Spy Wednesday
[Medieval_Saints] (+) Spy Wednesday
Spy Wednesday
Also called Holy Wednesday
Liturgical Colour: Purple
Instituted: Ninth century or earlier
Themes & Motives: Betrayal of sin; the suffering of Christ due to our sins
Commemorated the Wednesday prior to Holy Thursday
Spy Wednesday
(full article at: http://www.catholicculture.org/lit/calendar/day.cfm?date=2005-03-23)
Wednesday is also known as Spy Wednesday because on this day Judas made a bargain with the high priest to turn betray Jesus for 30 silver pieces (Matt 26:14-16; Mark 14:10-11; Luke 22:1-6). In Poland, the young people throw an effigy of Judas from the top of a church steeple. Then it is dragged through the village amidst hurling sticks and stones. What remains of the effigy is drowned in nearby stream or pond
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Spy Wednesday
http://www.kensmen.com/catholic/customslent12.html
This day commemorates the betrayal of Jesus by Judas. Today and during the Sacred Triduum, the Matins and Lauds of the Divine Office are often sung in a haunting service known as the Tenebrae service ("tenebrae" meaning "shadows"), which is basically a funeral service for Jesus. During the Matins on Good Friday, one by one, the candles are extinguished in the Church, leaving the congregation in total darkness, and in a silence that is punctuated by the strepitus meant to evoke the convulsion of nature at the death of Christ. I've also heard it described as the sound of the tomb door closing. During the Triduum, the Matins and Lauds readings come from the following day's readings each night because the hours of Matins and Lauds were pushed back so that the public might better participate during these special three days (i.e., the Matins and Lauds readings heard at Spy Wednesday's tenebrae service are those for Maundy Thursday, the readings for Maundy Thursday's tenebrae service are from Good Friday, and Good Friday's readings are from Holy Saturday's Divine Office).
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Tenebrae Service During Holy Week
(full article available at: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07435a.htm)
The proper Offices and Masses celebrated during Holy Week do not notably differ from the Office and Mass at other penitential seasons and during Passion Week. But it has long been customary in all churches to sing Matins and Lauds at an hour of the afternoon or evening of the previous day at which it was possible for all the faithful to be present. The Office in itself presents a very primitive type in which hymns and certain supplementary formulae are not included, but the most conspicuous external feature of the service, apart from the distinctive and very beautiful chant to which the Lamentations of Jeremias are sung as lessons, is the gradual extinction of the fifteen candles in the "Tenebrae hearse", or triangular candlestick, as the service proceeds. At the end of the Benedictus at Lauds only the topmost candle, considered to be typical of Jesus Christ, remains alight, and this is then taken down and hidden behind the altar while the final Miserere and collect are said. At the conclusion, after a loud noise emblematical of the convulsion of nature at the death of Christ, the candle is restored to its place, and the congregation disperse. On account of the gradual darkening, the service, since the ninth century or earlier, has been known as "Tenebrae" (darkness). Tenebrae is sung on the evening of the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the antiphons and proper lessons varying each day.
See also: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14506a.htm