary home of the FSSP’s Los Angeles apostolate.

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Holy Week Services in the Dominican Rite, East SF Bay Area

March 26, 2015, 10:05 am

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A schedule of Dominican Rite Holy Week Services at the Carmel of the Holy Family in Kensington (north Berkeley) CA may be found here. This link will be reposed before the Triduum.

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Holy Week Photopost Request

March 26, 2015, 4:21 pm

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As always, the high point of our photopost collection is Holy Week;. We invite you to send your photos (whether of the Ordinary or Extraordinary Form) to photopost@newliturgicalmovement.org for inclusion. We are also always glad to receive photographs of celebrations in the Eastern rites, as well as vespers and the office. Please be sure to include the name and location of the church, and always feel free to add any other information you think important.

Specifically, we are looking for photos from Palm Sunday, Chrism Mass, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil, Tenebrae, and Easter Sunday.

Evangelize through beauty!

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The Hungarian Greek-Catholic Church Elevated to Metropolitan Sui Juris Status

March 27, 2015, 12:25 pm

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As reported last week on Vatican Radio and elsewhere, the Holy Father has elevated the Hungarian Greek-Catholic Church from a church sui juris to the status of a metropolitan church sui juris. The Eparchy of Hajdúdorog has been raised to the status of a metropolitan see, and Fülöp Kocsis, hitherto Bishop of Hajdúdorog, has been appointed the first metropolitan archbishop. The Apostolic Exarchate of Miskolc has been raised to an Eparchy, and a new Eparchy has been created at Nyíregyháza; Bishop Atanáz Orosz has been appointed bishop of the former, and Apostolic administrator of the latter sede vacante. Both are suffragan to Hajdúdorog.

The website of the Hungarian Greek-Catholic Church has posted a very large number of photos of the installation of Metropolitan Fülöp; they are also available on the church’s facebook page, along with a number of links to various videos. Here is just a small selection, reproduced with their kind permission. (This post has been amended; thanks to Mr Samuel Howard for pointing out my original mistake in the combox.)

And here is a video of the complete ceremony; you can make it bigger by clicking the link at the top and watching it in a separate window.

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Picture Post: Passion Sunday at St. Theresa's, Trumbull, CT

March 27, 2015, 4:40 pm

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St. Theresa's Church, Trumbull, CT, celebrated its third Mass in the Extraordinary Form to mark Passion Sunday. The Rev. Shawn W. Cutler, parochial vicar, was the celebrant, assisted by the pastor, the Rev. Brian P. Gannon, S.T.D., as deacon, and Mr. John Pia as subdeacon. An estimated congregation of 200 attended the mass. The parish schola cantorum provided the music.

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A Beautiful Collection of Holy Week Photographs

March 28, 2015, 6:23 am

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A stunning collection of photographs of Holy Week taken during the last ten years at St John Cantius in Chicago has been assembled, which you can see over at their website. As a preview, I have posted a few photographs below of Palm Sunday, Tenebrae, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. Do go and have a look at the whole collection.

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The Raising of Lazarus in the Liturgy of Lent

March 28, 2015, 3:02 pm

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Until the first part of the eighth century, the Thursdays of Lent were “aliturgical” days in the Roman Rite, days on which no ferial Mass was celebrated. A similar custom prevails to this day in the Ambrosian and Byzantine Rites, the former abstaining from the Eucharistic Sacrifice on all the Fridays in Lent, the latter on all the weekdays. I have described in another article why Pope St Gregory II (715-31) changed this custom, and instituted Masses for the six Thursdays between Ash Wednesday and Holy Week. The Epistle and Gospel for the Thursday in the fourth week of Lent were clearly chosen as a prelude to those of the following day, which are a much older part of the lectionary tradition. In the Epistle of both days, one of the prophets raises not just a man, but a son, at the behest of his mother, anticipating the Resurrection of the Son of God; on Thursday, Elisha raises the Sunamite’s son (4 Kings 4, 25-38), and on Friday Elijah raises the dead son of the widow of Sarephta (3 Kings 17, 17-24). Likewise, on Thursday, Christ raises the widow of Naim’s son (Luke 7, 11-16) as he is born out to burial, and on Friday, Lazarus, on the fourth day after his death. (John 11, 1-45)

In his Treatises on the Gospel of St John, St Augustine notes à propos of this latter Gospel, and the resurrection of the dead at the end of the world, “(Christ) raised one that stank, but nevertheless in the stinking cadaver there was yet the form of its members; on the last day, with one word He will restore ashes to the flesh. But it was necessary that He should then do some (miracles), so that, when these were put forth as signs of His might, we might believe in Him, and be prepared for that resurrection which will be unto life, and not unto judgement. For He sayeth thus, ‘The hour cometh, when all that are in the graves shall hear His voice. And they that have done good things, shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.’ ” (Tract 49, citing John 5, 28-29)

The Raising Of Lazarus, painted by Giotto in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, 1304-06

When St Paul spoke at the Areopagus in Athens (Acts 17, 19-34), many of the pagan philosophers who had gathered to hear him scoffed at the mention of the resurrection of the dead. The Church Fathers bear witness to the repulsion which many pagans felt at the Christian belief that the body might share the immortality which they saw as proper only to the soul, and many early heresies rejected both the Incarnation and the resurrection of the flesh professed in the Creed. On the day when the Raising of Lazarus is read, therefore, the Lenten station is kept at the church of St Eusebius on the Esquiline hill, which stood very close to a large and very ancient necropolis, a “city of the dead”, one which dated back even before the founding of Rome itself. In this way, the Church, led by the bishop of Rome, proclaimed to the ancient pagan world Her belief in the resurrection of the body, made possible by the death and resurrection of the Savior.

On the ferias of Lent, the Communion antiphons are taken each one from a different Psalm in sequential order, starting on Ash Wednesday with Psalm 1. The days which were formerly aliturgical do not form part of this series, namely, the six Thursdays, and also the first and last Saturday; the ferias of Holy Week are also not included. (See the table below; click for larger view.)

The series is also interrupted on five days when particularly important passages of the Gospels are read, and the Communion is taken from them instead, the last such being the Raising of Lazarus.

Communio Videns Dominus flentes sorores Lazari ad monumentum, lacrimatus est coram Judaeis, et exclamavit: Lazare, veni foras: et prodiit ligatis manibus et pedibus, qui fuerat quatriduanus mortuus.
Communio Seeing the sisters of Lazarus weeping at the tomb, the Lord wept before the Jews, and cried out: Lazarus, come forth: and he who had been dead four days came forth, bound by his hands and feet.

The Roman Mass of the day makes no other reference to the Gospel; in this sense, the Ambrosian Rite gives Lazarus much greater prominence. The First Sunday of Lent in the Ambrosian Rite is called “in capite jejunii – the beginning of the fast”; the remaining five Sundays are each named for their Gospels, all taken from St John: the Samaritan Woman (4, 5-42), Abraham (8, 31-59), the Blind Man (9, 1-38), Lazarus (11, 1-45) and Palm Sunday (11, 55 – 12, 1). On the Fifth Sunday, four of the seven Mass chants cite the day’s Gospel, and the Preface speaks at length about the Raising of Lazarus. The Ingressa (Introit) of the Mass is similar to the Roman Communion cited above.

Ingressa Videns Dominus sororem Lazari ad monumentum, lacrimatus coram Judaeis, et exclamavit: Lazare, veni foras. Et prodiit ligatis manibus et pedibus, stetit ante eum, qui fuerat quatriduanus mortuus.
Ingressa Seeing the sister of Lazarus at the tomb, the Lord wept before the Jews, and cried out: Lazarus, come forth: and he who had been dead four days, coming forth, stood before him, bound by his hands and feet.

The first reading of the Mass is Exodus 14, 15-31, the Crossing of the Red Sea, a passage which most rites have at the Easter Vigil. St Paul teaches in First Corinthians that this is a prefiguration of baptism: “Our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea: And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; (and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.)” (chap. 10, 1-4) St Ambrose, in his Commentary on the Song of Songs, says that just as the children of “after the crossing of the Red Sea … were cleansed … by the flow of the rock that poured forth spiritual water, for the rock was Christ; and therefore they ate the manna; so that, as often as they were washed clean, they might eat the bread of angels… now also, in the mysteries of the Gospel, you recognize that being baptized … you are cleansed by spiritual food and drink.” (IV.5; PL XV, 1905A)

The Crossing of the Red Sea, depicted in a paleo-Christian sarcophagus, a reasonably common motif in early Christian funerary art. The front of the sarcophagus has been sawed off and used as the front of an altar in the Cathedral of Arles in France.

The Ambrosian Rite uses this passage not at the Easter vigil, but as an introduction to the story of Lazarus, whose death and resurrection foretell those of Christ Himself, and in Him, our own; first spiritually in the waters of baptism, and second in the body, at the end of the world. The chant which follows the first reading is called the Psalmellus; as the name suggests, it is almost always taken from one of the Psalms, like its Roman equivalent, the Gradual. Here we might expect that it be taken from the canticle of Moses in chapter 15, which follows the same passage at the Easter Vigil of the Roman and Byzantine Rites; instead, it is taken from the Gospel.

Psalmellus Occurrerunt Maria et Martha ad Jesum, dicentes: Domine, Domine, si fuisses hic, Lazarus non esset mortuus. Respondit Jesus: Martha, si credideris, videbis gloriam Dei. V. Videns Jesus turbam flentem, infremuit spiritu, lacrimatus; et veniens ad locum, clamavit voce magna: Lazare veni foras. Et revixit qui erat mortuus, et vidit gloriam Dei.
Psalmellus Mary and Martha came to meet Jesus, saying: Lord, Lord, if Thou had been here, Lazarus would not have died. Jesus answered: Martha, if thou shalt believe, thou shalt see the glory of God. V. Seeing the crowd weeping, Jesus groaned in spirit, weeping, and coming to the place, He cried out in a loud voice: Lazarus, come forth. And he that had died came back to life, and saw the glory of God.

The only other day on which the Psalmellus is taken from the Gospel is Holy Thursday, which in the Ambrosian Rite is much more focused on the Passion than on the Institution of the Eucharist. The first reading at the Ambrosian Mass of the Lord’s Supper is the entire book of Jonah, whose story Christ Himself explains as a prophecy of His death and resurrection; the Psalmellus which follows it is taken from the first part of the Passion of St Matthew, chapter 26, 17-75. The Ambrosian liturgy then makes explicit in the Preface this link between the death of Lazarus and that of Christ, in which our redemption is effected. (I here cite only the end of this beautiful text, which can only be spoiled in translation.)

Praefatio O quam magnum et salutare mysterium, quod per resurrectionem Lazari figuraliter designatur! Ille tabo corporis dissolutus, per superni regis imperium continuo surrexit ad vitam. Nos quidem primi hominis facinore consepultos, divina Christi gratia ex inferis liberavit, et redivivos gaudiis reddidit sempiternis.
Praefatio O how great and profitable to salvation is this mystery, which is represented in a figure through the resurrection of Lazarus! He, being loosed from the corruption of the body, by the command of the Almighty King rose at once to life. Christ’s divine delivered us from hell, who indeed were buried by the crime of the first man, and restored us to eternal joy, when we had returned to life.

The preface of the Fifth Sunday of Lent, sung during the Capitular Mass at the Basilica of St Ambrose in Milan in 2012. The part of the preface which I have cited above begins at 1:23.

In the Byzantine Rite, the connection is made even more explicit; the Gospel of the Raising of Lazarus is read on the day before Palm Sunday, which is therefore called Lazarus Saturday. Bright vestments are used at the Divine Liturgy, instead of the dark vestments used at most services of Lent and Holy Week. The troparion sung at the Little Entrance declares the meaning of the Raising of Lazarus, and is also sung the following day, which is one of the Twelve Great feasts of the Byzantine liturgical year.

TroparionΤὴν κοινὴν Ἀνάστασιν πρὸ τοῦ σοῦ Πάθους πιστούμενος, ἐκ νεκρῶν ἤγειρας τὸν Λάζαρον, Χριστὲ ὁ Θεός, ὅθεν καὶ ἡμεῖς ὡς οἱ Παῖδες, τὰ τῆς νίκης σύμβολα φέροντες, σοὶ τῷ Νικητῇ τοῦ θανάτου βοῶμεν. Ὡσαννὰ ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις, εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου!
Troparion Confirming the general resurrection before Thy passion, Thou didst raise Lazarus from the dead, O Christ God! Whence we also, like the children, bearing the symbols of victory, cry out to Thee, the Vanquisher of death: Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord!

The troparion of Lazarus Saturday sung in Spanish, Old Church Slavonic, Arabic, Romanian and English.

The Paschal character of the day expressed by the use of bright vestments also informs the kontakion which follows the troparion.

Kontakion Ἡ πάντων χαρά, Χριστός, ἡ ἀλήθεια, τὸ φῶς, ἡ ζωή, τοῦ κόσμου ἡ ἀνάστασις, τοῖς ἐν γῇ πεφανέρωται τῇ αὐτοῦ ἀγαθότητι, καὶ γέγονε τύπος τῆς ἀναστάσεως, τοῖς πᾶσι παρέχων θείαν ἄφεσιν.
Kontakion The joy of all, Christ, the Truth, and the Light, the Life, the Resurrection of the world, has appeared in His goodness to those on earth. He has become the image of our Resurrection, granting divine forgiveness to all.

While the troparia and kontakia are sung by the choir, the priest silently reads a prayer called the Prayer of the Trisagion, but sings the doxology out loud. It is followed at once by the hymn “Holy God, Holy mighty one, holy immortal one, have mercy on us.” On a very small number of days, however, the Trisagion, as it is called, is replaced by another chant, the words of Galatians 3, 27, “As many of you as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ, alleluia.” Among these days are certain feasts of Lord such as Christmas, Epiphany (i.e. the Baptism of the Lord), Easter and Pentecost, and also Lazarus Saturday.

The traditional Old Church Slavonic version of “As many of you ...” begins at 0:52

As the Church prepares to accompany the Savior to His passion and death, and celebrate His glorious Resurrection, the Orthros (Matins) of Lazarus Saturday declares in several texts of surpassing beauty our salvation in Christ, who in His humanity wept for the death of Lazarus, the death He himself would shortly suffer, and in His divinity raised both Lazarus and Himself, as he will raise the whole of our fallen race on the last day.

Knowing beforehand all thing as their Maker, in Bethany didst Thou foretell to Thy disciples, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep today’; and knowing, Thou asked, ‘Where have ye laid him?” And to the Father Thou prayed, weeping as a man; whence also crying out, Thou raised from Hades Lazarus, whom Thou loved, on the fourth day. Therefore we cry to Thee: Accept, Christ and God, the praise of those that make bold to bring it, and deem all worthy of Thy glory.

O Christ, Thou raised Lazarus that was dead for four days from Hades, before Thy own death, confounding the power of death, and for the sake of one beloved to Thee, proclaiming beforehand the liberation of all men from corruption. Wherefore adoring Thy omnipotence, we cry out, ‘Blessed art Thou, o Savior; have mercy on us!’

Providing to Thy disciples the proofs of Thy divinity, among the crowds Thou didst humble Thyself, taking counsel to hide It; wherefore, as one that knoweth beforehand and as God, to Thy disciples Thou foretold the death of Lazarus. And in Bethany, among the peoples, perceiving not the grave of Thy friend, as a man Thou asked to learn of it. But he that through Thee rose on the fourth day made manifest Thy divine power; Almighty Lord, glory to Thee!

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