Save the Dates: Holy Week 2022
Explore the important symbols that we find inside our cathedrals and churches in this video series created for Holy Week.
Holy Week 2022 Schedule
Sunday, April 10
8.00 a.m. Said Eucharist
10.30 a.m. Palm Sunday Eucharist
Palm Sunday is the commemoration of Jesus’ defiant entrance into Jerusalem and the wild enthusiasm of the crowds. Music by Thomas Weelkes and J.S. Bach, as well as Josef Rheinberger’s lush mass setting for double choir mark that entrance, as well as our entrance into Holy Week’s daily observances. In person & online.
4.00 p.m. Music and Readings for Passiontide
By now a tradition at the cathedral, this service turns the corner from the adulation of the palms to the dreadful chain of events that follow, from the shouts of “Hosanna” to the cries to “Crucify.” It is an opportunity to hear some of the most beautiful music in the liturgical repertoire, and to allow it to colour our reading of Christ’s passion. Music selections this year have been coloured by the ongoing crisis in Ukraine – Alexander Koshetz, Igor Stravinky, T.L. Victoria, and Johannes Brahms. In person & online.
Monday, April 11, Tuesday, April 12 and Wednesday, April 13
8.45 a.m. Matins
5.00 p.m. Evensong
The daily office sung by our choir as it might be “in quires and places where they sing.” The recitation of the daily offices of matins and vespers mark time, and thereby sanctify it. So too, does this daily offering of Evensong in Holy Week mark Jesus’ inexorable progress toward the Cross. A simple service with ancient melodies, and this year focused on two settings of King David’s lament for his son Absalom. On Wednesday, Evensong is sung by our Young Choristers. In person only.
Wednesday, April 13
8.45 a.m. Matins
5.00 p.m. Evensong (Sung by the Choristers)
7.00 p.m. Tenebrae
From the Latin for “shadows,” this rarely offered service has become a mainstay of our Holy Week observances. Almost entirely sung or chanted, readings chanted from the Lamentations of Jeremiah are punctuated by polyphonic responsories, this year to musical settings by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. In person only.
The Solemn Triduum
April 14 – Maundy Thursday
8.45 a.m. Matins
7.30 p.m. Solemn High Mass and Stripping of the Altar
Maundy Thursday, of course, is the night of Jesus’ betrayal by Judas, his agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, his arrest and trial, the denial by Peter, and his conviction of a capital offence. But before all that, Jesus gathered the twelve in an upper room to keep Passover, and to give them the means to fortify themselves forever: Take, eat. Drink this, all of you. And know that I am with you. One of the most dramatic liturgies of the year, soaring 16th century polyphony and favourite hymnody transport us to the heights of heaven in this Eucharistic feast, before plunging us into the depths as we ceremonially strip the church of its decorations in preparation for the depths of Good Friday. In person and online.
9.00 p.m Garden Watch
10.00 p.m. Compline
A simple vigil, said around the altar of repose in the Lady Chapel. In monastic traditions, this is the last service before bedtime. In person only.
April 15 – Good Friday
8.45 a.m. Matins
12.00 noon The Liturgy of Good Friday
Join us for the traditional liturgy of Good Friday, with sung dramatization of the passion narrative (T.L. Victoria) and anthems by Henry Purcell and Agostino Agazzari. In person and online.
April 16 – Holy Saturday
8.00 p.m. The Great Vigil of Easter
If Maundy Thursday hosts “one of” the most dramatic liturgies of the year, then surely the Great Vigil is “the” most dramatic liturgy. First we gather around a fire, telling the stories of our ancestors – Jonah in the belly of the whale, the Jewish exodus across the Red Sea – all are meant to prime us for the greatest triumph yet: Jesus’ resurrection. The choir sings 20th century French organist-composer Jean Langlais’s dramatic Messe Solennelle. In person and online.
April 17 – Easter Day
8.00 a.m. Said Eucharist
9.15 a.m. Parish Sung Eucharist
Bring your joy and be prepared to sing your joy! We come together as a parish family to break bread around the table and celebrate the joy of the season with words and music. In person only.
11.00 a.m. Cathedral Sung Eucharist
"Jesus Christ is risen today” -- this is service has all the bells and whistles. Your favourite Easter hymns, choral music by W.A. Mozart, and the skill of the cathedral’s organists sending you forth to carry the Easter message in your hearts. In person and online.
4.00 p.m. Choral Evensong
We tend to think of Easter Day as a “morning event.” The gospel of John says, “Early on the first day of the week while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb...” However, the bible provides us a rich tradition of evening happenings as well. One of these is the encounter of Cleopas and his unnamed companion with the risen Christ on their way back home to Emmaus from Jerusalem. In cathedrals that offer daily, or even weekly Choral Evensong, Easter Day Evensong is the choir’s final “shout” before some well-earned time off. And with Charles-Villiers Stanford’s magnificent setting in A major, what a shout it will be... In person and online.