Sunday 8 April 2012

Dominica Resurrectionis - Holy Pascha

Hac die quam fecit Dominus, Solemnitas solemnitatum, et Pascha nostrum Resurrectio Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi secundum carnem. These glorious words are sung, to a the tone of the Passion, at Prime today at the reading of the Martyrology before the announcement of the day and moon for the following day.

Holy Pascha is a Double of the First Class with a privileged Octave of the first Order. Paschal Mattins was described in the previous post. The day's morning Office begins with Prime. There are no hymns at the Hours during the entire Octave in the Roman rite. At Prime psalms 53 and the first two divisi of Ps. 118 are sung to a special form of Tone 2. Haec Dies is sung after the psalmody and then everything else is omitted up to the collect Domine Deus omnipotens. The Martyrology is then sung, starting with the verse indicated above. Then Santa Maria etc is sung, the collect Dirigere et sanctificare etc and the short lesson Si consurrexistis. Terce, and the other Little Hours, are even more simple in their structure. At Terce the usual stanzas of Ps. 118 are sung to the special Tone 2 form followed by Haec dies and the collect of the day.

Mass is sung after Terce. Instead of Asperges me the Paschatide Vidi aquam is sung today and all other Sundays in Paschaltide. In the great Mass of Easter, Resurrexi, the Gloria is sung, one collect is sung. Haec dies is sung as the Gradual.
The sequence Victimae paschali laudes is sung after the Alleluia. The Creed is sung and Ite missa est alleluia, alleluia is sung as the dismissal.

Sext and None have exactly the same structure as Terce. At Vespers the antiphons sung at Lauds, Angelus autem Domini etc, are are sung with the usual Sunday psalms. Haec dies is sung in place of the chapter, hymn and versicle & response. The solemn tone is used for Benedicamus Domino, alleluia, alleluia.

At Compline the usual psalms are sung to Tone 8G without any preceding antiphon, followed by an antiphon consisting of Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. This is followed by the Nunc dimittis sung to the Paschal Tone 2, without antiphons. Haec dies is then sung followed by the collect Visita quaesumus etc and then, as yesterday the antiphon Regina coeli etc.

4 comments:

Acolytus said...

Many thanks once again for your sterling contribution to the cause of truth and accurate presentation of tradition, Rubricarie.

Having just returned from the parish church of a clerical friend that performed, well, mostly, the 1956 rites in not quite their total ghastliness, much of the outward ceremonial being according to the older traditions, but very firmly using the text of the Pacelli Novelty-for-the-sake-of-it Company, I just wanted to ask for the address of that brothel that De Glover recommended. I feel I now need to get very drunk.

Acolytus said...

I might also have added

To consider only ceremonial questions that are the matter of the present blog.

At present I am tired and very largely disappointed by the sad sight of the disjunction between the ruinous 1956 texts and other reminders of the older tradition. I hope to get over this and experience more Paschal joy on the Octave Day and throughout the rest of Eastertide.
I am actually grateful to have been able to get an Easter morning mass in the novus ordo which was about as unlike the tradition as it was possible to get – but then it was not pretending to be. I don’t think I could have strapped a guitar over my chasuble to accompany the sequence Victimi pascali in both Latin and English but the man who did so was quite sincere.

Although the special rites of holy week were a strange mixture of the Pian bulldozer and some older features, Easter morning mass was a more uplifting experience - am I right in thinking that the morning mass is the same as the pre-1911, is the same as 1956, is the same as 1962? [At least in the texts themselves - Except of course for the confusion over whether your particular province was allowing vernacular readings or not – to the extent that there are probably NO universal ‘liturgical books of 1962’, and axcepting the way they were used].

With good wishes in the joy of the resurrection.

Rubricarius said...

Acolytus,

The Mass texts for holy Pascha were the same from 1570 through 1962.

I agree with you: at least the Novus Ordo is honest and doesn't pretend (with the exception of three or four places on the globe) to be something it is not like the "TLM" - not traditional, not all Latin, I suppose it is a mass?

Acolytus said...

Thanks for this confirmation.

Apologies for two things - my numerous spelling mistakes - I can't type and when I forget my specs, I can't see much on the screen either, these days.

I should clarify:
I went to two masses on Easter morning - after holy week, I was fearful of what might happen at the traditional mass mid morning, so I went to what I expected to be Low Mass before that.
The Low Mass included the guitar being placed over the chasuble several times, and lasted well over an hour; the later traditional mass was not too bad as it turned out - as you have confirmed, there were no novelties of text to jar with the Paschal joy.
As to whether either was a valid mass I shall leave that up to canon law; these days I just have to trust in providence and hope.