A rare performance of one of the most moving and powerful services in the Christian calendar will be held on Wednesday 12 March in St Catharine’s College.

Tenebrae was traditionally celebrated by the Western Church during the evenings of the last three days of Holy Week. Although once an essential Easter service, it is now infrequently held.

The service, sung by St Catharine’s College Choir, will include plainsong and a performance of Allegri’s Miserere, as well as the traditional readings from the Book of Lamentations, purportedly written by the prophet Jeremiah after the fall of Jerusalem. There will also be sumptuous music by Italian Renaissance composers Gesualdo, Victoria and Palestrina.

The service’s name, which is the Latin for ‘shadows’, comes from the practice of gradually extinguishing candles throughout the service. 15 are lit at the beginning of the service and extinguished, one by one, after each lesson. The service ends in total darkness when the final candle is hidden under the altar.

Some versions also include the use of a strepitus (Latin for ‘loud noise’) after the last candle has been hidden, after which it is returned to sight. This part of the ceremony symbolises the earthquake that followed Christ’s death and his subsequent Resurrection.

All are welcome to attend this free service, which takes place from 7pm-10pm on Wednesday 12 March in St Catharine’s College Chapel.

Those attending are free to come and go during the first two hours, but are asked to be seated before 9.00pm for the final, liturgical drama.

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