Saturday 21 May 2016

Ember Saturday in Pentecost

Ember Saturday in the Octave of Pentecost is of semi-double rite and the last of the summer Ember or Quarter-Tense days. The liturgical colour is the red of the Octave.

The Office is as on the feast, except for those parts that are proper, but the antiphons at Mattins and Lauds are not doubled. At Mattins the invitatory, hymn, antiphons and psalms are those that were sung on the feast of Pentecost. The versicle and response are Repleti sunt omnes Spiritu Sancto, alleluia and Et coeperunt loqui, alleluia. The lessons of the homily are taken from the writings of St. Ambrose on St. Luke's Gospel. At Lauds the antiphon on the Benedictus and collect are proper to the day. After the collect of the day a commemoration is of SS Marcellinus and his Companions.

At the Hours all is celebrated as on Pentecost Sunday. At Terce the hymn is Veni Creator. The Pentecost Doxology is sung at the conclusion of hymns of the Hours.

Mass is sung after None, as on the Ember Days this week. The ministers wear red dalmatic and tunicle and not folded chasubles. The Mass is proper with the introit Caritas Dei etc. After the Kyrie there are a series of five structural units comprising of the invitation Oremus, followed by a collect, O.T. reading and Alleluia. The readings are from Joel, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Leviticus again and Daniel. After the pericope from Daniel the Alleluia is a fragment of the hymn of the Three Men in the fiery furnace, Alleluia, Benedictus es, Domine, Deus patrum nostrorum et laudabilis in saecula. The then Gloria is sung followed by the collect Deus, qui tribus pueris. After this the collect Ecclesiae is sung. The sequence Veni Sancte Spiritus is sung but without Alleluia at its conclusion, the Creed is sung, the preface, Hanc igitur and communicantes are of Pentecost.

After Mass has been sung the Office of the Octave of Pentecost and Paschaltide come to an end. At the noon bell the last Regina Caeli of the year is sung.

In the 'liturgical books of 1962' the distinction between the rank of the feast and Monday and Tuesday with the rest of the Octave has been lost with all days being first class and excluding all commemorations. The antiphons are doubled at both the Greater and Little Hours. The Pentecost Doxology is not sung at the Little Hours. A 'mini-Mass' Ember Day is permitted whereby only one OT reading, that from Joel, is read.

4 comments:

Matthew Roth said...

The Sequence sans “Alleluia” is interesting. Most choirs I know break into medieval- style harmonies on the “Amen. Alleluia” so I would immediately notice its absence. Is there a reason for its absence, and do we have any idea about its origins?

For what it is worth, it was not mentioned in the ORDO to pray the commemoration for the church.

Joannes said...

I always thought the omission of the Alleluia from the Sequence on the last day of the Octave was a way to show that the Paschal season was about to end, but this is just a personal opinion. Now being that after the Epistle there is a Tract (Laudate) and then the Sequence, and that a Sequence is considered to form a contiguous Proper (Gradual-Alleluia/Tract-Sequence) between the Epistle and Gospel, then it makes no sense to end the Sequence with an Alleluia when the Tract does not contain the word, so I see this rubric as a practical measure to make the text consistent.

Where things get screwed up is when the "short cut" Ember Mass is used wherein the Alleluia w/ Veni Sancte verse is then sung after the Epistle, there is no Tract, and then I believe Alleluia is sung at the end of the Sequence, so if I recall correctly, '62ville has both a Sequence with an Alleluia and without Alleluia depending on which form is chosen. Hence, the confusion over the rubric among different Ordines and hand Missals.

Unknown said...

I see this discussion thread is a few years old, so I don't know if anyone will see it, BUT...
There is no Alleluia at the end of the Sequence because it is preceded by the Tract. The normal position of any sequence is following (hence the name) the Alleluia verse. It is sandwiched between the verse and the repetition of the Alleluia. The Alleluia at the end of the Sequence is really the repetition of the Alleluia that follows the Alleluia verse. The repetition was just delayed until after the Sequence. (This is a reflection of the historical and liturgical origins of the Sequence, which was began as a trope on the Alleluia.)
But since the Tract comes before the Sequence on Ember Saturday (which is unusual), there is no Alleluia to repeat.

Rubricarius said...

Unknown,
Thank you for the very clear explanation.