As a kid I sometimes heard my grandparents talk about how when they were kids statues were veiled during the last two weeks of Lent. My grandmother was in the choir as a little girl and explained that she would watch as her future husband, my grandfather, helped the school sisters veil the statues. A nice tradition.
I'm not anywhere near old enough to be your grandparent, and I remember all statues and crucifixes were veiled for the two weeks beginning with Passion Sunday and ending with the Easter Vigil. Part of the Easter Vigil service was the unveiling of the crucifix before Midnight Mass. As an altar boy, I found all the Holy Week services spiritually uplifting. Unfortunately, this all ended post Vatican II.
ReplyDeleteA pity statues are only veiled one week with the NO Missae.
ReplyDeleteYou have resurrected some wonderful memories for me with this post. In Australia we were still shrouding statues and crucifixes in the early 80's. From memory, it was usually for the duration of Holy Week and they were removed for Easter Sunday services. All other ornamentation such as candlesticks etc were also removed from the altars.
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