Over the years, many of our readers have expressed to me how encourging they find it to see in our photoposts evidence of the world-wide movement to rediscover and preserve our Catholic liturgical patrimony. Such readers will, I think, find this post particularly enjoyable. We have a very ancient liturgical custom preserved in Poland, a beautifully done OF Mass in South Carolina, and something which we have also featured in past years, a Mass in Use of Braga. (Click here for an explanation.)
There will be another post in this series before we move on the to the Triduum, so more photos of your Palm Sunday liturgies are still welcome. Send them to photopost@newliturgicalmovement.org, and remember to include the name and location of the church. We wish you all a most blessed Sacred Triduum.
Sacred Heart of Jesus and St Florian – Poznan, Poland
Following a local custom of long-standing, after opening the door of the church by triple striking with the processional cross, there takes places a rite called ‘the scourging of the Cross.’ The procession stops outside the sanctuary, and an unveiled cross is laid on a pillow. The priest and servers kneel down and struck the cross three times with the palm, chanting the antiphon Scriptum est enim, at a higher pitch each time, and repeated by the choir. ‘For it is written: I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.” The priest then stands, takes up the Cross and raises it three times, the first two times intoning the penultimate stanza of the Vexilla Regis (O Crux, ave, spes unica), which is completed by the choir.
Putting the cross back on the pillow, the celebrant incenses it three times and kisses it, then stands and says the following prayer: ‘O God, who whilst ruling savest and by sparing justifiest: through the Passion of Thy only-begotten Son, and our Lord Jesus Christ, free us from worldly distresses and grant us eternal joy. Through the same Christ our Lord.’ The origins of this rite can be traced back to the Romano-German Pontifical; after the Tridentine reform, it was preserved in local editions of the Rituale.
Prince of Peace – Taylors, South Carolina
Oratory of St Jean-Théophane Vénard – Saigon, Vietnam (FSSP)
St Philip Neri TLM Chaplaincy at the church of St Anthony - Burlington, Vermont
Holy Name of Jesus – Providence, Rhode Island
Celebrated according to the Use of Braga
Immaculate Heart of Mary Oratory – San José, California (ICRSS)
Currently celebrating in temporary quarters due to pandemic restrictions.
