Thursday, April 17, 2025

Holy Thursday 2025

Thou, o Lord, didst command us to be partakers of Thy Son, sharers of Thy kingdom, dwellers in Paradise, companions of the Angels; ever provided we keep the sacraments of the heavenly host with pure and undefiled faith. And what may we not hope of Thy mercy, we who received so great a gift, that we might merit to offer Thee such a Victim, namely, the Body and Blood of Our Lord, Jesus Christ? Who for the redemption of the world gave Himself up to that holy and venerable Passion; Who instituting the form of the perennial sacrifice of salvation, first offered Himself as the Victim, and first taught that It be offered. (From the Ambrosian Missal; these words are interpolated into the Communicantes at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. Here is a complete description of the very interesting Vespers and Mass of Holy Thursday in the Ambrosian Rite.)

The Institution of the Holy Eucharist, by Federico Barocci, from the Aldobrandini Chapel of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome; 1603-8.
Tu nos, Domine, participes Filii tui, tu consortes regni tui, tu incolas Paradisi, tu Angelorum comites esse jussisti; si tamen illaesa et intemerata fide caelestis militiae sacramenta servemus. Et quid sperare de misericordia tua non possumus, qui tantum munus accepimus, ut talem tibi hostiam offerre mereamur, Corpus scilicet et Sanguinem Domini nostri Jesu Christi? Qui se pro mundi redemptione piae illi ac venerandae tradidit Passioni; qui formam sacrificii perennis instituens, hostiam se primus obtulit, et primus docuit offerre.

More recent articles:


A Medieval Hymn for Eastertide
Many medieval breviaries, including those of the Sarum Use, the Cistercians, Carmelites and Premonstratensians, have a hymn for the Easter season which is not found in the Roman Breviary, Chorus novae Jerusalem by St Fulbert, bishop of Chartres, who died in 1029. The original version of the Latin text, and the English translation of John Maso...

Two Upcoming Events from the Durandus Institute
Our friend James Griffin of The Durandus Institute for Sacred Liturgy and Music wishes all our readers a joyous Easter season, by presenting two opportunities, at least for those in southeast Pennsylvania, to celebrate.First, this coming Sunday at 5pm, there will be a solemn Vespers in the traditional Latin rite for the Second Sunday after Easter a...

Letter to a Maximalist Music Director in a Minimalist World
Auguste Danse, Study of Three Singers (detail)The following is based on a real letter.Dear Friend,I’m sorry to hear that you’re experiencing some “ups and downs” with regard to the liturgy there, though it’s hardly surprising in a way. Your diocese is not well known for liturgical propriety or taste, and, beyond that, priests mostly have control ov...

The Tomb of St Peter Martyr in Milan’s Portinari Chapel
Here are some great photos from our Ambrosian correspondent Nicola de’ Grandi of the Portinari Chapel at the Basilica of St Eustorgio in Milan. They were taken during a special night-time opening made possible by a new lighting system; as one might well imagine, the Italians are extraordinarily good at this sort of thing, and more and more museum...

Recommended Art History and Artistic Practice Text Books for Homeschoolers... and Everyone Else Too!
I want to recommend the Catholic Heritage Currricula texts books to all who are looking for materials for courses in art history, art theory and artistic practice at the middle-school or high-school level. These books present a curriculum that combines art history, art theory, and a theory of culture in a Catholic way. Furthermore, they provide the...

Launching “Theological Classics”: Newman on the Virgin Mary, St Vincent on Novelty & Heresy, Guardini on Sacred Signs
At a time of turmoil, nothing could be better or more important than rooting ourselves more deeply in the Catholic tradition. One of my favorite quotations is by St. Prosper of Aquitaine (390-455), writing in his own age of chaos: “Even if the wounds of this shattered world enmesh you, and the sea in turmoil bears you along in but one surviving shi...

Low Sunday 2025
With his inquisitive right hand, Thomas searched out Thy life-bestowing side, O Christ God; for when Thou didst enter while the doors were shut, he cried out to Thee with the rest of the Apostles: Thou art my Lord and my God. (The Kontakion of St Thomas Sunday at Matins in the Byzantine Rite.)Who preserved the disciple’s hand unburnt when he drew n...

The Easter Sequence Laudes Salvatori
The traditional sequence for Easter, Victimae Paschali laudes, is rightly regarded as one of the greatest gems of medieval liturgical poetry, such that it was even accepted by the Missal of the Roman Curia, which had only four sequences, a tradition which passed into the Missal of St Pius V. But of course, sequences as a liturgical genre were extre...

The Paschal Stichera of the Byzantine Rite in English
One of the most magnificent features of the Byzantine Rite is a group of hymns known as the Paschal stichera. These are sung at Orthros and Vespers each day of Bright Week, as the Easter octave is called, and thenceforth on the Sundays of the Easter season, and on the Leave-taking of Easter, the day before the Ascension. As with all things Byzantin...

Medieval Vespers of Easter
In the Breviary of St Pius V, Vespers of Easter Sunday and the days within the octave present only one peculiarity, namely, that the Chapter and Hymn are replaced by the words of Psalm 117, “Haec dies quam fecit Dominus; exsultemus et laetemur in ea. – This is the day that the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice therein.” In the Office, this...

For more articles, see the NLM archives: