Passion Sunday/Palm Sunday?

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Magdalena59

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Can anyone explain the difference between the Traditional calendars saying Passion Sunday on the 5th Sunday in Lent and in the Ordinary Calendar it just says 5th Sunday but both say Palm Sunday on the 6th Sunday. I guess I was under the impression Passion Sunday and Palm Sunday were the same thing. :confused:
 
Magdalena59 said:
Can anyone explain the difference between the Traditional calendars saying Passion Sunday on the 5th Sunday in Lent and in the Ordinary Calendar it just says 5th Sunday but both say Palm Sunday on the 6th Sunday. I guess I was under the impression Passion Sunday and Palm Sunday were the same thing. :confused:
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In the OF, yes, Passion Sunday and Palm Sunday refer to the same day. In the EF it doesn’t; ‘Passion Sunday’ refers to the 5th Sunday of Lent.
 
There’s a little history involved.

In the Roman Rite (in Rome) originally, ‘Palm Sunday’ was really just ‘Sunday of the Lord’s Passion’, because the passion narrative from Matthew (chapters 26-27) was read on that day. (We still have sermons from Pope Leo the Great in the 5th century for this day; in one sermon he even explicitly said that Matthew’s passion narrative will be read again on Holy Wednesday.)*

The blessing and the procession of the palms are not Roman; they were imported ultimately from Jerusalem (where such a custom already existed in the late 4th century) via Spain and Gaul (modern France, Belgium, most of Switzerland, parts of the Netherlands, northern Italy and Germany). And they were only imported around the 7th-8th century, when we begin to see the term ‘Palm Sunday’ applied for the Sunday before Easter. (It was also around this time that ‘Passion Sunday’ began to refer to the 5th Sunday of Lent.)
  • By the year 1000, Matthew’s passion was read on Palm Sunday, Mark’s on Holy Tuesday, and Luke’s on Holy Wednesday (John’s of course was reserved for Good Friday), a scheme that would last until the new lectionary with its three-year cycle was promulgated.
 
I got confused because I expected today to be Passion Sunday in the OF. When I got there and opened the missal, I realized that in the OF, Passion Sunday refers to Palm Sunday. In my latin missal, there are 2 Passion Sundays. . .I forget how it’s worded though.
 
Something else to be noted is that in the EF, the last two weeks of Lent are a sub-season called Passiontide, which is when crosses, statues and images have traditionally been veiled. (Permission to do this for these last two weeks of Lent still exists in the OF.) The preface is that of the Holy Cross, instead of Lent, and the theme focuses around Our Lord’s sufferings. In the 1955 Holy Week revisions, the 5th Sunday in Lent (Passion Sunday) became the “1st Sunday in Passiontide,” or the 1st Passion Sunday, and Palm Sunday was obviously the “2nd Sunday in Passiontide, or Palm Sunday.”
 
Chatter163 said:
Something else to be noted is that in the EF, the last two weeks of Lent are a sub-season called Passiontide, which is when crosses, statues and images have traditionally been veiled. (Permission to do this for these last two weeks of Lent still exists in the OF.) The preface is that of the Holy Cross, instead of Lent, and the theme focuses around Our Lord’s sufferings. In the 1955 Holy Week revisions, the 5th Sunday in Lent (Passion Sunday) became the “1st Sunday in Passiontide,” or the 1st Passion Sunday, and Palm Sunday was obviously the “2nd Sunday in Passiontide, or Palm Sunday.”
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Some vestiges of it still exist in the modern Liturgy of the Hours, in that the readings change starting in the 5th week of Lent, from what they had been at the all the hours (plus the verse/response after the readings at the minor hours); and the lectionary for the Office of Readings changes from the OT to Hebrews.

Moreover at our abbey and indeed in the Solesmes congregation, the Holy Week hymns start to be used as of today for Vigils, Lauds and Vespers. That is the first half of the Pange Lingua (the one about the cross by Venantius Fortunatus, which pre-dates the Eucharistic one by S. Thomas d’Aquinas) for Vigils, the second half for Lauds (starting at “In acetum, fel, arundo…”). At Vespers, Vexilla Regis (also by Venantius Fortunatus) is sung.
 
Chatter163 said:
Something else to be noted is that in the EF, the last two weeks of Lent are a sub-season called Passiontide, which is when crosses, statues and images have traditionally been veiled.
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The other notable thing about Passion Sunday is that the Judica Me (Psalm 42) is removed from the Mass ordinary. It becomes the Introit instead, and of course, chanted.

I think this applies in the Anglican Ordinariate as well. Anyone know?
 
Chatter163 said:
Something else to be noted is that in the EF, the last two weeks of Lent are a sub-season called Passiontide, which is when crosses, statues and images have traditionally been veiled. (Permission to do this for these last two weeks of Lent still exists in the OF.) The preface is that of the Holy Cross, instead of Lent, and the theme focuses around Our Lord’s sufferings. In the 1955 Holy Week revisions, the 5th Sunday in Lent (Passion Sunday) became the “1st Sunday in Passiontide,” or the 1st Passion Sunday, and Palm Sunday was obviously the “2nd Sunday in Passiontide, or Palm Sunday.”
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Yep. My wife went to an FSSP parish where they veiled the statues, etc after the Saturday morning Mass. It is still referred to Passion Sunday in the EF. In our local OF parish the statues won’t be veiled until after the Mass of the Last Supper. In the OF Passion Sunday refers to Palm Sunday (officially “Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion”).

I understand the change is really around the readings in for the different forms of the Mass. I had heard that the passion used to be read on both the 5th and 6th Sundays of Lent. That being said in the OF the passion is not the Gospel reading for Passion Sunday, I beleive it is John 8:46-59. As stated it does include the Preface of the Holy Cross and begins the period of deepening awareness of Christ’s death on the cross. I don’t know when, if ever, the reading of the Passion on the 5th Sunday was last included in the lectionary for the Roman rite.
 
In the EF, the fifth Sunday of Lent is Passion Sunday, while in the OF, Passion Sunday and Palm Sunday became the same thing. In the older calendar, the Gloria Patri was suppressed and the opening Psalm 43 (42) Judica me was no longer recited at Mass.

However, even today, there are leftover vestiges of the traditional practice. We still can begin to cover our crosses and in the modern Liturgy of the Hours, starting Monday, we can begin to sing the hymns designated for Holy Week. The readings for Morning and Evening Prayer have now changed as well for the Fifth Week. And starting today, I began reciting the Holy Week invitatory antiphon (Come let us worship Christ the Lord who for our sake…) while I had consistently recited the other (Today if you hear the voice of the Lord…)
 
Usige said:
Yep. My wife went to an FSSP parish where they veiled the statues, etc after the Saturday morning Mass. It is still referred to Passion Sunday in the EF. In our local OF parish the statues won’t be veiled until after the Mass of the Last Supper. In the OF Passion Sunday refers to Palm Sunday (officially “Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion”).

I understand the change is really around the readings in for the different forms of the Mass. I had heard that the passion used to be read on both the 5th and 6th Sundays of Lent. That being said in the OF the passion is not the Gospel reading for Passion Sunday, I beleive it is John 8:46-59. As stated it does include the Preface of the Holy Cross and begins the period of deepening awareness of Christ’s death on the cross. I don’t know when, if ever, the reading of the Passion on the 5th Sunday was last included in the lectionary for the Roman rite.
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In Pope Leo the Great’s time (mid-5th century), in Rome the passion narrative from Matthew’s gospel was apparently read on the Sunday before Easter and repeated on Holy Wednesday. (cf. Sermons 54 and 55) Later, the scheme was slightly changed so that Matthew was read on the Sunday before Easter, Mark on Holy Tuesday and Luke on Holy Wednesday.

AFAIK the Passion was not read in the 5th Sunday of Lent; in fact was only called ‘Passion Sunday’ after Rome began to adopt the blessing and the procession of palms and when the older custom of teaching cathecumens during Lent declined and was replaced by an increasing devotion to the true cross and the Passion.

Our earliest Roman lectionary (the Capitulary of Wurzburg, 7th-early 8th century) already specifies the Matthaean passion for the Sunday before Easter. The sequence there was:

3rd Week of Lent
Sunday: Luke 11:1-28
Wednesday: Matthew 15:1-20
Friday: John 4:5-42 (Samaritan woman)

4th Week of Lent
Sunday: John 6:1-15
Wednesday: John 9:1-38 (The man born blind)
Friday: John 11:1-45 (The raising of Lazarus)

5th Week of Lent
Sunday: John 8:46-59
Wednesday: John 10:22-38
Friday: John 11:47-54

Holy Week
Sunday: Matthew 26-27
Monday: John 12:1-36
Tuesday: John 13:1-32 (some other sources mention John 12:24-43/44 instead)
Wednesday: Luke 22-23
Friday: John 18-19

The capitulary shows us that in Rome, there was a custom of reading John’s gospel starting from the Friday of the 3rd Week of Lent (culminating of course with the Johannine Passion on Good Friday).
 
ProVobis said:
The other notable thing about Passion Sunday is that the Judica Me (Psalm 42) is removed from the Mass ordinary. It becomes the Introit instead, and of course, chanted.

I think this applies in the Anglican Ordinariate as well. Anyone know?
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Yes. Though there are several options within the AO, most follow the traditional missal and thus observe Passiontide.
 
gracepoole said:
My traditional calendar (produced by the Sisters of Carmel and following the 1962 Missal) shows March 22nd as Passion Sunday and March 29th as Palm Sunday.

sistersofcarmel.com/2015-traditional-liturgical-calendar/
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My St. Joseph Daily Missal, published in 1959, Imprimatur, Francis Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York, has Passion Sunday (now 5th Sunday of Lent) and Palm Sunday as two separate dates.

God Bless and Peace to all.
 
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