Good Friday - offertory
  • canadashcanadash
    Posts: 1,501
    I was reviewing the Missal for Good Friday and noticed there is not a Proper for the Offertory. There is also nothing in the SEP. Is there supposed to be an Offertory or a collection on Good Friday? Are we to sing? Thanks for your help.
  • marajoymarajoy
    Posts: 783
    I have wondered the same thing myself. I have come to the conclusion that there ought to be silence during offertory then? Perhaps the developers of the chants/propers didn't envision a collection being taken up, and since it is Good Friday, there isn't really a "preparation of the gifts," they should just be brought in from wherever and placed on the altar, which wouldn't take long at all.
    Thanked by 1canadash
  • David AndrewDavid Andrew
    Posts: 1,206
    It seems to me that as there is no Mass, there is no "offertory" apart from a monetary collection, which does not necessarily need to be presented as part of the "gifts".

    I can't say for certain as I've not studied the new Missal at length, but I seem to recall that the rubrics for the rite in the previous sacramentary stated that the Blessed Sacrament is to be processed into the church from the repository in silence. Perhaps worth a double-check.
    Thanked by 1canadash
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,186
    From the rubrics for Good Friday at Holy Communion (emphasis added):

    "22. A cloth is spread on the altar, and a corporal and the Missal put in place. Meanwhile the Deacon or, if there is no Deacon, the Priest himself, putting on a humeral veil, brings the Blessed Sacrament back from the place of repose to the altar by a shorter route, while all stand in silence. Two ministers with lighted candles accompany the Blessed Sacrament and place their candlesticks around or upon the altar."
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen canadash
  • ClemensRomanusClemensRomanus
    Posts: 1,023
    It is an ancient tradition that there is no Introit, Offertory or Communion on Good Friday (or Holy Saturday) since there is no Mass. The Ordo of Einsedeln (and other Ordines Romani), if I recall correctly, at that early date in the eighth century gives none of those.
    Thanked by 1canadash
  • canadashcanadash
    Posts: 1,501
    Thank you. Now, should there be a collection? We probably will have 1200+ at the Good Friday Service. The collection can take some time.
  • Pedro d'Aquino
    Posts: 128
    A long-standing practice has been to collect money on Good Friday for the upkeep of the sanctuaries in the Holy Land. This is usually done quietly after the Veneration of the Cross while the ministers are preparing the altar for Holy Communion. The cross and candles are placed on or near the altar and the altar cloth and corporal are spread, the missal is placed on the altar and the vessel for the purification of the fingers after communion is put in place. After the preparations have been made and the collection taken, the deacon and two servers go to the place of repose and bring the Blessed Sacrament to the altar while all stand in silence.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    Indeed, there is no offertory. The offertory was given at the previous night's liturgy.

    Btw, after the Good Friday liturgy, #71 of Paschale Solemnitatis (the circular letter on the celebration of Holy Week and the Triduum) provides this:


    71. After the celebration, the altar is stripped; the cross remains however, with four candles. An appropriate place (for example, the chapel of repose used for reservation of the Eucharist on Maundy Thursday) can be prepared within the church, and there the Lord's cross is placed so that the faithful may venerate and kiss it, and spend some time in meditation.

  • benedictgal
    Posts: 798
    But, PS still does not address the matter of what to do while the collection is being taken up. We could sing "O Sacred Head Surrounded" or the "Stabat Mater" if that has not yet been sung. That is what I am going to suggest to our parish.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    I don't see the need for music for that. Silence speaks more. The collection is an a-liturgical action.
    Thanked by 2ClemensRomanus CHGiffen
  • canadashcanadash
    Posts: 1,501
    Received a note from the pastor. "Collection for the Holy Land. Please sing." He is the pastor, so I will do as he asks. Everything he does is with thought and care. But I see the merits of silence.
  • janetgorbitzjanetgorbitz
    Posts: 968
    What about music during Communion on Good Friday? I know in the past I have used the Pater, si non chant again on Good Friday.
  • SkirpRSkirpR
    Posts: 854
    For Communion on Good Friday, the Missal says:

    28. He then proceeds to distribute Communion to the faithful. During Communion, Psalm 22 (21) or another appropriate chant may be sung.

    I'm assumig from this the Missal envisions it sung in directum without an antiphon.

    (Of course, I think "Pater si non" would certainly be another appropriate chant.)
  • SkirpRSkirpR
    Posts: 854
    Also regarding music during a collection... in the past during a collection for the Holy Land, I've used settings of the text of Psalm 122 (121): 6-9.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    If there must be song, I would not recommend thematically linking the collection to the music itself, as the collection is a-liturgical, but hew very closely to liturgical texts for the day (including those given for the Divine Office).
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700

    One parish I once worked at just put collection plates out with pictures of the Holy Land in the narthex that people walked through to enter the nave. The collection was just as much as in previous years when a collection was taken during the service.
    Thanked by 2canadash Andrew_Malton
  • francis
    Posts: 10,821
    silence is golden
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • expeditus1
    Posts: 483
    Picking up the conversation of this thread from last year, I have a couple of questions regarding Good Friday (EF).

    Taken from the 1945 The Saint Andrew Daily Missal (Dom Gaspar Lefebvre):
    When the Adoration of the Cross is finished, he takes the cross reverently and replaces it on the altar. The procession is then formed to go to the altar where the Blessed Sacrament has reposed since the day before. At the altar of repose, candles are lighted and remain so until after the Communion. The deacon takes the chalice from the tabernacle and hands it to the celebrant. The procession then forms in the same order as before. During the procession the hymn Vexilla Regis is sung.

    Question #1: Would the sung Vexilla Regis begin as the procession forms to go to the altar of repose, or as it is returning?

    Question #2: During the distribution of Communion, are vernacular songs permitted, or is it still the Latin-only rule?



  • JahazaJahaza
    Posts: 470
    The Holy Week ceremonies were extensively reformed in the 1950's. Those are no longer the rubrics and the Vexilla Regis is not the specified sung text for this moment in the 1962 EF Holy Week. The Antiphons "Adoramus te, Christe", "Per lignum servi", and "Salvator mundi" are sung.

    Regarding Question 2, generally the rule is that during any liturgical celebration celebrated with solemnity (i.e. singing) the Latin only rule applies (with the exceptions in the law (e.g. vernacular hymns at High Mass where that was the custom and the custom could not be abolished.)

    Thanked by 1expeditus1
  • JahazaJahaza
    Posts: 470
    And by singing, I mean the singing of the proper texts (so as to avoid a recurrsion where vernacular singing at Low Mass cause the thing to not be Low.)
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