Tenebrae

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Tenebræ (Latin for darkness or shadows, pronounced ten-eh-bray) is the name of the church services of Matins held for the last three days of Holy Week, during which the candles in the church are extinguished one by one "to signify the setting of the Sun of Justice" in the words of Benedict XIV. Following the opening, the service is divided into three sections, called "Nocturns". They largely disappeared after the 1969 revision of the liturgy, but were traditionally observed on the eves of the day and thus Couperin's 3 Leçons were titled "pour le mercredi" (for Wednesday). As standardized in the Liber Usualis, the order is thus:

See also