TENEBRAE - GOOD FRIDAY EVENING 2nd APRIL

 TENEBRAE

GOOD FRIDAY EVENING
2nd APRIL



The Tenebrae service is one of the most spectacular of the Church liturgical calendar. The Tenebrae period encompasses the Triduum, the three-days prior to Easter Sunday, a time of solemnity, presaging the Risen Christ.
The tradition of Tenebrae goes back to the 9th century. It frequently follows upon the Good Friday services, which begin with the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday morning – reliving the Via Crucis of Our Lord and continuing to the Mass of the Pre-Sanctified, the Blessed Sacrament consecrated on Holy Thursday and taken to the Altar of Repose. The Veneration of the Cross takes place on this day.
The service of Tenebrae, mostly celebrated in the evening, is constituted by the chanting of Matins and Lauds, featuring the prophesies and lamentations, interspersed with Lectio/ lessons, and accompanied by a gradual extinguishing of candles, culminating in a ‘strepitus’ or loud noise, taking place in complete darkness at the conclusion. The faithful exit in silence and are supposed to remain silent on the journey home.
The structure of Tenebrae: The first part of the service is Matins, consisting of 3 Psalms, a short versicle and response, a silent Pater Noster and 3 Readings, each followed by a responsory. The Lauds part consists of 5 Psalms, a short versicle and response, the Benedictus Gospel canticle followed by Christus factus est, a silent Pater Noster and the collect. The Gloria Patri is not said after each Psalm. The lessons of the first nocturne at Matins are taken from the Book of Lamentations, set to Gregorian tone. Those of the second nocturne are from the writings of St Augustine, the third nocturne from the New Testament Epistles.
The ceremony features 15 candles set upon a hearse, one of which is extinguished after each of the 9 psalms of Matins and the 5 of Lauds. The 6 altar candles are extinguished during the Benedictus. Then all remaining lights in the church are extinguished and the last candle on the hearse is hidden behind the altar, ending the service in total darkness, symbolising Christ, the light of the world, hidden from the world. The ‘strepitus’, or ‘great noise’ is then made, by slamming books on pews or stamping of feet, symbolising the earthquake that followed upon the death of Christ. The candle is then brought forward to the people, exhibited, then extinguished, and all leave in silence.
Gregorio Allegri’s setting of the Miserere Psalm 51 was a style called falsobordone, composed specifically for the Tenebrae service. Composed in the 17th century for the exclusive use of the Sistine Chapel Choir, it was famous for its beauty and its unwritten ornamentation. It was kept solely within the Vatican, but was famously transcribed by the 14 year old Mozart, who wrote the piece down entirely by memory, for which act of naughtiness Pope Clement XIV awarded Mozart the Chivalric Order of the Golden Spur in 1770.
Psalm 51:
Miserere mei, Deus: secundum magnam misericordiam tuam.
Et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum, dele iniquitatem meam.
Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea: et a peccato meo munda me.
Quoniam iniquitatem meam ego cognosco: et peccatum meum contra me est semper.
Tibi soli peccavi, et malum coram te feci: ut justificeris in sermonibus tuis, et vincas cum judicaris.
Ecce enim in iniquitatibus conceptus sum: et in peccatis concepit me mater mea.
Ecce enim veritatem dilexisti: incerta et occulta sapientiae tuae manifestasti mihi.
Asperges me hyssopo, et mundabor: lavabis me, et super nivem dealbabor.
Auditui meo dabis gaudium et laetitiam: et exsultabunt ossa humiliata.
Averte faciem tuam a peccatis meis: et omnes iniquitates meas dele.
Cor mundum crea in me, Deus: et spiritum rectum innova in visceribus meis.
Ne proiicias me a facie tua: et spiritum sanctum tuum ne auferas a me.
Redde mihi laetitiam salutaris tui: et spiritu principali confirma me.
Docebo iniquos vias tuas: et impii ad te convertentur.
Libera me de sanguinibus, Deus, Deus salutis meae: et exsultabit lingua mea justitiam tuam.
Domine, labia mea aperies: et os meum annuntiabit laudem tuam.
Quoniam si voluisses sacrificium, dedissem utique: holocaustis non delectaberis.
Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus: cor contritum, et humiliatum, Deus, non despicies.
Benigne fac, Domine, in bona voluntate tua Sion: ut aedificentur muri Ierusalem.
Tunc acceptabis sacrificium justitiae, oblationes, et holocausta: tunc imponent super altare tuum vitulos.
IMAGES: Candles on a Hearse
Peter Paul Rubens, Christ Descending from the Cross.

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