Quinquagesima Sunday

Quinquagesima Sunday is a semi-double of the second class. The Gospel pericopes are taken from St. Luke and give the account of the giving of sight to the man born blind.

At Vespers yesterday the antiphons and psalms were of Saturday, the chapter, antiphon at the Magnificat and collect were proper to Quinquagesima Sunday. After the collect of the Sunday the Suffrage of the Saints was sung. At Compline the Dominical preces were sung.

At Mattins, as on the previous two Sundays, the antiphons and psalms are those used on Sundays throughout the year. In the first nocturn the lessons are again from Genesis and this Sunday concern the story of Abraham. In the second nocturn the lessons are from St. Ambrose on the Book on the Patriarch Abraham and in the third nocturn the lessons are a homily from St. Gregory on St. Luke's Gospel of the man blind from birth whose sight was restored by the LORD. The blind man is a figure of the human race according to St. Gregory. A ninth responsory, Caecus sedebat secus viam etc, is sung in place of the Te Deum.

At Lauds the 'second scheme' of psalms is sung: Pss. 50, 117, 62, Benedictus es and 148. The antiphons at Lauds are proper for Quinquagesima Sunday, Secundum multitudinem etc, as are the antiphon at the Benedictus and collect. After the collect of the Sunday the Suffrage of the Saints is sung.

At all the Hours the antiphons and chapters are proper to Quinquagesima Sunday. At Prime the order of psalmody is that used when the second schema of Lauds is sung, i.e. Pss. 92, 99 (displaced at Lauds) and the usual first two divisi of Ps. 118. The Dominical preces are sung.

In Mass there is no Gloria, the second collect is A cunctis, the third collect is one chosen by the Dean or Rector of the place. A Tract is sung after the Gradual, the Credo is sung , the Preface is of the Blessed Trinity and Benedicamus Domino is sung as the dismissal by the deacon facing the altar. The ministers wear dalmatic and tunicle.

At Vespers the antiphons and psalms are those used on Sundays, the chapter is proper to the Sunday as is the antiphon at the Magnificat. After the collect of the Sunday the Suffrage of the Saints is sung. At Compline the Domincal preces are sung.

Following those ancient rites, the 'liturgical books of 1962', at Vespers the Suffrage has been abolished. At Compline there are no preces. Mattins is reduced to one nocturn of three lessons. At Lauds the Suffrage has been abolished. At Prime Pss. 53, 118i & 118ii are sung, as on major feasts, and there are no preces. At Mass there is a single collect and Benedicamus Domino is supressed in favour of Ite, missa est. At Vespers the Suffrage has been abolished as have the preces at Compline.

Art: Jerome Nadal