Holy Hour

A timely article from Zenit considering I will be celebrating a Holy Hour with parishioners Wednesday morning. The Ordo is listed after the article.

The Divine Praises at Adoration

ROME, OCT. 17, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.

Q: What is the most appropriate moment to pray the Divine Praises during adoration of the Blessed Sacrament: immediately following Benediction or once the Sacrament has been returned to the tabernacle? -- A.D., Boston, Massachusetts

A: The Divine Praises, or the prayers of reparation for profanity and blasphemy, are a sequence of acclamations, chiefly composed by Jesuit Luigi Felici in 1797, blessing God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, and all the angels and saints.

The acclamations are usually recited publicly immediately after the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

While the rubrics do not specify that the Divine Praises be recited at all, when they are recited, it is customary to do so before reposing the Blessed Sacrament. This is the Holy Father's practice after imparting Benediction on concluding the Eucharistic procession of the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.

Monsignor Peter Elliott ably describes the rites concluding Benediction in his renowned ceremonies book: "If the Blessed Sacrament is to be reposed in the tabernacle, then (after the Divine Praises and) during a psalm, hymn, acclamation or appropriate music, the celebrant or the assisting deacon or priest goes to the altar. He genuflects, turns the back of the monstrance toward himself, removes the lunette and places it in the pyx, which he closes. He moves the monstrance to the left of the corporal and may veil it. He then takes the pyx and places it in the tabernacle, genuflecting before he locks the door.

"(If the tabernacle is in a chapel, a server should place a humeral veil over the shoulders of the celebrant or the assistant deacon or priest before he removes the lunette from the monstrance. Torch bearers should precede him to the chapel and then return with him to the sanctuary, unless it is thought more convenient to go directly to the sacristy.) All bow to the altar (or genuflect if the tabernacle is behind or on it) and return to the sacristy led by the thurifer. Sacristans and/or servers carry out their respective duties in the sanctuary and in the sacristy."

Given this description, and the most common practice of the Church, it seems more appropriate to pray the Divine Praises before reposition and not after the tabernacle is closed.

Saint Charles Borromeo Parish Celebration of

Eucharistic Exposition Adoration and Benediction

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Exposition

O Salutaris Hostia

The Glorious Mysteries of the Holy Rosary

Adoration

Verse and Response / Prayer

Benediction

Tantum Ergo

Divine Praises

Reposition

Holy God, We Praise Thy Name