Holy Week Offices

After a year and a half, I still consider the breviary to be in beta because of issues like this morning—a missing collect and, in some cases, missing lessons. They’re fixed now and part of today’s events include a check through the rest of Holy Week to make sure everything’s functioning properly.

Exactly how the Holy Week and Triduum Offices are to be celebrated is a favorite topic among Anglican armchair liturgists; the various Books of Common Prayer give no indication of changes during this time but catholic practices give a variety of options with the Roman variations being predominate but I’m sure we can find some divergences even from that among regional uses (like the 24 candles of the Sarum tenebrae hearse as opposed to the more pedestrian 15 of Roman practice). I did write a bit about this last year which covers some of the various points to weigh.

Bottom line at the breviary is this: the breviary keeps the gloria patris for the beginning of Holy Week, but gives reduced offices for Triduum. The BSG version, however, does not use reduced offices but presents a full, regular, prayer book office. This probably is something that I should build into the preferences but haven’t had the time to do.

1 thought on “Holy Week Offices

  1. (Rev) Wm D. Loring

    You write: “One final item to consider is the theological message of appointed Sunday readings. What did this say about what was to be the main public service on Sundays—the Mass or the Office? It’s a question that deserves more investigation but, to me, it looks like a move to either suggest a shift or to reinforce a practice that had already occurred.” It seems pretty clear that the usual Sunday morning service from 1559 until the mid-19th c. was Morning Prayer + Litany + Ante Communion (through Prayer for the Church) with the full Communion at least three or four times a year (more in cathedrals and a few other places). In view of this it seems that the proper Sunday readings at Mattins were designed to complement rather than replace the Epistles and Gospels, the more so as it was especially the OT that was affected in these changes

    Two other more general comments: The Tridentine Breviary is Counter-(i.e. Post-) Reformation, though it is primarily a consolidation of earlier breviaries.

    You seem to have a tendency to write “effect” for “affect” — which tends to disguise your message.

    Faithfully,

    Bill+

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