THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
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Friday by the priest and the entire clergy in procession from the side altar to the main altar. The origin of this " mass of the presanctified " lies, without doubt, in the East, where, on certain days of the week, the " service of the presanctified " is still celebrated, the elements of which are sanctified on the preceding Sunday. In the Roman Catholic Church Good Friday is not a holiday, and therefore the performance of daily work is allowed. The liturgical name of Good Friday, especially among the Latins, is " day of preparation." Among the Jews that was the name for every Friday as the day of preparation for the following Sabbath. The Christians, too, often designated any Friday by this expression, but finally it was restricted to Good Friday. The Greeks call this Friday as every day of the holy and great week, the " holy and great " Friday or " the great preparation." At an earlier time it was designated by " Pascha of the crucifixion," in distinction from " Pascha of the resurrection," the Easter festival (Augustine, De trinitate, in MPL, xlii. 894). The Italians call it venerdi santo, the French vendredi saint. In Germany, beside the name " Good Friday," there was current also the term " White Friday."
On the ceremonies of Holy Saturday or Easter Saturday see Easter, I., 4, §§ 2-3. In the Greek Orthodox Church the " great Sabbath " 6. Holy was esteemed more highly than Good Saturday. Friday. Until the time of vespers it still bears the character of mourning and earnestness; therefore it is a day of the strictest fasting. The liturgical service of this day has a specially dramatic character. The most important ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church on Holy Saturday are at the present time the consecration of the new fire, the consecration of the Easter candle, the consecration of water, the litany and the mass which, to a certain extent, still bears the impress of penitence and mourning; but this mass is celebrated with white paraments and the singing of the Gloria and the Hallelujah (see Litttrgics, III.). The lessons refer to the resurrection. The liturgical name of Holy Saturday is Sabbatum sanctum; the Italians therefore call it sabato santo, and the Frenchmen samedi saint, while in Germany it is known as Ostersonnabend or Karsamstag.
The Lutheran Reformation brought about the general abolishment of the Roman Catholic ceremonies of the week. Luther had so 7. Protes- great an aversion against them that tant Usage, in the Formula missce of 1523 he did not mention at all the celebration. In Wittenberg, therefore, these customs seem to have disappeared at a very early time. But from sermons of Luther dating from the years 1521 and 1522 it is evident that at that time Holy Thursday and Good Friday were distinguished by special services with sermons in Wittenberg. All Roman Catholic abuses in connection with the celebration of Holy Week were removed, but the traditional Evangelical pericopes of Passion week were adhered to. The Wittenberg church order of 1533 prescribes even double preaching for Holy Wednesday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. It is a characteristic trait of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries that Holy Thursday and Good Friday were treated as being of an entirely equal value. Sometimes they are considered half-holidays, at other times whole holidays; then again they are not mentioned at all as days specially to be celebrated, but Good Friday is never valued more highly than Holy Thursday. The custom of celebrating Holy Week was in no way uniform in the first decades of the Reformation. There were territories in which it was celebrated as closely as possible in connection with the old Catholic customs. Good Friday developed only gradually into a full holiday. In the first half of the seventeenth century it began, in public estimation, to take precedence of Holy Thursday. In the Reformed Church the regulations of Zwingli had a decisive influence. Accordingly, Holy Thursday and Good Friday belonged from the beginning to the official days of the administration of the Lord's Supper. It must be assumed that the customs and ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church soon disappeared in Zurich. In the Reformed German territories of to-day Holy Thursday is considered a half-holiday and Good Friday a full holiday. In the Anglican Church the entire week is distinguished by special church services. This is nowhere the case now in German Evangelical territories. Palm Sunday is in many state churches the customary Sunday for confirmation. Holy Thursday is nowhere any longer a legal holiday, but is characterized only by the celebration of the Lord's Supper. Good Friday is generally a full holiday, celebrated with great earnestness. [In the Evangelical churches of Great Britain and the United States other than those named above, the observances of the week as a whole are disregarded. There is, however, a very decided tendency in several of the denominations to make Good Friday a day of special service. The usages of the churches are also affecting social and business life — shown in the former by refraining from participation in amusements, in closer attendance upon public worship, and in acts of self-denial, and in the latter by such customs as the closing of exchanges, banks, and even of the offices of corporations.]
(P. Drews.) Bibliography: Bingham, Origines, XXI., i. 24-32 (excellent as a historical review); J. C. W. Augusti, Denkwurdigkeiten, i. 157-163, Leipsic, 1817; A. J. Binterim, Denkwurdigkeiten, v., i., 173-233, Mainz, 1829; G. F. H. Rheinwald, Die kirchliche Archdologie, pp. 190 sqq., Berlin, 1830; T. Kliefoth, Ldturgische Abhandlungen, vols, ii.-iv., Schwerin, 1859-61; H. Alt, Der christliche Cvltus, ii. 22-31, 214-218, 352-364, Berlin, 1860; P. Gue>anger, Das Kirchenjahr, vol. vi., Mainz, 1890; V. Thalhofer, Handbuch der katholischen Liturgik, ii. 546-550, Freiburg, 1890; D. Sokolow, Darstellung des Gottesdienstes der . . Kirche des Morgenlandes, pp. 105 sqq., Berlin, 1893; S. Baumer, Geschichte des Breviers, pp. 112 sqq., Freiburg, 1895; E. t. Achelis, Lehrbuch der praktischen Theologie, i. 2S6 sqq., Leipsic, 1898; A. von Maltzew, Fasten- und Blumen Triodion, pp. lxxviii. sqq., 329 sqq., Berlin, 1899; E. Wiefen, Palmsonntagsprozessionen und Palmesel, Bonn, 1903; F. Cabrol, Les Origines liturgiques, pp. 173 sqq., Paris, 1906; H. Kellner, Heortologie, pp. 44 sqq., Freiburg, 1906; Maximilian of Saxony, Preelections de liturgicu nrientalibu.% i. 105 sqq., Freiburg, 1908; J. H. Feusey, Ancient English Holy Week Ceremonial, London, 1897.