Third Sunday in Lent

The third Sunday in Lent is a semi-double Sunday of the first class. No feast my be celebrated if it falls on such a Sunday. The Gospel pericope from St. Luke at Mattins and Mass recounts the LORD casting out evil from a demoniac.

At Vespers yesterday morning the antiphons and psalms were of Saturday, the chapter was proper to the Sunday, and the hymn Audi benigne conditor was sung. After the collect of the Sunday the Suffrage of the Saints was sung. At Compline the Dominical preces were sung.

At Mattins the invitatory is Non sit vobis and the hymn is Ex more, as on the other Sundays in Lent. The antiphons and psalms of Sunday are sung. In the first nocturn the lessons are from Genesis and the story of Joseph, his coat of many colours and his brothers casting him into a pit. In the second nocturn the lessons are taken from the Book of St. Augustine on Joseph. In the third nocturn the lessons are a homily of the Venerable Bede on St. Luke's Gospel. A ninth responsory, Lamentabatur Jacob, is sung in place of the Te Deum.

At Lauds the antiphons are proper to the Sunday, Fac benigne etc., and the second scheme of Psalms sung (50, 117, 62, Benedictus es, 148). The chapter is proper to the Sunday and the Office hymn is O sol salutis. After the collect of the Sunday the Suffrage of the Saints is sung.

At Prime and the Hours the antiphons are proper to the Sunday, Et cum ejecisset Jesus etc. At Prime the psalms are Pss. 92, 99 (displaced from Lauds) and the first two divisi of Ps. 118. The Dominical preces are sung.

Mass is sung after Terce. The deacon and subdeacon wear violet folded chasubles, planetis plicatis, instead of the festive dalmatic and tunicle as on all Sundays (and ferial days) of Lent. There is no Gloria. The second collect is A cunctis, the third collect is Omnipotens. A Tract is sung after the Gradual, the Credo is sung, the preface is of Lent and the dismissal is Benedicamus Domino, sung by the deacon facing the altar and celebrant.

Vespers are of the Sunday, sung at the normal time. The antiphons and psalms are those used on Sundays, the chapter is proper and the Office hymn is Audi, benigne Conditor. After the collect of the Sunday commemorations are sung of the following feast of St. Casimir and St. Lucius followed by the Suffrage of the Saints. At Compline the Domincal preces are sung at Compline.

In those delightful and ancient 'liturgical books of 1962' the Suffrage is omitted at Vespers, sung in the afternoon, on Saturday and the Dominical preces are never sung at Compline. Mattins is cut down to the usual single nocturn of three lessons. At Lauds the Suffrage of the Saints has been abolished. At Prime the psalms are Ps.53 and the first two divisi of Ps.118, the Domincial preces are omitted. At Mass the ministers wear dalmatic and tunicle, as in Septuagesima, there is only one collect and the dismissal is Ite, missa est. At Vespers there are no commemorations, nor Suffrage and at Compline the preces are, always, omitted.

Art: Jerome Nadal