Tenebrae service offered during Holy Week

Julie Boerio-Goates

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The Cantorum, shown here at a previous performance at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, will perform the Tenebrae service on April 16. Courtesy photo/Julie Boerio-Goates

OREM — Shadows will fall at Saint Francis of Assisi on the Wednesday of Holy Week as the parish hosts a Tenebrae service.

"This service is a moving meditation on the suffering of Christ, built around the prayers and readings of the Divine Office for the days of the Triduum," said Julie Boerio-Goates of St. Francis of Assisi Parish, who is organizing the service.

Traditionally, a Tenebrae (Latin for "shadow" or "darkness") service stretches three days, from Maundy Thursday to Holy Saturday. At St. Francis of Assisi Parish, the service will be compressed into a few hours.

"While we often think of Holy Thursday as the establishment of the priesthood and Eucharist, there is this other dark aspect to it; at the end of that meal is the betrayal," Boerio-Goates said.

Judas’ betrayal of Jesus sets the stage for the Tenebrae service, which then moves through the disciples’ abandonment of their Lord, and on to the crucifixion.

"The music and the psalms and the readings from [the Book of] Lamentations reflect that evolution," Boerio-Goates said. "I’m really excited because liturgy, when it is done well, has a dramatic element to it because we believe in the Incarnation, and the Incarnation speaks to us through all of our human senses."

Lighting and extinguishing candles, the church in darkness, loud noises that can evoke either nails being pounded into flesh or the thunder when the veil of the Jerusalem Temple was rent – all are used to engage the senses during a Tenebrae service.

Father David Bittmenn, pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish, will preside at the service, which somewhat follows the structure of the Liturgy of the Hours, although the prayers will be arranged differently, said Boerio-Goates.

In addition to the readings, music will play a large part in the service. Cantorum, an Orem-based choral group founded in 2011 by Dr. Allen Buskirk that specializes in Renaissance and early Baroque music, will sing the "Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet" by Orlando de Lassus, a 16th-century composer known for his polyphonic style.

Buskirk, a biochemist at Brigham Young University who is completing a master’s degree in choral conducting in the university’s music department, said de Lassus’ music "is a little spicier" than that of other 16th-century composers.

"It’s all the Lamentations of Jeremiah, but the writing is more directly emotionally appealing, and I think that would be better for a modern audience," Buskirk said.

While many 16th-century composers created classically beautiful but somewhat unemotional music, de Lassus used word paintings and other effects that might have been drawn from the Italian madrigal style, Buskirk said.

During the service, the psalms and the canticle will be sung in English, but de Lassus’ work is in Latin. Texts will be printed so those attending can follow along.

"I think trying to tie in the text with what’s going on in the music would be very valuable because, again, with de Lasso that’s what he’s trying to do; he’s trying to make the text come alive, even if it’s using his old vocabulary," Buskirk added.

Saint Francis of Assisi Church is "a wonderful place to sing" because of its acoustics, Buskirk said, and also "I think being in the sanctuary and singing this adds to the message of the text."

The Tenebrae service will set the stage for those who attend to more fully participate and understand Christ’s Passion, Buskirk said. "I think this is what music is good at. It expresses the inexpressible. The things you can’t really say in words it brings these to life; it creates a spirit that the words have but that you might not catch on the first reading."

WHAT: Tenebrae service with Cantorum

WHEN: Wednesday, April 16, 7 p.m.

WHERE: St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, 65 East 500 North, Orem