The Good Friday services began at night with mattins, at which the lights were extinguished in the same manner as on the previous day. In addition, the low tone in which the devotions were pitched, and the omission of the Gloria Patri at the end of the psalms, gave outward expression to the sentiment of sorrow.
The liturgy proper to Good Friday, according to the rite now in use, begins with the prostration (humi prostratio) of the celebrant on the steps of the altar. Then, without their title being given out, follow lections from the prophets, in which the death of the Messias and its virtue were foretold. These sufferings themselves are described in the words of the Passion according to St John, which are said or sung immediately afterwards. Then follow the general intercessions, at the conclusion of which, the Host, consecrated on the previous day, is brought to the altar from the place where it has been reserved. The paternoster is then sung followed by the elevation of the Host and the communion of the celebrant. This missa præsanctificatorum is nothing more than an elaborate rite of communion. It is preceded by the Adoratio Crucis, and followed by the laying of the Cross in the sepulchre, which dates from about the tenth century.
At an earlier period, the ceremonies were simpler, and even restricted to psalmody, for Innocent I., says,[157] that in his time, generally speaking, Mass was not celebrated on Good Friday and Holy Saturday. This is still the custom among the Greeks and Russians. Their Good Friday service consists of the singing of psalms and the veneration of a representation of our Lord on the Cross, similar to our adoratio crucis. At the evening service, that is, a painted, not carved, representation of the dead Christ is brought in and venerated.[158] These expressions must be taken quite literally, in the sense that on Good Friday not even the missa præsanctificatorum was celebrated, nor the now usual Mass on the morning of Holy Saturday. For the Gelasian sacramentary gives no Mass for either of these days but only the various prayers, so too the old Gallic missal,[159] and the same must be understood when we hear of the Churches in parts of Spain not being opened on Good Friday. Sermons, however, were preached on Good Friday, for we possess several of Leo I., and Gregory the Great preached on this day. It is difficult to say what was the custom as to Holy Communion. In France, the people seem to have communicated, but not in Rome or in Germany; at least Rabanus Maurus is silent on the point.[160]
According to the evidence afforded by the ancient service-books, it may be conjectured that the adoption of the missa præsanctificatorum, as well as the striking insertion of the Greek passages in the Reproaches, is due to Greek influence. That alterations were made at a considerably later date in these parts of the rite will be noticed elsewhere.
With regard to the service-books of the Roman Church in particular, we find a rubric in the Gelasian sacramentary, directing that the Holy Cross be placed on the altar, and then that the priests and attendant clerics take their position at the altar in silence and begin the solemn intercessions for the whole Church, for all estates of men, etc.; the intercessions being prefaced by the summons to kneel (flectamus genua). The genuflection seems at that time to have been made also before the prayer for the Jews, for the rubric directs the deacon to proceed “ut supra.”[161] The prayers are the well-known Good Friday prayers. There is no mention at this point of the Adoratio Crucis, but at the conclusion of the intercessions, the sacred Species, in both kinds, which had been consecrated the previous day were brought from the sacrarium by the deacons and placed on the altar. The priest consumed them, having first adored and kissed the Cross. Whereupon all present adored the Cross and communicated. It must not be forgotten, in this connection, that the Gelasian sacramentary does not represent the Roman rite in its purity, but embellished with numerous Gallican additions, which probably owe their origin to Alcuin or his contemporaries. The same is true of the edition of the Gregorian sacramentary employed in France.
In this last we find the general intercessions recurring twice in Holy Week, on Wednesday and again on Good Friday,[162] but they are not placed at the beginning of the liturgy, as they are in the Gelasian sacramentary. After the bishop has taken his seat, the tract, Domine audivi, a lection from the Scriptures, and then another tract followed in succession. The Passion according to St John came next, and then the prayers in question. At their conclusion the altar was stripped. The solemn adoration of the Cross before the altar by clergy and people took place at the time of vespers, and, during it, the antiphon, Ecce lignum crucis, was sung. The missa præsanctificatorum proceeded in essentially the same manner as at present, except that the elevation is not expressly mentioned. The altar remained bare from the afternoon of Maundy Thursday until Good Friday morning. The Gregorian sacramentary in its original form knew nothing of these rites. It proscribed nothing more for Good Friday than the nine prayers still in use and a blessing of the catechumens.
A full description of the whole ritual for Holy Week is to be found in the first of the ancient Roman Ordos edited by Mabillon, which gives both the psalmody and the special ceremonies. Mabillon attributes this ordo to the ninth century.[163] According to it, the psalmody began at midnight. As on the previous day, the candles were gradually extinguished, and the sad character of the service was indicated by the low tone taken for the prayers and by the omission of the Gloria Patri. The consecrated Host was brought back from the place where it had been reserved the day before, and the missa præsanctificatorum commenced. This consisted of preface, Our Father, the prayer Libera me, the pax, and communion of the people. This last is omitted from the existing Roman rite. The adoration of the Cross preceded the Mass, as at present. In monasteries a procession took place within the cloister. The ceremonies of the Mass here described agree in all essential points with the Frankish edition of the Gregorian sacramentary, as, for instance, in the recitation of the orationes sollemnes on both Wednesday and Good Friday. Thus the earlier liturgical services for Good Friday were replaced in the ninth century by an elaborate ritual, which agrees in all important respects with that in use at the present day.[164]
Holy Saturday
This too is a day of mourning, as appears also from the fact that, in the Eastern Church, it is numbered among the fast days, although originally in the East no Saturday was kept as a fast. But the sadness of the day is already modified by the approach of the Resurrection, and the Alleluia, which has not been heard since Septuagesima, is sung again at the Mass.[165]