During Holy Week, also known as the Senior Week, there is a specific liturgical disposition on the Holy and Blessed Festivities of the Catholic Church: these days none of them are celebrated. What is this? Here we explain it to you.
According to the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), Holy Week “commemorates the events of passion, death, burial and resurrection of Christ, which constitute the Pascual mystery, the center of the Lord’s life.”
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On the other hand, liturgical celebrations in the Church have categories. In the Universal norms on the liturgical yearit is indicated that they are divided, according to their importance, in solemnities, parties and memories (free or mandatory).
According to the calendar of the research website on Santos Saints and blessedRamos Sunday, Holy Thursday (Supper of the Lord), Good Friday (Passion of the Lord) and Holy Saturday are solemnities. Therefore, they prevail over any other festivity.
In the case of other days, the Universal norms They point out that “the fairs (on the days) of the Holy Week, from Monday to Thursday, they have preference on any other celebration.”
Being a week of such relevance, the EEC gives some more explicit orientations in its Pastoral Liturgical Calendar 2023 – 2024. There it is remembered that these days “it is not allowed to make any memory, not even as commemoration.”
This regulation of the Spanish episcopate on the priority of Holy Week, and is shared by several episcopal conferences, is based on the General Instruction of the Roman Missalthat in its numeral “355a” on the “free memories” raises this and other guidelines, but with more technical words.
“… except Ash Wednesday, and At Holy Week Fairsthe corresponding liturgical day mass is said; And from the memory perhaps registered in the general calendar, the collection can be taken, as long as it does not match With Ash Wednesday or With one of the Holy Week Fairs”, Emphasize the instruction.
Therefore, each of the days of the Great Holy Week are above any other solemnity, party or memory of the saints and blessed, and cannot be held at this time.
Abel Camasca
Journalist graduated from the Communication Sciences career at the University of Lima. Part of the ACI Press newspaper since 2014. Between 2016 and 2022 I was in charge of the production of the Ewtn News and more than news program, World Catholic Radio Program. I usually write articles about the lives of the saints.