What should I expect at the Palm Sunday TLM?

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I will be going to the Extraordinary Form Mass for Palm Sunday. In my missal (I think it’s from 1949) there is a procession and blessing of palms before Mass, with an Epistle, Gospel, as well as many prayers. For the Mass itself, the Gospel is VERY lengthy. I’ve always been to the OF for Palm Sunday, but I don’t remember the Gospel being that long. Yes, I know the readings for the New Mass are different from the Epistle and Gospel of the TLM, but I would think that the Gospel for Palm Sunday would be at least similar.

What should I expect from this Sunday’s Mass? Will there be this procession an blessing of the palms before Mass?
 
hamburglar said:
I will be going to the Extraordinary Form Mass for Palm Sunday. In my missal (I think it’s from 1949) there is a procession and blessing of palms before Mass, with an Epistle, Gospel, as well as many prayers. For the Mass itself, the Gospel is VERY lengthy. I’ve always been to the OF for Palm Sunday, but I don’t remember the Gospel being that long. Yes, I know the readings for the New Mass are different from the Epistle and Gospel of the TLM, but I would think that the Gospel for Palm Sunday would be at least similar.

What should I expect from this Sunday’s Mass? Will there be this procession an blessing of the palms before Mass?
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You should get a newer missal. The rites for Holy Week were changed in 1955 by Pope Pius XII. I’ve never attended Mass on Palm Sunday in the old rite myself, so I can’t really help. I know that, traditionally, there’s a procession which begins outside the Church.
 
If it is a High Mass with a schola singing the chant, you’ll be there for a while. The Tract, if chanted in solemn tone, which is a Lenten prayer between the Epistle and Gospel, is nearly 15 minutes long in itself. The Gospel is that of the Passion of Our Lord and is also chanted, sometimes exclusively by the Priest, but other times in conjunction with schola.

Prior to Mass itself, the ceremony for the blessing of palms includes a good amount of chant. So, I would expect the entire ceremony, including a sermon, to last at least 2 hours in the Extraordinary Form where the Priest follows the complete 1962 rubrics.
 
giuseppeTO said:
If it is a High Mass with a schola singing the chant, you’ll be there for a while. The Tract, if chanted in solemn tone, which is a Lenten prayer between the Epistle and Gospel, is nearly 15 minutes long in itself. The Gospel is that of the Passion of Our Lord and is also chanted, sometimes exclusively by the Priest, but other times in conjunction with schola.

Prior to Mass itself, the ceremony for the blessing of palms includes a good amount of chant. So, I would expect the entire ceremony, including a sermon, to last at least 2 hours in the Extraordinary Form where the Priest follows the complete 1962 rubrics.
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Most likely it will be a Missa Cantata, so there will be a schola. I remember one other time when there was a long Tract, I think the First Sunday of Lent, the schola chanted a simpler version or something.
 
hamburglar said:
Most likely it will be a Missa Cantata, so there will be a schola. I remember one other time when there was a long Tract, I think the First Sunday of Lent, the schola chanted a simpler version or something.
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I would suggest that everyone read the Tract before Mass. When chanted in solemn tone, it is one of the most beautiful pieces in the penitential season. It is the lamentation of Christ and the chant itself conveys lamentation and agony. Best to read the English of the Propers for Palm Sunday so that you understand what is being chanted, and then close your Missal and meditate on Our Lord’s Passion during the actual chant.
 
I’ve only gone to a Low Mass for Palm Sunday in the EF.

When the FSSP used to come, everyone gathered in a room near the former convent chapel for the blessing of the palms. The priest read the prayers in Latin, blessed the palms, and then each person individually went up, received their palm, kissed it, kissed the priest’s hand, and then processed back to the chapel for the Mass. I don’t think there was any singing, unless it was the hymn ‘All Glory, Laud and Honor’.

I do remember the long Gospel narrative of the Passion. It was the only time that it was not read again in English.

Hey Giuseppe-you’re from Syracuse? What church do you go to for the TLM? I’m from Utica!
 
You should expect very loooooong readings. They read the entire Passion Narrative from the Bible, and its very long
 
Yes, as Dauphin correctly noted, there were major changes made to the Holy Week rites in 1955, and those were incorporated in the missale romanum of 1962. Any layman’s missal published after 1955 will have the revised order of service for Holy Week. If you use one published before that, you may not be able to follow.
 
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