Adoration of the Cross (Pre-1955 Good Friday)

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I went to my first Good friday service it was the pre-1955 reforms, during the Adoration of the cross I noticed that in my country the custom was to remove your shoes and the men lined up first before the women. I noticed the significance of the symbolism but was this the custom all through out the church before or does this only apply to a specific country? In the OF we don’t observe this custom. Also, we didn’t receive communion on that day. The tone was so somber and the vestments were of mourning.
 
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Welcome to CAF 🙂

Last year, I attended the Office of the Presanctified celebrated according to the pre-1955 rubrics. We did not process for the Veneration of the Holy Cross as you describe. Instead, we simply went up row by row. We didn’t remove our shoes. Only the presiding priest received Communion.
 
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We were asked to remove our shoes and the Men would all go first before the Women. We also genuflected three times and prostrated to kiss the foot of the cross. It was so moving, the reproaches were chanted and most of the people cried.
 
I imagine the whole process was profoundly moving. I don’t recall a triple genuflection nor any prostration, but it’s been over a year and my memory isn’t what it once was. 😳
 
I have never seen what the OP describes in my entire life.

OP, when was the last time you actually observed this?
 
It’s in my Angelus Press missal for Good Friday, which is 1962, not pre-1955.
 
Fauken said:
It’s in my Angelus Press missal for Good Friday, which is 1962, not pre-1955
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I have a 1959 missal and it’s in there, too. I should add that I’m in the UK.
 
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Can the pre-1955 rites be used? I understood that Pope Benedict XVI’s motu proprio apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum decreed that the rites of 1962 were to be used in the Extraordinary Form. I was not aware that earlier rites could also be used.
 
This is how we do it in the civilian parish I attend when I’m not at the post chapel. We remove our shoes even. I had never seen it until we moved here so I wonder if some of it is local traditions.

The men before women is not strictly enforced. Families often go together. Everyone is asked to remove their shoes but I don’t think it would be enforced if someone chose not to.

I was surprised the first year I attended their Veneration of the Cross but now it is one of the things I dread leaving behind. So many beautiful traditions hidden in small little parishes across the country that add to the overall beauty of our Church.
 
TomH1 said:
Can the pre-1955 rites be used? I understood that Pope Benedict XVI’s motu proprio apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum decreed that the rites of 1962 were to be used in the Extraordinary Form. I was not aware that earlier rites could also be used.
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They can, yes, with permission. I can’t remember who is petitioned for it, but for the last couple years, I’ve heard of a few of the FSSP parishes getting permission to celebrate the pre-1955 Triduum.
 
I don’t know which entities specifically requested this either, but the provisional indult was granted early last year to a “handful of traditional priestly societies” such as the FSSP and the ICRSS, by the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. It is good for three years on an experimental basis. The possibility of extending the indult after three years has, to my knowledge, not been ruled out.

 
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It sounds to me like what you describe is a local custom, and not explicitly prescribed by the rubrics, apart from the faithful not receiving Holy Communion.
 
It’s starting to come back to me: the priest, deacon and acolytes all removed their shoes, genuflected three times, and prostrated themselves. Those attending did not.
 
Yes they can be used. Some FSSP parishes use the pre-1955 Good Friday services. Google “One Peter Five Holy Week Triduum”.
 
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