Branch Sunday
Branch Sunday
Sunday before Easter, the sixth and last of Lent, and the beginning of Holy Week, commemorating Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem when olive and palm branches were strewn in His path. Before the Mass of the day the Palms are to be solemnly blessed. In connection with this blessing a procession is prescribed. The palms which have just been blessed are carried in the hands of the participants in the procession. It leaves the church proper, and should move entirely about the outer circumference of the church, where this is feasible. Before re-entering the church two chanters enter, and behind closed doors sing or chant the Gloria laus et honor, awaiting the answer from those still outside the door. The Cross-bearer strikes the door with the foot of the Cross, whereupon the door is opened and the procession enters. According to Almar this procession was already in vogue in the 9th century. There is no trace of it in Rome so early. However, in the Middle Ages it was quite common everywhere. In the 16th century the procession was often dramatic in its arrangements; it was almost a pageant in severai places in Germany, and many of the processions went from one church to another at some distance. The way was often strewn with cloths of rare texture in imitation of what was done on the first Palm Sunday. Other bits of pageantry were the figure of the Christ riding on an ass. The palms, when burned, supply the ashes for distribution on Ash Wednesday of the next year. Palm Sunday is also called Flower, Olive, Branch, Sallow, Willow, Yew, Blossom, and Fig Sunday.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Branch Sunday
One of the medieval English names for Palm Sunday. The difficulty of procuring palms for that day’s ceremonies led to the substitution of boughs of yew, willow, or other native trees. The Sunday was often designated by the names of these trees, as “Yew Sunday” or by the general term “Branch Sunday”.
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FEASY, “Ancient English Holy Week Ceremonial” (London, 1897), 53.sqq.; THURSTON, “Holy Week” (London, 1904), 225-229.
JOHN B. PETERSON Transcribed by John Looby
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IICopyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightImprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Branch Sunday
SEE PALM SUNDAY.