The Sacred Triduum

The Sacred Triduum
Triduum Sacrum

Within Holy Week is the Sacred Triduum, when Holy Mother Church commemorates the holiest and greatest of all the Mysteries of our Redemption: The Institution of the Most Blessed Sacrament and the Holy Priesthood on Holy Thursday; the Cruel Passion and Bitter Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ on Good Friday; and the holy benedictions of the Lumen Christi on Holy Saturday.

Moreover, it is during this week that the Church blesses the materials for Her Holy Sacraments: The waters for Baptism; as well as the holy oils for Confirmation, Ordination and Extreme Unction. This week is also especially set aside for the reception and baptism of converts, the reconciliation of sinners to God by penance with a good confession, and the adoring reception of the Most Holy Sacrament on Maundy Thursday. Let us recall the words from Palm Sunday, when Abbot Guéranger, reminded us:

"If there be one time of the year rather another when the Son of God has a right to our fervent adorations, it is this Week, when we see Him insulted in His Passion. Not only should His Sufferings excite us to tender compassion; we should also keenly resent the insults that are heaped upon this Jesus of ours, this God of infinite Majesty. Let us strive, by our humble homage, to make Him amends for all of the indignities He suffered in atonement for our pride. Let us unite with the Holy Angels, who, while witnessing what He has gone through out of love for man, prostrate themselves, in profoundest adoration, at the sight of His humiliations."

Most notably, the faithful should be intent upon sanctifying this holy occasion by giving themselves up to stricter fasting and closer watch over their senses; by meditating more frequently on the Passion and Sufferings of Christ; and by offering up for love of our Divine Lord, the sacrifice of refraining from every kind of amusement and recreation. What a cruel and horrid mockery of their crucified Savior's love it is, that Catholics should join the crowd of the impious, the incredulous, or the indifferent, and spend Good Friday in frivolous or sinful amusements, thus resembling the perfidious Jews of old, who rejoiced over the death of their enemy.

Maundy Thursday

Station: The Lateran

The Basilica of the Savior, or the Church of Saint John Lateran, is the scene of the solemn rites with which the Church commences on this day the celebration of the Paschal feast. Originally there were three Masses, one in the morning for the reconciliation of public penitents, another for the consecration of the holy oils destined for Extreme Unction and Baptism, and a third at the close of the day in commemoration of the Last Supper and for the Easter Communion. These rites have now been simplified, and the holy oils are blessed in the Mass of the Easter Communion. After the Mass of today, Holy Communion is not distributed again until the Resurrection has been celebrated in the Liturgy.

On Maundy Thursday the Church commemorates the institution of the Blessed Eucharist and the Holy Priesthood. On this day, one Mass only can be said in the same church and that must be a public one. White vestments are worn by the priest, the altar is decked with flowers, and even the purple veil, which covers the Cross during Passiontide, is replaced by one of white. The celebrant consecrates two hosts, one for this Mass, and one is for the priest who officiates on Good Friday, when there is no consecration. This host is carried in procession to a place known as the Repository or Sepulcher, where it remains until the following day.

After the Mass on Maundy Thursday the signs of mourning proper to Passiontide are resumed: The altar is stripped of its coverings and of ornaments of all kinds, the lights in the sanctuary are extinguished, and the door of the empty Tabernacle is left open. In Rome, the Pope washes the feet of thirteen poor persons, all of them priests. On Maundy Thursday, the yearly consecration of the holy oils takes place, each bishop consecrating a sufficient quantity of these oils for the wants of his diocese during the ensuing year. These oils are three in number: The oil for the Sacrament of Extreme Unction; that for anointing those who are to be baptized, and also for anointing the priest's hands at his Ordination; and the Sacred Chrism, a mixture of oil and balsam used in the Sacrament of Confirmation and at the consecration of bishops. -The Roman Missal

Good Friday

Station: Holy Cross in Jerusalem

The Roman Basilica, Holy Cross in Jerusalem, is today's station, for Christ had said, "It cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem." Formerly, the Pope walked barefoot from Saint John Lateran, swinging a censer filled with precious perfumes before the wood of the true Cross, carried by a deacon. Originally, there was not even the Mass of the Presanctified on this day, as a sign of deep mourning. Our present rite does not go back beyond the Middle Ages, and represents the order used in the titular churches of Rome, in which the Pope was never present.

On this day, the Church commemorates the Passion of Christ, so that it is the saddest and most solemn day in Holy Week. The officiating clergy enter the sanctuary vested in black and prostrate themselves before the altar, which is stripped. The candles are not lighted, the organ is not played, nor are the bells rung. The most striking and singular feature of the Good Friday Liturgy is the omission of Holy Mass. In its place is the Mass of the Presanctified in which the priest receives in Holy Communion a host previously consecrated. The Blessed Sacrament is borne from the repository or chapel where it was placed the previous day, while the choir sings the hymn Vexilla Regis ("The Banners of the King"). The priest places the host on the altar and the candles are lighted. The Blessed Sacrament is elevated and adored, while a wooden clapper is sounded.

Good Friday is not a Holy Day of Obligation; traditionally, the Church forbids the giving of Holy Communion to the faithful, except as Viaticum to the dying. The clergy and people assemble at an appointed time. The officiating priest, with his deacon and subdeacon, enter the sanctuary and prostrate themselves before the altar. The acolytes spread a linen cloth on the altar and put the Missal in place. The priest goes to the Epistle corner, and the first Lesson is chanted. In the absence of sacred ministers all the prayers are recited (or sung, if the custom prevails) at the Epistle corner. The Lessons and the Passion are read at the same place. - The Roman Missal

Holy Saturday

Station: St. John Lateran

In olden days, the Paschal fast was very strict, extending from the evening of Good Friday until the dawn of Easter Sunday. In Rome, not even children were dispensed from this fast; this was also the rule in the Celtic Church. Mass was not celebrated on this day, as the whole Church was watching in devout expectation until the night should come in which the Mystery of Christ's Resurrection should be celebrated. The night between Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday was spent in prayer; Tertullian speaks of this custom as a law. It was only in the later Middle Ages that the ceremony was definitely anticipated in the afternoon, and eventually, as now, in the morning of Holy Saturday.

The first ceremony is that of the Lights, or Easter fire (Eucharistia lucernaris). It seems to have a twofold origin: The Easter fire of the Celtic Churches and the sacred rite of lighting the evening candle, to burn throughout the long vigil; it was not among the primitive rites in Rome but was adopted during the Carlovingian period. Next follows the Vigil, with its primitive form of the Divine Office, with the ancient prophecies whose reading filled the night; then came the blessing of the font and the Baptism of the catechumens, followed by the Mass.

The ceremonies of this day begin early in the morning with the blessing of a new fire that has been kindled with flint and steel. From this fire a candle with three stems, and placed on a reed, is lighted and carried up the church by a deacon, who three times chants the words "Lumen Christi." The Paschal Candle is blessed by the deacon, who fixes in it five grains of blessed incense in memory of the wounds of Christ and the precious spices with which He was anointed in the tomb and afterwards lights it from the Triple Candle on the reed. The blessing of the Paschal Candle is followed by the reading of the twelve prophecies, and after that, the priest goes in procession to bless the font. The water in the font is scattered toward the four quarters of the world, to indicate the catholicity of the Church and the world-wide efficacy of Her Sacraments; the priest breathes on the water in the form of a Cross and plunges the paschal candle into the water, for the Spirit Of God is to hallow it, and the power of Christ is to descend upon it; lastly, a few drops of the oil of catechumens and of the Chrism are poured into the font, in order to signify the union of Christ, our anointed King, with His people.

On the way back from the font, the Litany of the Saints is begun, and when it is ended the altar is decked with flowers and the Mass is begun in white vestments. The pictures and statues in the church that have been veiled since Passion Sunday are uncovered. The organ and bells are heard again, and the joyful Alleluia is resumed. In the absence of sacred ministers, the officiant recites (or sings if the custom prevails) all the prayers and lessons and performs all the ceremonies allotted to the sacred ministers in the functions of this day. - The Roman Missal

The Sacred Triduum

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