Passion for the Palm celebrated this weekend

Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox Christians around the world will observe Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday this weekend. It is a celebration of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem days before his execution. In the Roman Catholic Church, it is the start of Passion Week. The principal ceremonies of the day are the benediction of the palms, in which palm fronds are blessed outside the church building; the procession, in which the congregation enters the church, singing and reenacting Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem and the Mass. In the Eastern Orthodox Church it is called Entry into Jerusalem and is the beginning of Holy Week. The day before it is Lazarus Saturday, remembrance of the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead. On this day, palm fronds are knotted into crosses in preparation for the procession on Sunday. In the Russian Orthodox Church, the custom developed using willows instead of palm fronds because these were not readily available.

The blessing of the palms takes place before the procession. Prayers, holy water and incense are part of the ritual which are intended to impart to the palms a virtue which elevates them to the supernatural order and makes them means for the sanctification of souls and protection of persons and dwellings. The carrying of palms have been traced to the east. St Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem in the fourth century, wrote that the palm tree (from which branches were cut when the people of the area went out to meet Jesus) was still seen in the vale of Cedron. In the following century the ceremony was established not only in churches in the east but also in monasteries of Egypt and Syria. In the west, the introduction of the ceremony was gradual and first evidenced in the sacrament of St Gregory at the end of the sixth or start of the seventh century. In areas where palms could not be supplied, branches from other trees were used.

Members of the public can attend Palm Sunday service at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, San Fernando at 9.30 am where Archbishop Edward Gilbert will officiate. At the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Port-of-Spain, masses will take place at 6.30 am, 9 am and 6.30 pm. Fr Allan Ventour will be the celebrant. He will also be at Sacred Heart Church, Richmond Street, for mass at 11 am. At Holy Rosary Church on Park Street, there will be a short procession outside the church starting at 9.30 am followed by the Mass. The Society of St Vincent de Paul will hold their usual Palm Sunday procession. It starts 7.30 am at Duncan Street, Port-of-spain and 8 am from Cyril Ross Nursery, Tunapuna. Both processions will go to Mt Lambert RC for Mass. Fr Henri Brenon will officiate.

At Holy Trinity Cathedral Bishop Calvin Bess will preside over the blessing of palms and Mass at 6 am and 8 am. At All Saints Anglican Church, Queen’s Park West, the service begins at 7.30 am. There will be a procession starting at 7.45 am to 8.45 am from the church, proceeding across Marli Street, across Warren Street, and back up Cipriani Boulevard to Queen’s Park West. At St Paul Anglican, Harris Promenade San Fernando, members of the public are advised to congregate at the bandstand on the Promenade ten to 15 minutes before the 6 am and 8 am mass. Palm crosses will be distributed followed by a procession to the church. Canon Francis Caesar is expected to officiate at the Masses.