Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-04-23
HOLY WEEK.


The following timely article from the |
pen of Rev, Father John Walsh Of st. |
Peters church will be read with inter- |
est:
The holy week in the Catholic church |
is a week fraught with tremendous in
terest for all Christians. 1t is COM
memorative. In symbol and In rev.
erent memory the church recalls the
tragic events which closed the life of
her Divine founder. Every day tells Its
own story. From Palm Sunday to
Easter the interval traverses the wide
gulf that yawns between the favorite
and the hated of the populace--popu-
larity and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS of well
come and shrieks of vengeance-palm
branches and scourge and crown of
thorns and cross--betrayal and execu-
tion-shameful death by the cross and
triumphant resurrection. The victim Is
the son of God and God-the execution
ers the Jewish priests and their SER
wants. Roman authority ooniving and
winking at the outrage. The injustice.
sufferings and death are self-willed and
voluntarily submitted to. In no sense
was the victim helpless except under
the excess OF his own divine love TO suf-
fer and die for the sins OF men and to
restore to them the inheritance sin had
forfeited. AT any moment he pleased
he could have foiled Jewish brutality
and Roman acquiscence by force or om-
impotence or invlsibility. He came to
die, he chose to die, and therefore he
elects to appear and he elects to be the
innocent lamb led to the slaughter"
The growth of the divine tragedy is
easily followed. Palm Sunday Christ
enters Jerusalem amidst the plaudits
of the people. with palm branches and
strewn garments they honestly welcome
Him and give Him royal reception. The
palms of Palm Sunday In the hands of
Christians express the welcome and the
| joy. but not the treacherous vacillation
\ of the Jews. The interval between Sun
| day and Thursday night Is filled with
I plottings. His enemies are awake to
| the feebleness Of their cause, and must
resort to desperate eNpedients to give
their murderous cruelty the appearance
| of legality. Judas In being tempered
with and found ready tool. Mean
while the divine object of all this hatch
| ing conspiracy and treachery Is actually
conscious of every hidden, dark plot and
makes no move until they are ready
to strike the blow. Then He convenes
for the last supper and eucharist on
! Thursday night. and afterwards goes
to Gethsemane to meet Judas and be-
gin His passion. After His arrest He
spends the night in prison and early
on Friday suffers the preliminaries to
the crucllxion and then death. Friday
evening and Saturday and Saturday
night the tomb holds all that is mortal
of Him. and Sunday-Easter Sunday
with the sunrise the resurrection be-
comes II fact, a hope and n fulfllment.
These tragic details are typified in
the churchs ceremonial in Holy Week
by the Tenebrae of Wednesday. Thurs
day and Friday evenings, the repository
of Thursday, the mass and alteration
of the cross on Friday and the bless
ing of the fire and the paschal candle
on Saturday. The blessings of the
baptismal water on Saturday and in
Episcopal functions OF the holy oils on
Thursday ia an adjunct having nc
SPECIAL relation to the passion save in
the matter of deriving all their sacra-
mental efficacy from 1t and because OF
their Importance in sacramento ad-
mlnistration are thus closely identified
with it,
From the seventh century the holy
olls--chrlsm oil of catehumens and oil
of the sick formerly consecrated at ans
time. have been blessed by the bishop
In the mass Of this day. Twelve priests
and seven deacons assist in the cere-
mony. The bishop and priests breathe
three times upon the sacred oils Il
signify that efficacy of the Holy Ghost
is about to descend upon them and
after conservation they are saluted will
Pail holy oil; Hail, holy chrism."
In England 1t is known as Passion
Week. In Germany and Denmark tbs
popular title Is "Still Week." in allusior
to the holy quiet and abstention from
the Great Week" and the Authentic
The general features OF the Holy Weel
celebration are increased sobriety ant
solenmnity, and deepening of LenteI
gloom, penitential rigor and mourning
The dignity of its ritualistic rank ex
cludes till after Easter all festivals
falling within II. All instrumental
music and the ringing Of bells IL sus
pended in the services from Thursda!
till Saturday morning to express tn
silent gRief Of the church in Its be
reavement Statues and pictures--th
stations excepted--are yelled in purple
the emble-, OF mourning-the rigor o
, fasting Is creased. the duty OF aim
giving enjoined, and In Catholic coun
tries manual labor is voluntarily inter
, rupted.
For three centuries the Christian
lived in persecution and concealmen'
, This led to the selection of night a
. the safest time for the celebration o
their religious rites. The office o
Tenebrae (darkness) is the midnigh
Mathis or morning office and lauds
The three divisions of Mathis ar
. known as nooturns or night prayers
. The use OF light was therefore an oh
vious necessity, afterwards modife,
and Interpreted to suggest deep mys
, ticism which the early Christians s.
much loved. In the Tenebrae, th
, "Gloria Patrl'' is omitted as lessons o
grief and the lessons of the first noe
, turn are taken from the lamentation
. Of jeremiah At the beginning OF TIL
function thirteen lighted candles ar
placed on a triangular candle-stick
which, as the office progresses, ar
, gradually extlnguished till only one 1
left lighted at the top of the triangle
During the Benedictus the candles Of
! the altar are also extinguished: Will
at the antiphon and prayer after tn
/ Benedictus the single lighted candle /
taken from the triangle and conceale
for time at the Epistle corner OF tn
| altar and then produced again wit
some clamor, The Tenebrae from til
Z extinction OF these candles illustrate
: the darkness OF the world when Christ
I its light, was removed the last candl
is hidden, not quenched. to show tina
5 Christ could not he thc subject Of deaf
I forever, and the noise and confusion a
= its temperance represent the chao
/ and dlsquietude OF his death.
I The high altar Is stripped of It's orna
= ments and lights through Thursda
8 and Friday, and the tabernacle door /