Preparing for Good Friday

Posted on 22 April 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

As we get ready at Holy Innocents.

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For noise.. the crotulus…

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The clacker…

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About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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15 Responses to Preparing for Good Friday

  1. catholicmidwest says:
    22 April 2011 at 2:12 pm

    That’s a very pretty church. It somehow escaped the ubiquitous beige paint job, I see.

  2. catholicmidwest says:
    22 April 2011 at 2:13 pm

    Or at least mostly, on second look.

  3. APX says:
    22 April 2011 at 3:26 pm

    It’s beautiful.

  4. yatzer says:
    22 April 2011 at 5:49 pm

    I don’t understand the crotulus and clacker. I do keep seeing them used, but no one has explained them.

  5. Kerry says:
    22 April 2011 at 6:47 pm

    Last evening’s service at St. Agnes, in St. Paul, was the first time I’d seen the clackers, and as a woodworker gaped away as the procession of the Stripping of the Altars went past. And now Father Z has them close-up here. Something I believe I’ll want to make. St. Agnes, deo gratia, was packed.

  6. APX says:
    22 April 2011 at 7:06 pm

    I take it the clackers and crotulus (I can’t believe my iPhone had that in it’s dictionary) are for the EF only, as I’ve never seen them before

  7. AJ says:
    22 April 2011 at 7:46 pm

    That church is beautiful! Reminds me a bit of St. Dominic’s in San Francisco. Father, I understand the clacker but how does the crotulus work? It’s the first time I’ve actually seen one! In our parts, we use a “Patraka”.. handled like a a bell but works and sounds like a door knocker! BTW, those purple embroidered textiles (vestments maybe?) look great!

  8. Andrew Saucci says:
    22 April 2011 at 8:47 pm

    It was a wonderful service– I am happy to have chosen it over other contenders. (Manhattan is liturgically rich on Good Friday.) Unfortunately, it ran until after 5 PM, and by the time I ran across town to Our Saviour, Fr. Rutler was already at the Eighth Station. But I guess that is a minor quibble. In heaven, we’ll get to attend all the great services all at once.

  9. Brooklyn says:
    23 April 2011 at 5:28 am

    Catholicmidwest – I asked someone how it was that HI missed “renovation” and retained the beautiful high altar and the altar rail, among other things. I was told that poor churches, which HI is, could not afford “renovation.”. Blessed are the poor! Something Father .
    Z does not show is the magnificent painting of Christ’s crucifixion above the altar. I think it may be 30 ft high and was painted by a known painter whose name escapes me. I often meditate on this picture and find it a great inspiration.

  10. Brooklyn says:
    23 April 2011 at 6:11 am

    I did a little searching and found this link about the picture of the crucifixion at HI.

    http://www.nyc-architecture.com/MID/MID165.htm

    As this link says, the artist is Constantino Brumidi. The painting is soon going to be renovated. I can’t wait to see it then.

  11. antheald says:
    23 April 2011 at 7:38 am

    Well, I’d never heard of the words ‘crotalus’ or ‘patraka’ but we had wooden noise making things at Holy Thursday mass (Novus Ordo – EF masses are more or less unheard of in our neck of the woods – though I went to my first the other week which is held once a month on saturday morning at the cathedral). I couldn’t see it, but it sounded just like a football rattle (I think that’s a distinctively British item, sadly no longer in common use). It wouldn’t surprise me if it had once been such.

    The first time I came across this custom was when I was an Anglican at St Mary Magdalen in Oxford. I seem to recall it as a thing like a big wooden cowbell.

  12. JulieC says:
    23 April 2011 at 8:29 am

    Wish we could have been there at Holy Innocents for yesterday’s liturgy. We feel very blessed to have attended the Solemn High Mass on Holy Thursday, however. Some pictures of the Mandatum and Procession with Fr. Z officiating if anyone would like to see them:

    http://drvccatholic.blogspot.com/2011/04/maundy-thursday-at-holy-innocents.html

  13. Eric says:
    23 April 2011 at 8:51 am

    Of the 16 servers at our Holy Thursday mass, my son got to operate the “Dingsbums” noise maker.

    He also had the clacker during the procession.

    He really likes to serve.

  14. irishgirl says:
    23 April 2011 at 9:31 am

    Aren’t those ‘clackers’ the same ones used in cloistered monasteries as ‘wake-up’ devices?

  15. ikseret says:
    24 April 2011 at 11:47 am

    Beautiful chanting, but why only Fr. Z and Fr. Trezza?
    Was the other a layman?