Stripping of the Altar after the Holy Thursday Mass

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Can the rites of stripping the altar (i.e.: stripping all decorations while reciting Psalm 22) be done after the Mass of the Lord’s Supper (if celebrated in the Ordinary Form)?
 
The stripping of the altar is indeed part of the Maundy Thursday Rites in the Ordinary Form.
 
OldCAFMember said:
The stripping of the altar is indeed part of the Maundy Thursday Rites in the Ordinary Form.
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Actually, that used to be the case, but no longer.

The Sacramentary mentions the stripping of the altar, placing it after the return of the celebrant to the sacristy.

The current Roman Missal also mentions the stripping of the altar, but only says that it should occur “at an appropriate time.”
 
Does the Roman Missal or the Paschalis Sollemnitatis explicitly mention that the altar ought to be stripped in private and without ceremony?
 
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Here are some rubrics from the Roman Missal for the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.

"40. After a period of adoration in silence, the Priest and ministers genuflect and return to the sacristy.
  1. At an appropriate time, the altar is stripped and, if possible, the crosses are removed from the church. It is expedient that any crosses which remain in the church be veiled.
  2. Vespers (Evening Prayer) is not celebrated by those who have attended the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.
  3. The faithful are invited to continue adoration before the Blessed Sacrament for a suitable length of time during the night, …".
 
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GoGoDiego said:
Does the Roman Missal or the Paschalis Sollemnitatis explicitly mention that the altar ought to be stripped in private and without ceremony?
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No. But, if the change is that it goes from being in a particular order to “at an appropriate time” might lead one to believe that privately is OK. But, since folks will be around till midnight, there’s not really a “private” time…
 
In times past the stripping of the altar always caught me by surprise every year. At the end of Mass there was a rather solemn procession through the church to carry the Eucharist from the tabernacle to the place of repose, in this case the tabernacle in the chapel. During this procession the congregation was standing and singing the Tantum Ergo along with the choir. After the sacred species was reposed we were all still standing.

The priest, deacons, and servers returned from the chapel without any ceremony and began stripping the altar, removing altar cloths, candles, and all decorative items. Afte this was complete, they left, again with no ceremony or procession or singing, leaving the tabernacle door wide open. The congregation was left standing there, and we began to exit the church in silence.

It is still done pretty much that way now, except that it seems to be done in a somewhat more organized fashion, with the priest and servers exiting as a group rather than randomly, and sometimes the choir sings a recessional. These are not an improvement, in my opinion. The ending of the Holy Thursday procession and stripping of the altars should leave us with a sense of abandonment.
 
As long as the proper timeline is kept (obviously, it has to be AFTER the Holy Thursday Mass) the actual time doesn’t matter.

It’s neither required nor prohibited to do it immediately after the Mass. The words “at an appropriate time” mean just that—whenever the pastor decides is the right time. Obviously, it must be done before the Good Friday service begins.
 
Gorgias said:
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OldCAFMember:
The stripping of the altar is indeed part of the Maundy Thursday Rites in the Ordinary Form.
Click to expand...
Actually, that used to be the case, but no longer.

The Sacramentary mentions the stripping of the altar, placing it after the return of the celebrant to the sacristy.

The current Roman Missal also mentions the stripping of the altar, but only says that it should occur “at an appropriate time.”
Click to expand...
Um, how is this not part of the Maundy Thursday rites? It is mentioned in the Roman Missal (no longer called Sacramentary).
 
OldCAFMember said:
Um, how is this not part of the Maundy Thursday rites? It is mentioned in the Roman Missal (no longer called Sacramentary).
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Psst… I know that it’s not called ‘Sacramentary’. I’m pointing out that it did appear to be described as happening immediately after the return to the sacristy in the Sacramentary. 😉

And, since it’s supposed to happen only “at an appropriate time”, I think it’s a stretch to call it part of the rites of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. 😉
 
Gorgias said:
40.png
OldCAFMember:
Um, how is this not part of the Maundy Thursday rites? It is mentioned in the Roman Missal (no longer called Sacramentary).
Click to expand...
Psst… I know that it’s not called ‘Sacramentary’. I’m pointing out that it did appear to be described as happening immediately after the return to the sacristy in the Sacramentary. 😉

And, since it’s supposed to happen only “at an appropriate time”, I think it’s a stretch to call it part of the rites of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. 😉
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Go back and reread my earlier post. I never said that that it was part of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. I said that it was part of the “Maundy Thursday rites in the Ordinary Form.” It is.
 
Can the stripping be done while Psalm 22 is chanted? (As with the 1962 Missale Romanum)
 
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You apparently are not familiar with liturgical books. Everything that is ordered for the Liturgy of the Hours (contained in the breviary), the Roman Missal, the Roman Ritual, the Roman Pontifical, Roman Gradual, and a few other volumes, are the rites of the Church.

I was not speaking about the Mass, much as you have tried to make it that I was, but the rites that come after the Mass on Maundy or Holy Thursday.
 
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It’s always been a beef of mine that once the Blessed Sacrament is processed to the altar of repose the church becomes a noisy place. The idea of leaving in silence seems to be foreign to the majority.

The stripping of the altar had been done by the sacristan for the entire time I’d been in this parish until about 8 years ago when the Pastor told us it was his job. When he did it, with solemnity, the church was silent. That lasted 4 years until he was replaced by a Pastor who again left it to the sacristan.

This year, due to a structural issues with the room we normally use for the altar of repose, it will be in the nave. I hope that will lead to silence within the church.
 
Wow, I’ve never seen it done by anyone other than the priest, assisted by servers.
 
OldCAFMember said:
I was not speaking about the Mass, much as you have tried to make it that I was, but the rites that come after the Mass on Maundy or Holy Thursday.
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Sigh. Really? So… your claim is that the place that the altar stripping would be defined is in, for example, the LotH, and not the Roman Missal, which is the place where the Mass is described? (And, in fact, if you were familiar with the liturgical books, you’d know that this is precisely the place where the stripping is described.)

Nice try. 😉
 
Last comment on this one: The stripping of the altar is most assuredly part of the rites for Maundy Thursday, which is all that I ever stated. You want to do all kinds of semantical leaps, but the fact remains that they are part of the rites for that day, despite any attempt by you to say otherwise, and that was all that I ever said.
 
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