Wednesday, April 8

Holy Week 1938

This handbill, found in an old Notice Book, shows the times of Holy Week services in 1938. Today, as then, it's a busy week with many extra services taking place. Lots of things have changed, however: many of the main services took place in the morning (Holy Thursday - High Mass 10:30am; Good Friday - Mass of the presanctified 9am; Holy Saturday - blessing of the Paschal Candle, Litany of the Saints and Blessing of the Font 9am). One of the sad aspects of the reforms is the loss of the Tenebrae service, during which candles were extinguished one by one. Seemingly it was very beautiful. If you'd like to take a closer look at the handbill, click on the image to enlarge it. You may also be interested in a couple of pictures of the morning Easter Vigil - we have no images of the service in Lancaster but if you click here you can see some old pictures of the vigil as it was celebrated in Westminster Cathedral.