Covering of Crosses and Statues in Lent

The last two weeks in the season of Lent

are called Passiontide which begins on the
Fifth Sunday of Lent. This is when the
Church shifts her focus from Christ in the
desert (the Gospel for the First Sunday of
Lent) to Christ during His Passion.

During this period of Passiontide, you may

have noticed in our parish that the
crucifix and other statues and images
around the church have been veiled with a
purple cloth.

A BRIEF HISTORY

The historical origin of this practice

originated from the Church in Germany from
the ninth century, of extending a large
cloth before the altar from the beginning
of Lent.

This cloth, called the “Hungertuch” (hunger

cloth), hid the altar entirely from the
faithful during Lent, and was not removed
until during the reading of the Passion on
Holy Wednesday at the words “the veil of
the temple was rent in two.”

The rule of limiting this veiling to

Passiontide came later WITH the publication
of the Bishops’ Ceremonial of the 17th
century.

After the Second Vatican Council, the

veiling practice survived, although in a
mitigated form.

CUSTOM

The custom in many places is to veil from

before first vespers or the vigil Mass of
the Fifth Sunday of Lent while others limit
this veiling from after the Mass of the
Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday.

In some places images and statues are

actually removed from the church and not
simply veiled, especially after Holy
Thursday.
Crosses are unveiled after the Good Friday
ceremonies. All other images are unveiled
shortly before the Mass of the Easter Vigil
on Holy Saturday.

NB::: Neither the Stations of the Cross nor

stained glass windows are ever veiled.

The veils are usually made of lightweight

purple cloth without any decoration.

The custom of veiling the images during the

last two weeks of Lent hails from the
former liturgical calendar in which the
Passion was read on the Fifth Sunday of
Lent (hence called “Passion Sunday”) as
well as on Palm Sunday, Tuesday and
Wednesday of Holy Week, and Good Friday.

For this reason the period following the

Fifth Sunday of Lent was called Passiontide
THAT'S WHY WE USE PREFACE ONE OF THE
PASSION DURING EUCHARISTIC PRAYER.

It's important to note also that “The

custom of veiling crosses and images … has
much to commend it in terms of religious
psychology, because it helps us to
concentrate on the great essentials of
Christ’s work of Redemption".

NB: The veiled images build within us, a

longing for Easter Sunday.Through this
absence of images, our senses are
heightened and we become more aware of what
is missing.

Similarly, the suppression of the Alleluia

during Lent effectively demonstrates that
we are in exile from our true Home, where
the angels sing Alleluia without ceasing.

When images are unveiled before the Easter

Vigil, we are reminded that we, in a sense,
live in a veiled world. It is through our
own death that we are able to see our true
home, and the veil is lifted. Christ lifts
the veil through His Resurrection.
(It draws its pratice from the Gospel of
Matthew.Matt 27: 51— At that moment(the
death of Christ) the curtain of the temple
was torn in two from top to bottom. The
earth shook, the rocks split.)
Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and
the life; whoever believes in me, even if
he dies, will live, and everyone who lives
and believes in me will never die. John
11:25-26