Tenebrae (—Latin for 'darkness') is a religious service of Western Christianity held during the three days preceding Easter Day, and characterized by a gradual extinguishing of candles, and the strepitus or "loud noise" in the total darkness at the end of the service.
Tenebrae was originally a celebration of matins and lauds of the last three days of Holy Week (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday) in the evening of the previous day (Holy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday) to the accompaniment of special ceremonies that included the display of lighted candles on a special triangular candelabrum.Webster's New World College Dictionary (2014) defines Tenebrae as "a Holy Week night service (Wednesday through Friday), formerly widely observed in the Western Church, consisting of group recitation of Matins and Lauds of the following day in commemoration of Christ's death and burial". Collins English Dictionary (British usage) gives: "(formerly) the matins and lauds for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of Holy Week, usually sung in the evenings or at night.
Modern celebrations called Tenebrae may be of quite different content and structure, based for example on the Seven Last Words or readings of the Passion of Jesus. They may be held on only one day of Holy Week, especially Spy Wednesday (Holy Wednesday). They may be held during the daylight hours and the number of candles, if used, may vary.
Tenebrae liturgical celebrations of this kind now exist in the Catholic Church's Latin liturgical rites, Lutheranism, Anglicanism, Methodism, Reformed churches (Continental Reformed, Presbyterian and Congregationalist traditions) and Western Rite Orthodoxy.
Catholic Church Original form In the Catholic Church, "Tenebrae" is the name given to the celebration, with special ceremonies, of matins and lauds, the first two hours of the Divine Office of each of the last three days of Holy Week. In the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church Tenebrae was celebrated in all churches with a sufficient number of clergy until the liturgical reforms of Pope Pius XII in the 1950s. The traditions regarding this service go back at least to the ninth century.James Monti. The Week of Salvation: History and Traditions of Holy Week p. 79 ff. Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, 1993 Matins, originally celebrated a few hours after midnight, and lauds, originally celebrated at dawn, were anticipated by the late Middle Ages on the afternoon or evening of the preceding day,Herbert Thurston, "Tenebrae," Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 14 (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912). and were given the name "Tenebrae" because they concluded when darkness was setting in.
The celebration of matins and lauds of these days on the previous evening in the form referred to as Tenebrae in churches with a sufficient number of clergy was universal in the Roman Rite until the reform of the Holy Week ceremonies by Pope Pius XII in 1955. He restored the Easter Vigil as a night office, moving that Easter liturgy from Holy Saturday morning to the following night and likewise moved the principal liturgies of Holy Thursday and Good Friday from morning to afternoon or evening. Thus matins and lauds of Good Friday and Holy Saturday could no longer be anticipated on the preceding evening, and even matins and lauds of Holy Thursday was allowed to be anticipated only in the case of cathedral churches in which the Chrism Mass was held on Holy Thursday morning."Matins and lauds are not anticipated in the evening, but are said in the morning, at the proper hour. In cathedral churches, however, since the Mass of the Chrism is celebrated in the morning of Thursday of the Lord's Supper, Matins and Lauds of the same Thursday can be anticipated in the evening." Decree Maxima redemptionis nostrae mysteria (16 November 1955), No. 5, §2, translated from Acta Apostolicae Sedis 47 (1955), pp. 838–847.
The 1960 Code of Rubrics, which was incorporated in the next typical edition of the Roman Breviary, published on 5 April 1961, a year ahead of the publication of the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal,The Latin Mass Society: "The changes to the Breviary in the 60's and 70's" allowed no anticipation whatever of lauds, though matins alone could still be anticipated to the day before, later than the hour of vespers."If the Office is recited in choir or in common, matins is not anticipated the evening before, but is said in the morning at a suitable hour. In churches where the Mass of the Chrism is celebrated, however, matins may be anticipated the evening before." Introductory rubric, Matins, Thursday of the Lord’s Supper, The Hours of the Divine Office in English and Latin, vol. 2 (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1964) p. 1099. "In accord with the typical edition."
In sum: Until 1955 the three consecutive Tenebrae services for Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday, including the typical ceremonies such as the extinguishing of candles, with each of these three services anticipated on the previous evening, were widely celebrated as an integral part of the liturgy of Holy Week in churches with a sufficient number of clergy wherever the Roman Rite was followed. A rich tradition of music composed for these central occasions had developed. From 1956 to 1970 the practice largely declined: The 1955 papal document restored the celebration of matins and lauds of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday to their original timing as morning services, with only a little allowance for anticipating any of them on the evening before. On these three days attention shifted from what became morning services to the services that were now to be held in the afternoon or evening. Communal celebration of matins and lauds became limited generally to communities that observed the full Divine Office in congregational form. Matins and lauds, having lost their exceptional character, provided composers with little incentive to produce new music for them and there was no demand for grand performances of the existing music earlier composed for Tenebrae. The Roman Breviary, as updated in 1961, did not mention any specific Tenebrae ceremonies to accompany the no longer anticipated matins and lauds of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Finally, in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, matins and lauds throughout the year were completely reformed. Matins, for instance, no longer had the nine psalms and lauds the five psalms that determined the number of candles extinguished in the Tenebrae celebration.
Structure of the original Tenebrae The structure is the same for all three days. The first part of the service is matins, which in its pre-1970 form is composed of three nocturns, each consisting of three psalms, a versicle, a silent Pater noster, and three readings, each followed by a responsory. The pre-1970 lauds consists of five psalms, a short versicle and response, and the Benedictus Gospel canticle, followed by Christus factus est, a silent Pater Noster, and the appointed collect. The Gloria Patri is not said after each psalm.Catholic Church The Complete Office of Holy Week According to the Roman Missal and Breviary, in Latin and English, pp. 184–250; 282–336; 380–418 Benziger brothers, 1875Prosper Guéranger, translated by Laurence Shepherd. Passiontide and Holy Week, Volume VI of The Liturgical Year, pp. 304–352; 414–450; 519–546 Dublin, 1870.
The principal Tenebrae ceremony is the gradual extinguishing of candles upon a stand in the sanctuary called a hearse.Leo Kelly, "Tenebrae Hearse," The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 7 (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910). Eventually, the Roman Rite settled on fifteen candles, one of which is extinguished after each of the nine psalms of matins and the five of lauds. The six altar candles are put out during the Benedictus, gradually reducing also the lighting in the church throughout the chanting of the canticle. Then any remaining lights in the church are extinguished and the last candle on the hearse is hidden behind the altar (if the altar is such as does not hide the light, the candle, still lit, is put inside a candle lantern), ending the service in total darkness. The strepitus (Latin for "great noise"), made by slamming a book shut, banging a hymnal or breviary against the pew, or stomping on the floor, symbolizes the earthquake that followed Christ's death, although it may have originated as a simple signal to depart. After the candle has been shown to the people, it is extinguished, and then put "on the credence table", or simply taken to the sacristy. All rise and then leave in silence.Adrian Fortescue, The Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described, 1917, p. 288.
Table illustrating the contents of the service
The 1 November 1911 reform of the Roman Breviary by Pope Pius X radically reorganized the weekly recitation of the Psalter. In the Tridentine Roman Breviary of Pope Pius V (1568), Psalms 62/63 and 66/67 (treated as a single unit) and Psalms 148–150 (again treated as a single unit) were recited at lauds every day of the week. Pius X eliminated such repetitions and provided a quite different choice of psalms for lauds.
The situation before the 1911 reform is illustrated in 19th-century publications such as Prosper Guéranger's Passiontide and Holy Week, (Dublin 1870) and The Complete Office of Holy Week According to the Roman Missal and Breviary, in Latin and English (Benziger 1875). It is more difficult to find similar online 20th-century publication, but the text of the Tenebrae services as reformed by Pope Pius X in 1911 is available in the 1924 edition of the Liber Usualis. The 1961 edition, with English rubrics and explanations, is available on more than one site.Liber Usualis 1961 edition on archive.org and on sanctamissa.org