March 4th - Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday is a privileged greater ferial day. No feast can be celebrated on this day whatever its rank. The day marks the beginning of Lent although the Office hymns are those that have been sung during the season of Septuagesima. Lentent hymns are sung from the the first Sunday in Lent. The liturgical colour of the day is violet.

The Office of Ash Wednesday began yesterday evening with the chanting in Quire of the Gradual Psalms before Mattins of the day. The fifteen Gradual Psalms are divided into three sections. The choir chants Pss. 119, 120, 121 & 122 without any antiphon and without the Doxology at the end of any of them. Psalm 123 follows and after its last verse Requiem aeternam etc and the respond Et lux perpetua etc are sung. Then the choir kneels and the Hebdomadarius intones Pater noster and all then say the prayer secreto. A short series of versicles and their responses follow and the collect Absolve, quaesumus Domine etc. The choir stands and Pss. 124, 125, 126, 127 & 128 are chanted without antiphon but with the Doxology at the end of each psalm. After the last Doxology the choir again kneels for a short series of versicles and their responses and the collect Deus, cui proprium etc. The choir rises and chant Pss. 129, 130, 131, 132 & 133, again without any antiphon but with the Doxology at the end of each. For a third time the choir then kneels for a series of versicles and their responses and the collect Praetende Domine etc. The Office of Mattins then follows.

The invitatory is In manu tua Domine, Omnes fines terrae and the Office hymn is Rerum Creator optime both from the ferial Office per annum for Wednesday. In the nocturn the twelve psalms 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 63, 65 & 67 are sung in pairs under the six antiphons Avertit Dominus etc. The lessons in the nocturn are from a homily of St. Augustine reflecting on the Sermon on the Mount from St. Matthew's Gospel. The second and third lessons are slightly longer than those found in the modern editions of the Breviary. The responsories are taken from the third nocturn of Quinquagesima Sunday. The Te Deum is not sung but its place the third responsory, Movens Abram etc

At Lauds the psalmody is ferial, Pss. 50, 64, 62-66, Canticle of Anna, 148, 149 & 150. The antiphon on the Benedictus and collect are proper to the day. Before the collect the choir kneels and the ferial preces are sung with the psalm De profundis. After the collect of the day the Suffrages of the Cross Per signum Crucis etc (the Office being ferial), the BVM Sancta Maria succurre etc, the Apostles Gloriosi principes etc, of the Patron and lastly for peace Da pacem Domine etc are sung.

At the Hours the ferial antiphons are sung. At Prime the psalmody is Pss. 53, 25, 118i and 118ii. Both the Dominical and ferial preces are chanted kneeling, the chapter is the ferial Pacem et veritatem. At the other Hours the short set of ferial preces are chanted with the choir kneeling.

The blessing of Ashes and Mass follows after the singing of None. (Where the Expulsion of Penitents takes place the Ashes are blessed and imposed on the Pentitents followed by the Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany and the Expulsion of the Penitents.) The celebrant vests in a violet cope with the deacon and subdeacon wearing violet folded chasubles. The organ is silent following the general rule when folded chasubles are worn. The Ashes, made from the preceding year's Palms, are blessed with four collects of blessing. The short conclusion of these prayers probably indicates the blessing was separated by the Expulsion of Penitents from the Mass which follows. The Ashes are imposed whilst two antiphons are chanted Immutemur habitu and Inter vestibulum. These are followed by the poignant responsory Emendemus in melius. The Mass that now immediately follows is proper. The Gloria is not sung. The second collect is A cunctis, the third collect Omnipotens. The preface of Lent is sung. The ferial tones are used for the orations, preface and Pater noster. The choir kneels for the Orations and from the Sanctus until Pax Domini. After the last collect the deacon sings Humiliate capita vestra Deo and the celebrant sings the Oratio super populum. The dismissal is Benedicamus Domino, sung by the deacon facing the celebrant and altar.

Vespers are of the feria. The antiphons Non confundetur etc are sung with psalms 126, 127, 128, 129 & 130. The Office hymn is Caeli Deus sanctissimae. The antiphon on the Magnificat and the collect are proper to Ash Wednesday. Before the collect those in Quire kneel and the ferial preces, with the Miserere, are sung. After the collect of the day the Suffrages of the Cross Per signum Crucis etc, of the BVM Sancta Maria succurre etc, the Apostles Petrus Apostolus etc, of the Patron and lastly for peace Da pacem Domine etc. If the choir has sung the Officium Parvum prior to Vespers of the day the Suffrage of the BVM is omitted. At Compline the Dominical preces are sung, the choir kneeling.

Art: Jerome Nadal