HOLY SATURDAY - Jerusalem, Jerusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum...

When the Lord was buried...
 

"Remember, Lord, what is come upon us: consider and behold our reproach. Our inheritance is turned unto aliens, our houses to strangers. We are become orphans without a father, our mothers are as widows...our fathers have sinned and are no more and we have borne their iniquities.

[Tenebrae (Matins) of Holy Saturday, prayer of the prophet Jeremiah]

"I am counted among them that go down to the pit. I am become like a man without help free among the dead."

[Responsory, Tenebrae (Matins) of Holy Saturday]

"For when every commandment of the Law had been read by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of goats and calves and of goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people saying, this is the blood of the Testament which God hath enjoined upon you. The tabernacle also and all the vessels of the ministry in like manner he sprinkled with blood. And almost all things according to the Law are cleansed with blood and without shedding of blood there is no remission."

[Heb. ix.]

"When the Lord was buried they sealed the sepulchre rolling a stone before the mouth of the sepulchre and placed soldiers to guard Him."

[Responsory, Tenebrae (Matins) of Holy Saturday]

"O death I will be thy death! O hell, I will be thy bite!"

[Antiphon of the Miserere, Tenebrae (Lauds) of Holy Saturday]

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted unto the Lord thy God!

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[with acknowledgments and thanks to the Roman Christendom Blog]

GOOD FRIDAY - Regnavit a ligno Deus...

Good Friday

Quid ultra debui facere tibi, et non feci? Ego quidem plantavi te vineam meam speciosissimam: et tu facta es mihi nimis amara: aceto namque sitim meam potasti: et lancea perforasti latus Salvatori tuo.

Ego dedi tibi sceptrum regale: et tu dedisti capiti meo spineam coronam.

Popule meus, quid feci tibi? Aut in quo contristavi te? Responde mihi!

"What more ought I to have done for thee, that I have not done? I planted thee, indeed, My most beautiful vineyard and thou hast become exceeding bitter to Me, for in My thirst thou gavest Me vinegar to drink and with a lance thou pierced the side of thy Saviour!

I gave thee a royal sceptre and thou didst give My head a crown of thorns…

O my people! What have I done to thee? Wherein have I offended thee? Answer me!"

Titian. Christ Crowned with Thorns. 1540.

"For he hath taken us and he will heal us: he will strike and he will cure us. He will revive after two days: on the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight. We shall know and we shall follow on, that we know the Lord...for I desired mercy and not animal sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than holocausts."

[Hosea 6, First lesson sung at the Good Friday Service of the Mass of the Pre-sanctified]

"He had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the whole chastisement that made us whole and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that is dumb before its shearers, he opened not his mouth."

[Isaiah 53, Epistle for Wednesday in Holy Week]

Titian. Ecce Homo. 1560.

"Jesus answered: ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not from hence’. Pilate therefore said to Him ‘Art Thou a King then?’ Jesus answered ‘Thou sayest that I am a King. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, that I should give testimony of the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth My voice…

…Then therefore Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him and the soldiers plaiting a Crown of Thorns, put it upon His head and they put upon Him a purple mantle and they came to Him and said ‘Hail King of the Jews!’ and they gave Him blows."

[John 18]

Regnavit a ligno Deus.
"God hath reigned from a tree."

[From Vexilla Regis, St Venantius Fortunatus, sung during the Good Friday Service of the Passion]

"What more ought I to have done for thee, that I have not done? I planted thee, indeed, My most beautiful vineyard and thou hast become exceeding bitter to Me, for in My thirst thou gavest Me vinegar to drink and with a lance thou pierced the side of thy Saviour!
… For thy sake I scourged Egypt with its first-born and thou didst deliver Me up to be scourged…
… I gave thee a royal sceptre and thou didst give My head a crown of thorns…
… I exalted thee with great strength and thou didst hang Me on the gibbet of the Cross…
O my people! What have I done to thee? Wherein have I offended thee? Answer me!"

[Improperia or Reproaches of Christ to His people and to us all, from the Good Friday Service of the Passion]

O vos omnes, qui transitis per viam, attendite et videte si est dolor sicut dolor meus.
"O all ye that pass by the way, attend and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow."

[Lamentations of Jeremiah, sung at Tenebrae (Matins and Lauds) on Maundy Thursday]

 

Diego Velázquez. Christ Crucified. c. 1632.
 

"And they took Jesus and led Him forth. And bearing His cross, He went forth to that place that is called Calvary but in Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified Him and with Him two others, one on each side and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title also and he put it upon the Cross and the writing was ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews’… and it was written in Hebrew, in Greek, and in Latin."

[John 18]

 

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[with acknowledgments and thanks to the Roman Christendom Blog]

MAUNDY THURSDAY - Mandatum novum do vobis...

Maundy Thursday

Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos, dicit Dominus.

"A new commandment I give you that you love one another as I have loved you, saith the Lord."

Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret. The Last Supper. 1896.

 

"And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: 'This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first in the months of the year...on the tenth day of this month let every man take a lamb by their families and houses... and it shall be a lamb WITHOUT BLEMISH, a male, of one year...and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month and the whole multitude of the children of Israel shall sacrifice it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood thereof and put it upon both the side posts and on the upper door posts of the houses wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh that night roasted at the fire and unleavened bread with wild lettuce... neither shall there remain any thing of it until morning. If there be anything left you shall burn it with fire. And thus shall you eat it: you shall gird your reins and you shall have shoes on your feet, holding staves in your hands and you shall eat in haste for it is the Phase (that is the Passage) of the Lord... And I shall see the blood and shall pass over you...and this day shall be for a memorial to you and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord in your generations with an everlasting observance'... And Moses said... 'Thou shalt keep this thing as a law for thee and thy children forever...and when your children shall say to you "What is the meaning of this service" you shall say to them "It is the victim of the passage of the Lord when He passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, striking the Egyptians and saving our houses..."

[Exod 12]

The Paschal lamb without blemish is tied and led to slaughter
Scripture fittingly depicts the Christ as an innocent lamb led to the slaughter - the innocent "Lamb of God" sacrificed for the wicked sins of ungrateful and rebellious men, going dumb, innocent and in silence to torture and death at the hands of sinful men.

"Now the feast of the unleavened bread which is called the Pasch was at hand...and when the hour was come He sat down and the twelve apostles with Him and He said to them 'With desire I have desired to eat this Pasch with you before I suffer, for I say to you that from this time I will not eat it till it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God'... And taking bread He gave thanks, and brake and gave them saying 'This is my body which is given up for you. Do this for a commemoration of me'. In like manner the chalice also, after He had supped, saying 'This is the chalice, the new testament in my blood, which shall be shed for you'.

[Luke 22]

"On the night of that last supper,

Seated with His chosen band,

He the paschal victim eating,

First fulfils the Law's command.

Then as food to all His brethren

Gives Himself with His own hand"

[Pange lingua gloriosi, sung at the Maundy Mass]

"Before the festival day of the Pasch, Jesus knowing that His hour was come...having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them unto the end. And when supper was ended... He riseth from supper and..having taken a towel, girded Himself. After that, He putteth water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded...Then after He had washed their feet and taken His garments, being set down again, He said to them 'Know you what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord. And you say well; for so I am. If then I being your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet."

[John 13]
 

Dirk van Baburen. Christ washing the Disciples' feet. 1616.

Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos, dicit Dominus.

"A new commandment I give you that you love one another as I have loved you, saith the Lord."

[John 13:34, sung at the Maundy Mass]

Ubi caritas et amor ubi Deus est. Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor. Exultemus et in ipso jucundemur. Timeamus et amemus Deum vivum. Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.

"Where charity and love are there is God. The love of Christ has gathered us together. Let us rejoice in Him and be glad. Let us fear and love the living God and let us love one another with a sincere heart."

[John 2:3-4, sung at the Maundy Mass]

"And going out He went, according to His custom, to the Mount of Olives and His disciples also followed Him... and kneeling down He prayed saying 'Father, if Thou wilt, remove this chalice from me but not yet my will but Thine be done'...And He being in agony, He prayed the longer and His sweat became as drops of blood trickling down upon the ground."

[Luke 22:39-44]

ALEPH: Quomodo sedet sola civitas, plena populo, facta es quasi vidua; domina gentium, princeps provinicarum, facta est sub tributo.

ALEPH: How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! How is she become as a widow! She that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!

[Lamentations of Jeremiah 1:1, the beginning of Tenebrae (Matins & Lauds) for Maundy Thursday]

"How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! How is she become as a widow!"
Gustave Doré. Lamentations.1866.

Una hora non potuistis vigilare mecum, qui exhortabamini mori pro me?

Vel Judam non videtis quomodo non dormit, sed festinat tradere me Judaeis?

Quid dormitis? Surgite et orate, ne intretis in tentationem.

Vel Judam non videtis quomodo non dormit, sed festinat tradere me Judaeis

"Could you not watch one hour with me,

After exhorting one another to die for Me?

Or do you not see Judas?

He is not sleeping,

but is hurrying to betray me.

Why do you sleep?

Rise and pray,

that you may not enter into temptation!"

[Maundy Thursday Matins (Tenebrae), Lesson viii Response]

Tomas Luis da Victoria. Lamentations (Tenebrae Responsoria - Una Hora). 1585.

 

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Bartolome Esteban Murillo (1617-82). Christ in the Garden of Olives.

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[with acknowledgments and thanks to the Roman Christendom Blog]

THE SACRED TRIDUUM IN ENGLAND & WALES for Holy Week

 

We are delighted to advertise the locations in England and Wales where the full ceremonies of Holy Week (Liturgy and Office) will be celebrated this year. For full listings of Masses over Easter, please see the website of the Latin Mass Society

Westminster Diocese

St Mary Moorfields, Eldon Street, LONDON EC2M 7LS
Wed 1 Apr (Spy Wednesday) Tenebrae 6.30pm
Thu 2 Apr (Holy Thursday) Sung Mass 6.30pm
Fri 3 Apr (Good Friday) Tenebrae 10.30am, Solemn Liturgy 5.30pm
Sat 4 Apr (Easter Vigil) Tenebrae 10.30am, Sung Mass 4.00pm

Lancaster Diocese

St Walburge's Church, Weston Street, PRESTON PR2 2QE
Wed 1 Apr (Spy Wednesday) Tenebrae 9.00pm
Thu 2 Apr (Holy Thursday) Sung Mass 6.00pm, Tenebrae 9.00pm
Fri 3 Apr (Good Friday) Sung Liturgy 3.00pm, Tenebrae 9.00pm
Sat 4 Apr (Easter Vigil) Sung Mass 9.00pm

Plymouth Diocese

Lanherne Convent, St Mawgan, Nr NEWQUAY, Cornwall TR8 4ER
Thu 2 Apr (Holy Thursday) Tenebrae 10.00am, Sung Mass 5.00pm
Fri 3 Apr (Good Friday) Tenebrae 10.00am, Sung Liturgy 3.00pm
Sat 4 Apr (Easter Vigil) Tenebrae 10.00am, Sung Mass 10.00pm

Portsmouth Diocese

St William of York, Upper Redlands Road, READING RG1 5JT
Thu 2 Apr (Holy Thursday) Tenebrae 10.00am, High Mass 7.00pm
Fri 3 Apr (Good Friday) Tenebrae 10.00am, Solemn Liturgy 3.00pm
Sat 4 Apr (Easter Vigil) Tenebrae 10.00am, High Mass 10.00pm

Shrewsbury Diocese

SS Peter & Paul and Philomena, Atherton Street, NEW BRIGHTON, Wallasey CH45 9LT
Thu 2 Apr (Holy Thursday) Tenebrae 9.00am, Sung Mass 7.00pm
Fri 3 Apr (Good Friday) Tenebrae 7.00am, Sung Liturgy 3.00pm
Sat 4 Apr (Easter Vigil) Tenebrae 9.00am, Sung Mass 9.00pm

Southwark Diocese

St Augustine’s Church, St Augustine’s Road, RAMSGATE, Kent CT11 9PA
Wed 1 Apr (Spy Wednesday) Tenebrae 9.00pm
Thu 2 Apr (Holy Thursday) Sung Mass 4.30pm, Tenebrae 9.00pm
Fri 3 Apr (Good Friday) Solemn Liturgy 6.30pm, Tenebrae 9.00pm
Sat 4 Apr (Easter Vigil) Sung Mass 5.00pm

In addition, the Sacred Triduum (but not including full office) will be celebrated at:

Brentwood Diocese

St Margaret's Convent Chapel, Bethell Avenue, CANNING TOWN, London E16 4JU
Thu 2 Apr (Maundy Thursday) Sung Mass 8.00pm
Fri 3 Apr (Good Friday) Sung Liturgy 12.00pm
Sat 4 Apr (Easter Vigil) Sung Mass 6.45pm

Leeds Diocese

Leeds University RC Chaplaincy, 5–7 St Mark’s Avenue, LEEDS LS2 9BN
Thu 2 Apr (Maundy Thursday) Low/Sung Mass 7.30pm
Fri 3 Apr (Good Friday) Low/Sung Liturgy 3.00pm
Sat 4 Apr (Easter Vigil) Low/Sung Mass 3.00pm

Southwark Diocese

St Bede’s, 58 Thornton Road, CLAPHAM PARK, London SW12 0LF
Wed 1 Apr (Spy Wednesday) Tenebrae 7.00pm
Thu 2 Apr (Holy Thursday) Sung Mass 6.00pm
Fri 3 Apr (Good Friday) Sung Liturgy 5.30pm
Sat 4 Apr (Easter Vigil) Sung Mass 7.30pm (at La Retraite RC Girls' School, Atkins Road, CLAPHAM PARK, London SW12 0AB)

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Breakthrough in Scotland: monthly Mass in Dunkeld diocese

Comment: provision for the Traditional Mass in Scotland has been very limited, and this regular Mass in Dunkeld Diocese, thanks to the pastoral care of the newly appointed Bishop Robson, is an important step forward.

Press Release from the Diocesan website.

Bishop Robson thanked all who responded to his invitation to come and celebrate Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form at St Joseph’s Chapel, Lawside (Sunday, 15th March 2015).

Mass for the Persecuted and the Road of the Cross in Warsaw

The Mass and the Road of the Cross is already a few-year tradition in Warsaw. The Road of the Cross after the Mass goes through the streets of Warsaw (5 km) from St. Clement Church to the grave of bl. Jerzy Popiełuszko - Polish priest and martyr killed by comunist regime in 1984. The event is co-organized by TLM Chaplaincy of Archdiocese of Warsaw under the patronage of Marek Jurek -  member of European Union parliament.

22nd March 2015

2 p.m. - High Mass in St. Clement Church in Warsaw, Karolkowa Str. 49
3 p.m. - the Road of the Cross through the streets of Warsaw to the grave of bl. Jerzy

Congratulations Una Voce France on the 50th anniversary!

Una Voce France celebrates its 50th anniversary!

 Jubilee celebrations in October 2014

The Rt Rev Msgr Marc Aillet, Bishop of Bayonne, Lescar and Oloron, preaches for the Jubilee whilst celebrating the traditional Roman rite at the church of St Jeanne de Chantal in Paris

The Jubilee celebrations are introduced by M. Jacques Dhaussy, President of Honour of the International Una voce Federation, and former President of Una Voce France. On the right is M. Patrick Banken, President of Una Voce France

M. Alain Cassagnau, choirmaster, leads the schola during the Mass of celebration

M. Patrick Banken, President of Una Voce France, speaks to the assembled conference

After mass in the traditional Roman rite at St Jeanne de Chantal, Paris, Dom Louis-Marie OSB, Abbot of St Madeleine Abbey, Le Barroux, with the Rt Rev Msgr Marc Aillet, Bishop of Bayonne, Lescar and Oloron, the chief celebrant at the mass

After mass in the traditional Roman rite at St Jeanne de Chantal, Paris, Rt Rev Msgr Marc Aillet, Bishop of Bayonne, Lescar and Oloron, meets participants. On the right is M. Patrick Banken, President of Una Voce France, speaking with M. Jacques Dhaussy, President of Honour of the International Una Voce Federation

The ladies' choir rehearsing, conducted by choir mistress, Mme Andrée Lalaut

The participants are addressed by Dr Gabriel Steinschulte (from Germany) and M. François Fierens (from Belgium) who was the moderator of the Jubilee celebrations

M. Patrick Banken, President of Una Voce France



Message of congratulation to Una Voce France, from Colonel James Bogle of Gilmorehill, President of the International Una Voce Federation