What is Holy Week?

The shape of Holy Week

Holy Week (in Latin, Hebdomada Sancta) is the most solemn week of the Catholic liturgical year. It falls in the last week of Lent and contains the sequence of liturgies that retrace the events of Christ's Passion, Death, and Resurrection.

The structure of the week:

• Palm Sunday (the Sunday before Easter): the Liturgy of the Palms commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem; the Mass features the proclamation of the Passion narrative.
• Holy Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday: weekdays of Holy Week, with proper Mass readings drawn from the prophetic and Pauline literature, and Gospel readings from the events of the early days of Christ's final week.
• Holy Thursday: the day on which the Sacred Triduum begins. The Chrism Mass at the cathedral in the morning; the Mass of the Lord's Supper at the parish in the evening.
• Good Friday: the Celebration of the Lord's Passion, traditionally celebrated in the afternoon between noon and 3:00 p.m.
• Holy Saturday: the day of silence at the tomb of the Lord. No Mass is celebrated until the Easter Vigil after nightfall.
• Easter Sunday: the day of the Resurrection, opening the Easter season.

Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday (also called the Sunday of the Passion of the Lord) commemorates Christ's entry into Jerusalem (Mark 11:1-11; Matthew 21:1-11; John 12:12-16) at the beginning of the week of his Passion. The faithful gather, often in a place outside the church proper, for the blessing of palms (or other branches in regions where palms are not native). A procession with palms accompanies the entrance into the church, accompanied by the singing of Hosanna filio David and other antiphons. The blessed palms are taken home by the faithful and reverently kept; the following year's blessed palms are burned to make the ashes for Ash Wednesday.

The Palm Sunday Mass features a long Gospel reading: the Passion narrative according to Matthew (Year A), Mark (Year B), or Luke (Year C). The Passion may be sung or read with multiple voices for the parts of the Narrator, Christ, and the various speakers.

The Chrism Mass

On the morning of Holy Thursday (or, in some dioceses, on a different day of Holy Week), the diocesan bishop celebrates the Chrism Mass at the cathedral. The Chrism Mass:

• Blesses the Oil of Catechumens (used in baptismal rites).
• Blesses the Oil of the Sick (used in the Anointing of the Sick).
• Consecrates the Sacred Chrism (used in baptism, confirmation, holy orders, and the consecration of churches and altars).
• Provides the occasion for the priests of the diocese to renew their priestly promises.

The blessed and consecrated oils are then distributed to the parishes for the coming year.

The Sacred Triduum

The three days from the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday evening through Vespers of Easter Sunday form the Sacred Triduum, the liturgical climax of the entire Catholic year. The three liturgies (Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper, Good Friday Liturgy of the Lord's Passion, the Easter Vigil) are treated by the Catholic rubrics as one continuous celebration with three movements; for the full description, see the page on the Triduum.

Catholic observance of Holy Week

The lay Catholic observance of Holy Week intensifies as the week progresses. Many Catholic homes observe a quiet, almost monastic atmosphere from Holy Thursday evening through the Easter Vigil: no music other than what is liturgical, simplified meals, suspension of customary entertainments, fasting on Good Friday, and family time before the bare crucifix. Common Holy Week customs include:

• Praying the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday afternoon.
• Visiting the altar of repose at one's parish (or seven parishes, in the older tradition) on Holy Thursday night.
• Attending all three Triduum liturgies.
• Beginning the Divine Mercy Novena on Good Friday.

For the larger context, see Lent, the Sacred Triduum, and Easter.

Sources

The Holy Week ceremonies are governed by the Roman Missal, third typical edition (2002), and the Congregation for Divine Worship's Paschalis Sollemnitatis (1988), the principal modern document on the celebration of the Paschal Mystery.