Passiontide
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Passiontide (in the Christian liturgical year) is a name for the last two weeks of Lent, beginning on Passion Sunday (the beginning of Forty Hours' Devotion) and ending on Holy Saturday.
In the pre-Vatican II rite in the Roman Catholic Church, all statues (and in England paintings as well) depicting religious figures and crucifixes are covered in violet veils starting on Passion Sunday.[1] During the Good Friday liturgy a crucifix is unveiled for veneration. Other statues remain veiled until during the Gloria at the Easter Vigil Mass. In addition, Psalm 42 is omitted at Mass, as it is during a Requiem Mass, and the Gloria Patri is suppressed in all places except after the psalms and canticles of the Divine Office.
In the calendar reforms of the Second Vatican Council, Passiontide was universally suppressed. The veiling of statues was also suppressed unless the national council of bishops chose to continue the practice. In the United States, the national bishops' conference has permitted the practice, but most parishes do not observe it. Traditional Catholics still observe Passiontide as well as all of the rites and ceremonies that accompany it.
Passiontide is observed in many provinces of the Anglican Communion, for example in the Church of England. In the Common Worship liturgy, material proper to Passiontide is used from Evening Prayer on the Eve of the Fifth Sunday of Lent to the evening of Easter Eve. Such "proper material" includes prefaces to the Eucharistic Prayer, special orders for Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, and seasonal material for Night Prayer and Prayer During the Day.
[edit] Music for Passiontide
Much music has been written for Passiontide. Passion cantatas have been composed to texts in a variety of languages, taking as their theme the hours or days before the Crucifixion of Christ. Many settings have been made of the Latin poem Stabat Mater, which describes Mary standing in front of the Cross watching her son die, and the lessons from the Tenebrae service have been set by a variety of composers. Several composers have also set to music the last words of Christ on the Cross, e.g. Joseph Haydn (Die sieben letzten Worte unseres Erlösers am Kreuze) and Heinrich Schütz (Die sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz).
[edit] References
- ^
"Passiontide". Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company. The veiling was in accordance with the Passion Sunday Gospel (John 8:46-59) in which Jesus “hid himself” from the people.
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