• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“If we do not love those whom we see, how can we love God, Whom we do not see?” Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

  • Our Team
    • Views from the Choir Loft • “Our Team”
    • Our Editorial Policy
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • Saint Antoine Daniel KYRIALE
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Father Enemond Massé Manuscripts
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
    • Guillaume Couture Gregorian Chant
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
    • Gradual by Pothier’s Protégé
    • Mass in Honor of Saint Noël Chabanel
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

Five Ways to Celebrate the Octave of Pentecost

Daniel Tucker · April 23, 2023

RIOR TO THE ISSUANCE of the Missal of Pope Paul VI in 1970, the three major feasts of the Church’s liturgical year – Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost – were all celebrated by means of an octave. These feasts were full of such joy that their celebration could not be contained by one day alone, hence it overflowed into the “octave”: a period of eight consecutive days (the first being the principal feast) which were all celebrated as though they were the feast itself.

The Novus Ordo Mass retains the Octave of Christmas (Dec 25-Jan 1, culminating in the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God) and the Octave of Easter (culminating every year in Divine Mercy Sunday, even though the particular date of Easter depends on the moon); but, curiously, it has suppressed the Octave of Pentecost. (There is a well-known story, though it has never been confirmed, of Pope Paul VI walking into the sacristy on the Monday after Pentecost. Seeing green vestments instead of red and thinking that the sacristan had made a mistake, so the story goes, the master of ceremonies had to remind the pontiff that it was he himself who had abolished the Octave of Pentecost by promulgating the new missal, thus causing His Holiness to weep.)

Some Catholics will still get to enjoy an official Pentecost Octave, which is observed by the faithful who worship according to the 1962 missal, as well as by former Anglicans who came into the Church through the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter and use the Divine Worship missal promulgated in 2015. But for most Novus Ordo-going Catholics, myself included, the Octave of Pentecost is no longer officially part of the Church’s liturgical calendar. This doesn’t mean, however, that we can’t mark this sacred time between Pentecost and Trinity Sunday by means of our own private devotions and prayers. Here are five fitting ideas for extending the joy of Pentecost throughout the week:

1) Make a special effort to attend Mass on the Monday and Tuesday after Pentecost, which used to be holy days of obligation. This practice is still noted in the 2011 Roman Missal, which remarks that “where the Monday or Tuesday after Pentecost are days on which the faithful are obliged or accustomed to attend Mass, the Mass of Pentecost Sunday may be repeated, or a Mass of the Holy Spirit may be said” (see the end of the Pentecost Sunday rubrics). Since 2018, the Monday after Pentecost is now the obligatory feast of Mary Mother of the Church, but votive Masses of the Holy Spirit may be said on any other days in the week following Pentecost where no other Masses take precedence.

2) Sing a Pentecost chant, such as the Veni creator Spiritus or the Veni sancte Spiritus, as part of your own private or family prayers each day.

3) Renew your baptismal promises as a family and sprinkle yourselves with holy water, asking the Holy Spirit to stir up in you the graces and charisms that He gave you in Baptism and sealed in you in Confirmation.

4) Pray for the unification of all Christians into the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church that Jesus founded, which “subsists in the Catholic Church…governed by the successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him” (Lumen gentium 8). Ask that the Holy Spirit, the “spirit of Truth” (John 14:17), would continue to lead all who share the name of Christian into the one sheepfold of Christ so that there can be “one flock and one shepherd” (John 10:16).

5) Use selections of the Catechism of the Catholic Church as spiritual reading, fodder for mental prayer, or a source of catechetical discussion around the family dinner table. I particularly recommend paragraphs 687-747 on the Holy Spirit and His role in the life of the Church, which you could break up for prayer or discussion this way:
Pentecost Sunday: paragraphs 687-690, on the Holy Spirit and His joint mission with the Son;
Monday after Pentecost: paragraphs 691-701, on the symbols of the Holy Spirit;
Tuesday after Pentecost: paragraphs 702-710, on the hidden and preparatory work of the Spirit in the Old Covenant;
Wednesday after Pentecost: paragraphs 711-716, on the proximate prophecies of the coming Messiah and His Spirit;
Thursday after Pentecost: paragraphs 717-726, on the Holy Spirit’s role in the lives of St. John the Baptist and the Blessed Virgin Mary;
Friday after Pentecost: paragraphs 727-730, on the Holy Spirit’s role in the life of Christ;
Saturday after Pentecost: paragraphs 731-741, on the Holy Spirit’s role in the life of the Church;
Trinity Sunday: paragraphs 742-747, the “In Brief” overview that summarizes everything you will have prayed with and learned about.

In the meantime, I wish you a prayerful and blessed Easter season. Praised be Jesus Christ!

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: April 23, 2023

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

About Daniel Tucker

Daniel Tucker is the Director of Liturgical Music & Organist at the Cathedral of St. Matthew in South Bend, IN. He holds degrees in music and religion from Western Michigan University and Yale University.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    Seven (7) Hymn Verses for November!
    In the month of November, we remember in a special way the souls in purgatory. The BRÉBEUF HYMNAL often includes text alone versions for its hymns; why is that? The short answer is: flexibility. The “text only” version allows each choirmaster to employ a myriad of melodies. For example, I recently set the English translation of “De Profúndis” with the DAVOST MELODY (PDF). We are singing this before November ends. Indeed, you can hear our volunteer singing this (in real life) if you click here.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Worst Hymn Pairing Of All Time?
    For hymns in the Brébeuf Portal not yet recorded by human voices, I’ve been attempting to create recordings on the pipe organ. My latest attempt (Mp3) is a hymn called “DAVOST.” It’s a nice tune, but it must be paired with just the right lyrics. Do sickening examples of hymn pairings exist? Oh, most certainly! To download the most ghastly pairing I know, try this one—if your stomach is strong enough. If such things interest you, check out: “Six Pernicious Hymn Pairings.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Jeff’s Attempt at Pipe Organ “Stops”
    I've been attempting to record some Brébeuf hymns on the pipe organ, but I know very little about registration (“stops”). You can listen to this morning's attempt, a recording of a tune called TRINITY COLLEGE. Do you know this tune? It's quite nice. Feel free to email me vis-à-vis the registration I chose. To quickly locate all instances of the TRINITY COLLEGE melody in the Brébeuf Hymnal, search the magic portal for “Trinity College.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“In all this mediaeval religious poetry there is much that we could not use now. Many of the hymns are quite bad, many are frigid compositions containing futile tricks, puns, misinterpreted quotations of Scripture, and twisted concepts, whose only point is their twist. But there is an amazing amount of beautiful poetry that we could still use. If we are to have vernacular hymns at all, why do we not have translations of the old ones?”

— Fr. Adrian Fortescue (d. 1923)

Recent Posts

  • Four (4) Excellent Hymns for Catholic Funerals
  • “An Initiation to Gregorian Chant” (Msgr. Turco)
  • Seven (7) Hymn Verses for November!
  • Accent and Gregorian Melody
  • Worst Hymn Pairing Of All Time?

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2023 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.