Holy Week

A Photo Story by Mary Gentges
Photos by Miss Gentges and Gary Melechinsky

At Saint Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, the deeply inspiring liturgical ceremonies of the Sacred Triduum of Holy Week are enacted in all their fullness, as captured in these photos taken during Holy Week, 1984.

It is through her hymns and the actions of the sacred liturgy that Holy Mother Church yearly impresses upon the eyes, ears and the hearts of her children her sorrow as she re-enacts Christ's Passion, and her great joy at the dawn of His Resurrection.

The paschal mystery is the center of our religion; thus we understand that it has a unique position in the Church's year, and we understand the special importance to these sacred days during which it is commemorated.

On Wednesday afternoon of Holy Week, students of St. Mary's Academy present the outdoor Passion Play. Christ is brought before Pilate while the audience of students and parishioners watch from a distance. Then, right, Roman soldiers lead Christ to Herod—the long road of Calvary is just beginning.

On Calvary's Hill, the moving climax of the Passion Play.

Maundy Thursday is devoted to the institution of the Holy Eucharist and to the priesthood. While Christ's enemies were plotting His death, He instituted the means of perpetuating His Sacrifice and of insuring His perpetual presence among us. Between the Gospel and Offertory of the Solemn Mass on Thursday evening in commemoration of the Last Supper, takes place the "Maundy" i.e., the ceremony of the washing of the feet in commemoration of Christ washing the feet of His Apostles. Here, Father Hunter washes the feet of twelve young men of St. Mary's Academy—reminding us of Christ's humble gesture of charity.

The Solemn Mass of Holy Thursday is one of joy. The priest wears gold vestments instead of the Lenten purple; the Crucifix, which has been veiled in purple since Passion Sunday, is now covered with white; flowers decorate the altar. The Gloria is sung and the bells are rung—after which they will be silent until the Resurrection.

After the Mass, the Blessed Sacrament is carried in solemn procession from the altar of the main chapel to the Altar of Repose. Altar boys hold the canopy over Father as he carries the Blessed Sacrament; others bear lighted torches or swing censers; but instead of bells accompanying the Blessed Sacrament, there is the dolorous stroke of clappers as the choir sings the Pange Lingua. During Good Friday there will be no Real Presence in our chapel, and we will feel keenly His absence from our midst as He lies in His tomb. In the temporary chapel, right, in the College building, priest and people adore the Blessed Sacrament on the Altar of Repose. The faithful will remain in adoration until midnight, after which the room will be locked, so that on Good Friday we will miss being able to visit Our Lord and will experience the loneliness of the day of His death.

Back in the chapel, Father Hunter strips the altar. Altar boys line up to receive flowers, candles, altar linens. The choir sings: "They parted my garments amongst them, and upon my vesture they cast lots . . ."followed by Psalm 21, ""My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"" Holy Church uses every means to instruct us in these mysteries. The altar stands bare, the uncurtained tabernacle wide open and empty. The chapel is empty, too. Our Lord is not there.

Beginning at noon on Good Friday, the Church's day of deepest mourning, silence is kept on campus in honor of Our Lord's Three Hours' Agony on the Cross. Parishioners kneel in the bare chapel to pray and meditate on Our Lord's Passion. At 2:00 p.m., Father Hunter led the Stations of the Cross in the chapel, and at 5:00 began the solemn afternoon liturgy and Adoration of the Cross. After the reading of the Lessons, the Passion of Our Lord, and the Solemn Collects, began the veneration of the Cross. Here, Father de la Tour, in black cope, holds the cross—covered in purple since Passion Sunday—and removes the covering a little at a lime, ascending a step of the altar each time and singing, "Ecce lignum Crucis" (behold the wood of the Cross) "in quo salus mundi pependit" (on which hung the Savior of the world). Choir and congregation answer: "Venite adoremus" (Come let us adore). After unveiling the Cross, which all venerate in silence, the celebrant (followed by the other priests), removes his shoes, genuflects three times, and kneels at the altar steps to kiss the feel of the Crucifix as it is held by two servers.

The Cross is brought by two servers to the altar rail where the faithful come to kiss the feet of the Crucifix, while the choir sing the beautiful "Reproaches": ''My people, what have I done to Thee? In what have I grieved thee? Answer me. Because I brought thee out of the land of Egypt: thou hast prepared a Cross for thy Savior . . ." The verses of the Pange Lingua alternate with the Crux Fidelis, "Faithful Cross, you stand alone, none like you in our woods is grown. . . sweet wood, sweet nails, both sweet and fair, sweet is the precious weight you bear. . ."At last, the Blessed Sacrament, reserved in the ciborium since yesterday, is brought in procession to the chapel and Holy Communion is distributed to the faithful.

Although Holy Saturday is still one of mourning, we feel a lifting of the deep sorrow and austerity of the previous days as we look forward to tonight's Easter Vigil—the night watch when we await our Savior's Resurrection. Tonight, at the very heart of the night, at the time when our Savior overcome death, the joy of the faithful will once again break through. First, the Church (who blesses all elements of which she makes use for divine worship) blesses the New Fire. Sometimes this is done outside the chapel, but the weather did not permit, so here Father DeLallo incenses the New Fire in the back of the chapel.

Next Father blesses the Paschal Candle, symbol of Christ, the Light of the World, and inscribes on it the Alpha and Omega, and the numbers of this year of Our Lord, saying, "Christ yesterday and today. The beginning and the End, Alpha and Omega. His are the times and ages. To Him be glory and dominion through all ages of eternity." Then he fixes five grains of incense on the candle in memory of the five wounds, saying "By His holy and glorious wounds may He guard and preserve us, Christ the Lord. Amen." Then, carrying the Paschal Candle lit from the New Fire, the priest enters the darkened church. He stops three times to intone—each time on a higher tone—"Lumen Christi" (Light of the World) and the people answer "Deo gratias." From the Paschal Candle the candles of all the faithful are lit and glow brightly throughout the church as is sung the Exsultet—"let now the angelic choirs of heaven rejoice."

After the readings from the Old Testament—which remind us of God's great work of our redemption and of the passage of the Red Sea (a figure of baptism)—the first part of the Litany of All Saints is sung, and then the baptismal water is blessed. During this ceremony in the sanctuary, Fr. DeLallo divides the water with his hand in the form of a cross, makes the sign of the cross over it several times, sprinkles it toward the four quarters of the earth, breathes upon it in the form of a cross, and lastly dips the Paschal Candle in the water (as he is doing here) while asking that the  power of the Holy Ghost descend into all the water on this font and make it fruitful for regeneration.

The Holy Saturday Vigil is a traditional time for the baptism of catechumens. Here at St. Mary's, we were blessed with a brand-new baby to be baptized! Two-day-old Augustine Feuerborn was carried to the sanctuary. Here, he has just been baptized and Fr. DeLallo is presenting the lighted candle. Godparents Mr. and Mrs. Phil Salerno attend Augustine while his parents look on.

After the renewal of baptismal vows (made by the entire congregation), and the completion of the second part of the Litany of All Saints, the servers prepare the altar for the Midnight Mass of Easter. The Crucifix, still on the altar since yesterday's adoration of the Cross, is now joined by the tall candles and Easter lilies. The lace-trimmed altar cloth announces the joyous feast-day Mass which is soon to follow.

The Midnight Mass of Easter—As Father DeLallo intones the Gloria, the bells, silent so long, burst forth as Holy Church expresses her joy. While Sanctus bells, the bell at the sacristy door, and the big bell outside the chapel are all ringing throughout the singing of the Gloria, the servers remove the purple coverings from the statues and Crucifixes in the chapel. The Lenten hymns, "Parce Domine " (Spare Thy People, Lord) and "O Sacred Hear Surrounded With a Crown of Piercing Thorns," give way to the great Alleluias tonight, and will do so again at the High Mass on Easter Sunday morning. "I arose and am still with thee, Alleluia," sings the Introit of Easter Sunday, and the Gradual, "This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us rejoice and be glad in it!" Deo gratias, alleluia!