A Very Biased Guide To The Triduum In Rome

"Exult! Let them exult, the host of Heaven!" --The Exultet

"This is the Pasch of Christ, the revelation of God’s power: the victory of life over death, the triumph of light over darkness, the rebirth of hope amid the ruins of failure. It is the Lord, the God of the impossible, who rolled away the stone forever. Even now, he opens our tombs, so that hope may be born ever anew. We too, then, should “look up” to him." --Pope Francis, Easter Vigil Homily 2024

Hello, m'lovelies! And welcome to another episode of Sam's Prepublished Posts! Today my methodical brain is here with All the Tips & Tricks for spending Triduum in Rome! 

Granted, I've only done Triduum in Rome once, but I still felt like I gleaned some wisdom I could share. That said, of course this is going to be a very biased and incomplete guide (because there are so many churches, all with liturgies and events to choose from!). If you want something a bit more comprehensive, I'd recommend checking out this webpage, and also this one. :)

Without further ado...let's get to it! 

One of the things about the Triduum is that liturgies are not at usual times. Since most churches in Rome (although there are exceptions) are Not Technological Whizzes, I recommend visiting the churches you want to attend Triduum liturgies in earlier in the week if you can, because they'll have Triduum liturgy times posted at the church but often not in other places.  

For any of the liturgies that are taking place at the Vatican, you generally need to get tickets, which can be a bit of a Thing because the Vatican is also not somewhere that Takes Pains to Be Technologically Connected. (Which is as it should be, in my opinion.) But in order to get tickets, there's a three-step process:
1. Go to the Holy See Website, and look at the events in the month Holy Week is in; decide which ones you want to go to. You definitely also want to double check times here. 
2. Go to this link and fill out the ticket request form. 
3. Email the completed ticket request form to ordinanze@pontificalisdomus.va, and then wait for them to get back to you. 

There is NEVER any charge for tickets for Vatican liturgies/events...don't pay someone for them! 

Once you've gotten the confirmation email, you need to pick up your tickets from the Vatican before the crazy that is Holy Week has started. I recommend going on Wednesday of Holy Week after the Papal Audience, although earlier would probably also work. You want to get to the Bronze Door, which is to the right of St. Peter's, right where the circular part of the portico ends. If you're going to Mass at the same time, you can go through the Pilgrims line, which is usually shorter. ;) (A life hack I didn't figure out until going through the huge, long main line twice.) There's a Swiss Guard at the Bronze Door (it's a huge door with a Swiss Guard standing in the middle of the doorway, can't miss it) who'll direct you to where you need to go to pick up your tickets, if you show him your confirmation email. That simple! 

And then it's time for the Triduum. 

Holy Thursday

There are two major events of Holy Thursday: the Chrism Mass, and the Mass of the Lord's Supper (plus the Seven Churches devotion, if you want). 

The Chrism Mass takes place at St. Peter's and is the blessing of the Holy Oils to be used throughout the year for sacraments--it takes place on Holy Thursday as the day Christ instituted the priesthood by instituting the Eucharist ("do this in remembrance of Me"). I've never actually been to a Chrism Mass, but it is there, and it's in the morning, so it's definitely doable to go to both that and the evening Mass. 

The Mass of the Lord's Supper takes place in the evening and is my second favourite liturgy of the year. (Behind the Easter Vigil, and just above the Good Friday Service). It begins with celebration--we sing the Gloria in thanksgiving for the institution of the Eucharist--and ends with mourning, as a solemn procession takes Christ in the Eucharist to the Altar of Repose to mirror his going out of the city of Jerusalem to the Garden of Gethsemane. For this liturgy, I went to St. John Lateran, and would definitely recommend that--it's technically the episcopal seat of Rome, so they do go all out with the liturgy (a cardinal, six bishops, and over sixty priests) and it's a beautiful church to be in for that particular liturgy especially, with the twelve huge statues of the apostles ranged on either side of the church. 

After Mass on Holy Thursday, the Seven Churches devotion is de rigeur, especially in Rome, where it apparently originated with St. Philip Neri. If you've never heard of the Seven Churches devotion, it consists of visiting seven Altars of Repose after the Holy Thursday Mass and before midnight (when the Blessed Sacrament is traditionally taken from the Altar of Repose to a non-public spot, often in the sacristy, as Christ was taken by the mob from the Garden). At each of the Altars of Repose (and the church where one went to Mass counts as the first one) one meditates on a different part of what happened to Christ that night. (For more context, and the scriptures for each stop, check out this link.) 

When I'm in Illinois, the way we do the Seven Churches devotion is Frantically Drive Around Rural Illinois To Get Seven Churches Before Midnight, And Possibly Count Some Churches Twice. 

But in Rome, which is where the devotion originated, they have enough churches that you can do it walking. (Which was kinda the point in the first place, I think?) And it's really cool because a) a whole bunch of people are all doing it, so there are always people coming and going from the churches; b) a bunch of the churches are so big that you actually have to look around for the altar of repose, which gives a very Christ-has-gone-out-of-His-city feeling to the night; and c) a lot of the churches, to mark that they have altars of repose open, light huge candles (that are literally wax poured into metal pie plates, and they have HUGE flames) all up and down their steps. 

A couple of things with that though. Firstly, sometimes churches have Holy Thursday services at different times, so a church might not be done by the time you want to go there for Seven Churches. (This happened to me with Santa Croce--I had to find a different second church). Secondly, if you're going to be walking through Rome at night, it's a good idea to have a buddy. I notably didn't, but I did call a guy friend for part of my walk as it got closer to midnight. Walking up and down empty streets with no streetlights was not my favourite part of the night. Be warned. 

Some churches do a liturgy sort of like a liturgy of the hours--readings and prayers of various kinds--before the altar of repose at some point in the evening. If you happen into a church where this is happening, it's very beautiful (if you understand any Italian...otherwise it might go over your head, sorry), and I recommend staying for it. 

This is the route I took, in case you were wondering. :) 

Good Friday

There are two major events of Good Friday: The Good Friday Service, and Stations of the Cross.

Also, in the morning, Santa Croce does Matins & Office of Readings in a way that's rather like Dominican Tenebrae (but not quite--no Lamentations), which would, in my opinion, be worth going to. 

It is my opinion that, although it's the only place I've ever been for Good Friday Service in Rome, Santa Croce is objectively the best place to go for the Good Friday Service. Cuz like. They have all the relics of the Crucifixion. So, you're venerating a HUGE chunk of the True Cross. It's also a really small church, which I think is a beautiful experience, especially on Good Friday. 

But the flip side of that is that it's incredibly jam-packed. Forseeing that, I decided to do the Tre Ore devotion there (Tre Ore is just praying in a church from 12-3, the three hours that Christ was on the cross. Traditionally, one meditates on the Seven Last Words) and did end up with a seat in the fourth row. So, I would recommend that. But otherwise, the church is definitely full by 45 minutes before 3 pm, which is when the Good Friday service traditionally starts. 

I will note that I think the Good Friday service at Saint John Lateran starts later, possibly even after the Santa Croce one, and would be eminently worth going to, as well--they sing the Passion of St. John in a really beautiful chant tone. 

Later in the evening (it was at 9:15 this year) are the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum. When they originally started, I believe they were in the Colosseum, but it seems there are now too many people for that to be feasible, so it takes place right outside the Colosseum, in a large square there. (There's no ticketing for it, so no way to control how many people go.) It's good to get there about an hour early, or else you might not even get into that. It's a really beautiful liturgy--everyone has lighted candles, and the responses for the Stations prayers are in Latin, so that theoretically everyone can pray along. Usually the Pope leads it, but when I was there, Pope Francis wasn't feeling well, so one of the Cardinals presided--still very cool! 

Holy Saturday

There's one major event of Holy Saturday: the Easter Vigil. 

In the morning of Holy Saturday, though, Santa Croce has its Matins & Office of Readings thing again, which I recommend as a Holy Saturday morning thing. This has the added benefit that there's usually hardly anyone there afterwards, and let me just say, venerating the relics of the Passion on Holy Saturday Hits Different (as the kids say) and getting to see the full-sized image of the Shroud of Turin they have there also Hits Different. 

If you're in need of more things to do on Holy Saturday, my friend and I, when we were in Rome, went up the Scala Santa, the Holy Steps that Christ ascended on his way to Pilate's house, and those are also really moving to do on Holy Saturday. 

But really, most of the day is waiting for the Vigil--as it should be! 

And there are a multitude of options for the Vigil, as there are for pretty much all of the other liturgies of Holy Week...the Vatican has a Vigil, pretty much every church has a vigil. 

I, being the contrarian loyal person that I am, went to Santa Maria sopra Minerva, because I missed Dominican liturgy (even when not in the Dominican Rite, the Dominicans do some things differently than mainstream Roman Rite) (that parenthesis will only make sense to nerds, I'm pretty sure) and because I didn't want to go to another super crowded liturgy. And it was really beautiful! The music left something to be desired--not in terms of reverence, but just in terms of technical quality--but the liturgy itself was beautifully done, the homily was excellent, and SMSM is (in my humble, biased, and incomplete opinion) the most beautiful church in Rome. (It helps that it's Gothic. This is my standard for beauty in churches. XD) Plus, the Dominicans start and end the liturgy in the cloister--start there with the Easter fire and end there with champagne. 10/10. 

But y'know, I'm sure the Vatican Vigil was cool too. ;)

Easter Sunday

There's one major event of Easter Sunday: Easter Sunday Mass. 

As with most other liturgies, you could go to Easter Sunday Mass almost anywhere. 

However, I will say that this is the one major Triduum liturgy I went to at the Vatican, and it did not disappoint. Partially also because the pope gives the Urbi et Orbi blessing ("the the City and the World") afterwards, and I have always thought the Urbi et Orbi is the Pinnacle of Cool, and so actually getting to be there for it was mind-blowing. And quite beautiful. As my dad said "so...everything you had there is now blessed by the pope. You're never washing those clothes again, right?" (Pretty sure the washing machine doesn't remove blessings, but I guess you never know.) 

The other thing I will say, however, is that going to the Vigil and then Easter morning Mass on the weekend that Europe starts Daylight Savings Time is not a good idea. 4 hours of sleep was not sufficient. 

Which leads into...Easter Sunday Mass for Holy Week 2024 was at 10 AM (in St. Peter's Square), and my friend got there at 7 AM and just barely got there before the rush, with the result that we ended up in the fourth row. The fourth row. So, if you can possibly swing it, getting there three hours early is an excellent idea. 

The liturgy itself was everything one could possibly ask for, though--Swiss Guards marching and standing guard through the whole Mass, liturgy almost exclusively in Latin (the universal language of the Church!), gorgeous music by insanely talented choirs. And of course, the pope! 

So. 10/10 would recommend. And there are some good gelato places nearby for afterwards, too. :) 

And then I'd recommend a nap, because the Triduum is exhausting! 

I'm not sure if anyone who reads this blog is ever going to make it to Triduum in Rome, but I hope you had fun reading this post anyway--I really enjoyed writing it!