Third Sunday in Lent

The third Sunday in Lent is a semi-double Sunday of the first class and its liturgical colour is, until Vespers this year, violet. 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 of Saturday were sung. The chapter was proper to the Sunday and the Office hymn was Audi, benigne conditor. After the collect of the Sunday a commemoration was sung of St. Gabriel the Archangel. The Suffrage of the Saints was omitted as were the Dominical preces at Compline.

At Mattins the invitatory is Non sit vobis and the Office 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 a commemoration is sung of St. Gabriel the Achangel. The Suffrage of the Saints is omitted.

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 omitted.

Mass is sung after Terce. The deacon and subdeacon wear violet folded chasubles. There is no Gloria. The second collect is of St. Gabriel the Archangel. Today there is no third collect. 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, and the last Gospel is of St. Gabriel the Archangel.

At Vespers there is a colour change to white and first Vespers of the feast of the Annunciation are sung. The antiphons Missus est Gabriel Angelus ad Mariam etc are sung, doubled, with the psalms from the Common of the BVM (Pss.109, 112, 121, 126 & 147). The chapter is proper to the feast and the Office hymn is Ave Maris stella. The antiphon on the Magnificat and collect, are again, proper to the feast. After the collect of the feast a commemoration of the Sunday is sung. At Compline Te lucis is sung with the Doxology in honour of the Incarnation, Jesu tibi sit gloria etc.

In 'liturgical books of 1962' there were no commemorations at Vespers which are sung in the afternoon as at any other time of the year. Mattins is cut down to a single nocturn of three lessons. At Lauds there are no commemorations. At Prime the psalms are Ps.53 and the first two divisi of Ps.118. At Mass the ministers wear dalmatic and tunicle, as in Septuagesima etc. There is but a single collect and the dismissal is Ite, missa est and the last Gospel is In principio. Vespers are of the Sunday with a commemoration of the Annunciation. At Compline Te lucis is sung with the ordinary Doxology.

Art: Jerome Nadal