Decree of the Congregation for Divine Worship concerning, dates, rites of Triduum and Easter during COVID-19

7 Comments

1. Uxixu says:

   20 March 2020 at 1:00 PM

   Basically seems to say Easter can’t be transferred so should be celebrated without the faithful and certain ceremonies. The Chrism Mass and devotionals of the faithful can be transferred. Then to keep it from being employed in the future is explicitly limited to 2020.
2. rhhenry says:

   21 March 2020 at 11:36 AM

   At first I thought, “Who’s asking such a question, about moving the date of Easter?”

   Then I thought, “Well, we’ve seen Ascension Thursday Sunday, so maybe that’s why people are hoping for Easter Sunday Pentecost.”
3. Kirk says:

   21 March 2020 at 12:03 PM

   It is only a week difference so it looks like things won’t get back to normal before than but why cant we join in union with the Orthodox Church which has a later easter date?
4. bookworm says:

   21 March 2020 at 1:36 PM

   “Easter can’t be transferred so should be celebrated without the faithful and certain ceremonies.”

   Wasn’t the Easter Vigil Mass commonly celebrated that way prior to the mid-1950s — the priest and a server or two just did it all by themselves on Holy Saturday morning? It’s my understanding that the current practice of having a public Vigil Mass after sunset on Holy Saturday was established by Pope Pius XII.
5. Imrahil says:

   21 March 2020 at 4:29 PM

   Dear bookworm,

   well, not quite. Yes, it was on the Saturday morning, and yes, it was no Sunday-duty thing and nowhere near as popular as the following Mass on Easter Sunday morning. But the rubrics as they stood made it somehow undesirable to have only two or one server: incense, procession of the triangle-stick, lighting of multiple candles during the Exsultet, chanting of the Litany, etc.

   And of course, the people could attend, and I guess the religiously active part of the population not occupied with weekdayish duties rather did so, though perhaps not every year. They say it was a major feature of Easter-retreats, in monasteries and so forth, and many faithful Catholics would take these retreats, if perhaps only once in a lifetime. I’ve also heard that families sent one member as a sort of representative “to bring the Easter fire home” (to relight the fire in the hearth that had been extinguished), though they may have left after the lighting of the fire or perhaps candle.

   After this morning-vigil, the priest would, I guess, rush through his village to bless all the homes (at least if that part of the Roman Ritual was used).
6. APX says:

   21 March 2020 at 6:49 PM

   Bookworm,

   I have my grandma’s handwritten choir notes from Triduum 1949 (she was the organist). Her notes clearly indicate that the congregation was in attendance and it happened in the evening. (Good Friday service was at 9:00 am, followed by Stations at 3:00 pm, followed by Tenebrae at 7:30 pm, followed by choir practice.)
7. Hidden One says:

   21 March 2020 at 9:21 PM

   So long as the Exsultet remains, COVID-19 has not conquered.

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