Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-04-15
eoos. FRIDAY.

ats Antiquity ana Observances.
This is Good f day, or the Friday before
Easter, sacred as the commemoration of /
the crucihxion Of our Lord. This day was
kept as day of mourning and Of special
prayer from very early period. 1t was
one of the two pasehal days celebrated by
the Christian Church, and in memory of |
the erucifixion was called by the Greeks |
PascAa St0erasiss0Il, or the ssPaseh of the |
| Cross. That it was observed as day OF |
| rigid fast, and of solemn and melancholy |
| ceremonial, we learn from the Apostolic |
| constitutions and from Eusebius, who also !
! tells US that when Christianity was
| established in the Empire Con-
stantine forbade the holding of
| law courts, markets and other
| public proceedings on this day. The
| priests and attendants are robed in black,
in token of mourning; the altar is stripped
| of its ornaments; the kiss of peace is omit
ted in detestation of the kiss of the traitor
Judas; the priest recites a long series of
| prayers for ell classes orders and ranks in
the church, and even for hereties, schis
MATES, Pagans and Jews. These services
in the Roman Catholic Churches of this
day are very solemn and peculiar; instead
of the ordinary Mass they consist of what
is called the Presanctifed, the Sacred Host
not being consecrated on Good Friday, but
reserved from the preceding day. The most
striking part of the ceremonial of Good
Friday is the so-called alteration of the
Gross, or as it was called in the old English
vocabulary Creeping to the Cross. A
large crucifx is placed upon the altar with
| appropriate ceremonies in memory of the
! awful event which the crucifx represents,
and the entire congregation, commencing
with the celebrant Priest and his ministers,
approach, and upon their knees feryently
kiss the figure of our crucihed Lord The
very striking Office of Tenebre, is held on
! Good Friday as well as upon the two pre-
l ceding days; it consists of the mathis and
lauds of the Office of Holy Saturday, and
| has this peculiarly, that at the close all the
lights in the church are extinguished but
$ one, which for time Gas q symbol of our
i Lords death and BURIAL is hidden under
7 the altar.
In the English Church Good Friday is also
i celebrated with special solemnity. An
s GENTLY sermon was preached at st. Paul's
S Cross on the afternoon of this day, al
r which the Lord Mayor and Aldermen at
q tended. The practice of eating on this
e day "cross bun" cakes with cross i'm.
, pressed upon them-is relic of the Ro
q man Catholic times, but it has lost all o.
its significance. In England and ireland
T Good Friday is dies non, and all business
IT is suspended. In Scotland the day meets
with no peculiar attention, except from
v members of the Episcopal and Roman
Catholic Communion. In London, in ole
d times, we learn from Chambers Informa
d | ton for the People, as well as in almos
II every other considerable town in England
/ the first sound heard on the morning o
d Good Friday was the CRY of 'sHot eros
buns! uttered by great numbers of peopl,
of an humble order, who parade the street
with baskets containing plentiful stock o
the article wrapped up in flannel and lin
men to keep it warm. The cry which i
rather musical is strictly:
'sHot cross buns,
One penny, buns-two penny, buns;
le One penny, two penny-hot cross buns"
y Hucksters of all kinds, and many person
g who attempted to traffic at any other time
% entered into the business of supplying bun
, on Good Friday morning. The,
made a stir on the street whicl
lastedtill church time, and it was resumes
:, in the afternoon. About a century ag
- there was bakers shop at Chelsea so ia
. nous for its manufacture Of excellen
- buns, that crowds of waiting persons clus
70 tered under its porch during great par
g of the day. The buns were brought u
. from the oven on block tin trays, aid s.
q given out to the people The King him
"a self had stopped at the door to purchas,
: hot cross buns, and hence the shop tool
the name of Royal Bun House. 1t was 81
> successful that it soon obtained rival ant
was obliged to advertise as the sold Origi
- nal Royal Bun House"
y Our Catholic friends will observe the da
in this city with appropriate and solemn
- exercises at the Cathedral, while at tn
= Church of the Advent there will be Hol
!, Communion, Morning Prayer and Litany
q q sermon at II A. NJ, and prayer in tn
Is evening.