Sabbato Sancto

~ Feria privilegiata

The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray
O God, who dost illuminate this most holy night by the glory of the Lord's Resurrection, preserve in the new children of Thy family the spirit of adoption which Thou hast given; that renewed in body and mind, they may render to Thee a pure service.
Through the same Jesus Christ, thy Son, Our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
R. Amen.

Epistle
Lesson from the Epistle of Blessed Paul the Apostle to the Colossians.
Col 3:1-4
Brethren, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God: mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth. For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ should appear, who is your life, then you also shall appear with Him in glory.
R. Thanks be to God.

Allleuia
The celebrant and choir repeat the Alleluia twice more, each time at a higher tone.
Allleuia
Alleluia.
Afterward, the choir continues:
Ps 117:1.
Give praise to the Lord for He is good: for His mercy endureth forever.
Tract
Ps 116:1-2
O praise the Lord, all ye nations, and praise Him all ye people.
V. For His mercy is confirmed upon us: and the truth of the Lord remaineth forever.

Continuation ++ of the holy Gospel according to St. Matthew.
Matt 28:1-7
And in the end of the Sabbath, when it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalen and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And behold there was a great earthquake. For an Angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and coming, rolled back the stone and sat upon it: and his countenance was as lightening and his raiment as snow. And for fear of him the guards were struck with terror and became as dead men. And the Angel answering, said to the women: Fear not you: for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified: He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come and see the place where the Lord was laid. And going quickly, tell ye His disciples that He is risen: and behold He will go before you into Galilee: there you shall see Him. Lo, I have foretold it to you.

V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
Pour forth, O Lord, we beseech thee, the Spirit of thy love into our hearts, and by thy mercy make all them to be of one mind to whom Thou hast given to eat of thy mystic Passover.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
R. Amen.

Feria Sexta in Parasceve ~ Feria privilegiata

 Fri, 4/3/26:

Today is Good Friday under the 1954 (double of the I class) and 1962 (I class) rubrics.

Office: Under the 1954 rubrics, when chanted in choir, Matins and Lauds were chanted last night during the Tenebrae service. The color for the Office is violet. When Prime and the hours are said in choir today, the psalms are not chanted; they are simply recited together. The hymns, chapters, preces, and suffrages are omitted, a living relic of the earliest form of the Office. No fourth psalm is added at Prime under 1954. Commemorations are not permitted in the Office or at Mass throughout the Triduum.

Under the 1962 rubrics, Tenebrae must be sung in choir today in the morning, as the 1960 Code of Rubrics does not permit Lauds to be anticipated. All else is as under 1954 above.

Vespers: Of Good Friday. Violet. Proper psalms and antiphons. All else from the proper. Omit chapter and hymn. Proper Magnificat antiphon. Collect Concede, quaesumus. No conclusion to the office. Proper Compline, beginning immediately with the Confiteor and absolution. Antiphon Christus factus est after the Nunc dimittis. No Marian antiphon after the oration. When recited in choir, the altar candles are not lit and all psalms, etc. are recited without chant. Under 1954, Tenebrae (Matins and Lauds of Holy Saturday) is chanted in choir immediately after Compline, using the same ceremonies as on the previous night; under 1962, Tenebrae of Holy Saturday must be conducted on Saturday morning.

Under the 1962 rubrics, those who are bound to recite the Office are not obliged to say Vespers if they assist at today's solemn afternoon liturgical action (see below). (Source: LB236 on Twitter/X.)

Thus saith the Lord: In their affliction they will rise early to Me: Come, and let us return to the Lord, for He hath taken us, and He will heal us, He will strike, and He will cure us. He will revive us after two days: on the third day He will raise us up and we shall live in His sight. We shall know and we shall follow on, that we may know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as the morning light and He will come to us as the early and the latter rain to the earth. What shall I do to thee, O Ephraim? What shall I do to thee, O Juda? Your mercy is as a morning cloud and as the dew that goeth away in the morning. For this reason have I hewed them by the Prophets, I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgements shall go forth as the light. For I desired mercy and not sacrifice: and the knowledge of God more than holocausts.
Tract
Habacuc 3
O Lord, I have heard Thy hearing and was afraid: I have considered Thy works and trembled.
V. In the midst of two animals Thou shalt be made known: when the years shall draw nigh Thou shalt be known: when the time shall come, Thou shalt be manifested.
V. When my soul shall be in trouble, Thou wilt remember mercy, even in Thy wrath.
V. God will come from Libanus, and the Holy One from the shady and thickly covered mountain.
V. His majesty covered the heavens: and the earth is full of His praise.

Let us pray.

D. Let us kneel.
℟. Arise.
O God, from whom Judas received the punishment of his guilt, and the thief the reward of his confession: grant unto us the full fruit of Thy clemency; that even as in His Passion, our Lord Jesus Christ gave to each a retribution according to his merits, so having taken away our old sins, He may bestow upon us the grace of His Resurrection. Who with Thee liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.

Lesson from the book of Lamentations

Lam 2:8-11
8 Heth. The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Sion: he hath stretched out his line, and hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: and the bulwark hath mourned, and the wall hath been destroyed together.
9 Teth. Her gates are sunk into the ground: he hath destroyed, and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more, and her prophets have found no vision from the Lord.
10 Jod. The ancients of the daughter of Sion sit upon the ground, they have held their peace: they have sprinkled their heads with dust, they are girded with haircloth, the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
11 Caph. My eyes have failed with weeping, my bowels are troubled: my liver is poured out upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people, when the children, and the sucklings, fainted away in the streets of the city.
Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Return unto the Lord thy God.

PASSION
The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to St. John.
John 18:1-40; 19:1-42
At that time Jesus went forth with His disciples over the brook Cedron, where there was a garden, into which He entered with His disciples. And Judas also, who betrayed Him, knew the place: because Jesus had often resorted thither together with His disciples. Judas therefore having received a band of soldiers and servants fro the chief priests and the Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing that all things that should come upon Him, went forth ... (and so on,)

Feria Quinta in Cena Domini

 ~ Feria privilegiata

Ultima Cena, Juan de Juana’s, Museo del Prado 

Thurs, 4/2/26:

Today is Maundy Thursday under the 1954 (double of the I class) and 1962 (I class) rubrics.

Office: Under the 1954 rubrics, when chanted in choir, Matins and Lauds were chanted last night during the Tenebrae service. The color for the Office is violet. When Prime and the hours are said in choir today, the psalms are not chanted; they are simply recited together. The hymns, chapters, preces, and suffrages are omitted, a living relic of the earliest form of the Office. No fourth psalm is added at Prime under 1954. Commemorations are not permitted in the Office or at Mass throughout the Triduum.

Under the 1962 rubrics, Tenebrae must be sung in choir today in the morning, unless the chrism Mass (see below) is celebrated in the morning in the local church, in which case Tenebrae was anticipated last night as is the traditional practice. All else is as under 1954 above. (Source LB236 on Twitter/x.)

Collect
℣. The Lord be with you.
℟. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
Dómine, Deus, qui in regenerándis plébibus tuis ministério úteris sacerdótum; tríbue nobis perseverántem in tua voluntáte famulátum; ut dono grátiæ tuæ, in diébus nostris, et méritis et número sacrátus tibi pópulus augeátur.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
℟. Amen.

Sequéntia + sancti Evangélii secúndum Marcum.
℟. Glory be to Thee, O Lord.
Marc 6:7-13
In illo témpore: Vocávit Jesus duódecim, et coepit eos míttere binos, et dabat illis potestátem spirítuum immundórum. Et præcépit eis, ne quid tóllerent in via, nisi virgam tantum; non peram, non panem, neque in zona æs, sed calceátos sandáliis, et ne indueréntur duábus túnicis. Et dicébat eis: « Quocúmque introiéritis in domum, illic manéte, donec exeátis inde; et quicúmque non recéperint vos, nec audíerint vos, exeúntes inde, excútite púlverem de pédibus vestris, in testimónium illis ». Et exeúntes prædicábant ut pæniténtiam ágerent; et dæmónia multa ejiciébant, et ungébant óleo multos ægros, et sanábant.

From the Treatise of St. Augustine, Bishop (of Hippo) Upon the Psalms
On Psalm liv, 1
Give ear to my prayer, O God, and despise not my supplication: attend unto me and hear me. These are the words of a man travailing, anxious, and troubled. He prayeth in the midst of much suffering, longing to be rid of his affliction. Our part is to see what that his affliction was, and when he hath told us, to acknowledge that we also suffer therefrom; that so, partaking in his trouble, we may take part also in his exercise, and am troubled. Wherein mourned he? Wherein was he troubled? He saith: In my exercise. In the next words he giveth us to know that his affliction was the oppression of the wicked, because of the voice of the enemy, and because of the oppression of the wicked, and this suffering which came upon him at the hands of wicked men, he hath called his exercise. Think not that wicked men are in this world for nothing, or that God doth no good with them. Every wicked man liveth, either to repent, or to exercise the righteous.

℟. Mine own friend hath betrayed Me by the sign of a kiss: Whomsoever I shall kiss, That Same is He; hold Him fast. This was the traitorous sign which he gave, even he who murdered with a kiss.
* Woe unto that man! He cast down the price of blood, and went, and hanged himself.
℣. It had been good for that man if he had not been born.
℟. Woe unto that man! He cast down the price of blood, and went, and hanged himself.

Prayer {from the Proper of the season}

Look down, we beseech thee, O Lord, on this thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ did not hesitate to be delivered up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer the torment of the Cross.
Finish silently
Who with thee liveth and reigneth, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.
℟. Amen.

Feria Quarta Majoris Hebdomadæ

 ~ Feria privilegiata

 

Interior, Santa Maria Maggiore

Wed, 4/1/26:

Today is Wednesday in Holy Week under the 1954 (simple, privileged major feria) and 1962 (I class feria) rubrics.

Mass: Proper Mass. Station church at St. Mary Major. Violet. Proper Mass. Omit Gloria. Extra prophecy, gradual, and collect before the Epistle. Tract with genuflection at Adjuva nos. Passion of St. Luke (at sung Mass, chanted in the same manner as the Passion on Palm Sunday [deacons of the passion, etc.]). Omit Credo. Preface of the Holy Cross. Prayer over the people. Benedicamus (1954)/Ite (1962). Under 1954, 2nd prayer either Ecclesiae tuae for the Church or Deus omnium for the pope. No additional prayer under 1962.

Note that the Passion narrative of 1954 begins with the Last Supper, as did St. Matthew's Passion on Palm Sunday. In the 1956/62 form, the Passion begins with Christ in the garden as in the 56/62 form of Palm Sunday.

Office: Ferial office. Violet. Matins of 1 nocturn of 3 lessons. Omit Te Deum. Psalms of the feria (Lauds = schema II) with proper antiphons at Lauds and the hours. All else from the ferial office for Passiontide. Proper Benedictus antiphon and collect. No commemorations at Lauds. Preces at Lauds and the hours (1954 only)/Lauds only (1962). Omit suffrage (1954 only). At Prime, add displaced psalm 96 (1954 only). At the martyrology, announce in the first place Coena Dominica, etc. (Source: LB236 on Twitter/X.)

Collect

Let us pray.
℣. Let us kneel.
℟. Arise.
Grant we beseech thee Almighty God, that we who are continually afflicted by reason of our waywardness, may be delivered by the Passion of thy only-begotten Son.
Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.
℟. Amen

Lesson from the book of Jeremias

Jer 17:13-18
13 O Lord, the hope of Israel: all that forsake thee shall be confounded: they that depart from thee, shall be written in the earth: because they have forsaken the Lord, the vein of living waters.
14 Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed: save me, and I shall be saved, for thou art my praise.
15 Behold they say to me: Where is the word of the Lord? let it come.
16 And I am not troubled, following thee for my pastor, and I have not desired the day of man, thou knowest. That which went out of my lips, hath been right in thy sight.
17 Be not thou a terror unto me, thou art my hope in the day of affliction.
18 Let them be confounded that persecute me, and let not me be confounded: let them be afraid, and let not me be afraid: bring upon them the day of affliction, and with a double destruction, destroy them.

Prayer over the people
Let us pray.
Bow your heads to God.
Look down we beseech thee, O Lord, on this thy family on whose sake our Lord Jesus Christ refused not to yield himself into the hands of the wicked and to suffer the torments of the cross.
Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.
℟. Amen

Photo source & more on the church of S Maria Maggiore: https://cmswr.org/basilica-of-saint-mary-major-2/

Feria Tertia Majoris Hebdomadæ

 ~ Feria privilegiata

S Prisca, Roma

Tues, 3/31/26

Today is Tuesday in Holy Week under the 1954 (simple; privileged major feria) and 1962 (I class feria) rubrics.

Mass: Proper Mass. Station church at St. Prisca. Violet. Omit Gloria. No Tract. Passion of St. Mark (at sung Mass, chanted in the same manner as the Passion on Palm Sunday [deacons of the passion, etc.]). Omit Credo. Preface of the Holy Cross. Prayer over the people. Benedicamus (1954)/Ite (1962). Under 1954, 2nd prayer either Ecclesiae tuae for the Church or Deus omnium for the pope. No additional prayer under 1962.

Note that the Passion narrative of 1954 begins with the Last Supper, as did St. Matthew's Passion on Palm Sunday. In the 1956/62 form, the Passion begins with Christ in the garden as in the 56/62 form of Palm Sunday.

Office: Ferial office. Violet. Matins of 1 nocturn of 3 lessons (all from occurring Scripture). Omit Te Deum. Psalms of the feria (Lauds = schema II) with proper antiphons at Lauds and the hours. All else from the ferial office for Passiontide. Proper Benedictus antiphon and collect. No commemorations. Preces at Lauds and the hours (1954 only). Omit suffrage (1954 only). At Prime, add displaced psalm 95 (1954 only). (Source LB236 on Twitter/X.)

Collect
℣. The Lord be with you.
℟. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
Almighty and eternal God, grant us so to celebrate the mysteries of our Lord's Passion, that we may deserve to obtain forgiveness.
Through the same Jesus Christ, thy Son, Our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
℟. Amen.

Let us pray.
for the Church
Mercifully hear the prayers of thy Church, we beseech thee, O Lord, that all adversities and errors being overcome, she may serve thee in security and feedom.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
℟. Amen.

Lesson from the book of Jeremias
Jer 11:15-20
15 What is the meaning that my beloved hath wrought much wickedness in my house? shall the holy flesh take away from thee thy crimes, in which thou hast boasted?
16 The Lord called thy name, a plentiful olive tree, fair, fruitful, and beautiful: at the noise of a word, a great fire was kindled in it and the branches thereof are burnt.
17 And the Lord of hosts that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee: for the evils of the house of Israel, and the house of Juda, which they have done to themselves, to provoke me, offering sacrifice to Baalim.
18 But thou, O Lord, hast shewn me, and I have known: then thou shewedst me their doings.
19 And I was as a meek lamb, that is carried to be a victim: and I knew not that they had devised counsels against me, saying: Let us put wood on his bread, and cut him off from the land of the living, and let his name be remembered no more.
20 But thou, O Lord of Sabaoth, who judgest justly, and triest the reins and hearts, let me see thy revenge on them: for to thee I have revealed my cause.

Prayer over the people
Let us pray.
Bow your heads to God.
May thy mercy, O God, cleanse us from all traces of our old nature, and enable us to be formed anew unto holiness.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
℟. Amen.

Photos source & more on church of S Prisca: https://www.walksinrome.com/s-prisca.html

Feria Secunda Majoris Hebdomadæ ~ Feria privilegiata

Santa Prassede, Roma

Mon, 3/30/26:

Today is Monday in Holy Week under the 1954 (simple, privileged major feria) and 1962 (I class feria) rubrics.

Mass: Proper Mass. Station church at St. Praxedes. Violet. Omit Gloria. Gradual. Tract with genuflection at Adjuva nos. Omit Credo. Preface of the Holy Cross. Prayer over the people. Benedicamus (1954)/Ite (1962). Under 1954, commemoration of St. Justin, M, and of Ss. Tiburtius, Valerian and Maximus, Mm. No commemorations under 1962.

Office: Ferial office. Violet. Matins of 1 nocturn of 3 lessons (homily for today's Gospel). Omit Te Deum. Psalms of the feria (Lauds = schema II) with proper antiphons at Lauds and the hours. All else from the ferial office for Passiontide. Proper Benedictus antiphon and collect. No commemorations at Lauds under 1962. Preces at Lauds and the hours (1954 only). Omit suffrage (1954 only). At Prime, add displaced psalm 46 (1954 only).

(Source: LB236 on Twitter/X.)

Collect
℣. The Lord be with you.
℟. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
Grant, we beseech thee, almighty God, that we who fail through our weakness in so many difficulties, may be relieved through the pleading of the Passion of thy only-begotten Son.
Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.
℟. Amen
Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to John

John 12:1-9
Six days before the pasch, Jesus came to Bethania, where Lazarus had been dead, whom Jesus raised to life.

Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo.
50th Tract on John
There they made Him a supper and Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table lest men should deem that it was but by an ocular delusion that they had seen him arise from the dead. He lived therefore, spake, and ate; to the manifestation of the truth, and the confusion of the unbelieving Jews. Jesus, then, sat down to meat with Lazarus and others, and Martha, being one of Lazarus' sisters, served. But Mary, Lazarus' other sister, took a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the Feet of Jesus, and wiped His Feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. We have now heard that which was done; let us search out the mystic meaning thereof.

Prayer over the people
Let us pray.
Bow your heads to God.
Help us, O God, our Saviour, and grant that we may draw nigh with joy, to keep the memory of those mercies, whereby thou didst deign to restore us to life.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
℟. Amen.

(Photo source, more about Santa Prassede: https://www.walksinrome.com/church-of-santa-prassede.html)

Dominica in Palmis

Sun, 3/29/26:

Today is Palm Sunday under the 1954 (semi-double Sunday of the I class) and 1962 (I class Sunday, officially retitled the 2nd Sunday of the Passion or Palm Sunday in the 1962 books) rubrics.

Mass: Proper Mass. Station church at St. John Lateran. Violet. Omit Judica me/Gloria Patri. Omit Gloria. Gradual. Tract. Recitation of St. Matthew's Passion. Credo. Preface of the Holy Cross. Benedicamus (1954)/Ite (1962). No commemorations or additional prayers are permitted at Mass under both sets of rubrics. At low Masses where the palms are not blessed, the Last Gospel is the pericope of Christ's entry into Jerusalem used as part of the blessing of palms ritual.

Office: Sunday office. Violet. Matins of 3 nocturns of 9 lessons (1954)/1 nocturn of 3 lessons (1962; lesson II = II & III of the old Breviary combined, III = lesson VII of the old Breviary). Omit Te Deum. Omit Gloria Patri throughout Passiontide where indicated in the ordinary for Passiontide. Psalms of Sunday (Lauds = schema II) with proper antiphons. All else from the proper. Proper Benedictus antiphon. Collect of the Sunday. At Lauds, commemoration of St. Hermenegild, M (1954 only, only commemorated in the Office). No commemorations under 1962. Omit suffrage (1954). At Prime, under 1954, psalms 92, 99, 118.1, 118.2. Under 1962, psalms 53, 118.1, 118.2. Preces at Prime (1954 only).

Collect

℣. The Lord be with you.
℟. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
Almighty, eternal God, Who, to provide mankind an example of humility for it to imitate, willed that the Saviour should assume our flesh and suffer death upon the Cross, mercifully grant that we may be found worthy of the lesson of His endurance and the fellowship of His resurrection.
Through the same Jesus Christ, thy Son, Our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
℟. Amen.

From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
Matt 21:1-9
At that time, when Jesus drew nigh to Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto mount Olivet, then Jesus sent two disciples, Saying to them: And so on.

Homily by St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan.
9th Book on Luke
Beautiful is the type, when the Lord, about to leave the Jews, and to take up His abode in the hearts of the Gentiles, goeth up into the Temple; a figure of His going to the true Temple wherein He is worshipped, not in the deadness of the letter, but in spirit and in truth, even that Temple of God whereof the foundations are laid, not in buildings of stone, but in faith. He leaveth behind Him such as hate Him, and getteth Him to such as will love Him. And therefore cometh He unto the Mount of Olives that He may plant upon the heights of grace those young olive-branches, whose Mother is the Jerusalem which is above. Upon this mountain standeth He, the Heavenly Husbandman, that all they which be planted in the House of the Lord may be able each one to say: “But I am like a fruitful olive-tree in the House of God.” Ps. li. 10.

Post Communion

P. The Lord be with you.
S. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
By the working of this sacred rite, O Lord, may our sins be erased and our just desires fulfilled.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
℟. Amen.

The Ceremonies of Palm Sunday in the Papal Chapel and St. John Lateran as Described in 1839 (Liturgical Arts Journal)