Easter Triduum: Different Celebrations

[Red_James]

With the Easter Triduum about two months away, I’d like to post a different experience of the Triduum.
I’ve went to a Catholic Polish parish and I noticed they did several things differently than what is done in other Catholic Churches. Basically, the Polish parish did everything what was found in the English missal but more:
The celebration on Holy Thursday in the parish was bilingual and everything happened according to the missal. Both the Polish and English missals matched.
On Good Friday, the English Liturgy of the Passion ends with a prayer after communion and the prayer over the people and all depart in silence. In the Polish liturgy, after communion, the prayer is said and instead departing in silence now, the priest exposes the Eucharist in a monstrance, and puts a veil over it. Then there is a procession from the altar to the sepulcher (which is beautifully decorated), with incense and wooden clappers. Upon arriving to the sepulcher, the priest puts the monstrance on top, incenses it, says a prayer, and then after a moment or two of silent prayer, the clergy and servers return to the sacristy in silence as the faithful are encouraged to “keep watch” and pray in adoration. I looked in the Polish missal which is pretty strict about the sepulcher. For example, it says that the attention should not be focused on the statue of Christ laying in the tomb, but on the veiled monstrance and says to redirect any light shinning on the statue to the Eucharist in the monstrance.
The Eucharist remains exposed throughout the night and on Holy Saturday (unless parishes are small or do not have a 24/7 vigil in which case it is reposed for the night and exposed again in the morning). This is a day when families bring baskets of Easter food such as eggs and bread, which is eaten on Easter Sunday morning. The blessing of the Easter food, only takes a few minutes and then the faithful are invited to stay for adoration throughout the day. Before the start of the Easter Vigil, the Eucharist is reposed. The celebration of the Easter Vigil is the same, and bilingual.
After the Easter Vigil, the Eucharist is exposed again in the monstrance at the sepulcher, this time without the veil (since this is after the Vigil). Again, the adoration takes place either the whole night or for a few hours after the vigil and a few hours before early morning mass. At dawn (whenever the first mass of Easter after the vigil takes place), the clergy and servers gather at the sepulcher. The priest exclaims something along the lines of “Christ is truly risen. Glory and praise to him forever” (Not a direct translation). He then proceeds to incense the Eucharist and then takes it in a procession around the Church with bells ringing, singing Easter Songs of the Resurrection. After the procession, the celebrant blesses the people with the Eucharist and then reposes it. Then the Gloria is sung (bells may be rung here) and then the mass continues as usual following the opening prayer.

I just have to say that this is very different from other celebrations of the Triduum I’ve been to, where there is not sepulcher or adoration on Good Friday and Holy Saturday and no procession on Sunday. I did some research and apparently this is common practice in Poland and other eastern European countries and as well as in parts of Germany.

I wanted to ask, what do you guys think of these beautiful customs and should they be incorporated into the worldwide celebration of the Easter Triduum?

 

[Red_James]

Also, reading the missal, it says that in parishes where a sepulcher is not made the Liturgy on Good Friday ends with the prayer over communion and over the people. There is no procession or adoration on Holy Saturday. (Basically the same as in the English missal).

 

[Chatter163]

What you describe has a few Polish devotional touches, but much of it is how the Triduum liturgy was prior to the 1955 reforms. It included the all-night vigil before the altar of repose, the procession with incense, etc.

The blessing of Easter food in baskets is an Eastern European custom that is still widely practiced. We have a small number of people who practice it in our FSSP parish, and the priest blesses the food on the morning of Holy Saturday.

 

[Phemie]

This post has solved a mystery for me.

We had a young Polish Oblate priest in our parish for a few months several years ago. He celebrated the Triduum with us while our Pastor ministered at the Mission down the road. On Holy Thursday he told the sacristan to put out the monstrance. But since the monstrance is for Exposition and I knew we’re not allowed to expose the Blessed Sacrament after the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, it got put away again. We were confused that he’d asked for it, he was confused that it wasn’t there.

We finally got him to understand that he was to don the humeral veil and take the ciborium to the altar of repose set up in another room. I thought it was because he was recently ordained but now I get that it was a clash of cultures.

Though, I must admit that I’m confused by the use of the word “sepulchar” since that seems to violate article 55 of Paschale Solemnitatis.

 

[Red_James]

This post has solved a mystery for me.

We had a young Polish Oblate priest in our parish for a few months several years ago. He celebrated the Triduum with us while our Pastor ministered at the Mission down the road. On Holy Thursday he told the sacristan to put out the monstrance. But since the monstrance is for Exposition and I knew we’re not allowed to expose the Blessed Sacrament after the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, it got put away again. We were confused that he’d asked for it, he was confused that it wasn’t there.

We finally got him to understand that he was to don the humeral veil and take the ciborium to the altar of repose set up in another room. I thought it was because he was recently ordained but now I get that it was a clash of cultures.

Though, I must admit that I’m confused by the use of the word “sepulchar” since that seems to violate article 55 of Paschale Solemnitatis.

Even in the Polish Missal, the exposition on Holy Thursday is prohibited and the monstrance is not to be used. The priest takes the ciborium to the altar of repose and leaves it in the temporary tabernacle. The altar of repose/tabernacle is not made to represent a tomb/sepulcher. It is what it is: a temporary altar and a temporary Tabernacle used to store the Eucharist for Good Friday.
The tomb/sepulcher is an actual thing that is constructed (well not a real one made out of stone) similar to how some churches construct a Manger for Christmas; it is placed in a separate location away from the Altar of Repose. The procession with the Eucharist in the veiled monstrance takes pace on Good Friday after the end of liturgy of the passion (after the distribution of Communion) where it remains exposed for the rest of the day and into Holy Saturday until the Easter Vigil.

Here is a picture I was able to find online of what a typical sepulcher construction looks like with a veiled monstrance. Sadly I do not have any pictures from my parish:
1.bp.blogspot.com/-cAeI8voxhG4/T48gKkVlHNI/AAAAAAAAASI/lUYXI3dhojc/s1600/Jesus%2BChrist%2Btomb.jpg