Passion Sunday: Recess in Silence?
  • francis
    Posts: 10,761
    OK... I must be losing my mind... We have been recessing in silence for Passion Sunday, but I am not seeing this in the Ordo. Is this a common practice, rule or otherwise?
  • Spriggo
    Posts: 122
    I don't know about a rule governing it, but we also recess in silence on Passion Sunday.
  • Earl_GreyEarl_Grey
    Posts: 903
    I can't remember where I've read it, but I recall seeing a suggestion (not a rule) for all Masses during Lent to recess in silence, but nothing specific to Passion Sunday. CanticaNOVA perhaps. I've been singing the Stabat Mater--a cappella--as a recessional throughout all of Lent--a few verses each week.
    Thanked by 1latebloomer13
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    Even OCP has this:
    A period of silence after.......the Prayer after Communion and the Prayer over the People, all depart in silence after genuflecting toward the Cross.
    Thanked by 2ryand CHGiffen
  • Earl_GreyEarl_Grey
    Posts: 903
    The Missal has that instruction for Good Friday, but not Palm Sunday.
    Thanked by 2jpal marajoy
  • donr
    Posts: 971
    There is no rule for it, that I could find, it is a practice however.
    I like the Stabat Mater idea.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,965
    We leave in silence on Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Palm Sunday gets a recessional hymn with no postlude.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,056
    I remember in a former parish of mine that the parish had customary had a lusty singing of the Passion Chorale (O Sacred Head) as recessional, which just seemed off....silence was not embraced after a few attempts, but it was successfully replaced by a quiet choral rendition of the final iteration of the Passion Chorale from the St Matthew Passion with an English text.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • WGS
    Posts: 300
    It might be worth considering that "Passion Sunday" for the E.F. is the Fifth Sunday of Lent, but as I recall, it is the Sixth Sunday or "Palm Sunday" for the O.F.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,761
    Now I am really confused. Charles, you say OCP has this... what does that mean... and have I been duped into an OCP novelty these past five years!?!
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    Though I live and breathe to confuse you, francis, yes, OCP got this one right.
    Must be the third trumpet blast before the Parousia.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,761
    i AM loosing my noodle. its time to win the lottery and retire to cancun.
  • jpal
    Posts: 365
    Charles' quote is indeed a Good Friday instruction. I may be wrong, but I believe that as a general rule, if there is a dismissal, there is never further instruction about the manner of exiting. The Triduum just has one dismissal (at the end of the Easter Vigil) because it's really like one thing stretched over a period of three days, rather than three individual celebrations.

    Palm Sunday Mass ends simply with the dismissal, just like any other Sunday Mass. Whether the party processes to silence, a hymn, an organ postlude, or as in our church, waits in front of the sanctuary for the duration of Ave Regina Caelorum before walking out in silence -- that's not determined in the books.
    Thanked by 2Earl_Grey CHGiffen
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,466
    as in our church, waits in front of the sanctuary for the duration of Ave Regina Caelorum before walking out in silence


    Must be nice.
    Thanked by 3Earl_Grey jpal CHGiffen
  • marajoymarajoy
    Posts: 781
    In the past, I've had the choir do some sort of solemn-sounding a cappella piece. It's a very nice way to end the liturgy. Not silence, but rather... "something's coming that's different..."
  • latebloomer13
    Posts: 8
    I thought that was reserved for Good Friday?... we are singing Were You There a capella on Passion Sunday.. we also use it for Veneration of the Cross on Good Friday..
  • Paul_D
    Posts: 133
    Funny ... I don't find the outtroit for Palm Sunday anywhere in my GR ... or for any other Mass for that matter.
    Thanked by 3francis irishtenor CHGiffen
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,196
    As far as I know, there's no regulation in the Missal requiring music after the dismissal of Mass, so silence would be permitted at any time of year.
    Thanked by 4francis irishtenor CHGiffen SkirpR
  • Unda_Maris
    Posts: 53
    I checked a copy of a program from a very respected Catholic church choir I sang with in Boston who was on top of things liturgically. This program for Passion Sun. dates from 1977. The closing hymn was "O Sacred Head Surrounded", and the organist played a setting of the same chorale by Brahms as a postlude. Hope this is helpful.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,761
    Thx all... we are ending with Lift High the Cross.
Add a Comment