St. Paul daily globe., 1892-04-14
BIG CATHOLIC WEEK,
The Seven Days Which Pre-
cede the Gladsoms Easter
Sunday.
Celebrating the Memory of
the Redeem er's Death
and Passion. ~ ~ .
fw
Maunday Thursday. Good Fri
day and Holy Saturday :
70 Follow. ~
Id
Special 0bsepyanees Which
Mark Each Of These Great {
7as -
Events. 2.

-tlidl ID Tit 0CCh Vi duSLCAAAAees dtSD
the Week OF Sorrows. the Days OF the
Cross, or Of Suffering5.
The chief object OF the church in this
week is 10 celebrate tho memory OF the
passion and death OF her lsedeemer;
every part OF the sacred liturgy is di-
rccted 10 this end: the church's Offices,
more solemn are more multiplied IN this
lug the whole year. are most
especially adapted to excite in the
hearts OF the faithful those various SEN.
iiments OF love ana gratitude. of com
passion for the sufferings Of our Lord,
VI sorrow ana detestation Tor sin. which
every Christian ought 10 cherish in this
holy time.
The FIRST day OF this week IS called
Palm Sunday, being appointed TO honor
the triumphant entry OF Jesus. Christ
into Jerusalem, when many OF the jews
cut OF branches from the trees. and
strewed them in the way through which
He was to pass. 1t is in memorynof Ills
triumph that the palms are blessed. dis
tributed To the faithful. and carried by
them i'll solemn procession.
la the evening of Wednesday, Thurs
day and Friday the church performs
solemn Office commonly called tbe Ten
ebre, which, in the OtIlee OF the church,
is ranged under the titles of Maunday
Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Satur-
day. being the Maths and Lauds as
signed to those days. The name OF
Tenebr9 Is given TO 1t from the circum
stance Of extinguishing. during the
course of it. all the candles which have
been prepared i'll the sanctuary for the
ceremony.
The rites of the church upon these
three days declare her concern and her
trouble for the suiferings OF her Re-
deemer and the sins of men. She
lays aside every expression OF
joy and fesytity. No hymns
OF divine praise are sung. The
psalms and the lessons that tconsti-
tute her Office breathe scarcely anything
else bat signs and lamentations. Her
canonical hours are terminated by the
same prayer, imploring God to Look
with an eye of pity for whom His ;son,
our Lord, has youcbsafed to sSutfer
death. The six candles on the altar
and the fifteen candles on the epistle'
side, all burning al the beginning of
the office, signify the lights Of 'faitR
preached by the prophets and Jesus
Christ, of which'faith the fundamental.
article is the mystery of the Blessed
Trinity. represented by the triangular
eandleStick. At the repetition of
the Fourteen Antiphons in. the
Mathis aud Lauds, fourteen, of
the candies in the triahgn-
lar candlestck are extingulshed.
At the last six verses of the Benedictus
those on the altar are put out to teach
that the Jews We're, totally deprived OF
the light of faith when they put the
Co to- lvft 40
die, that represents the light Of the
world, Jesus Christ, is only hidden for
time under the altar and afterwards
brought out again still burning, to sig
Nifty that though Christ, according to
His humanity, died and was laid in the
sepulcher, yet He was always alive ac-
eording to His divinity, by which He
raised His body again to life. The dark
.neSs which pervades the sanctuary
while the misere and prayer are said
naturally brings to mind the darkness
that covered the whole earth at His
death, and the noise made at the end OF
the prayer represents the confusion OF
nature for the loss OF its Author. when
the earth trembled, the rocks were rent.
the graves opened and the veil of the
temple was torn from the top to the bot
tom.
MAUNDY THURSDAY.
The Roman Missal and Brevlary call
this day the Thursday of the Lords
Supper. being the day when Jesus
Christ, at His last supper, instituted the
sacrament of the Eucharist. 1t is called
by the French Absolution Thursday, be-
cause the sentence OF absOlutIon was
then pronounced over the public peni-
tents. 1t is called in the church Maundy
Thursday, from the ceremony of wash
ing the feet. called in the Rubrlc Man
datum.
The mass on this day differs from the
rest of the Office. That of the Holy
Eucharist is celebrated, a subject. there
fore, of joy and thanksgiving, expressed
by the ringing of bells, the white color
of the vestments and ornaments OF the
altar. 15E
But after the "Gloria in Excelsis" the
bells are silent during the remainder of
this day, all Good Friday and Holy
Saturday, until the occurrence Of the
same angeIical hymn on the last.men-
toned day. This is intended to honor
the wonderful silence OF the Savior
during His passion, and to express the
astonshment and mourning OF the
church for the death of her spouse. The
Rubric preScribes the conservation of
two hosts, one for the sacrifice of this
day, and the other to be carried in SOL
emn procession to a place adorned with
lights and kept with great splendor for
the office of the next day.
After the vesDers, the priest, with his
ministers, diyests the altars of the
church of their coverings and other
ornaments. This signifies that Christ,
in His passion, lost all His beauty and
majesty, and was in manner deprived
OF the glory of His divine nature.
On this day the clergy of some
churches meet to perform the ceremony
OF washing the feet. Hence in each
church the superior washes the feet OF
his interiors; many rich do the same to
the poor; and kings disdain not to stoop
to the feet of their subjects.
This teaches the faithful to initiate
the humility of the Savior and TO cleanse
their souls of the smallest sins. q,
The holy oils used in the sacramentS.
are blessed at the morning service ans
this day. 5
GOOD FRIDAY.
The church commentaries every day
the bloody sacrifice of Jesus Christ on
the cross by true and real unbloodysi
sacrifice. in which she offers to God the I.
same body and blood that were given.
for the sins of the world. But on Good
Friday she offers 10 sacrifice, nor is
there any conservation of the Holy I
Eucharist-the priest receiving the
sacred host which he had cOnSecrated
the day before. In the office, instead of
the mass, she contents herself with a
bare representation of the Passion, and
makes it her chief business to expose to
the faithful Jesus Christ erucified for
them. For this end she reads SUCH
tracts as contain predictions of His com
ing for their redemption. and types of
His immolation on the cross; also the
history of the Passion as related by st.
John. s.
The faithful, by these lessons. are in
strueted in the mystery of this day, and
therefore beg with the priest the fruit
and application of this Passion. by
praying for all sorts of persons. even
schismaties, heretics, Jews and pagans.
None are excluded from the snffFages
of the church on day when Jesus
Christ prayed for His prosecutors and