Tenebrae: A Viable Option for Morning Prayer in a Parish Setting?

I raised the question last year as to whether one could offer Evening Prayer on Easter Sunday night. This idea came after the success of Lenten Evening Prayer in my parish in 2005 – with the thought that Evening Prayer could be extended into the Easter Triduum somehow.

Liturgically, the Easter Triduum officially ends with Evening Prayer on Easter Sunday – so I was thinking I was onto to something rather good.

I was informed by a number of different people that such an idea was not going to work. I was told that people ‘would be Eastered out’ by Sunday night having been to a number of liturgies over the preceding days and the last thing they would want to do is to go to another liturgy.

However, it was suggested to me as an alternative to Easter Sunday Evening Prayer – the service of Tenebrae could be offered – perhaps on Good Friday morning as a form of Morning Prayer.

I had never heard of Tenebrae and it lead me to do a little study on what it is. I was also heartened as I had previously been at a loss as to how to effectively offer Morning Prayer in a parish setting.

So what is Tenebrae?

The official celebration of Lauds [Morning Prayer] on the days of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday are referred to as Tenebrae. The term Tenebrae is another word for darkness – and the liturgies themselves have a strong focus on the extinguishing of lights/ candles to mirror the death of Jesus and the observance of the three days in the tomb.

In the past, Tenebrae has been celebrated at varying points of the day. In the seventeenth century, some monasteries, such as St-Maur and St-Vanne in France, held the service at 2 a.m. Earlier than this in 1200 CE, the Benedictines celebrated Tenebrae in the late afternoon.

Evidence suggests Tenebrae existed as early as the eighth century with commentators such as Amalarius of Metz, a ninth century Gallican liturgist saying the following:

That the lights of the church are extinguished on these [nights] seems to me to be in commemoration of the Sun of Justice Himself, who is buried for three days and three nights…Our church is illuminated with twenty-four candles and at each song – where we might otherwise rejoice – we choose sadness because our true Sun has set; and thus during the individual hours the lack of the sun is increased until complete extinction. This happens three times because it recalls the three-day burial of the Lord.

This shows us that - in the past - Tenebrae was indeed celebrated by some as a nocturnal liturgical activity. However the 1955 Catholic Church Decree Maxima Redemptionis brought about liturgical changes in the way the Easter Triduum was to be celebrated. Instruction was given that saw the celebration of Lauds and Matins to be observed on the actual day [not the evening before as was done in some places]. Therefore the office of Tenebrae was from 1955 onwards, seen best celebrated ‘in the morning [of the day itself] at the appropriate hour’.

This idea of Tenebrae being celebrated as Morning Prayer over the Easter Triduum has remained since this time – although the celebration of Tenebrae itself is uncommon.

The actual rite and structure of Tenebrae involves participants entering the Church and seeing a large 15 candle candelabra with all the candles lit. This candelabra is officially known as a ‘hearse’ or ‘Tenebrae Hearse’ [see picture above].

Following opening rites, a number of psalms are sung and also the chanting from the Book of Lamentations, which creates a very dramatic mood.

Coupled with this, is the extinguishing of candles after each psalm or lament is sung. One tradition associates the extinguishing of lights with the desertion of the Apostles who fled Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Psalms, canticles, readings and other hymns are sung until all candles are extinguished – except one – which is then removed from the ‘hearse’ and – still alight – is momentarily placed behind the altar. Traditionally, Psalm 51 is then sung [also known as the Miserere]. Then the sound of a loud crash is made [made by a cymbal – or in some places the congregation stomping their feet] to symbolise the earthquake at the moment of Jesus’ death. Some congregations also at this point throw 30 silver coins at the foot of the sanctuary for added dramatic effect.

The candle is then brought from behind the altar and shown to the assembly symbolising the inextinguishable light of Christ. People then leave the Church in absolute silence.

One can see there is rich symbolic imagery at play in Tenebrae with some claiming it as their favourite of the Easter services. [!!]

My hope is that I will be able to offer it to my Parish this year on Holy Saturday morning. My thinking here is that I will maximise the chance of people being able to attend as on Holy Thursday people will still be at work. Good Friday will be busy with preparations for the Ecumenical Walk of Witness, which begins in our Church and draws a huge crowd.

Which leaves Saturday morning. We’ll see how things go.

The Congregation for Divine Worship released a document in 1988 focusing on the Easter feasts and attempted to restore the ‘forgotten day’ of Easter by encouraging the celebration of Tenebrae, stating the following:

On Holy Saturday the Church is as it were at the Lord’s tomb, meditating on his passion and death, and on his descent into Hell, and awaiting his resurrection with prayer and fasting. It is highly recommended that on this day the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer be celebrated with the participation of the people. Where this cannot be done, there should be some celebration of the Word of God, or some act of devotion suited to the mystery celebrated on this day.

Watch this space for more developments on the celebration of Tenebrae.