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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Good Friday</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06643a.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="The Friday on which the Church keeps the anniversary of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="06643a.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/g.htm">G</a> > Good Friday</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Good Friday</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <h2>Definition and etymology</h2> <p>Good Friday, called <em>Feria VI in <a href="../cathen/11476a.htm">Parasceve</a></em> in the <a href="../cathen/10354c.htm">Roman Missal</a>, <em>he hagia kai megale paraskeue</em> (the Holy and Great Friday) in the <a href="../cathen/06774a.htm">Greek Liturgy</a>, <em>Holy Friday</em> in Romance Languages, <em>Charfreitag</em> (Sorrowful Friday) in German, is the English designation of Friday in <a href="../cathen/07435a.htm">Holy Week</a>  that is, the Friday on which the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> keeps the anniversary of the Crucifixion of <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus Christ</a>.</p> <p>Parasceve, the Latin equivalent of <em>paraskeue</em>, preparation (i.e. the preparation that was made on the sixth day for the <a href="../cathen/13287b.htm">Sabbath</a>; see <a href="../bible/mar015.htm#vrs42">Mark 15:42</a>), came by metonymy to signify the day on which the preparation was made; but while the Greeks retained this use of the word as applied to every Friday, the Latins confined its application to one Friday. <a href="../cathen/08130b.htm">Irenaeus</a> and <a href="../cathen/14520c.htm">Tertullian</a> speak of Good Friday as the day of the <a href="../cathen/11512b.htm">Pasch</a>; but later writers distinguish between the <em>Pascha staurosimon</em> (the passage to death), and the <em>Pascha anastasimon</em> (the passage to life, i.e. the <a href="../cathen/12789a.htm">Resurrection</a>). At present the word <em>Pasch</em> is used exclusively in the latter sense. The two Paschs are the oldest feasts in the calendar.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>From the earliest times the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> kept every Friday as a <a href="../cathen/06021b.htm">feast day</a>; and the obvious reasons for those usages explain why <a href="../cathen/05224d.htm">Easter</a> is the <a href="../cathen/14335a.htm">Sunday</a> <em>par excellence</em>, and why the Friday which marks the anniversary of <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ's</a> death came to be called the Great or the Holy or the Good Friday. The origin of the term <em>Good</em> is not clear. Some say it is from "God's Friday" (<em>Gottes Freitag</em>); others maintain that it is from the German <em>Gute Freitag</em>, and not specially English. Sometimes, too, the day was called <em>Long Friday</em> by the Anglo-Saxons; so today in <a href="../cathen/04722c.htm">Denmark</a>.</p> <h2>Office and ceremonial</h2> <p>There is, perhaps, no <a href="../cathen/11219a.htm">office</a> in the whole <a href="../cathen/09306a.htm">liturgy</a> so peculiar, so interesting, so composite, so dramatic as the <a href="../cathen/11219a.htm">office</a> and ceremonial of Good Friday.</p> <p>About the vigil office, which in early times commenced at midnight in the Roman, and at 3 a.m. in the <a href="../cathen/06357a.htm">Gallican Church</a>, it will suffice to remark that, for 400 years past, it has been anticipated by five or six hours, but retains those peculiar features of mourning which mark the evening <a href="../cathen/11219a.htm">offices</a> of the preceding and following day, all three being known as the <a href="../cathen/14506a.htm">Tenebrae</a>.</p> <p>The morning office is in three distinct parts. The first part consists of three lessons from <a href="../bible">Sacred Scripture</a> (two chants and a <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a> being interposed) which are followed by a long series of <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a> for various intentions; the second part includes the <a href="../cathen/03538b.htm">ceremony</a> of unveiling and adoring the Cross, accompanied by the chanting of the <a href="../cathen/07703a.htm"><em>Improperia</em></a>; the third part is known as the Mass of the Presanctified, which is preceded by a procession and followed by vespers. Each of these parts will be briefly noticed here.</p> <p>The Hour of <em>None</em> being finished, the celebrant and <a href="../cathen/10326a.htm">ministers</a>, clothed in black vestments, come to the altar and prostrate themselves for a short time in <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a>. In the meantime, the <a href="../cathen/01106a.htm">acolytes</a> spread a single cloth on the denuded altar. No lights are used. When the celebrant and <a href="../cathen/10326a.htm">ministers</a> ascend the altar, a <a href="../cathen/09111a.htm">lector</a> takes his place on the epistle side, and reads a lesson from Osee 6. This is followed by a tract sung by the choir. Next comes a <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a> sung by the celebrant, which is followed by another lesson from <a href="../bible/exo012.htm">Exodus 12</a>, chanted by the <a href="../cathen/14320a.htm">subdeacon</a>. This is followed by another tract (Psalm 139), at the close of which the third lesson, viz. the Passion according to St. John, is sung by the <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacons</a> or recited from a bare <a href="../cathen/12563b.htm">pulpit</a> --"dicitur passio super nudum pulpitum". When this is finished, the celebrant sings a long series of <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a> for different intentions, viz. for the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a>, <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> of the <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">diocese</a>, for the different orders in the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, for the Roman Emperor (now omitted outside the dominions of <a href="../cathen/02121b.htm">Austria</a>), for <a href="../cathen/03430b.htm">catechumens</a> .... The above order of lessons, chants, and <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a> for Good Friday is found in our earliest Roman Ordines, dating from about A.D. 800. It represents, according to Duchesne (234), "the exact order of the ancient <a href="../cathen/14383a.htm">synaxes</a> without a liturgy", i.e. the order of the earliest <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a> meetings, at which, however, the liturgy proper, i.e. the <a href="../cathen/09790b.htm">Mass</a>, was not celebrated. This kind of meeting for worship was derived from the Jewish <a href="../cathen/14379b.htm">Synagogue</a> service, and consisted of lessons, chants, and <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a>. In the course of <a href="../cathen/14726a.htm">time</a>, as early perhaps as A.D. 150 (see Cabrol's "Origines Liturgiques" 137), the celebration of the Eucharist was combined with this purely euchological service to form one solemn act of <a href="../cathen/15710a.htm">Christian worship</a>, which came to be called the Mass. It is to be noted that the Mass is still in two parts, the first consisting of lessons, chants, and <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a>, and the second being the celebration of the Eucharist (including the <a href="../cathen/11217a.htm">Offertory</a>, Canon, and <a href="../cathen/07402a.htm">Communion</a>). While the Judica, introit, and the Gloria in Excelsis have been added to this first part of the Mass and the long series of <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a> omitted from it, the oldest order of the Synaxis, or meeting without Mass, has been retained in the Good Friday service. The form of the <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a> deserves to be noticed. Each <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a> in three parts.</p> <div class="bulletlist"><ul><li>The celebrant invites the congregation to <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">pray</a> for a specified intention.</li><li>The <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacon</a> then says "Let us kneel" (Flectamus genua); then the people were supposed to <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">pray</a> for a time kneeling in silence, but at present immediately after the invitation to kneel the <a href="../cathen/14320a.htm">subdeacon</a> invites them to stand up (Levate).</li><li>The celebrant collects, as it were, all their <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a>, and voices them aloud.</li></ul></div> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>The modern collect is the representative of this old solemn form of <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a>. The first part is reduced to the Oremus, the second part has disappeared, and the third part remains in its entirety and has come to be called the collect. It is curious to note in these very old Good Friday <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a> that the second part is omitted in the <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a> for the <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jews</a>, owing, it is said, to their having insulted <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a> by bending the knee in mockery before Him. These <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a> were not peculiar to Good Friday in the early ages (they were said on Spy Wednesday as late as the eighth century); their retention here, it is thought, was inspired by the <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a> that the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> should <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">pray</a> for all classes of men on the day that <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a> died for all. Duchesne (172) is of opinion that the Oremus now said in every Mass before the <a href="../cathen/11217a.htm">Offertory</a>, which is not a <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a>, remains to show where this old series of <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a> was once said in all Masses.</p> <h2>Adoration of the Cross</h2> <p>The dramatic unveiling and adoration of the Cross, which was introduced into the Latin Liturgy in the seventh or eighth century, had its origin in the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of <a href="../cathen/08344a.htm">Jerusalem</a>. The "Peregrinatio Sylviae" (the real name is Etheria) contains a description of the <a href="../cathen/03538b.htm">ceremony</a> as it took place in <a href="../cathen/08344a.htm">Jerusalem</a> towards the close of the fourth century.</p> <blockquote><p>Then a chair is placed for the Bishop in Golgotha behind the Cross... a table covered with a linen cloth is placed before him; the <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">Deacons</a> stand around the table, and a silver-gilt casket is brought in which is the wood of the holy Cross. The casket is opened and (the wood) is taken out, and both the wood of the Cross and the Title are placed upon the table. Now, when it has been put upon the table, the Bishop, as he sits, holds the extremities of the sacred wood firmly in his hands, while the <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">Deacons</a> who stand around guard it. It is guarded thus because the custom is that the people, both faithful and <a href="../cathen/03430b.htm">catechumens</a>, come one by one and, bowing down at the table, <a href="../cathen/08663a.htm">kiss</a> the sacred wood and pass on. (Duchesne, tr. McClure, 564)</p></blockquote> <p>Our present <a href="../cathen/03538b.htm">ceremony</a> is an obvious development of this, the manner of worshipping the <a href="../cathen/04529a.htm">True Cross</a> on Good Friday observed at <a href="../cathen/08344a.htm">Jerusalem</a>. 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 <a href="../cathen/13407a.htm">salvation</a> 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 <a href="../cathen/08663a.htm">kisses</a> it. The <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacon</a> and <a href="../cathen/14320a.htm">subdeacon</a> also divest themselves of their shoes (the <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacon</a> and <a href="../cathen/14320a.htm">subdeacon</a> may take off their shoes, if that be the custom of the place, S.C.R., n. 2769, ad X, q. 5), and act in like manner. For an account of the peculiarly impressive <a href="../cathen/03538b.htm">ceremony</a> known as the "Creeping to the Cross", which was once observed in <a href="../cathen/05445a.htm">England</a>, see article <a href="../cathen/04533a.htm">CROSS</a>. The <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a> two and two follow, while one or two <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a> vested in <a href="../cathen/14343d.htm">surplice</a> and black stole take crosses and present them to the faithful present to be <a href="../cathen/08663a.htm">kissed</a>. During this <a href="../cathen/03538b.htm">ceremony</a> the choir sings what are called <a href="../cathen/07703a.htm">Improperia</a>, the Trisagion (in Greek as well as Latin), if time permits the <a href="../cathen/07595a.htm">hymn</a> Crux fidelis ...(Oh, Cross, our hope...). The <a href="../cathen/07703a.htm">Improperia</a> are a series of reproaches supposed to be addressed by <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a> to the <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jews</a>. They are not found in the old Roman Ordines. Duchesne (249) detects, he thinks, a Gallican ring in them; while Martene (III, 136) has found some of them alternating with the Trisagion in ninth century Gallican documents. 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 Good Friday service before the <a href="../cathen/12043b.htm">Photian</a> <a href="../cathen/13529a.htm">schism</a> (ninth century).</p> <p>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 adoration due to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> alone? The answer may be found in our smallest <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">catechism</a>. The act in question is not intended as an expression of absolute supreme worship (<em>latreia</em>) which, of course, is due to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> alone. The essential note of the <a href="../cathen/03538b.htm">ceremony</a> is reverence (<em>proskynesis</em>) which has a relative character, and which may be best explained in the words of the Pseudo-Alcuin: "Prosternimur corpore ante crucem, mente ante Dominium. Veneramur crucem, per quam redempti sumus, et illum deprecamur, qui redemit" (While we bend down in body before the cross we bend down in spirit before <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>. While we reverence the cross as the instrument of our <a href="../cathen/12677d.htm">redemption</a>, we <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">pray</a> 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 <a href="../cathen/03538b.htm">ceremony</a> originally had immediate connexion with the <a href="../cathen/04529a.htm">True Cross</a>, which was found by <a href="../cathen/07202b.htm">St. Helena</a> in <a href="../cathen/08344a.htm">Jerusalem</a> about the year A.D. 326. Churches which procured a <a href="../cathen/12734a.htm">relic</a> of the <a href="../cathen/04529a.htm">True Cross</a> might imitate this <a href="../cathen/03538b.htm">ceremony</a> to the letter, but other churches had to be with an image which in this particular <a href="../cathen/03538b.htm">ceremony</a> represents the wood of the <a href="../cathen/04529a.htm">True Cross</a>.</p> <p>As might be expected, the <a href="../cathen/03538b.htm">ceremony</a> of the unveiling and adoration of the Cross gave rise to peculiar usages in particular Churches. After describing the adoration and <a href="../cathen/08663a.htm">kissing</a> of the Cross in the Anglo-Saxon Church, <a href="../cathen/13105a.htm">Rock</a> (The <a href="../cathen/02081a.htm">Church</a> of Our Fathers, IV, 103) goes on to say: "Though not insisted on for general observance, there was a <a href="../cathen/13216a.htm">rubric</a> that allowed a rite, at this part of the <a href="../cathen/11219a.htm">office</a>, to be followed, which may be called <em>The Burial of the Rood</em>. 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 <a href="../cathen/03538b.htm">ceremony</a> of <a href="../cathen/08663a.htm">kissing</a> it had been done, was carried by its two <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacons</a>, 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 till <a href="../cathen/05224d.htm">Easter</a> morn, watched all that while by two, three, or more <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a>, who chanted psalms through day and night. When the Burial was completed the <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacon</a> and <a href="../cathen/14320a.htm">subdeacon</a> came from the <a href="../cathen/13322b.htm">sacristy</a> with the reserved host. Then followed <em>The Mass of the Pre-sanctified</em>. A somewhat similar <a href="../cathen/03538b.htm">ceremony</a> (called the <em>Apokathelosis</em>) is still observed in the <a href="../cathen/06752a.htm">Greek Church</a>. An image of <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a>, 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 <a href="../cathen/08663a.htm">kissed</a>.</p> <h2>Mass of the presanctified</h2> <p>To return to the <a href="../cathen/13155a.htm">Roman Rite</a>, when the <a href="../cathen/03538b.htm">ceremony</a> of adoring and <a href="../cathen/08663a.htm">kissing</a> the Cross is concluded, the Cross is placed aloft on the altar between lighted candles, a procession is formed which proceeds to the <a href="../cathen/12776b.htm">chapel of repose</a>, where the second sacred host <a href="../cathen/04276a.htm">consecrated</a> in yesterday's Mass has since lain entombed in a gorgeously decorated urn and surrounded by lights and flowers. This urn represents the sepulchre of Christ (<a href="../cathen/04670a.htm">decree</a> of S.C.R., n. 3933, ad I). The <a href="../cathen/05584a.htm">Most Holy Sacrament</a> is now carried back to the altar in solemn procession, during which is sung the <a href="../cathen/07595a.htm">hymn</a> "Vexilla Regis prodeunt" (The standards of the King advance). Arrived in the sanctuary the <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a> go to their places retaining lighted candles, while the celebrant and his <a href="../cathen/10326a.htm">ministers</a> 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 <a href="../cathen/04276a.htm">consecration</a> of the sacred species. The host which was <a href="../cathen/04276a.htm">consecrated</a> in yesterday's Mass (hence the word <em>presanctified</em>) is placed on the <a href="../cathen/01362a.htm">altar</a>, <a href="../cathen/07716a.htm">incensed</a>, elevated ("that it may be seen by the people"), and consumed by the celebrant. It is substantially the <a href="../cathen/07402a.htm">Communion</a> part of the Mass, beginning with the <a href="../cathen/09356a.htm">"Pater noster"</a> 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. Speaking about this <a href="../cathen/03538b.htm">ceremony</a> Duchesne (249) says,</p> <blockquote><p>It is merely the <a href="../cathen/07402a.htm">Communion</a> separated from the <a href="../cathen/09306a.htm">liturgical</a> celebration of the Eucharist properly so called. The details of the <a href="../cathen/03538b.htm">ceremony</a> 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 when synaxes without liturgy were frequent, the 'Mass of the Presanctified' must have been frequent also. In the <a href="../cathen/06752a.htm">Greek Church</a> it was celebrated every day in <a href="../cathen/09152a.htm">Lent</a> except on Saturdays and <a href="../cathen/14335a.htm">Sundays</a>, but in the <a href="../cathen/09022a.htm">Latin Church</a> it was confined to Good Friday.</p></blockquote> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>At present [1909] the celebrant alone communicates, but it appears from the old Roman Ordines that formerly all present communicated (Martene, III, 367). The omission of the Mass proper marks in the mind of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> the deep sorrow with which she keeps the anniversary of the Sacrifice of Calvary. Good Friday is a feast of grief. A <a href="../cathen/02590c.htm">black fast</a>, black vestments, a denuded altar, the slow and solemn chanting of the <a href="../cathen/11527b.htm">sufferings of Christ</a>, <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a> 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 <a href="../cathen/12776b.htm">chapel of repose</a> and 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 <a href="../cathen/01349a.htm">altar is denuded</a>").</p> <h2>Other ceremonies</h2> <p>The <a href="../cathen/13216a.htm">rubrics</a> of the <a href="../cathen/10354c.htm">Roman Missal</a> prescribe no further ceremonial for this day, but there are laudable customs in different churches which are allowed. For example, the custom (where it exists) of carrying in procession a <a href="../cathen/13641b.htm">statue</a> of Our Lady of Sorrows is expressly permitted by decrees of the S. Con. of Rites (n. 2375, and n. 2682); also the custom (where it exists) of exposing a <a href="../cathen/12734a.htm">relic</a> of the <a href="../cathen/04533a.htm">Holy Cross</a> on the <a href="../cathen/07346b.htm">high altar</a> (n. 2887), and the custom of carrying such a <a href="../cathen/12734a.htm">relic</a> in procession within the walls of the church, not, however, during the usual ceremonies (n. 3466), are expressly permitted. <a href="../cathen/13105a.htm">Rock</a> (op. cit. 279, 280) notes, with interesting detail, a custom followed at one time in <a href="../cathen/05445a.htm">England</a> of submitting <a href="../cathen/15506a.htm">voluntarily</a> to the rod of penance on Good Friday.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Gilmartin, T.</span> <span id="apayear">(1909).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Good Friday.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06643a.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Gilmartin, Thomas.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Good Friday."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 6.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1909.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06643a.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Joseph P. Thomas.</span> <span id="dedication">In memory of Mr. Cherian Poovathumkal.</span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> September 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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