Specific Mass

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kevinwinterborn

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I attended a Mass a few years ago, maybe 10 yrs during Holy Week. I am pretty sure it was Good Friday Mass at my Roman Catholic Parish. It wasn’t a Cathedral or a Dicocesan See. Just a run of the mill Parish. I distinctly remember Nuns coming in and washing the altar and performing a number of rituals in and around the altar. Now over the past two years I attend all the Holy Week Masses but never do I see this act , or these acts repeated. Do any of you know what mass this is specifically? Was this just a once in a while type of thing? Wonder why I don’t see this anymore? Any thoughts?

Thanks
 
kevinwinterborn said:
I attended a Mass a few years ago, maybe 10 yrs during Holy Week. I am pretty sure it was Good Friday Mass at my Roman Catholic Parish. It wasn’t a Cathedral or a Dicocesan See. Just a run of the mill Parish. I distinctly remember Nuns coming in and washing the altar and performing a number of rituals in and around the altar. Now over the past two years I attend all the Holy Week Masses but never do I see this act , or these acts repeated. Do any of you know what mass this is specifically? Was this just a once in a while type of thing? Wonder why I don’t see this anymore? Any thoughts?

Thanks
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Just a small correction–there is no Mass, ever, on Good Friday–the only day of the year Mass is not said. What there is, is a Liturgy of the Word with the reading of the Passion and Veneration of the Cross and distribution of Communion with hosts consecrated at the Holy Thursday Mass.
Was it perhaps on Holy Thursday after the Mass of the Lord’s Supper when the altar is stripped bare, the linens are put away, flowers are removed, etc? Perhaps the good nuns were cleaning the altar after it was stripped.
 
CB_Catholic said:
Was it perhaps on Holy Thursday after the Mass of the Lord’s Supper when the altar is stripped bare, the linens are put away, flowers are removed, etc? Perhaps the good nuns were cleaning the altar after it was stripped.
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That’s the first thing that came to my mind.
 
yeh, I know there’s no ‘Mass’ on Good Friday, gee, . Anyway, I remember it was sunny outside the church so that is why I am thinking Good Friday vs. Holy Thursday… The Nuns used oils to wipe down the altar. It was ceremonious…and part of the service, not something they did before or afterwards.
CB_Catholic said:
Just a small correction–there is no Mass, ever, on Good Friday–the only day of the year Mass is not said. What there is, is a Liturgy of the Word with the reading of the Passion and Veneration of the Cross and distribution of Communion with hosts consecrated at the Holy Thursday Mass.
Was it perhaps on Holy Thursday after the Mass of the Lord’s Supper when the altar is stripped bare, the linens are put away, flowers are removed, etc? Perhaps the good nuns were cleaning the altar after it was stripped.
Click to expand...
 
Never seen this… what could it have been? There are many sacristans at the parish I attend who take care of most of the cleaning duties. Sorry I cannot help. The Nuns in my parish attend Mass daily and their reverence is something to behold, what an example of love for Christ.
 
The only time I have seen oil used on an altar was at a dedication. And the Archbishop used it, not anyone else. 🤷

Now, on Saturday afternoon (Friday night) we have cleaned the altar before setting up for Easter Vigil. Maybe it was that??
 
This must have been a local devotional thing done during the day on Good Friday (or maybe Holy Saturday?). I’ve never heard of anything remotely like it, but if a particular local altar needed a waxy or oily coating to be applied annually so that the stone would not be absorbent, I suppose there is nothing keeping those doing that act of maintenance from choosing a day they thought most suitable and making a ritual out of it. That would be my guess. 🤷
 
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