Vatican decree re. Covid-19 and the Triduum
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,499
    Perhaps the force of this is forbidding anything like a "private Easter Vigil" celebrated in a rectory chapel or
    a monastic oratory outside of the main church.
    Thanked by 3CCooze Elmar CHGiffen
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,704
    Maybe I'm stupid and missing something, but does this mean that somehow monastic communities that have always celebrated the full triduum 'in-house' (like St. Peter's, Solesmes) for some inexplicable reason need to forego the Easter Vigil this year because they are not a Cathedral or parish church? Or is it assumed that they will continue as usual, and the 'only in Cathedral and parish churches' clause simply indicates a prohibition against the Vigil being celebrated individually in private/domestic chapels?


    Your first mistake is to assume that those in Rome that write such things know what they are doing.
    Thanked by 2CCooze CHGiffen
  • Liam
    Posts: 4,942
    For conventual communities who are not televising or advertising about their in-house prayer and not inviting members of the public to attend: who would know?
    Thanked by 2CCooze CHGiffen
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,499
    Well, I'm not sure being found out is the key point, in a communion.
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,370
    There are general rubrics in the Missal, about the whole Triduum, deprecating celebration in private chapels.
    3. The celebrations of the Sacred Triduum are to be carried out in cathedral and parochial churches and only in those churches in which they can be performed with dignity, that is, with a good attendance of the faithful, an appropriate number of ministers, and the means to sing at least some of the parts. Consequently, it is desirable that small communities, associations, and special groups of various kinds join together in these churches to carry out the sacred celebrations in a more noble manner.
    I think they mean to say that the reduced forms proposed apply also to seminaries etc.
    In that case, I wonder why.
  • Elmar
    Posts: 500
    When we compare this with the decree
    3 – Holy Thursday. The washing of feet, which is already optional, is to be omitted. At the end of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper the procession is also omitted and the Blessed Sacrament is to be kept in the tabernacle. On this day the faculty to celebrate Mass in a suitable place, without the presence of the people, is exceptionally granted to all priests.
    we clearly see that the Mass of the Lord’s Supper may be done in small 'setting', even privately, as an exception; but not the other Triduum liturgies. As for
    Seminaries, houses of clergy, monasteries and religious communities shall follow the indications of this decree.
    there seems to be 'missing' something like "analoguously, according to their situation".
    When a community lives together like a family, I wouldn't see a reason for not having the entire Triduum together as usual. For a seminary it might be a better idea that the rector celebrates privately Lord’s Supper without the seminarians, praying the LOTH in their cells, etc.
    Thanked by 1CCooze
  • trentonjconn
    Posts: 537
    Would it be inappropriate to sing the Pange Lingua or perhaps just Tantum Ergo during the recession, being that the Blessed Sacrament has remained in the tabernacle?
    Thanked by 1GerardH
  • doneill
    Posts: 207
    Without the procession at the end of Holy Thursday, and given that the Triduum is one continuous liturgy, how does Mass end that day? Benediction with no dismissal?

  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,157
    There's no benediction; the Roman Missal (p. 313) directs that after the procession the Sacrament is reposed in the tabernacle and the priest closes the door. After a period of adoration, the priest and ministers genuflect and return to the sacristy.

    Later ("At an appropriate time"), the altar is stripped and crosses are removed, if possible, or else veiled.

    The faithful are invited to continue adoration for a suitable length of time.
  • doneill
    Posts: 207
    So then, the Prayer after Communion would be the last text of the Mass?

  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,370
    The Missal does not envisage what is planned but the final rubric is:
    44. If the celebration of the Passion of the Lord on the following Friday does not take place in the same church, the Mass is concluded in the usual way and the Blessed Sacrament is placed in the tabernacle.
    That suggests to me that in this case "Mass is concluded in the usual way".
  • bangerman
    Posts: 45
    The Vatican's Holy Thursday mass will end in the "usual way" with a dismissal.

    http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/libretti/2020/20200409-libretto-messa-in-cena-domini.pdf
    Thanked by 1GerardH
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,767
    Not the other usual, of course ;-)
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