6. Holy Saturday

was esteemed more highly than Good Friday. Until the time of vespers it still bears the character of mourning and earnestness; therefore it is a day of the strictest fasting. The liturgical service of this day has a specially dramatic character. The most important ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church on Holy Saturday are at the present time the consecration of the new fire, the consecration of the Easter candle, the consecration of water, the litany and the mass which, to a certain extent, still bears the impress of penitence and mourning; but this mass is celebrated with white paraments and the singing of the Gloria and the Hallelujah (see Liturgics, III.). The lessons refer to the resurrection. The liturgical name of Holy Saturday is Sabbatum sanctum; the Italians therefore call it sabato canto, and the Frenchmen aamedi saint, while in Germany it is known as Osteraonnabend or Karsamstag.

7. Protestant Usage

great an aversion against them that in the Formula. miss&, of 1523 he did not mention at all the celebration. In Wittenberg, therefore, these customs seem to have disappeared at a very early time. But from sermons of Luther dating from the years 1521 and 1522 it is evident that at that time Holy Thursday and Good Friday were distinguished by special services with sermons in Wittenberg. All Roman Catholic abuses in connection with the celebration of Holy Week were removed, but the traditional Evangelical pericopes of Passion week were adhered to. The Wittenberg church order of 1533 prescribes even double preaching for Holy Wednesday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. It is a characteristic trait of the sixteenth and seventeenth

8a8

centuries that Holy Thursday and Good Friday were treated as being of an entirely equal value. Sometimes they are considered half-holidays, at other times whole holidays; then again they are not mentioned at all as days specially to be celebrated, but Good Friday is never valued more highly than Holy Thursday. The custom of celebrating Holy Week was in no way uniform in the first decades of the Reformation. There were territories in which it was celebrated as closely as possible in connection with the old Catholic customs. Good Friday developed only gradually into a full holiday. In the first half of the seventeenth century it began, in public estimation, to take precedence of Holy Thursday. In the Reformed Church the regulations of Zwingli had a decisive influence. Accordingly, Holy Thursday and Good Friday belonged from the beginning to the official days of the administration of the Lord's Supper. It must be assumed that the customs and ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church soon disappeared in Zurich. In the Reformed German territories of to-day Holy Thursday is considered a half-holiday and Good Friday a full holiday. In the Anglican Church the entire week is distinguished by special church services. This is nowhere the case now in German Evangelical territories. Palm Sunday is in many state churches the customary Sunday for confirmation. Holy Thursday is nowhere any longer a legal holiday, but is characterized only by the celebration of the Lord's Supper. Good Friday is generally a full holiday, celebrated with great earnestness. [In the Evangelical churches of Great Britain and the United States other than those named above, the observances of the week as a whole are disregarded. There is, however, a very decided tendency in several of the denominations to make Good Friday a day of special service. The usages of the churches are also affecting social and business life-shown in the former by refraining from participation in amusements, in closer attendance upon public worship, and in acts of self-denial, and in the latter by such customs as the closing of exchanges, banks, and even of the offices of corporations.]

(P. Drews.)

Bibliography: Bingham, Orapines, XXI., i. 24-32 (excellent se a historical review); J. C. W. Augusti, Denkwurdipkeiten, i. 157-163, Leipsic, 1817; A. J. Binterim, Denkw~2rdigkeiten, v., i., 173-233, Mainz, 1829; G. F. H. B,heinwald, Die kirchliche ArchMogie, pp. 190 sqq., Berlin, 1830; T. Kliefoth, Liturgische Abhandlungen, vols. ii.-iv., Schwerin, 1859-61; H. Alt. Der christliche Cultus, ii. 22-31, 214-218, 352-364, Berlin, 1880; P. Gu4ranger, Das Kirchenjahr, vol. vi., Mainz, 1890; V. Thalhofer, Handbuch der katholischen Liturgik, ii. 540-550, Freiburg, 1890; D. Sokolow, Darstellung des Gottesdienstes der . . . Kirche des Horpenlandes, pp. 105 sqq. Berlin, 1893; S. Bikumer, Geschichte des Breviers, pp. 112 sqq., Freiburg, 1895; E. C. Achelis, Lehrbuch der praklischen Theologie, i. 288 sqq., Leipsic, 1898; A. von Maltzew, Fasten- and Bluraen Triodion, pp. lxxviii. sqq., 329 sqq., Berlin, 1899; E. Wiefen, Palmsonntagsprozessionen and Palmead, Bonn, 1903; F. Cabrol, Les Origines liturriques, pp. 173 sqq., Paris, 1900; H. Kellner Heortologie, pp. 44 sqq., Freiburg, 1908; Maximilian of Saxony, Pralectiones de liturgicis orientalibus, i. 105 sqq., Freiburg, 1908; J. H. Feaeey,

Ancient English Holy Week Ceremonial, London, 1897.