THE HISTORY OF PASSIONTIDE AND HOLY WEEK
AFTER having proposed the forty-days' fast of Jesus in the desert
to the meditation of the faithful during the first four weeks of
Lent, the holy Church gives the two weeks which still remain
before Easter to the commemoration of the Passion. She would not
have her children come to that great day of the immolation of the
Lamb, without having prepared for it by compassionating with Him
in the sufferings He endured in their stead.
The most ancient sacramentaries and antiphonaries of the several
Churches attest, by the prayers, the lessons, and the whole
liturgy of these two weeks, that the Passion of our Lord is now
the one sole thought of the Christian world. During Passionweek, a
saint's feast, if it occur, will be kept; but Passion Sunday
admits no feast, however solemn it may be; and even on those which
are kept during the days intervening between Passion and Palm
Sunday, there is always made a commemoration of the Passion, and
the holy images are not allowed to be uncovered.
We cannot give any historical details upon the first of these two
weeks; its ceremonies and rites have always been the same as those
of the four preceding ones.1 We, therefore, refer the reader to
the following chapter, in which we treat of the mysteries peculiar
to Passiontide. The second week, on the contrary, furnishes us
with abundant historical details; for there is Do portion of the
liturgical year which has interested the Christian world so much
as this, or which has given rise to such fervent manifestations of
piety.
This week was held in great veneration even as early as the third
century, as we learn from St. Denis bishop of Alexandria, who
lived at that time.2 In the following century, we find St. John
Chrysostom, galling it the <great week>:3 'Not,' says the holy
doctor, 'that it has more days in it than other weeks, or that its
days are made up of more hours than other days; but we call it
<great>, because of the great mysteries which are then
celebrated.' We find it galled also by other names: the <painful
week (hebdomada poenosa)>, on account of the sufferings of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and of the fatigue required from us in
celebrating them; the <week of indulgence>, because sinners are
then received to penance; and, lastly, <Holy Week>, in allusion to
the holiness of the mysteries which are commemorated during these
seven days. This last name is the one under which it most
generally goes with us; and the very cars themselves are, in many
countries, called by the same name, <Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday,
Good Friday, Holy Saturday.>
The severity of the lenten fast is increased during these its last
days; the whole energy of the spirit of penance is now brought
out. Even with us, the dispensation which allows the use of eggs
ceases towards the middle of this week. The eastern Churches,
faithful to their ancient traditions, have kept up a most rigorous
abstinence ever singe the Monday of Quinquagesima week. During the
whole of this long period, which they call <Xerophagia> they have
been allowed nothing but dry food. In the early ages, fasting
during Holy Week was carried to the utmost limits that human
nature could endure. We learn from St.. Epiphanius,4 that there
were acme of the Christians who observed a strict fast from Monday
morning to cock-crow of Easter Sunday. Of course it must have been
very few of the faithful who could go so far as this. Many passed
two, three, and even four consecutive days, without tasting any
food; but the general practice was to fast from Maundy Thursday
evening to Easter morning. Many Christians in the east, and in
Russia, observe this fast even in these times. Would that such
severe penance were always accompanied by a firm faith and union
with the Church out of which the merit of such penitential works
is of no avail for salvation!
Another of the ancient practices of Holy Week were the long hours
spent, during the night, in the churches. On Maundy Thursday,
after having celebrated the divine mysteries in remembrance of the
Last Supper, the faithful continued a long time in prayer.5 The
night between Friday and Saturday was spent in almost
uninterrupted vigil, in honour of our Lord's burial.6 But the
longest of all these vigils was that of Saturday, which was kept
up till Easter Sunday morning. The whole congregation joined in
it: they assisted at the final preparation of the catechumens, as
also at the administration of Baptism; nor did they leave the
church until after the celebration of the holy Sacrifice, which
was not over till sunrise.7
Cessation from servile work was, for a long time, an obligation
during Holy Week. The civil law united with that of the Church in
order to bring about this solemn rest from toil and business,
which so eloquently expresses the state of mourning of the
Christian world. The thought of the sufferings and death of Jesus
was the one pervading thought: the Divine Offices and prayer were
the sole occupation of the people: and, indeed, all the strength
of the body was needed for the support of the austerities of
fasting and abstinence. We can readily understand what an
impression was made upon men's minds, during the whole of the rest
of the year, by this universal suspension of the ordinary routine
of life. Moreover, when we call to mind how, for five full weeks,
the severity of Lent had waged war on the sensual appetites, we
can imagine the simple and honest joy wherewith was welcomed the
feast of Easter, which brought both the regeneration of the soul,
and respite to the body.
In the preceding volume, we mentioned the laws of the Theodosian
Code, which forbade all law business during the forty days
preceding Easter. This law of Gratian and Theodosius, which was
published in 380, was extended by Theodosius in 389; this new
degree forbade all pleadings during the seven days before, and the
seven days after, Easter. We meet with several allusions to this
then regent law, in the homilies of St. John Chrysostom, and in
the sermons of St. Augustine. In virtue of this degree, each of
these fifteen days was considered, as far as the courts of law
were concerned, as a Sunday.
But Christian princes were not satisfied with the mere suspension
of human justice during these days, which are so emphatically days
of mercy: they would, moreover, pay homage, by an external act, to
the fatherly goodness of God, who has deigned to pardon a guilty
world, through the merits of the death of His Son. The Church was
on the point of giving reconciliation to repentant sinners, who
had broken the chains of sin whereby they were held captives;
Christian princes were ambitious to imitate this their mother, and
they ordered that prisoners should be loosened from their chains,
that the prisons should be thrown open, and that freedom should be
restored to those who had fallen-under the sentence of human
tribunals. The only exception made wee that of criminals whose
freedom would have exposed their families or society to great
danger. The name of Theodosius stands prominent in these acts of
mercy. We are told by St. John Chrysostom8 that this emperor sent
letters of pardon to the several cities, ordering the release of
prisoners, and granting life to those that had been condemned to
death, and all this in order to sanctify the days preceding the
Easter feast. The last emperors made a law of this custom, as we
find in one of St. Leo's sermons, where he thus speaks of their
clemency: 'The Roman emperors have long observed this holy
practice. In honour of our Lord's Passion and Resurrection, they
humbly withhold the exercise of their sovereign justice, and,
laying aside the severity of their laws, they grant pardon to a
great number of criminals. Their in. tension in this is to imitate
the divine goodness by their own exercise of clemency during these
days, when the world owes its salvation to the divine mercy. Let,
then, the Christian people imitate their princes, and let the
example of kings induce subjects to forgive each other their
private wrongs; for, surely it is absurd that private laws should
be less unrelenting than those which are public. Let trespasses be
forgiven, let bonds be taken off, let offenses be forgotten, let
revenge be stifled; that thus the saved feast may, by both divine
and human favours, find us all happy and innocent.'9
This Christian amnesty was not confined to the Theodosian Code; we
find traces of it in the laws of several of our western
countries,. We may mention France as an example. Under the first
race of its kings, St. Eligius bishop of Noyon, in a sermon for
Maundy Thursday, thus expresses himself: 'On this day, when the
Church grants indulgence to penitents and absolution to sinners,
magistrates, also, relent in their severity and grant pardon to
the guilty. Throughout the whole world prisons are thrown open;
princes show clemency to criminals; masters forgive their
slaves.'10 Under the second race, we learn from the <Capitularia>
of Charlemagne, that bishops had a right to exact from the judges,
for the love of Jesus Christ (as it is expressed), that prisoners
should be set free on the days preceding Easter;11 and should the
magistrates refuse to obey, the bishops could refuse them
admission into the church.12 And lastly, under the third race, we
find Charles VI, after quelling the rebellion at Rouen, giving
orders, later on, that the prisoners should be set at liberty,
because it was <Painful> Week, and very Dear to the Easter
feast.13
A last vestige of this merciful legislation was a custom observed
by the parliament of Paris. The ancient Christian practice of
suspending its sessions during the whole of Lent, had long been
abolished: it was not till the Wednesday of Holy Week that the
house was closed, which it continued to be from that day until
after Low Sunday. On the Tuesday of Holy Week, which was the last
day granted for audiences, the Parliament repaired to the palace
prisons, and there one of the grand presidents, generally the last
installed, held a session of the house. The prisoners were
questioned; but, without any formal judgment, all those whose case
seemed favourable, or who were not guilty of some capital offence,
were set at liberty.
The revolutions of the last eighty years hats produced in every
country in Europe the secularization of society, that is to say,
the effacing from our national customs and legislation of
everything which had been introduced by the supernatural element
of Christianity. The favorite theory of the last half century or
more, has been that all men are equal. The people of the ages of
faith had something far more convincing than theory, of the
sacredness of their rights. At the approach of those solemn
anniversaries which so forcibly remind us of the justice and mercy
of God, they beheld princes abdicating, as it were, their sceptre,
leaving in God's hands the punishment of the guilty, and assisting
at the holy Table of Paschal Communion side by side with those
very men, whom, a few days before, they had been keeping chained
in prison for the good of society. There was one thought, which,
during these days, was strongly brought before all nations: it was
the thought of God, in whose eyes all men are sinners; of God,
from whom alone proceed justice and pardon. It was in consequence
of this deep Christian feeling, that we find so many diplomas and
charts of the ages of faith speaking of the days of Holy Week as
being the <reign of Christ>: such an event, they say, happened on
such a day, 'under the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ:' <regnante
Domino nostro Jesu Christo.>
When these days of holy and Christian equality were over, did
subjects refuse submission to their sovereigns? Did they abuse the
humility of their princes, and take occasion for drawing up what
modern times call the <rights of man?> No: that same thought which
had inspired human justice to humble itself before the gross of
Jesus, taught the people their duty of obeying the powers
established by God. The exercise of power, and submission to that
power, both had God for their motive. They who wielded the sceptre
might be of various dynasties: the respect for authority was ever
the same. Now-a-days, the liturgy has none of her ancient
influence on society; religion has been driven from the world at
large, and her only life and power is now with the consciences of
individuals; and as to political institutions, they are but the
expression of human pride, seeking to command, or refusing to
obey.
And yet the fourth century, which, in virtue of the Christian
spirit, produced the laws we have been alluding to, was still rife
with the pagan element. How comes it that we, who live in the full
light of Christianity, can give the name of progress to a system
which tends to separate society from everything that is
supernatural? Men may talk as they please, there is but one way to
secure order, peace, morality, and security to the world; and that
is God's way, the way of faith, of living in accordance with the
teachings and the spirit of faith. All other systems can, at best,
but flatter those human passions, which are so strongly at
variance with the mysteries of our Lord Jesus Christ, which we are
now celebrating.
We must mention another law made by the Christian emperors in
reference to Holy Week. If the spirit of charity, and a desire to
imitate divine mercy, led them to degree the liberation of
prisoners; it was but acting consistently with these principles,
that, during these days when our Savior shed His Blood for the
emancipation of the human rage, they should interest themselves in
what regards slaves. Slavery, a consequence of sin, and the
fundamental institution of the pagan world, had received its
death-blow by the preaching of the Gospel; but its gradual
abolition was left to individuals, and to their practical exercise
of the principle of Christian fraternity. As our Lord and His
apostles had not exacted the immediate abolition of slavery, so,
in like manner, the Christian emperors limited themselves to
passing such laws as would give encouragement to its gradual
abolition. We have an example of this in the Justinian Code, where
this prince, after having forbidden all law-proceedings during
Holy Week and the week following, lays down the following
exception: 'It shall, nevertheless, be permitted to give slaves
their liberty; in such manner, that the legal acts necessary for
their emancipation shall not be counted as contravening this
present enactment.14 This charitable law of Justinian was but
applying to the fifteen days of Easter the degree passed by
Constantine, which forbade all legal proceedings on the Sundays
throughout the year, excepting only such acts as had for their
object the emancipation of slaves.
But long before the peace given her by Constantine, the Church had
made provision for slaves, during these days when the mysteries of
the world's redemption were accomplished. Christian masters were
obliged to grant them total rest from labour during this holy
fortnight. Such is the law laid down in the apostolic
constitutions, which were compiled previously to the fourth
century. 'During the great week preceding the day of Easter, and
during the week that follows, slaves rest from labour, inasmuch as
the first is the week of our Lord's Passion, and the second is
that of His Resurrection; and the slaves require to be instructed
upon these mysteries.'15
Another characteristic of the two weeks, upon which we are now
entering, is that of giving more abundant alms, and of greater
fervour in the exercise of works of mercy. St. John Chrysostom
assures us that such was the practice of his times; he passes an
encomium on the faithful, many of whom redoubled, at this period,
their charities to the poor, which they did out of this motive:
that they might, in some slight measure, imitate the divine
generosity, which is now so unreservedly pouring out its graces on
sinners.
ENDNOTES
1 It would be out of place to enter here on a discussion with
regard to the name <Mediana>, under which tide we find Passion
Sunday mentioned both in ancient liturgies and in Canon Law.
2 <Epist ad Basilidem> Canon i.
3 Hom. xxx <in Genes.>
4 <Expositio fidei>, ix <Haeres.> xxii.
5 St. John Chrysostom, Hom. xxx <in Genes.>
6 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, <Catech.> xviii.
7 <Const. Apost.> lib. i. cap. xviii.
8 Homil. <in magn. Hebdom.> Homil. xxx. <in Genes.> Homil. vi <ad
popul. Antioch.>
9 Sermon xi. <de Quadragesima>, ii.
10 Sermon x.
11 We learn from the same <capitularia>, that this privilege was
also extended to Christmas and Pentecost.
12 <Capitular.> lib. vi.
13 Jean Juvenal des Urains, year 1382,
14 <Cod.> lib. iii. tit. xii. <de feriis.> Leg. 8.
15 <Constit. Apost.> lib. viii cap. xxxiii.
(Taken from Volume I of "The Liturgical Year" by Abbot Gueranger
O.S.B. published by Marian House, Powers Lake, ND 58773.)
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