St Nicholas Collegiate Church Galway

The Triduum comprises the three great days of Holy Week: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. The services of these days are the most important of the entire church year, containing within them the very cornerstones of our faith: love and service, communion, the victory of the cross, death to sin and new life in the risen Christ.

MAUNDY THURSDAY: EUCHARIST, WASHING OF FEET AND STRIPPING OF THE ALTARS

The service opens on a note of rejoicing, as we recall the ancient Jewish Passover festival and celebrate Christ's institution of the Eucharist in the upper room. In the act of  footwashing we reenact Christ's own washing of his disciples' feet and recall his words (from which the ancient title of Maundy - Mandatum - is derived): "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you".  The mood changes, however, as we follow Jesus to Gethsemane and the marks of betrayal are before us; as psalm 22 is sung and the church is stripped bare of ornament, Christ is symbolically deserted and Good Friday is inescapable.

GOOD FRIDAY: LITURGY OF THE CROSS

The liturgy begins as Maundy Thursday ended: in silence and in a bare church. It proceeds with austerity and reflection as we meditate upon the cross. The passion is read, and in the ancient Reproaches that follow we are called to see in the cross our own sin.

HOLY SATURDAY: THE EASTER VIGIL AND FIRST EUCHARIST OF EASTER

This liturgy is in three parts. We gather in a dimly-lit church, and in Old Testament readings and psalms remember the wonderful things God has done for his people. Everyone then moves outside for the kindling of the easter fire and the lighting of the Paschal candle, which is then carried into the dark church and acclaimed by all present: "The Light of Christ; Thanks be to God!" In the candle-lit church the Exultet is sung - the church's ancient hymn celebrating the light of Christ in our midst, the risen Christ now standing among us. At its conclusion the church is illuminated, the organ sounds and bells are rung - Christ is truly risen! Gloria in excelsis is sung as the service moves to the celebration of the first Eucharist of Easter.