The Dismissal of the Alleluia

This evening, the eve of Septuagesima, the Roman Rite begins its preparation for Lent by laying the “Alleluia” aside until the vigil of Easter. In the Breviary of St Pius V, which derives from the later medieval customs of the Papal court, this is done with characteristic simplicity; “alleluia” is added twice to the “Benedicamus Domino” and “Deo gratias” at the end of Vespers, and then dropped. Many medieval Uses did this more elaborately, by adding “alleluia” to all the antiphons, or replacing them with one or more of the Paschal antiphons that consist of solely the word “alleluia.” As we have written about many times, it was a common custom to make a parchment or plaque with the word “Alleluia” written on it, and at the end of Vespers, carry it in procession out of the church and bury it in the churchyard or cemetery, to be dug up and brought back on the evening of Holy Saturday or Easter morning. Of course, since this custom is not a formal part of the liturgy, it could be done in various ways.

The Alleluia processed to a side altar of the Oratory of Ss Gregory and Augustine in St Louis, Missouri, where it was “buried” under the altar-cloth. Photo by Kiera Petrick.

The following hymn about the dismissal of the Alleluja, which was written in the 10th century, appears in a fair number of medieval manuscripts, but it was not, apparently, widely used as a formal part of the liturgy. I imagine it must have been used rather to accompany the procession. (If anyone has any more detailed information about its liturgical use or lack thereof, please be so kind as to leave a comment. The English version is by the Anglican cleric John Mason Neale, one of the great translators of hymns who did such valuable work in the 19th century.)

Alleluia, dulce carmen Vox perennis gaudii Alleluia, laus suavis Est choris caelestibus, Quod canunt Dei manentes In domo per saecula.	O Alleluia, song of gladness, Voice of joy that cannot die; Alleluia is the anthem ever dear to choirs on high; In the house of God abiding thus they sing eternally.
Alleluia, laeta mater Cóncinis, Jerúsalem, Allelúia, vox tuórum Civium gaudentium: Exsules nos flere cogunt Babylónis flúmina.	Alleluia thou resoundest, True Jerusalem and free; Alleluia, joyful mother, All thy children sing with thee; But by Babylon’s sad waters mourning exiles now are we.
Alleluia, non merémur Nunc perenne psállere, Allelúia nos reátus Cogit interímere; Tempus instat quo peracta Lugeámus crímina.	Alleluia we deserve not here to chant forevermore; Alleluia our transgressions make us for a while give o’er; For the holy time is coming bidding us our sins deplore.
Unde laudando precámur Te, beáta Trínitas, Ut tuum nobis vidére Pascha des in æthere Quo tibi læte canámus Allelúia pérpetim. Amen.	Therefore in our hymns we pray Thee, grant us, blessèd Trinity, At the last to keep Thine Easter in our home beyond the sky; There to Thee forever singing Allelúia joyfully. Amen.

The reference to the rivers of Babylon is of course taken from the seventy years exile of the Israelites after the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the temple in 587 B.C. The Byzantine Rite contains a similar reference in the Sundays of the Triodion, its equivalent of the Roman Forelent. On the higher feasts and many Sundays, Psalms 134 and 135 are sung together as the “Polyeleos - the Great Mercy”, since the first is sung with the refrain “Alleluia”, and the second with the refrain “Alleluia, alleluia, for His mercy endureth forever, alleluja.” On the three Sundays before Lent, Psalm 136, “By the rivers of Babylon”, is added to the group. The following is a recording of the All-Night Vigil in the catholicon (principle church) of the famous Golden-Domed Monastery of St Michael in Kyiv, Ukraine, celebrated last year on the last Sunday before Lent. The Polyeleos begins at 1:29:00, with a selection of verses from Psalms 134 and 135; Psalm 136 begins at 1:32:20.

A concert performance of the Psalm in Greek, in a setting by the composer Hourmouzios Chartophylax (1770-1840).

The Dismissal of the Alleluia in the Ambrosian Rite

When the Ambrosian Rite adopted the season of Septuagesima from the Roman Rite, it did not include its most characteristic feature, the removal from the liturgy of the word “Alleluia”, which continues to be sung as usual in both the Mass and Office until Lent begins. In the liturgical books of St Charles Borromeo’s reform, there is no dismissal of the Alleluia of any sort. A rubric is placed in the Breviary before the First Sunday of Lent, which simply states that it is henceforth replaced in the Office by “Laus tibi…” as in the Roman Rite. In the Mass, the Alleluia before the Gospel is replaced by a Cantus, the equivalent of the Roman Tract. (The repertoire of these is small, and on the ferias of Lent, they consist of a single verse of a Psalm; that of the Thursdays of Lent is four words, “Domine, exaudi orationem meam.”)

Before the Borromean reform, however, Ambrosian Lent began on the first Monday, and the word Alleluia was still sung on the First Sunday in both the Mass and Office; it was then dismissed on the latter in a manner analogous to that of the Roman Rite, in two different places.

Ambrosian Lauds begins with the Benedictus (sometimes replaced with another canticle, and omitted in Holy Week), followed by the antiphon “ad Crucem”, although this is not said every day. A cross with candles on it was carried in procession, and the antiphon repeated either five or seven times at various stations within the church.

An illustration from a medieval Ambrosian liturgical book, showing the processional cross with candles, in this case, at a bishop’s funeral.

On the First Sunday of Lent, several antiphons had extra Alleluias added to them, and the text of the “antiphona ad crucem” was as follows:

“Alleluia, claude et signa sermonem, alleluia, et requiescat in interioribus vestris, alleluia, usque ad tempus constitutum: et cum gaudio magno dicetis die illa, qua venerit, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. – Alleluia, close and seal the word, alleluia, and let it rest within you, alleluia, until the established time; and with great joy ye shall say on that day when it shall come, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.” The antiphona ad crucem is then omitted as a feature of Lauds for the whole of Lent.

A leaf from an Ambrosian Breviary of 1539, with the “antiphon ad crucem” of the First Sunday of Lent in the middle of the right-hand column.

This beautiful text is attested in a manuscript now at the Houghton Library of Harvard, ms lat. 388, a recent acquisition attributed by scholars to the mid-12th century, and one of the oldest, perhaps the oldest, witnesses to the Ambrosian musical tradition. In the Borromean reform, however, the First Sunday of Lent was assimilated to the rest of the season, and this antiphon was therefore removed.

The dismissal of the Alleluia was often called in the rubrics of Western liturgical books “clausum Alleluia – the closure of the Alleluia”, and this title coincides with a second occasion in the Ambrosian Rite. At Vespers on the First Sunday of Lent, the following responsory “cum infantibus” was sung.

“Quadraginta dies et noctes aperti sunt caeli, et omnes animae habentes spiritum vitae ingressae sunt in arca, et clausa est. Alleluia. – For forty days and nights the heavens were opened, and all souls having the spirit of life entered the ark, and it was closed, alleluia.”

From the same breviary, the responsory “cum infantibus” of the First Sunday of Lent is in the upper part of the right-hand column. In the Ambrosian liturgy, many of the musical propers were traditionally appointed to be sung by a particular member of a chapter or choir, or a group within it, and these designations are noted in the rubrics. In this case, the responsory is to be sung “with the children”, i.e. the boys’ choir of the cathedral.

Here, the members of the Church who are enter into the Lenten fast are prefigured by Noah and his family, who, together with the animals, find refuge in the ark during the flood. The antiphon cleverly ends with the words “it was closed, alleluia”, referring both to the ark, and to the above-mentioned expression “Clausum Alleluia.”

In the new edition of the Vesperale Ambrosianum commissioned by the Bl. Ildephonse Schuster, this ancient responsory, also removed by the Borromean reform, was restored (as seen below), a first step towards what should have been a general return to the rite’s historic tradition. However, in the post-conciliar reform, the Alleluia is dismissed at Vespers of the preceding Saturday, not on the Sunday, an unfortunate example of romanization.

In the pre-Borromean Ambrosian Mass of the First Sunday of Lent, the Gloria in excelsis was sung, and there was also an Alleluia between the Epistle and Gospel. In the Borromean reform, the Gloria was suppressed, and the word Alleluia was removed, with its versicle retained as a Cantus. “Non in solo pane vivit homo, sed in omni verbo quod procedit de ore Dei. – Not by bread alone doth a man live, but by every word that cometh from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4, 4, from the Gospel of the day, Mathew 4, 1-11)

Part of the Mass of First Lent in an Ambrosian Missal printed in 1499. The left column has the Epistle (2 Corinthians 6, 1-10, as in the Roman Rite), followed by the “versicle in the Alleluia.”

This article is based on notes written by Nicola de’ Grandi, with my thanks!

The Dismissal of the Alleluia

This evening, the eve of Septuagesima, the Roman Rite begins its preparation for Lent by laying the “Alleluia” aside until the vigil of Easter. In the Breviary of St Pius V, which derives from the later medieval customs of the Papal court, this is done with characteristic simplicity; “alleluia” is added twice to the “Benedicamus Domino” and “Deo gratias” at the end of Vespers, and then dropped. Many medieval Uses did this more elaborately, by adding “alleluia” to all the antiphons, or replacing them with one or more of the Paschal antiphons that consist of solely the word “alleluia.” As we have written about many times, it was a common custom to make a parchment or plaque with the word “Alleluia” written on it, and at the end of Vespers, carry it in procession out of the church and bury it in the churchyard or cemetery, to be dug up and brought back on the evening of Holy Saturday or Easter morning. Of course, since this custom is not a formal part of the liturgy, it could be done in various ways.

The Alleluia processed to a side altar of the Oratory of Ss Gregory and Augustine in St Louis, Missouri, where it was “buried” under the altar-cloth. Photo by Kiera Petrick, from a photopost of last year.

The following hymn about the dismissal of the Alleluja, which was written in the 10th century, appears in a fair number of medieval manuscripts, but it was not, apparently, widely used as a formal part of the liturgy. I imagine it must have been used rather to accompany the procession. (If anyone has any more detailed information about its liturgical use or lack thereof, please be so kind as to leave a comment. The English version is by the Anglican cleric John Mason Neale, one of the great translators of hymns who did such valuable work in the 19th century.)

Alleluia, dulce carmen Vox perennis gaudii Alleluia, laus suavis Est choris caelestibus, Quod canunt Dei manentes In domo per saecula.	O Alleluia, song of gladness, Voice of joy that cannot die; Alleluia is the anthem ever dear to choirs on high; In the house of God abiding thus they sing eternally.
Alleluia, laeta mater Cóncinis, Jerúsalem, Allelúia, vox tuórum Civium gaudentium: Exsules nos flere cogunt Babylónis flúmina.	Alleluia thou resoundest, True Jerusalem and free; Alleluia, joyful mother, All thy children sing with thee; But by Babylon’s sad waters mourning exiles now are we.
Alleluia, non merémur Nunc perenne psállere, Allelúia nos reátus Cogit interímere; Tempus instat quo peracta Lugeámus crímina.	Alleluia we deserve not here to chant forevermore; Alleluia our transgressions make us for a while give o’er; For the holy time is coming bidding us our sins deplore.
Unde laudando precámur Te, beáta Trínitas, Ut tuum nobis vidére Pascha des in æthere Quo tibi læte canámus Allelúia pérpetim. Amen.	Therefore in our hymns we pray Thee, grant us, blessèd Trinity, At the last to keep Thine Easter in our home beyond the sky; There to Thee forever singing Allelúia joyfully. Amen.

The reference to the rivers of Babylon is of course taken from the seventy years exile of the Israelites after the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the temple in 587 B.C. The Byzantine Rite contains a similar reference in the Sundays of the Triodion, its equivalent of the Roman Forelent. On the higher feasts and many Sundays, Psalms 134 and 135 are sung together as the “Polyeleos - the Great Mercy”, since the first is sung with the refrain “Alleluia”, and the second with the refrain “Alleluia, alleluia, for His mercy endureth forever, alleluja.” On the three Sundays before Lent, Psalm 136, “By the rivers of Babylon”, is added to the group. The following is a recording of the All-Night Vigil at the Sretensky Monastery last year on the last Sunday before Lent, the Polyeleos begins at 1:27:35, with Psalms 134 and 135 reduced to just a few verses; Psalm 136 begins at 1:30:10.

Candlemas Photopost 2021

This photopost is actually a mix of three different liturgical events of this week; the burying of the Alleluja on the Saturday before Septuagesima, Candlemas, and the blessing of throats on the feast of St Blaise. If we receive enough submissions, we will be glad to do do another; please send your photos of recent liturgical celebrations to photopost@newliturgicalmovement.org, and remember to include the name and location of the church, and any other information you think important. Even in the midst of the current circumstances, indeed, especially because of the current circumstances, we must keep up the good work of evangelizing through beauty!

St Anthony of Padua – Buffalo, New York

The burial of the Alleluja

Candlemas

Continue Reading this Article. . .

Burying the Alleluja 2021

I know that our regular readers are familiar with various customs related to the removal of the word “Alleluia” from the liturgy on Septuagesima Sunday. In the Roman liturgical books, this is done in a typically simply fashion; at the end of Vespers of the previous Saturday, “Alleluia” is added twice to the end of “Benedicamus Domino” and “Deo gratias”, which are sung in the Paschal tone. It is then dropped from the liturgy completely until the Easter vigil. In some medieval uses, however, “Alleluia” was added to the end of every antiphon of this Vespers; a number of other customs, some formally included in the liturgy and others not, grew up around it as well.

One of the most popular customs was to write the word on a board or piece of parchment, and then afterwards Vespers bury it in the churchyard, so that it could be dug up again on Easter Sunday, and brought back into the church. This custom has been making quite a comeback in recent years, and here we have four examples; if anyone else has photos of this ceremony which they would like to send in, we will be very glad to share them with our readers: photopost@newliturgicalmovement.org. We will also be glad to share photos of any celebrations of today’s feast of Candlemas.

St Anne’s Chapel – Auckland, New Zealand (FSSP)

Vespers of the Saturday before Septuagesima

Switch to black cope, as for a funeral; the priest has the Alleluja in his hands, and the box in which it will be buried. (Since this ceremony is not a formal part of the litury, there is no particular rite prescribed for it, and a fortiori, no required liturgical color, nor indeed is there any requirement to use a liturgical vestment. Below we will see a different color used.)

Holy water...

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Burying the Alleluja 2020 (Part 3)

We have received a few more sets of pictures of the burials of the Alleluja. The first comes from the Canons of St John Cantius in Chicago, who have for some years done this with a large placard with the word written on it in gold letters, which they carry in solemn procession to the Lady Chapel, and “bury” under the altar cloth. (Some other churches have imitated this custom of theirs, including one of the churches featured in part two.)

At the Church of the Resurrection in Lansing, Michigan, the Alleluja was carried outside the church after Lauds and buried on the grounds of the parish school, with a black cope to boot!

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Burying the Alleluja 2020 (Part 2)

Here are two more examples of churches burying the Alleluja on Septuagesima Sunday. The first comes from the Cebuano Summorum Pontificum Society in Cebu in the Philippines.

The second comes from the church of St Joseph in Troy, New York, a parish of the Carmelite Friars of the Old Observance. Since this is a purely informal custom, one is free to observe it as one deems best, so here the Alleluja is “buried” under the altar-cloth of the altar of the Virgin Mary.

Continue Reading this Article. . .

Burying the Alleluja 2020

Our regular readers are certainly familiar with the various customs related to the removal of the word “Alleluia” from the liturgy on Septuagesima Sunday. In the Roman liturgical books, this is done in a typically simply fashion; at the end of Vespers of the previous Saturday, “Alleluia” is added twice to the end of “Benedicamus Domino” and “Deo gratias”, which are sung in the Paschal tone. It is then dropped from the liturgy completely until the Easter vigil. In some medieval uses, however, “Alleluia” was added to the end of every antiphon of this Vespers, and a number of other customs, some formally included in the liturgy and others not, grew up around it as well.

One of the most popular was to write the word on a board or piece of parchment, and then afterwards Vespers bury it in the churchyard, so that it could be dug up again on Easter Sunday, and brought back into the church. Here we have three examples, if any others readers have photos of this ceremony which they would like to send in, we will be very glad to share them with our readers: photopost@newliturgicalmovement.org.

From the Monastère Saint Benoit in La Garde-Freinet, France:

From the Cofradia San Juan Bautista (Confraternity of St John the Baptist) at Most Holy Redeemer Parish in Quezon City in the Philippines:

Our first ever “domestic church” contribution for this, from the Waller family of Raleigh, North Carolina – tradition will always be for the young!

Continue Reading this Article. . .

The Dismissal of the Alleluia in the Ambrosian Rite

When the Ambrosian Rite adopted the season of Septuagesima from the Roman Rite, it did not include its most characteristic feature, the removal from the liturgy of the word “Alleluia”, which continues to be sung as usual in both the Mass and Office until Lent begins. In the liturgical books of St Charles Borromeo’s reform, there is no dismissal of the Alleluia of any sort. A rubric is placed in the Breviary before the First Sunday of Lent, which simply states that it is henceforth replaced in the Office by “Laus tibi…” as in the Roman Rite. In the Mass, the Alleluia before the Gospel is replaced by a Cantus, the equivalent of the Roman Tract. (The repertoire of these is small, and on the ferias of Lent, they consist of a single verse of a Psalm; that of the Thursdays of Lent is four words, “Domine, exaudi orationem meam.”)

Before the Borromean reform, however, Ambrosian Lent began on the first Monday, and the word Alleluia was still sung on the First Sunday in both the Mass and Office; it was then dismissed on the latter in a manner analogous to that of the Roman Rite, in two different places.

Ambrosian Lauds begins with the Benedictus (sometimes replaced with another canticle, and omitted in Holy Week), followed by the antiphon “ad Crucem”, although this is not said every day. A cross with candles on it was carried in procession, and the antiphon repeated either five or seven times at various stations within the church.

An illustration from a medieval Ambrosian liturgical book, showing the processional cross with candles, in this case, at a bishop’s funeral.

On the First Sunday of Lent, several antiphons had extra Alleluias added to them, and the text of the “antiphona ad crucem” was as follows:

“Alleluia, claude et signa sermonem, alleluia, et requiescat in interioribus vestris, alleluia, usque ad tempus constitutum: et cum gaudio magno dicetis die illa, qua venerit, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. – Alleluia, close and seal the word, alleluia, and let it rest within you, alleluia, until the established time; and with great joy ye shall say on that day when it shall come, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.” The antiphona ad crucem is then omitted as a feature of Lauds for the whole of Lent.

A leaf from an Ambrosian Breviary of 1539, with the “antiphon ad crucem” of the First Sunday of Lent in the middle of the right-hand column.

This beautiful text is attested in a manuscript now at the Houghton Library of Harvard, ms lat. 388, a recent acquisition attributed by scholars to the mid-12th century, and one of the oldest, perhaps the oldest, witnesses to the Ambrosian musical tradition. In the Borromean reform, however, the First Sunday of Lent was assimilated to the rest of the season, and this antiphon was therefore removed.

The dismissal of the Alleluia was often called in the rubrics of Western liturgical books “clausum Alleluia – the closure of the Alleluia”, and this title coincides with a second occasion in the Ambrosian Rite. At Vespers on the First Sunday of Lent, the following responsory “cum infantibus” was sung.

“Quadraginta dies et noctes aperti sunt caeli, et omnes animae habentes spiritum vitae ingressae sunt in arca, et clausa est. Alleluia. – For forty days and nights the heavens were opened, and all souls having the spirit of life entered the ark, and it was closed, alleluia.”

From the same breviary, the responsory “cum infantibus” of the First Sunday of Lent is in the upper part of the right-hand column. In the Ambrosian liturgy, many of the musical propers were traditionally appointed to be sung by a particular member of a chapter or choir, or a group within it, and these designations are noted in the rubrics. In this case, the responsory is to be sung “with the children”, i.e. the boys’ choir of the cathedral.

Here, the members of the Church who are enter into the Lenten fast are prefigured by Noah and his family, who, together with the animals, find refuge in the ark during the flood. The antiphon cleverly ends with the words “it was closed, alleluia”, referring both to the ark, and to the above-mentioned expression “Clausum Alleluia.”

In the new edition of the Vesperale Ambrosianum commissioned by the Bl. Ildephonse Schuster, this ancient responsory, also removed by the Borromean reform, was restored (as seen below), a first step towards what should have been a general return to the rite’s historic tradition. However, in the post-conciliar reform, the Alleluia is dismissed at Vespers of the preceding Saturday, not on the Sunday, an unfortunate example of romanization.

In the pre-Borromean Ambrosian Mass of the First Sunday of Lent, the Gloria in excelsis was sung, and there was also an Alleluia between the Epistle and Gospel. In the Borromean reform, the Gloria was suppressed, and the word Alleluia was removed, with its versicle retained as a Cantus. “Non in solo pane vivit homo, sed in omni verbo quod procedit de ore Dei. – Not by bread alone doth a man live, but by every word that cometh from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4, 4, from the Gospel of the day, Mathew 4, 1-11)

Part of the Mass of First Lent in an Ambrosian Missal printed in 1499. The left column has the Epistle (2 Corinthians 6, 1-10, as in the Roman Rite), followed by the “versicle in the Alleluia.”

This article is based on notes written by Nicola de’ Grandi, with my thanks!

Burying the Alleluia 2019

I am sure that most of our readers have read or heard something of the various customs related to the removal of the word “Alleluia” from the liturgy on Septuagesima Sunday. In the Roman liturgical books, this is done in a typically simply fashion; at the end of Vespers of the previous Saturday, “Alleluia” is added twice to the end of “Benedicamus Domino” and “Deo gratias”, which are sung in the Paschal tone. It is then dropped from the liturgy completely until the Easter vigil. In some medieval uses, however, “Alleluia” was added to the end of every antiphon of this Vespers, and a number of other customs, some formally included in the liturgy and others not, grew up around it as well.

One of the most popular was to write the word on a board or piece of parchment, and then after Vespers bury it in the churchyard, so that it could be dug up again on Easter Sunday, and brought back into the church. Our friends from the Fraternity of St Joseph the Guardian in La-Londe-les-Maures, France, observe this every year, with the black cope otherwise used only at funerals. (If any others readers have photos of this ceremony which they would like to send in, we will be very glad to share them with our readers: photopost@newliturgicalmovement.org.)

Continue Reading this Article. . .

One Last Burial of the Alleluia

From the church of St John the Baptist in Allentown, New Jersey - with our thanks!

“Here lies the Alleluia” - a very nice touch.