Holy Week Hymns
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160+ Traditional Hymns for Holy Week, lyrics, midi music and PDF.

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Holy Week Hymns

Holy Week (Latin: Hebdomas Sancta or Hebdomas Maior, "Greater Week") in Christianity is the week just before Easter. In the west, it is also the last week of Lent, and includes Palm Sunday, Holy Wednesday (Spy Wednesday), Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday), Good Friday (Holy Friday), and Holy Saturday. It does not include Easter Sunday, which is the beginning of another liturgical week.
Holy Week begins with what Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, and Methodists call Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord. In the Roman Rite, before 1955 it was known simply as Palm Sunday, and the preceding Sunday as Passion Sunday. From 1955 to 1971 it was called Second Sunday in Passiontide or Palm Sunday. Among Lutherans and Anglicans, the day is known as The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday. In many liturgical denominations, to commemorate the entrance of the Messiah into Jerusalem, to accomplish his paschal mystery, it is customary to have before Mass a blessing of palm leaves (or other branches, for example olive branches). The blessing ceremony, preferably held outside the church includes the reading of a Gospel account of how Jesus rode into Jerusalem humbly on a donkey, reminiscent of a Davidic victory procession, and how people placed palms on the ground in front of him. Immediately following this great time of celebration in the entering of Jesus into Jerusalem, he begins his journey to the cross. This is followed by a procession or solemn entrance into the church, with the participants holding the blessed branches in their hands. The Mass or service of worship itself includes a reading of the Passion, the narrative of Jesus' capture, sufferings and death, as recounted in one of the Synoptic Gospels. Before the reform of the rite by Pope Pius XI, the blessing of the palms occurred inside the church within a service that followed the general outline of a Mass, with Collect, Epistle and Gospel, as far as the Sanctus. The palms were then blessed with five prayers, and a procession went out of the church and on its return included a ceremony for the reopening of the doors, which had meantime been shut. After this the normal Mass was celebrated.(Ref Wikipedia)

These transcriptions are made by many different individuals from all over the world for their own research and instruction and as such should not be considered definitive "official" versions, or representative of any particular artist or performance. They are being shared on this site for educational purposes only, please see our copyright page for more info.

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Should you need a print-out of the song, PDF versions (without banners or adverts) are available from the link at the bottom of each song page. Right click and use "Save target as" to download the file.

There are also many other Christian pieces on this site which are included with other collections, e.g. the Children's Songs section contains quite a few.