For our third (but still not final!) Palm Sunday photopost, we start with two examples of the ceremony celebrated according to surviving medieval Uses. The first was done at the church of St Joseph in Troy, New York, by members of the Calced Carmelite Order, which preserved its ancient Use after the Council of Trent. The second was at Holy Name in Providence, Rhode Island, where Palm Sunday is traditionally celebrated according to the proper liturgical Use of the See of Braga. (For a more detailed explanation, see this post from last year, which explains why, and gives details of the ceremony.) We also have two celebrations in the Byzantine Rite, and a video of the complete ceremony from the Basilique Notre-Dame in Fribourg, Switzerland (staffed by the priests of the FSSP’s generalate house), which has a really remarkable choir.
There will be one more photopost of Palm Sunday before we start in the ceremonies of the Triduum; more contributions are always welcome. (Send to photopost@newliturgicalmovement.org; please see this post for some guidelines to help with the process.)
Like many medieval Uses, that of Braga has a station in the middle of the procession, at which the antiphon Ave Rex noster is sung three times, and everyone kneels before the Cross. Here we see the celebrant also scattering olive leaves while the antiphon is sung; similar customs were also very common according to the various Uses.
There will be one more photopost of Palm Sunday before we start in the ceremonies of the Triduum; more contributions are always welcome. (Send to photopost@newliturgicalmovement.org; please see this post for some guidelines to help with the process.)
St Joseph - Troy, New York
Holy Name - Providence, Rhode Island
Basilique Notre-Dame - Fribourg, Switzerland (FSSP)
The video begins with the last doxology of Terce, which is sung before the High Mass on every Sunday and major feast. Note that the antiphon Pueri Hebraeorum is sung in a polyphonic setting by Victoria, written to be used when the same text is sung at the distribution of the Palms. Following one of the most beautiful musical customs of Holy Week, the parts of the Passion of St Matthew which represent more than one speaker are sung by the choir in polyphony, also by Victoria. The Ordinary is Byrd’s Mass for Four Voices; the motets are Improperium exspectavit by Orlando de Lassus and O Jesu Christe by Jacquet de Mantua.
Old St Patrick Oratory - Kansas City, Missouri (ICKSP)
St John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church - Minneapolis, Minnesota
Divine Liturgy of Lazarus Saturday, the day before Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday
St Mary’s Oratory - Wausau, Wisconsin (ICKSP)
Tradition will always be for the young!
Mater Ecclesiae - Berlin, New Jersey
Ukrainian Greek-Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family - Washington, D.C.
