St. Anthony the Abbot Catholic Church

This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday. A day to remind us that this world is passing and that our true home is in heaven. But in order to receive our heavenly inheritance required Jesus, the Son of God, to endure His passion and death. A great act of love and mercy for us. To prepare ourselves for this great event, the Church invites us to enter in a penitential period: Lent. Lent is a 40 day preparation through prayer (more than our normal prayer), fasting (from food or things,) and almsgiving (a greater concern for charitable activity). The Church herself enters into a penitential reality. The color is purple, music is more somber, and the Gloria and Alleluia are no longer said.

 

First of all, the word “Alleluia” is rooted in a Hebrew expression that means “praise the Lord.” It is frequently found in the Psalms and has been always associated with joy and exultation. This is why it is forbidden during Lent, a somber liturgical season focused on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. To put it simply, Lent is like one long Good Friday.

 

With this in mind the Alleluia never fit in the Lenten season, but Christians over the centuries didn’t think it was right to simply stop saying it. Instead they “buried” it in a solemn ceremony. It was a way to put the Alleluia into the “tomb,” only to discover it again at Easter when the stone is removed and the Alleluia is “resurrected.”

 

Various traditions arose in the middle ages to “bury” the Alleluia before the beginning of Lent. It is said that many were inspired by the words of Bishop William Duranti in the 13th century when he wrote, “We part from the Alleluia as from a beloved friend, whom we embrace many times and kiss on the mouth, head and hand, before we leave him.”

 

In France this became a physical act when a banner or board was created that said “Alleluia” in beautiful letters. A ceremony would be conducted after the liturgy where a hole was dug in the parish garden to bury the Alleluia, only to be uncovered again at Easter. A description of the procedure is found in a 15th century book of Toul,

 

"On Saturday before Septuagesima Sunday all choir boys gather in the sacristy during the prayer of the  None, to prepare for the burial of the Alleluia. After the last Benedicamus Domino [i.e., at the end of the Vespers service] they march in procession, with crosses, tapers, holy water and censers; and they carry a coffin, as in a funeral. Thus they proceed through the aisle, moaning and mourning, until they reach the cloister. There they bury the coffin; they sprinkle it with holy water and incense it; whereupon they return to the sacristy by the same way."

 

This tradition is still found in some places and we will be restoring it here this weekend. It is a beautiful tradition, one that is especially joyous when the Alleluia is brought back to life at Easter.