![]() ![]() And, of course, this is how Mary, Joseph, and Jesus prayed too. Saints up and down the centuries have prayed the Psalms each day, including John Paul II, Pier Giorgio Frassati, Thérèse of Lisieux, Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, Benedict, and the first Apostles. It does this by bathing the morning, afternoon, and evening in prayer, so that “the whole course of the day and night is made holy by the praises of God.” Its purpose is to sanctify the day and the whole range of human activity. It is a liturgy because, like the Mass and other sacraments, it is a public prayer of the Church, Christ’s Mystical Body, as distinct from private devotions such as the Rosary, novenas, or personal prayer. By the medieval period, monks chanted the entire Psalter, all 150 Psalms, throughout each week, and sometimes in a single day!Įventually, this form of prayer became known as the Liturgy of the Hours, also called the Divine Office. It hearkens back to the Jewish custom of praying at fixed hours, a practice early Christians continued. The Liturgy of the Hours is an ancient, structured way of praying Scripture throughout the day, focusing especially on the Psalms. Legend says that the tree upon which Judas hanged himself was the “Cercis siliquastrum”-a tree that is now known as the “Judas Tree.” It is a beautiful tree, native to the Mediterranean region, with brilliant deep pink flowers in the spring-flowers that are said to have blushed in shame after Judas’s suicide.īooklets are again available.A brief introduction to this ancient prayer of the Church. Monsignor Hellrigel was influential in promoting liturgical reforms that Pope Pius XII had urged in Mediator Dei, his 1947 encyclical on the liturgy-in particular the restoration of the Easter Vigil and the participation of the congregation in the chants of the Mass.ĭuring the Triduum, the Matins and Lauds readings come from the following day’s readings each night because the hours of Matins and Lauds were pushed back so that the public might better participate during these special three days (i.e., the Matins and Lauds readings heard at Spy Wednesday’s tenebrae service are those for Maundy Thursday, the readings for Maundy Thursday’s tenebrae “Cercis siliquastrum” service are from Good Friday, and Good Friday’s readings are from Holy Saturday’s Divine Office). A native of Heppenheim, Germany, his most productive years were spent in America, where he was chaplain to the Most Precious Blood Sisters in O’Fallon, Missouri, then pastor of Holy Cross parish in St. Hellriegel (1890-1981) an Apostolic Protonotary, was one of the giants of the 20th century Liturgical Movement that Pope Pius X inspired. In his Tenebrae services (approximately 45 minutes long), the Psalms are chanted in English according to simple Gregorian melodies and tones, yet some of the Latin and simple Greek Chants are provided (i.e. He maintains the entire structure of the service, but shortens the readings and psalms. Hellriegel, created a modified Tenebrae Service for parishes. It has also been described as the sound of the tomb door closing.Īs the Traditional Tenebrae services are intimidating for smaller parishes (approximately 2 hours of singing), Monsignor Martin B. The Matins and Lauds of the Divine Office sung during the Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday) are known as the Tenebrae services (“tenebrae” meaning “shadows”), which is basically a funeral service for Our Lord.ĭuring the Matins on Good Friday, one by one, the candles are extinguished in the Church, leaving the congregation in total darkness, and in a silence that is punctuated by the strepitus (a loud clatter intended to evoke the earthquake that was said to happen at the moment of death) meant to evoke the convulsion of nature at the death of Christ. These were put out one by one until, after the last candle was extinguished, a prayer was said in darkness, one candle was lighted, and the assembly dispersed in silence. A custom that went back centuries, it acquired the name because of the mourning ritual surrounding the ceremony, which included a triangular stand with fifteen candles. ![]() The public singing of part of the Divine Office, on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings of Holy Week, anticipating Matins and Lauds of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. ![]()
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