GOOD
644
GOOD
is an obvious development of this, the manner of wor-
shipping the true Cross on Good Friday observed at
Jerusalem. A veiled image of the Crucifix is gradually
exposed to view, while the celebrant, accompanied by
his assistants, sings three times the " Ecce lignum
Crucis", etc. (Behold the wood of the Cross on which
hung the salvation of the world), to which the choir
answers, each time, " Venite adoremus " (Come let us
adore). During the singing of this response the whole
assembly (except the celebrant) kneel in adoration.
When the Cross is completely unveiled the celebrant
carries it to the foot of the altar, and places it in a
cushion prepared for it. He then takes off his shoes
and approaches the Cross (genuflecting three times on
the way) and kisses it. The deacon and subdeacon
also divest themselves of their shoes (the deacon and
subdeacon may take off their shoes, if that be the cus-
tom of the place, S.C.R., n. 2769, ad X, q. 5), and act
in like manner. For an account of the peculiarly im-
pressive ceremony known as the "Creeping to the
Cross", which was once observed in England, see arti-
cle Cross (vol. IV, p. 537). The clergy two and two
follow, while one or two priests vested in surplice and
black stole take other crosses and present them to the
faithful present to be kissed. During this ceremony
the choir sings what are called the Iniproperia, the
Trisagion (in Greek as well as Latin), if time permits
the hymn Crux fidelis . . . (Oh,Cro.ss, our hope ...).
The Improperia are a series of reproaches supposed to
be addressed by Christ to the Jews. They are not
found in the old Roman Ordines. Duchesne (249)
detects, he thinks, a Galilean ring in them; while Mar-
tene (III, 136) has found some of them alternating
with the Trisagion in ninth century Gallican docu-
ments. They appear in a Roman Ordo, for the first
time, in the fourteenth century, but the retention of
the Trisagion in Greek goes to show that it had found a
place in the Roman Ciood Friday service before the
Photian schism (ninth century). A non-Catholic
may say that this is all very dramatic and interesting,
but allege a grave deordination in the act of adoration
of the Cross on bended knees. Is not atloration due to
God alone? The answer may be found in our smallest
catechism. The act in question is not intended as an
expression of absolute supreme worship (Xarpela)
which, of course, is due to God alone. The essential
note of the ceremony is reverence (Tpoa-Kivqais) which
has a relative character, and which may be best ex-
plained in the words of the Pseudo-Alcuin: " Proster-
nimur corpore ante crucem, mente ante Dominum.
Veneramur crucem, per quam redemti sumus, et ilium
deprecamur, qui redemit" (While we bend down in
body before the cross we bend down in spirit before
God. While we reverence the cross as the instrument
of our redemption, we pray to Him who redeemed us).
It may be urged: why sing " Behold the wood of the
Cross", in unveiling the image of the Cross? The
reason is obvious. The ceremony originally had im-
mediate connexion with the True Cross, which was
found by St. Helena in Jerusalem about the year A. D.
326 (see ( liliiiartin's " History of the Church", I, 157).
Churches which procured a relic of the True Cross
might imitate this ceremony to the letter, but other
churches had to be content with an image, which in
this particular ceremony represents the wood of the
True Cross.
As might be expected, the ceremony of the unveil- ing and adoration of the Cross gave rise to peculiar usages in particular Churches. After describing the adoration and kissing of the Cross in the Anglo-Saxon Church, Rock (The Church of Our Fathers, IV, 103) goes on to say: "Though not insisted on for general observance, there was a rubric that allowed a rite, at this part of the office, to be followed, which may be called The Burial of the Rood. At the hind part of the altar . . . there was made a kind of sepulchre, hung all about with a curtain. Inside this recess , , , the
cross, after the cereniony of kissing it had been done,
was carried by its two deacons, who had, however,
first wrapped it up in a linen cloth or winding-sheet.
As they bore their burden along, they sang certain
anthems till they reached this spot, and there they
left the cross; and it lay thus entombed tUl Easter
morn, watched all that while by two, three, or more
monks, who chanted psalms through day and night.
When the Burial was completed the deacon and sub-
deacon came from the sacristy with the reserved host.
Then followed The Mass of the Prc-sanctified." A some-
what similar ceremony (called the 'ATroKaff^Xwiris) is still
observed in the Greek Church. An image of Christ,
laid on a bier, is carried through the streets with a kind
of funeral pomp, and is offered to those present to be
worshipped and kissed (sec Nilles, II, 242). To re-
turn to the Roman Rite, when the ceremony of ador-
ing and kissing the Cross is concluded, the Cross is
placed aloft on the altar between lighted candles, a
procession is formed which proceeds to the chapel of
repose, where the second sacred host consecrated in
yesterday's Mass has since lain entomljed in a gor-
geously decorated urn and surrounded by lights and
flowers. This urn represents the sepulchre of Christ
(decree of S.C.R., n. 3933, ad I). The Most Holy
Sacrament is now carried back to the altar in solemn
procession, during which is sung the hymn " Vexilla
Regis prodeunt" (The standards of the King ad-
vance). Arrived in the sanctuary the clergy go to
their places retaining lighted candles, while the cele-
brant and his ministers ascend the altar and celebrate
what is called the Mass of the Presanctified. This is
not a Mass in the strict sense of the word, as there is no
consecration of the sacred species. The host which
was consecrated in yesterday's Mass (hence the word
prcsanetified) is placed on the altar, incensed, elevated
(" that it may be seen by the people "), and consumed
by the celebrant. It is substantially the Communion
part of the Mass, beginning with the "Pater noster"
which marks the end of the Canon. From the very
earliest times it was the custom not to celebrate the
Mass proper on Good Friday (see Nilles, II, 252, note
iii). Speaking about this ceremony Duchesne (249)
says, " It is merely the Communion separated from
the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist properly so
called. 'The details of the ceremony are not found
earlier than in books of the eighth or ninth century,
but the service must belong to a much earlier period.
At the time w-hen synaxes without liturgy were fre-
quent, the ' Mass of the Presanctified ' must have been
frequent also. In the Greek Church it was celebrated
every day in Lent except on Saturdays and Sundays,
but in the Latin Church it was confined to Good Fri-
day." At present the celebrant alone communicates,
but it appears from the old Roman Ordines that for-
merly all present communicated (Martene, III, 367).
The omission of the Mass proper marks in the mind of
the Church the deep sorrow with which she keeps the
anniversary of the Sacrifice of Calvary. Good Friday
is a feast of grief. A black fast, black vestments, a
denuded altar, the slow and solemn chanting of the
sufferings of Clirist, prayers for all those for whom He
died, the unveiling and reverencing of the Crucifix,
these take the place of the usual festal liturgy; while
the lights in the chapel of repose and the Mass of the
Presanctified remind her children that Christ is with
them behind this veil of mourning. The Mass of the
Presanctified is followed by the recital of vespers, and
the removal of the linen cloth from the altar (" Vespers
are recited without chant and the altar is denuded ").
The rubrics of the Roman Missal prescribe no further ceremonial for this day, l)ut there are laudable customs in different churches which are allowed. For exam- ple, the custom (where it exists) of carrying in proces- sion a statue of Our Lady of Sorrows is expressly permitted by decrees of the S. Cong, of Rites (n. 2375, and n. 2fi.S2); also the custom (where it exists) of
