FROM THE CLERGY: SOME LITURGICAL PECULIARITIES OF LENT AND HOLY WEEK

In the coming days, the Church will enter upon its annual commemoration of the central events of history. All human history will converge upon a single week—Holy Week, with its Palm Sunday pomp and circumstance and the Sacred Triduum of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Great Vigil of Easter. Culminating in the celebration of Easter Day, these rituals funnel us into the heart of salvation history. In Liturgical Spirituality, Phillip Pfatteicher writes:

The purpose and function of the church year is to provide a kind of template by which our lives are given a common shape and order to encourage the living of our life in the light of past events that are not past (memory) and in expectation of the future that is already our possession (hope)…The goal is a life that participates in Christ’s life. It is a real life—his and ours—that ultimately is, or should be, one. The purpose is not chronology but identification. The church year fosters a living historical sense, by investing the present moment of our life in Christ with heroic significance.[1]

Perhaps given the importance of these events, it’s not surprising that many of the actions and rituals strike us as profoundly strange. So we thought we’d offer a few explanatory bullet points to whet your appetite—a sort of “Did You Know? for Holy Week.” So, in no particular order:

• The Maundy–The word maundy is derived from the Latin mandatum, which can be translated as “commandment.” It is based on an antiphon used on Maundy Thursday, “I give you a new commandment: Love one another as I have loved you,” from John 13:34, and is one of the antiphons that will be sung by our choir during the foot washing. The appointed Gospel, John 13:1-16, in which Jesus washes the feet of his disciples, is found in the earliest known Roman lectionaries for this Mass and the ritual reenactment of the foot washing dates to at least the seventh century.[2] In some places on Maundy Thursday, abbots would wash the feet of monks and kings would wash the feet of peasants.[3] — MJ

• The Lenten Veils–In parts of medieval Europe, a custom called the “Hunger Cloth” arose somewhere around the 10th or 11th century. Also called the “Lenten Veil,” a large purple or white curtain, adorned with scenes of Christ’s passion, would appear in the sanctuary to separate the faithful from sight of the altar, and a central opening was used to make visible some of the most important parts of Lenten masses. That may have led to the custom of individually veiling statues and crosses during all or part of this season, particularly during Holy Week. Eventually, this practice became associated with the Fifth Sunday in Lent (known in some parts of the Church as “Passion Sunday”) and its gospel reading: “…Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple.” (John 8.59) The duration of such veiling varies—some churches veil from Vespers on Passion Sunday (i.e., 5 Lent), all crucifixes were veiled for the two weeks until the Easter Vigil, while others wait to veil until the Lord’s Supper celebrating the institution of the Eucharist on Maundy Thursday. At St. Mary’s, we will veil the crosses and statues before the Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday, setting up the dramatic scene on Good Friday when a large cross is unveiled for veneration by a priest or deacon singing Ecce, lingam crucis…Behold, the wood of the cross. — SW

• “The 9 Tailors”–At 3:00 p.m. on Good Friday, anyone in the church or wandering through Times Square will hear our church bell ring—42 times! This is the “Tolling of the 9 Tailors,” said to be an old English custom. According to Radford’s Encyclopædia of Supersitions, the word “tailors” is a corruption of “tellers,” the full title being “the nine tellers” or strokes of the bell that indicate a man has died in an English village. “The living are notified that someone had died, first by the tolling of the bell, then by nine strokes for a man, six for a woman, and three for a child, and finally by a single note for every year of the dead person’s age.” So at the precise time on Good Friday when Jesus died, we toll nine times—three rings and a pause, three more and a pause, a final three and a pause—then the bell peals 33 times, once for every year of our Lord’s earthly life. — SW
  [This custom, brought to Saint Mary’s by Father Wood, recalls Jesus’ death and so is not a “joyful” ringing of bells. See below.]

• More Bells–Bells summon us. They wake us up. They ring out joy and, sometimes, alarm. The English prayer book from 1552 directs the tolling of a bell “that such as be disposed maye come to heare Goddes words, and to praie with hym.” We toll bells solemnly for funerals, joyfully at weddings, and on other joyous liturgical or public occasions. Our Sanctus bells get their name from the Latin word for “holy” and are rung at the Sanctus—the point in the Eucharist when the gathered faithful say the words “Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might…” But our bells go away at a particular point in Holy Week. The bells are rung after the intonation of the Gloria in excelsis on Maundy Thursday, then they fall silent until the Gloria on Holy Saturday at the Great Vigil of Easter. Everyone is invited to bring bells to church—sleigh bells, hand bells, whatever you have at hand (Dr. Hurd pleads with us “No cowbell!”; the tradition is to ring small, “tuneful” bells instead)—to ring Maundy Thursday as we celebrate the institution of the Holy Eucharist and say goodbye to the bells for a time. Bring your bells back to ring at the Great Vigil on Saturday night too. — SW

• The Crotalus–Between the end of the Gloria in excelsis on Maundy Thursday and the start of that same hymn during the Easter Vigil, a wooden clacker called a crotalus is used instead of bells, which are not permitted during this portion of the Triduum. The crotalus serves to draw attention to some of the more important moments within the liturgy when bells are no longer allowed. The Greek word krotalon (κρóταλον) is the name of a rattle that was used in ancient Greek religious dances. Crotalus is also the genus for the variety of species of rattlesnakes. This change in sound—from bells to the crotalus and back to bells again—reflects just one aspect of many changes in the tone of the Triduum liturgy that help us to follow Our Lord to the depths of the Cross and joyfully emerge again at his resurrection. — MJ

• Burying the Alleluias–One of the most prominent and celebratory expressions of joy in our liturgy is the word “alleluia,” whether said or sung. It is a Hebrew word that means something like “praise the Lord.” During Lent, the word is neither said nor sung at Mass, nor in the Daily Office. The clergy, musicians, and the lay officiants at the Office have done quite well this year and “alleluia” has not been heard, as far as one knows. One of the ways that we mark the absence of alleluias is to “bury” them. On the First Sunday in Lent, Father Sammy led a raucous procession of children to Saint Benedict’s Study where the “alleluias” were duly buried. There is a playfulness to all this that has a serious purpose: to remind us that Lent is a season of sober and serious preparation for the celebration of Easter. We do all this in the presence of the Risen Lord in whom we hope to be transformed, made more Christ-like, through our Lenten practices, and always through the power of the Holy Spirit. — JRS

ON GOOD FRIDAY & THE MASS OF THE PRESANCTIFIED

The path from the earliest annual celebrations of Pascha, or Easter, a unitive remembrance of Christ’s death and resurrection, preceded by a very short period of fasting, to the Book of Common Prayer 1979, with its carefully structured Holy Week liturgies, each one unique, each one recalling a particular day in the biblical narrative of Jesus’ last days, from the Last Supper to his arrest, trial, passion, death, burial, and resurrection, has been a tortuous one. As Holy Week emerges in the fourth century and the decades and years afterwards, Good Friday evolves from a very brief simple, somber service of prayer and biblical readings to a liturgy that is not unlike our own Prayer Book rite. The Sarum, or Salisbury, Rite, used from around the eleventh century until the Reformation, included a Good Friday liturgy that apparently took place after three o’clock and which began with a very abbreviated entrance, followed by scriptural readings, including Saint John’s passion narrative, followed by the traditional and quite ancient solemn collects, followed by the chanting of the Reproaches, the Veneration of the Cross and the “Mass of the Pre-Sanctified.” This service of Communion meant bringing elements consecrated the night before on Maundy Thursday to the altar, where brief prayers were said, and then the priest-celebrant communicated himself. The people themselves did not receive Communion.[4]

Good Friday liturgies such as these were radically simplified at the Reformation. Provisions for Holy Week liturgies in the Prayer Book tradition before 1979 have been described as “meager” at best. Marion Hatchett describes one Anglican deviation from the ancient tradition as follows, “Despite the universal tradition of having no celebration of the Eucharist on Good Friday, there has been no prohibition in any edition of the Prayer Book and the Eucharist has been celebrated frequently [on Good Friday] in Anglican churches until the present century. [The 1979 Prayer Book, however,] revives the tradition of prohibiting the celebration of the Eucharist on Good Friday and Holy Saturday.”[5]

Anglo-Catholics in England and here in the United States, reacting to the meagerness of the pre-1979 Prayer Book rites, began to experiment, using contemporary Catholic or medieval English models, and adapting them to existing Prayer Book rites. (Among those who did so were the members of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist and Father Andrew Chalmers Wilson, rector of Saint Paul’s, Carroll Street, Brooklyn [1909–1926]. We know that such experiments were also taking place here at Saint Mary’s). All these experiments and more led, eventually, to the reforms of the Book of Common Prayer 1979.

What this means is that our own Good Friday liturgy includes what is known as the Mass or the Liturgy of the Pre-sanctified Gifts In the West, such a liturgy came to be offered only on Good Friday. This was not, and is not, so in the East, where such liturgies still take place on particular days, such as fast days in Lent (normally Wednesdays and Fridays) and on Good Friday. In these Eastern liturgies and in our own Good Friday liturgy, the Eucharist is not celebrated. The priest does not set aside or say words over unconsecrated bread and wine so that they may become Christ’s Body and Blood. Rather, already consecrated elements are brought to the altar—at Saint Mary’s with a minimum of ceremony—and then, according to the Prayer Book, the following takes place there: a confession of sin, the Lord’s Prayer, and the sharing of the consecrated bread (or bread and wine), followed by a brief post-Communion prayer. The Communion is of course now shared with the People.

Liturgical historians have been good at describing the development of the Good Friday liturgy and its various elements. They often fail, however, to tell us what the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts means. One great exception is the late, brilliant Orthodox liturgist and theologian, Alexander Schmemann. Father Schmemann, in his excellent book, Great Lent, uses the Liturgy of the Pre-sanctified Gifts masterfully to explain the very meaning of Lent, and at the heart of this explanation is the practice of fasting. Schmemann says that during Lent there is an ascetic fast by which we confront our fallible humanity, our desires, temptations, and inclinations; it also includes a total fast on Good Friday (and at some other times); and fasting, he says, is always used as a preparation for the eating of the Eucharistic meal, and when the Eucharist is joyfully celebrated, eating always follows the celebration. The Eucharist is always joyful since it is the sacrament of the presence of the Kingdom of God, here and now, in this present time. Therefore, on Good Friday it would be inappropriate for us to celebrate the Eucharist, because we have paused to remember and mark Christ’s death and burial. It is a special day, a unique day, when we grapple with the full meaning and weight of Christ’s death on the cross. However, the Good Friday liturgy is not a funeral liturgy—“The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God” (Romans 6:10). And here Schmemann says something lovely. The Eucharist is a joyful celebration of the presence of the Risen Lord, but it is also, he says, a form of consolation, a kind of medicine, healing food that helps us to endure the fast, whether ascetic or total, and everything that the fast means: fallen humanity, the intractability of human sinfulness, and the difficulties of practicing the fast itself. Schmemann writes, “[The Lenten fast days], therefore, are selected as appropriate for Lenten Communion, which . . . is one of the essential means or ‘weapons’ for the Lenten spiritual fight. Days of intensified spiritual and physical effort, they are illumined by the expectation of the forthcoming Communion with the Body and Blood of Christ [in the Liturgy of the Pre-sanctified Gifts], and this expectation sustains us in our effort, spiritual as well as physical; it makes it an effort aimed at the joy of the evening Communion. ‘I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence comes my help.’”

And so, even on Good Friday, that most somber of days, the Lord Jesus still comes to us to feed, heal, and sustain us as we continue the journey to Holy Saturday, to Easter, and beyond. This is what makes Good Friday good. — JRS

THE PARISH PRAYER LIST

We give thanks to God for giving us life; for showing us the beauty of the universe, for the warmth and tenderness of the world of nature, and for the goodness of God even in times of darkness when goodness, beauty, and grace are hidden from our eyes.

We pray for the sick and for all those who asked us for our prayers. We pray for those celebrating birthdays and anniversaries this week; for those who are traveling; for those seeking work; for the incarcerated; for those living with drought, storm, frigid weather, flood, fire, and earthquake.

We pray for all who are in pain and trouble and all who suffer from injustice and oppression of any kind. On this weekend of remembrance and repentance, we recall with sorrow the pain and suffering of enslaved people, and we pray for their descendants. We ask that we may all continue to work for compassion, justice, truth and love in the Name of the Most Holy Trinity.

We pray especially this week for the people of Ukraine, South Sudan, Türkiye, and Syria; and we also pray for Karl, Margaret, Michael, Zulie, Harriet, Victor, Michael, Opal, Debbie, Willard, Richard, Gigi, Carole, Linda, Don, Michele, Bob, Ilde Luz, Henry, Mecca, Penny, Steven, Sharon, Pat, Lina, Charlotte, Ginny, Roger, Catherine, Richard, Gloria, Gladys, Luis, Liduvina, José, Lauren, Theo, Eric, Carlos, Christopher, Shalim, Greta, Quincy, Ava Grace, Bruce, Barbara, Robert, Suzanne, Abe, Gypsy, Hardy, John Derek, Margaret; for Renee, Luis, Gladys, and Father Sammy, who are on pilgrimage; and for Rick and Allan, priests.

We also pray:

For the people of Saint Mary’s that we may persevere in our observance of Lent;
For the work of the Saint Mary’s Search Committee and the members of the Board of
Trustees of Saint Mary’s;
For Mother Anna Pearson and Sister Hannah Spiers, CCN, who are preaching for us this weekend;
For the Chemin Neuf Community and the Community at the Crossing;
For the Episcopal Service Corps and the New York Service & Justice Collaborative fellows;
For all those suffering from COVID-19 and for all those recovering from COVID-19;
For those killed and injured in the mass shootings in the United States in 2023;
For all refugees and those seeking asylum;
For the work of Neighbors in Need and for its guests;
For those without food, shelter, or work; and for those seeking work;
For those troubled by depression, anxiety, or addiction;
For all those visiting Saint Mary’s and our neighborhood this week;
For the safety of LGBTQ+ people in Uganda; and
For the safety and welfare of our nation, city, and neighborhood.

A COLLECT FOR LENT

Almighty and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

OF CANDLESTICKS, GIFTS, AND HISTORY: AN ANNIVERSARY

Brendon Hunter, head of the parish’s candle guild, reminded us this week that the six large brass candlesticks (“the Big Six”) that are normally on the High Altar were dedicated 123 years ago on the Feast of the Annunciation in 1900. The feast fell on a Sunday that year so perhaps the dedication and first use took place the following day? The dedication engraved on one of the candlesticks reads, “These six Mass light standards are given to the glory of God and in loving memory of James E. Ward. Annunciation of the BVM. 1900.” We are still working to find out who Mr. Ward was. We are grateful for the gift, still happily in use after all these years, and we pray that Mr. Ward will rest in peace and rise in glory. — JRS

FROM THE FLOWER GUILD, WITH A CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS

Donations for Easter Flowers that make the beautiful decorations at Easter possible are welcome from friends and members of Saint Mary's. Please go online to Saint Mary's donation page, click on “Give Now,” and to the right of the amount entered select “Flowers” from the Fund menu. Checks can be mailed to the parish and please note “Easter Flowers” on the memo line. At the church, Easter flower donation envelopes are available at the entrances that can be left in any shrine box or in the offering basket. Thank you for helping make the beauty and joy of Easter come to life at Saint Mary’s.

Volunteers for Easter Flowers are needed for many different things, especially with items that don’t involve floristry on the parish workday on Saturday, April 1; unpacking the branch and flower deliveries in the mornings of Monday, April 3, Tuesday, April 4, and Wednesday, April 5; and the dismantling of Easter decorations in the afternoon on Sunday, April 16. No prior skills or experience are needed, just bring yourself! Please contact Grace Mudd or Brendon Hunter if you’re interested in helping the Flower Guild this Holy Week and Easter.

Donations for altar flowers may be made for many Sundays in Eastertide, upcoming feast days, and other dates through the end of 2023. Dates available include Sundays April 23 and 30; May Crowning on Sunday, May 7; Ascension Day on May 18; Sunday, May 21; and the feasts of Pentecost, Trinity, and Corpus Christi. The suggested donation is $250 which provides flowers on the high altar; shrines of Christ the King, Blessed Virgin Mary, and Sacred Heart; and/or other locations in the church depending on the commemoration or feast on the calendar. To arrange a donation for the altar flowers for a Sunday or feast day, please contact Chris Howatt. For questions about flowers or the Flower Guild, please speak with Brendon Hunter.

AIDS WALK 2023: SUNDAY, MAY 21

AIDS Walk 2023 will be on Sunday, May 21, and Saint Mary’s is forming its team. Come join us! We will have a Vigil Mass on the Saturday evening before the event and then meet in Central Park on Sunday morning to walk with the thousands of others. To join or to contribute, visit our page on the AIDS WALK website. Additional detail about our team’s history can also be found on the parish website. Our team captains—MaryJane Boland, Clark Mitchell, and Father Matt Jacobson—welcome your questions. 

BEING HOSPITABLE, WELCOMING OUR GUESTS

Hospitality is an important ministry at Saint Mary’s, since it is our privilege to welcome guests from near and far almost every Sunday morning. Coffee Hour and other receptions are an important part of that ministry, but the cost of hosting such events continues to rise.

We are seeking your help. We invite the members and friends to volunteer to “host” a Coffee Hour or reception. That can be done in one of two ways: you can make a cash donation, or you can provide food and beverages for the event. If you make a cash donation, the suggested amount is $100.00. If you would like to do this, please contact the Parish Office or speak to Father Jay Smith.

In order to prevent duplications and therefore waste, if you plan to bring food for a Coffee Hour, please let us know a week ahead of time. That way we can work with Marcos Orengo, our weekend sexton, to prepare for that day’s event.

We hope that this will not be taken as an invitation to compete. That is not desirable and is likely to discourage some who would otherwise like to help. We hope to keep things fairly simple—something look forward to, but neither brunch, lunch, or supper. We are grateful to all those who already make donations that are a great help to and for this ministry.

“All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself will say: ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me’ (Matt 25:35).”— The Rule of Saint Benedict

GUEST PREACHERS AT SAINT MARY’S

On Sunday, March 26, our guest preacher at the Solemn Mass at 11:00 AM, will be Sister Hannah Spiers, CCN, of the Community of Chemin Neuf, who is working with other members of the Community to create the young adult ecumenical Community at the Crossing at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. Click here for a video where Sister Hannah speaks a little about and being an Anglican consecrated sister within a Roman Catholic religious order. Sister Hannah will discuss her order and this new community after Solemn Mass in the parish hall.

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S

Our regular daily liturgical schedule, Monday through Friday, is Morning Prayer 8:00 AM, Mass 12:10 PM, and Evening Prayer at 5:00 PM. Holy Hour is offered on Wednesday at 11:00 AM and Thursday’s Mass includes a Healing Service. On Saturdays, Mass is celebrated at 12:10 PM and Evening Prayer is prayed at 5:00 PM. On Sundays, Solemn Mass is offered at 11:00 AM and Evening Prayer at 5:00 PM.

Friday, March 24, The Eve of the Annunciation of Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Solemn Mass 6:00 PM. Mother Anna Pearson, rector of the Church of the Holy Apostles, will preach.

Saturday, March 25, The Annunciation of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Mass 12:10 PM in the Lady Chapel. There will be a Quiet Day in the church, in Saint Joseph’s Hall, and in Saint Joseph’s Chapel, 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM.

Saturday, March 25, 8:00 PM. Saint Mary’s resident orchestra, the New York Repertory Orchestra, presents a concert here at Saint Mary’s. Admission is free. A $15.00 donation is most welcome. Click here for more details about the 2022–2023 season. The program on March 25 is: George: RUIN (World Premiere/NYRO Commission); Boulanger: Faust et Hélène; Martinů: Symphony No. 2.

Sunday, March 26, The Fifth Sunday in Lent (Harriet Monsell, Monastic, 1833). Sister Hannah Spiers, CCN, will preach.

Weekday Commemorations, March 24–31: During Lent at Saint Mary’s, it is our custom to keep most weekdays as Lenten Weekdays or ferias. Among other things, this allows us to hear the Scripture readings in course. However, if there is a saint associated with a date, he or she will be noted in our parish liturgical calendars in parenthesis.

On Friday, March 24, we will remember Bishop Óscar Romero at the noonday Mass. Bishop Romero is a new addition to the Saint Mary’s calendar. From Lesser Feasts and Fasts (edited and adapted):

“Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (August 15, 1917–March 24, 1980), commonly known as Monseñor Romero, was a priest of the Roman Catholic Church in El Salvador. He later became archbishop of San Salvador. As an archbishop, he witnessed numerous violations of human rights and began a ministry speaking out on behalf of the poor and victims of the country’s civil war. His brand of political activism was denounced by the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church and the government of El Salvador. In 1980, he was assassinated by gunshot while celebrating Mass. His death finally provoked international outcry for human rights reform in El Salvador. In 1997, a cause for beatification and canonization into sainthood was opened for Romero and Pope John Paul II bestowed upon him the title of Servant of God. Pope Francis canonized Romero as a saint on 14 October 2018. He is considered the unofficial patron saint of the Americas and El Salvador and is often referred to as ‘San Romero’ in El Salvador. Romero is also honored by other religious denominations of Christendom, like the Church of England through its Common Worship. He is one of the ten twentieth-century martyrs from across the world who are depicted in statues above the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey, London.”

Wednesday, March 29, Weekday of Lent (John Keble, Priest 1866). Mass 12:10 PM.

Friday, March 31, Weekday of Lent (John Donne, Priest, 1631). Mass 12:10 PM.

Friday, March 31, Stations of the Cross 5:30 PM, following Evening Prayer at 5:00 PM.

AROUND THE PARISH

Saint Mary’s Book Club. On Sunday, April 23, at 1:00 PM, Father Jay Smith will lead a discussion of Pat Barker’s 1993 novel, Regeneration. The book is set in England during the Great War, and is focused on Siegfried Sassoon, poet and war hero, who has spoken out against the war and, as a result, been committed to an institution for “rest and rehabilitation.” The novel portrays the relationship between Sassoon and a psychiatrist, who has been assigned the morally ambiguous task of returning Sassoon and other young men, shattered in mind, body, and spirit to the front. The novel is well written and explores the difficult interplay between nationalism, patriotism, virility, psychiatry, and modern technological warfare. In some sense, World War I “changed everything” in the Western world. Barker puts a human face on those changes.

We’d love to have you join the discussion in April. We are a small group, but we have lots of ideas and opinions. Come share your opinions with us! — JRS

The Annual Easter Appeal letter was mailed this week. In the letter, Father Wood invites donations to help with improvements in the nave of the church building. We invite you to be generous.

Father Sammy Wood and his wife, Renee, along with several parishioners, and others from Boston, New York, and Nashville, flew to Israel on Tuesday evening, March 14, beginning their ten-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land. They return on Saturday, March 25. Father Sammy plans to be with us at the Solemn Mass on Sunday, March 26. Please keep them in your prayers.

The Saint Mary’s Centering Prayer Group has returned to in-person gatherings. Please speak to Blair Burroughs or Ingrid Sletten for more information about the practice of Centering Prayer or click here. Perhaps the season of Lent would be a good time to explore this particular form of prayer. The group is meeting in Saint Benedict’s Room following Stations of the Cross on Fridays and has also begun to gather on Sundays after Solemn Mass.

ABOUT THE MUSIC ON THE FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT, MARCH 26, 2023

The organ prelude on Sunday morning is a setting of O Lamm Gottes unschuldig (“O Lamb of God, pure, spotless”), BWV 656, one of the eighteen Leipzig Chorales of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). The “Great Eighteen” were collected and published in the final decade of Bach’s life and are considered to represent the summit of chorale-based Baroque organ composition. Bach’s setting of O Lamm Gottes from the “Great Eighteen” is based upon the melody for the Lutheran troped Agnus Dei, both text and melody being attributed to Nikolaus Decius (c. 1480–1541). This three-stanza chorale echoes the Latin Agnus Dei, which is sung three times in the liturgy, the third time praying for peace rather than for mercy as in the first two. Bach, therefore, has set the entire melody three times in his extended organ chorale. The first stanza is played entirely on the keyboard and has the chorale melody in the highest of the three voices. Stanza two, which follows without break, maintains the same texture but shifts the chorale melody to the middle of the three voices. In the third stanza, the pedals of the organ are employed to play the chorale melody and undergird the four-voice texture. Right before the final phrase of this last stanza is a very chromatic interlude which characterizes the agony of the Passion. Bach’s four-voice harmonization of O Lamm Gottes, catalogued as BWV 401, is played as the postlude on Sunday afternoon.

The setting of the Mass at the Solemn Mass on Sunday is the Mass for Four Voices of William Byrd (c. 1540–1623). Byrd composed settings of the Latin Mass for three, four and five voices. The Mass for Four Voices dates from about 1592 and was probably the first of the three to be composed. The whole business of Latin Masses in post-Reformation England needed to be a somewhat clandestine matter to protect those involved from the possibility of arrest. This being the case, Byrd’s part books were undated and without title page or preface, nor was the printer (Thomas East) identified. Fortunately, Byrd’s settings survived the period in which their performance—if not their very existence—was illegal and are now rightly regarded as great treasures of Western music. Although composed with the Continental Tridentine liturgy in mind, Byrd’s Mass for Four Voices was also influenced by the pre-Reformation Mean Mass of John Taverner (c. 1490–1545), particularly in the opening of the Sanctus. The older Taverner setting had already served as a model for settings by English masters Christopher Tye (c. 1505–c.1573), John Sheppard (c. 1515–1558) and Thomas Tallis (c. 1505–1585). Byrd’s four-voice Agnus Dei ends with a particularly expressive Dona nobis pacem.

The motet sung during the Communion of the people on the Fifth Sunday in Lent is a setting of Psalm 25:1a and 6 composed by David Hurd, music director at Saint Mary’s. This motet was composed for, and first sung on, Ash Wednesday 2003 at Holy Apostles Church, Chelsea. While the motet was originally composed for a choir of men’s voices, the version sung today is a transcription intended for a choir of mixed voices. This version was first sung here at Saint Mary’s in Lent 2019.

NEIGHBORS IN NEED

For the next several months, Neighbors in Need is blessed with help from five young people working with the Diocese of New York’s branch of Episcopal Service Corps, the New York Service & Justice Collaborative. We expect that they will help with sorting and hanging clothes as well as carrying them up from the basement to set up for our drop-by days. Even so, we would welcome your inquiry about volunteering.

We held our monthly Drop-by Event last week, on March 17, during which we distributed clothing and personal items to around forty-five people. Next month the Drop-by takes place in Easter Week, on Friday, April 21.

Our biggest needs now are clothing, especially shoes (sneakers or athletic shoes and other sturdy shoes), men’s and women’s pants and tops, and coats—for winter and for warmer weather. And, of course, donations help us to purchase toiletries and underwear.

Please contact us at neighbors@stmvnyc.org for more information about volunteering or about the goals, work, and methods of Neighbors in Need.

ADULT EDUCATION: LENT COMES AND BIBLE STUDY RETURNS
Sunday, March 26, New Testament Letters in the Pauline Tradition, continued

This coming Sunday we continue our examination of the writings from the time the New Testament was formed. Imagine you’re a first-century Christian. Paul has died. The Second Coming has not occurred. Is your faith pointless? The New Testament takes shape and the church is formed in part to answer these questions. We know the Gospels reach their present form after 60 CE. What about the Epistles? How do the followers of Paul understand their faith in light of Paul’s death? How do the followers of Paul understand their faith after the Jewish Revolution and the destruction of the Temple? How do they make sense of worshiping a Jewish Savior when essentially no Jews are Christian? In other words, how do they remain faithful?

We continue to seek answers to those questions, and others, as  we continue our discussion of Ephesians—looking this coming Sunday at Ephesians 3:1–5:14, with a brief excursus, considering Matthew 5:1–6 and the virtue of humility. We’ll do this on Sunday, March 26, 9:30–10:30 AM. We’ll continue our discussion and conclude this series on Palm Sunday, April 2. — Father Peter Ross Powell

LIVING LENT, PREPARING FOR EASTER

An electronic copy of the booklet, The Shape of the Lent, can be downloaded here. In it you’ll find suggestions for keeping a Holy Lent and an invitation for us to observe Lent together, as a community.

WEEK FIVE
March 26–April 1

Psalm of the Week: Psalm 2
Sunday: Luke 2.1-21
Monday: Mark 1.1-15
Tuesday: Mark 4.1-20
Wednesday: Mark 5.1-20
Thursday: Mark 8.27-9.13
Friday: Mark 9.43-50
Saturday: Mark 10.17-45

Fast: Alcohol or Coffee

Choose either coffee or alcohol (or both) and refrain from drinking it this week. If neither is something you regularly enjoy, choose another “staple” in your diet. Pay attention to what happens when you thirst for something you routinely enjoy. Try to pray when you have the desire for the thing from which you are abstaining.

Reading: The Life & Teachings of Jesus

Tangible tension builds throughout our readings. Israel is a nation that has experienced brokenness. The people have gone through slavery, exodus, monarchy, exile, and, finally, return to the land of Israel, although under Roman rule. Israel’s ups and downs mirror the ups and downs of the entire human race. But God’s rescue plan now takes a step forward as the Messiah is born.

Book of Common Prayer Online
Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Version
Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version
Common English Bible

On Friday, March 24, we will not say Evening Prayer in the church, and we will not walk Stations of the Cross, since it is the Eve of the Annunciation. On March 24, there will be an organ recital at 5:30 PM and a Solemn Mass at 6:00 PM.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

April 2, Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday, Blessing of Palms, Procession in the Church, and Solemn Mass 11:00 AM, Evening Prayer in the Church at 5:00 PM.

April 6, Maundy Thursday, Solemn Mass 6:00 PM, Watch before the Blessed Sacrament until Midnight.

April 7, Good Friday, Liturgy of the Day 12:30 PM.

Saturday, April 8, The Great Vigil of Easter, 7:00 PM.

Sunday, April 9, Easter Day, Said Mass with Hymns 9:00 AM; Procession and Solemn Mass 11:00 AM.

This edition of the Angelus was written and edited by Father Jay Smith, except as noted. Father Matt Jacobson also edits the newsletter and is responsible for formatting and posting it on the parish website and distributing it via mail and e-mail, with the assistance of Christopher Howatt, parish administrator, and parish volunteer, Clint Best.

[1] Philip H. Pfatteicher, Liturgical Spirituality (Harrisburg: Trinity Press, 1997), 108.
[2] Marion J. Hatchett, Commentary on the American Prayer Book (New York: HarperOne, 1995), 229.
[3] Hatchett, Commentary on the American Prayer Book, 229.
[4] Hatchett, Commentary on the American Prayer Book, 233.
[5] Hatchett, Commentary on the American Prayer Book, 234.