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Views from the Choir Loft

Mardi Gras and Burying the Alleluia

Richard J. Clark · February 8, 2013

HE HEBREW WORD, “הללויה” or “Hallelujah,” is a word of unsurpassed joy. It is an acclamation of praise, thanksgiving and victory.

“Hallelujah” is really a two–word phrase meaning “Praise Yah.” It is a joyous and unabashed song of praise to God and appears many times in the Book of Psalms, most prominently in Psalms 111-117 and 145-150.

Untranslated by the early Christians, we have adopted the Hebrew word “Hallelujah” as our own. Using it again and again, most notably during Eastertide, we joyfully sing our praises for Christ’s triumph and victory over sin and death. Christ’s Sacrifice has become our Paschal meal. The tomb is empty. Alleluia! Alleluia!

Free Download:
PDF • “Alleluia” (for SAB Choir; Dedicated to Fernando Mavar-Ruiz and Melissa Malvar-Keylock)

However, this Sunday, (and for some on Tuesday at daily mass) we sing our final “Alleluias” as we prepare to begin our Lenten journey towards the Easter celebration of Christ’s glorious Resurrection. Likened to the exile of the Israelites in Babylon, the practice of “fasting” from singing or saying the word “Alleluia” began in some places perhaps as early as the fifth century. The popular practice of “burying the Alleluia” had its beginnings in a lay-led ritual, which included a solemn procession to the church cemetery with a scroll or even a coffin inscribed with the word “Alleluia.” The “Alleluia” was literally buried in the cemetery, leaving the people with the hope and anticipation of its Easter Sunday resurrection.

Where does that leave us this coming week during Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday? Affectionately known as “Fat Tuesday,” Mardi Gras is not merely one day, but a carnival season ending just before Ash Wednesday. “Fat Tuesday” is our last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season. It is on this day that we express our last superlative praise of God by exclaiming “Alleluia.”

Just as on Mardi Gras we savor one final taste of indulgent sumptuousness, let us savor these last “Alleluias” as we would a last joyous meal with friends, confidants, family, and dear loved ones. Sing out and delight in this final sumptuous exuberance of God’s praise. Let its memory sustain us through the balance of this bleak winter; let its power strengthen us as we carry our own burdens and shoulder our particular crosses.

The hymn Alleluia, Song of Gladness (The Hymnal 1982, #122, 123; Words: Latin, 11th Cent.; trans. John Mason Neale) evokes the exile of the Israelites in Babylon as well as the fasting from singing “Alleluia” as we enter into Lent. Beginning with verse 2:

Alleluia, thou resoundest, true Jerusalem and free
Alleluia, joyful mother, all thy children sing with thee;
But by Babylon’s sad waters mourning exiles now are we.

Alleluia though we cherish and would chant for evermore
Alleluia in our singing, let us for a while give o’er
As our Savior in his fasting pleasures of the world forbore.

In the final verse, we patiently anticipate singing “Alleluia” in our Easter joy:

Therefore in our hymns we pray thee, grant us, blessed Trinity,
At the last to keep thine Easter with thy faithful saints on high;
There to thee for ever singing alleluia joyfully.

After this Sunday, our Alleluia is buried for the next six Sundays, not to be sung again until the Great Vigil of Easter when we stay awake and keep watch for the Resurrection of our Savior, Christ the Lord.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Richard J. Clark

Richard J. Clark is the Director of Music of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    This coming Sunday—13 July 2025—is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). All the chants have been conveniently assembled and posted at the feasts website. The OFFERTORY, Ad Te Levávi, is particularly beautiful.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
    Our readers will be interested in this job offering for Music Director at Saint Adalbert’s Basilica, located 40 minutes from where I live. My pastor was recently elevated to this basilica. He is offering $80,000 per year, plus benefits. I’m told Saint Adalbert’s Basilica is utterly gorgeous and contains one of America’s most magnificent pipe organs. It would be fantastic to have a colleague nearby!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“As often as possible they gathered together the children of the village and sat them down in the cabin. Father Brébeuf would put on a surplice and biretta and chant the Our Father, which Father Daniel had translated into Huron rhymes, and the children would chant it after him. Next, he taught them the sign of the cross, the Hail Mary, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Commandments.”

— Biography of St. Jean de Brébeuf

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