Jesus in a Bag....

[johnnyjoe]

A parish we often go to for daily mass has a particularly irritating liturgical tradition for lent. They cover the modern statues of the Blessed Mother and Joseph with a purple cloth. The cloth has elastic edges to get tight around the statues, which hang off the wall rather than sit on a pedastal.

That would not be so bad, for I am sure St. Joseph and the Blessed Mother would be happy to be hidden while our Lord on the Cross became the focus during Lent.

The problem is that they cover the Crucifix with a purple bag as well. Now the priest is a good priest, one of the few “orthodox” priests I can trust here, but this apparently is an old Italian custom for Lent. There is no other crucifix provided in the sanctuary, and the only other cross is a large…I would guess 7’…cross laid in its side in front of the alter.

Last year I wrote a fairly impassioned letter to Father, and we later found our Lord un-bagged - but that was the last week of Lent, so I am not sure when he un-bagged Our Lord.

This is what I need: A genuine quotation from the Rubrics regarding the need for a VISIBLE CRUCIFIX in the sanctuary, and perhaps some backround on why this became a tradition in the Italian American community.

 

[Pious]

It is an old tradition that our church still follows, from the 5th Sunday of Lent through to Good Friday and the Easter Vigil.

I believe it has something to with the Gospel account of Jesus leaving the temple and hiding Himself.

So therefore all images of Christ and those of Saints are veiled.

Yours in the Spirit

Pious

 

[katolik]

johnnyjoe:

A parish we often go to for daily mass has a particularly irritating liturgical tradition for lent. They cover the modern statues of the Blessed Mother and Joseph with a purple cloth. The cloth has elastic edges to get tight around the statues, which hang off the wall rather than sit on a pedastal.

That would not be so bad, for I am sure St. Joseph and the Blessed Mother would be happy to be hidden while our Lord on the Cross became the focus during Lent.

The problem is that they cover the Crucifix with a purple bag as well. Now the priest is a good priest, one of the few “orthodox” priests I can trust here, but this apparently is an old Italian custom for Lent. There is no other crucifix provided in the sanctuary, and the only other cross is a large…I would guess 7’…cross laid in its side in front of the alter.

Last year I wrote a fairly impassioned letter to Father, and we later found our Lord un-bagged - but that was the last week of Lent, so I am not sure when he un-bagged Our Lord.

This is what I need: A genuine quotation from the Rubrics regarding the need for a VISIBLE CRUCIFIX in the sanctuary, and perhaps some backround on why this became a tradition in the Italian American community.

This is a preVatican II tradition. It is in the Traditional Latin Mass rubrics not the modern rubrics. In some churches the whole sanctuary was covered by a purple curtain like a stage curtain.

 

[Bill_A]

The crucifix is covered during lent, to show that the Lord is not yet dead but walks among us or hes is in the desert. A cross is sometimes put outside and covered with a stole, for us to bear.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

In the old mass the statues were covered throughout Lent- Don’t remember whether that stated three Sundays before Ash Wednesday [Septuagesima} or on Ash Wednesday. The Cross was covered for either the last week or last two weeks [memory is poor]. The cross was uncovered on Good Friday and the statues at the Vigil mass.

My current Ordo offers the option of covering the statues for the last two weeks of Lent and draping, but not hiding, the cross with red or purple for the last week.

 

[puzzleannie]

remember this from childhood, there was a special ceremony after 5th week in lent, which as I remember was Palm Sunday, you left quietly, no music, while altar was stripped and statues draped with purple, also 6th Sunday was Passion Sunday, if I remember correctly, instead of combined Passion/Palm Sunday as the new lectionary has it.

 

[brotherhrolf]

So many things have changed after Vatican II. All the statues in church and the crucifix behind the altar were covered in purple cloth before VII. I may be wrong but I seem to remember that there was a Passion Sunday before Palm Sunday and that the crucifix began to be uncovered one step at a time (e.g. one of Jesus’ arms) and that the cloth was not fully removed until the Good Friday services. I also remember that wooden clappers were used instead of bells during lent.