page_title: Holy Wednesday
section_title: Catholic Church
hierarchical_section_title: Holy Wednesday / Liturgy / Catholic Church
caption_attribution_description: English: The image depicts a Tenebrae service at a Roman Catholic church in the United States held on Spy Wednesday, 17 April 2019.
context_page_description: In Christianity, Holy Wednesday, also called Spy Wednesday, or Good Wednesday, and Holy and Great Wednesday, is the Wednesday of Holy Week, the week before Easter.
  On Spy Wednesday, Christians remember that Jesus was betrayed by Judas, a clandestine spy among the disciples. Many churches belonging to various Christian denominations observe the tenebrae service on Spy Wednesday.
context_section_description: Today, the term "Tenebrae" refers to a Holy Week service usually held on Spy Wednesday that involves the gradual extinguishing of candles on a Tenebrae hearse, readings related to the Passion of Jesus, and the strepitus (loud noise).
  Prior to the Second Vatican Council, the Tenebrae liturgy of matins and lauds of Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday) used to be celebrated in the afternoon or evening of Good Wednesday. The name comes from the Latin word tenebrae, meaning darkness. In this service, all the candles on a special candelabra and on the altar were gradually extinguished except for one. This was then hidden and the church was left in complete darkness. Next, after recitation of Psalms 50-51 and a special prayer, a loud noise (in Latin strepitus) was made, which was originally a signal for the ministers to depart but was later interpreted as symbolizing the confusion and terror that accompanied the death of Jesus, including the earthquake that, according to the Gospel of Matthew 27:51, followed. A similar celebration of matins and lauds of Good Friday and Holy Saturday used to be held towards the close of each of the preceding days. This custom is still retained by those Catholic Churches which celebrate the pre-1955 Holy Week Reforms.
  In the older form of the Mass known as the Tridentine Mass the readings for Holy Wednesday are taken from Isaiah 62:11; 63:1-7 and the Gospel according to St. Luke 22:1-71; 23:1-53. In the 1955 Holy Week Reform, the first 38 verses of the 22nd chapter of St. Luke were removed. Those 38 verses are retained in the Roman Catholic Churches which celebrate the pre-1955 Holy Week.
caption: A Tenebrae service held at a Roman Catholic parish church on Spy Wednesday (2019)
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