Notes for Holy Week
Tomorrow is Palm Sunday, the second Sunday in Passiontide and the beginning of Holy Week. I felt that it would be prudent to provide a rather comprehensive list of liturgical rubrics, service outlines, and devotional tools before Holy Week begins in order to provide everyone with an overview of Western traditions and customs for Holy Week. The article below includes rubrics and notes for Palm Sunday through Maundy Thursday. Good Friday and the Great Vigil of Easter will receive their own articles later in the week.
These notes are meant to provide brief background on some of the Western Church’s liturgical customs. Though some traditions have varied over time, the notes provided below are rather universal. Throughout the season of Lent, beginning with Septuagesima Sunday, the liturgy has undergone a gradual simplification. The starkness of our penitential liturgy reaches its culmination during Holy Week, which will be evident throughout this series of notes on Holy Week liturgical customs.
Many of these notes and rubrics are borrowed from The Lutheran Missal, which has delved deep into several medieval and early Lutheran sources, including missals, lectionaries, agendas, and services orders. Some Holy Week propers are also taken from Brotherhood Prayer Book. Oremus: A Lutheran Breviary by David Kind and The Daily Office from CPH were also consulted in conjunction with the works listed above.
Palm Sunday:
The most notable difference on Palm Sunday is the addition of a procession preceding mass. The congregation may gather either directly in front of the chancel or outside. Palms may be distributed before the service begins or after the Gospel is read, at which point a brief blessing of the palms may be observed.
The procession begins with the following collect:
O God, whom to love and cherish is true righteousness: multiply in our hearts the gifts of Thy holy grace; and as Thou hast, in the death of Thine only Son, made us to hope for those things which we believe, make us by His resurrection happily to arrive whither we take our journey; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.
Exodus 15:27—16:7a is then read, followed by John 11:47–49a, 50b, 53 as a responsory. The Gospel, Luke 19:29–40, is then read, with the common Gospel salutation (“The Holy Gospel according to…”) and responses (“Glory be to Thee…”).
At this point, if the palms were not distributed before the procession began, a blessing of the palms may follow the Gospel. There are various formulas available, which generally consist of a series of collects and antiphons to be sung while the palms are distributed. If the palms were distributed before the procession, then the congregation may sing “All Glory, Laud, and Honor” as they process into the chancel. The mass then continues immediately with the Introit, without the Gloria Patri.
The Gospel of the day has historically been the entire Passion account according to St. Matthew. The Gospel is neither introduced nor concluded with response. At the words “and He gave up His spirit,” the congregation may kneel and silently pray the Our Father. The mass then proceeds with the hymn of the day.
Monday in Holy Week:
As is the custom during Holy Week, the Gloria Patri is omitted wherever it would normally occur, including the Psalms. The propers for Monday-Wednesday in Holy Week are provided by Brotherhood Prayer Book.
Psalms: 6, 7, 35, 63, 70, 79, 102
Antiphon for Benedictus: O Father glorify Thou Me with Thine own self: with the glory which I had with Thee before the world began.
Antiphon for Magnificat: Thou couldest have no power at all against me: except it were given Thee from above.
Collect: Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we, who amid so many adversities do fail through our own infirmities, may be restored through the Passion and intercession of Thine only-begotten Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Tuesday in Holy Week:
Psalms: 12, 38, 39, 55, 59, 74, 83
Antiphon for Benedictus: Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come: having loved His own, He loved them unto the end.
Antiphon for Magnificat: I have power to lay down my life: and I have power to take it again.
Collect: Almighty and Everlasting God, grant us so to pass through this holy time of our Lord’s Passion, that we may obtain the pardon of our sins; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Wednesday in Holy Week:
Psalm: 51, 88, 120, 130, 142, 143
Antiphon for Benedictus: Simon, sleepest thou? Couldest thou not watch with me even for one hour?
Antiphon for Magnificat: A maid said unto Peter, Surely thou art one of them: for thy speech betrayeth thee.
Collect: Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds are continually afflicted, may mercifully be relieved by the Passion of Thine only-begotten Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
If mass is celebrated on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in Holy Week, the following Lessons are appointed, according to historic custom:
Monday of Holy Week - Judica Domine
Isaiah 50:5–10 / [Zechariah 2:10ff.*] / Mark 14:1–15:46Tuesday of Holy Week - Nos autem gloriari
Jeremiah 11:18–20 / [Wisdom 2:12–22*] / John 12:1–36Wednesday of Holy Week - In nomine Domini
Isaiah 62:11b; 63:1–5, 7a / Isaiah 53:1–12* / Luke 22:1–23:53
Maundy Thursday:
Beginning on Maundy Thursday, the mass becomes far more subdued, though it does not deviate much from the simplified mass celebrated throughout Lententide until after the Sacrament. The Gloria in Excelsis is omitted and the Gloria Patri is omitted wherever it would normally occur.
Beyond this, the normal sequence of the mass does not change. The Confession and Absolution, Introit, Kyrie, and Lessons remain, as well as the Gradual, though historically there is no Verse or Tract preceding the Gospel for Maundy Thursday.
Some churches have begun to incorporate an extended form of Confession and Absolution to begin mass on Maundy Thursday; this does not appear in many medieval or early Lutheran sources, and as the custom throughout Lent and Passiontide has been to gradually simplify the mass, it seems to make more sense to use the standard form of Confession and Absolution on Maundy Thursday.
The Creed is not typically said during weekday masses, according to historic practice, and this would also be the case on Maundy Thursday. However, many churches that celebrate midweek masses still recite the Creed, and if this is a church’s custom, it is best to speak the Creed as normal, perhaps keeping in mind for future years the omission of the Creed from midweek masses.
The Eucharistic liturgy deviates a bit from its standard form. The final repetition “Grant us Thy peace” of the Agnus Dei is replaced with “Have mercy on us,” as it is in the first two repetitions, according to tradition. As mentioned above, the Nunc Dimitis is not said following the Distribution.
An abbreviated form of Vespers is then observed either during the Distribution or immediately after it. For practicality’s sake, it is suggested that Vespers begin immediately after the Agnus Dei, with the pastor intoning the first Psalm antiphon with the words, “I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord,” followed by Psalm 116:10-19.
A series of Psalms is sung to begin the rite of Vespers:
Psalm 120, antiphon vv. 6-7;
Psalm 140, antiphon v. 4a;
Psalm 141, antiphon v. 9;
Psalm 142, antiphon v. 4a
Our Lord likely sang these hymns following the Last Supper before He went to the Mount of Olives. Singing these Psalms during the Distribution on Maundy Thursday is a beautiful way to ponder the life and death of our Lord in light of His earnest prayers on the night He was betrayed and His forthcoming Passion.
The following complend is said following the Magnificat:
O Lord our God, being refreshed with life-giving nourishment, we beseech Thee: that what we pursue in the time of mortality, we may attain by Thy gift of immortality; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.
Translated by Matthew Carver
Following this complend, the Benedicamus is sung without the Benediction, and mass ends with Psalm 22 while the altar is stripped. Local custom and church tradition will dictate how this is to be done, but generally Psalm 22 is sung while the celebrant, deacons, and other assistants strip the altar, which culminates in the removal of the cross from the chancel.