More Notes (Part 4), Holy Thursday, The Procession to the Repository and Stripping the Altars

The following comes from The New Missal for Holy Week (1956) and is offered as background information on the Rites for Holy Week as restored by Pope Pius XII.

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THE MASS OF THE LORD'S SUPPER
STATION AT SAINT JOHN LATERAN

THE SOLEMN PROCESSION TO THE REPOSITORY
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In antiquity, the Eucharist was reserved after Mass for aliturgical days, i.e., days on which Mass was not offered, but on which Communion was received publicly or privately. When Good Friday became the only aliturgi­cal day of the year, this reservation of the Eucharist be­came a special feature of Holy Thursday, and, in time, was preceded by a solemn procession appropriate to the com­memoration on that day of the institution of the Euch­arist.

The repository, then, is a tabernacle where the hosts, consecrated today for the communion service of Friday, are reserved. There after the transfer, the ministers kneel for a time in prayer. The public adoration of the Eucharist by the faithful continues, at least until mid­night. Then, the liturgical memorial of the institution of the Holy Eucharist concluded, our adoration at the re­pository on Friday concentrates on the memory of the Passion and the Death of Christ. Through the Eucharist, the Cross of Christ is not defeat but victory; it is "the blessed passion" (Canon). By offering Himself in the Eucharist at the Supper on Thursday, Jesus made of His death on Friday a triumph and an endless source of divine life to us.

The sacred ministers go to the altar. The celebrant puts incense in two censers; he kneels and incenses the Blessed Sacrament in the usual way. He puts on a white humeral veil and ascends the altar. There he receives from the deacon the ciborium containing the hosts to be used in Communion tomorrow evening, and covers it with the ends of the veil. (If there is more than one ciborium, the others remain on the corporal; after the solemn procession the celebrant, or another priest, will bring them to the reposi­tory. accompanied simply by two acolytes with lighted candles.)

During the procession the hymn Pange Lingua is sung, as far as the words Tantum Ergo. The verses of the hymn are repeated, if necessary, until the sacred ministers reach the repository.

1

SING, my tongue, the Saviour's glory,
Of His Flesh the mystery sing;
Of the Blood, all price exceeding,
Shed by our immortal King,
Destined, for the world's redemp­tion,
From a noble womb to spring.

2

Of a pure and spotless Virgin
Born for us on earth below,
He, as Man, with man conversing,
Stayed, the seeds of truth to sow;
Then He closed in solemn order
Wondrously His life of woe.

3

On the night of that Last Supper
Seated with His chosen band,
He, the Paschal victim eating,
First fulfills the Law's command:
Then as Food to all His brethren
Gives Himself with His own hand.

4

Word made Flesh, the bread of nature
By His word to Flesh He turns;
Wine into His Blood He changes:
What though sense no change dis­cerns?
Only be the heart in earnest,
Faith her lesson quickly learns.

Upon reaching the repository, the celebrant places the ciborium on the altar. He then puts incense in the censer, and incenses the Blessed Sacrament. Meanwhile the people sing:

TANTUM ergo Sacramentum
Veneremur cernui:
Et antiquum documentum
Novo cedat ritui:
Praestet fides supplementum
Sensuum defectui.

Genitori, Genitoque
Laus et jubilatio,
Salus, honor, virtus quoque
Sit et benedictio:
Procedenti ab utroque
Compar sit laudatio. Amen.

Down in adoration falling,
Lo! the sacred Host we hail;
Lo! o'er ancient forms departing,
Newer rites of grace prevail;
Faith for all defects supplying,
Where the feeble senses fail.

To the everlasting Father,
And the Son who reigns on high,
With the Holy Ghost proceeding
Forth from Each eternally,
Be salvation, honor, blessing,
Might, and endless majesty. Amen.

After the deacon has placed the ciborium in the tabernacle, all kneel for some time in silent adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. At a given signal the sacred ministers and the servers rise, make a profound genuflection and return to the sacristy. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament will con­tinue in all churches at least until midnight.


THE STRIPPING OF THE ALTARS

Like the transfer of the Eucharist to a repository, the re­moval of the altar linens after Mass was, at one time, the regular practice. Because the altar symbolizes Christ, when this ceremony was reserved to Holy Thursday and Good Friday, and so took on the severe note of the "stripping" of the altar, the Church appropriately recalled the accomplishment of the prophecy concerning Christ's passion: "They divided my garments among them, and for my vesture they cast lots" (Ps. 21).

The celebrant and the deacon put on violet stoles and, accompanied by the subdeacon and the servers, go to the main altar. The celebrant in an audible and clear voice recites the following antiphon:

Antiphon (Ps. 21, 19)
They divide my garments among them; and for my vesture they cast lots.

The clergy who are present recite Psalm 21 while the cele­brant and his ministers go to each of the altars, except that on which the Blessed Sacrament is reserved, to remove the linen cloths.

When the altars have been stripped, all return to the main altar. The celebrant repeats the antiphon, and all return to the sacristy.