Sunday 20 April 2014

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 the tone of the Passion, at Prime today at the reading of the Martyrology before the announcement of the day and moon for tomorrow.

Holy Pascha is a Double of the First Class with a privileged Octave of the first Order. Paschal Mattins was described above. The morning Office begins with Prime. There are no hymns at the Hours during the entire Paschal 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 Sancta 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:

Capreolus said...

On your recommendation, I bought a copy of "The Offices of Holy Week." It's beautifully laid out and illustrated, with interesting commentary (though maybe one or two of the Liturgical Movement canards--transeat!)

I see, too, that there is now a very affordable book with all the music and texts for Tenebrae for all three days.
Fr. Capreolus

Rubricarius said...

Fr. Capreolus,

Good that you like the Cabrol.

Does the Tenebrae book have real Tenebrae or is it the 1956 form?

Anonymous said...

(I'm not sure if my previous reply went through, as I received an "error" message.) The author is Albert S. Bloomfield, and the title is "Tenebrae: Matins and Lauds of the Triduum," for $3.68 US. Sample pages on Amazon are not conclusive: Vulgate psalter but nothing shown from Lauds.
--Fr. Capreolus

Anonymous said...

I've been curious about something. I had the idea years ago that you were writing a book about the deleterious effects of the 1911 reforms. This would be significant scholarship, and you're perhaps one of the very few liturgical savants left who could do it well or even at all. Is this project out of concept phase?