PASSION
535
PASSOS
to sorrow for sin, and to compassion and love for Him
in His suffering.
The moral virtues are to regulate the passions and employ them as aids in the progress of spirit- ual life. A just man at times experiences great joy, great hope and confidence, and other feelings in performing duties of piety, and also great sensible sorrow, as well as sorrow of soul, for his sins, and he is thus confirmed in his justice. He can also merit constantly by restraining and purifying his passions. The saints who have reached the exalted state of per- fection, have retained their capacity for all human emotions and their sensibility has remained subject to the ordinary laws; but in them the love of God has controlled the mental images which excite the pas- sions and directed all their emotions to His active service. It has been justly said that the saint dies, and is born again: he dies to an agitated, distracted, and sensual life, by temperance, continency, and au,s- terity, and is born to a new and transformed life. He passes through what St. John calls "the night of the senses", after which his eyes are opened to a clearer light. "The saint will return later on to sensible objects to enjoy them in his own way, but far more intensely than other men" (H. Joly, "Psy- chology of the Saints", 128). Accordingly we can understand how the passions and the emotions of the sensitive appetite may be directed and devoted to the service of God, and to the acquisition, increase, and perfection of virtue.
All admit that the passions, unless restrained, will carry a man beyond the bounds of duty and honesty, and plunge him into sinful excesses. Unbridled passions cause all the moral ruin and most of the physical and social evils which afflict men. There are two adverse elements in man contending for the mas- tery, and designated by St. Paul as "the flesh" and "the spirit" (Gal., v, 17). These two are often at variance with each other in inclinations and desires. To establish and preserve harmony in the individual, it is necessary that the spirit rule, and that the flesh be made obedient to it. The spirit must set itself free from the tyranny of the passions in the flesh. It must free itself by the renunciation of all those un- lawful things which our lower nature craves, that right order may be established and preserved in the relations of our higher and lower nature. The flesh and its appetites, if allowed, will throw everything into confusion and vitiate our whole nature by sin and its conseqviences. It is therefore man's duty to control and regulate it by reason and a strong will aided by God's grace.
Cronin, The Science of Ethics (Dublin, 1909); Devine, Manual of Mystical Theology (London, 1903); JoLY, Pyschology of the Saints; Maher, Psychology (London, 1890); St. John of the Cross, The Dark Night of the Soul; Scaramelli, /f Direttorrio Mystico (Venice, 1765); Billuart, Sumffia Summce S. ThonKE de Passionibus (Paris, 1884).
Arthur Devine.
Passion Sunday, the fifth Sunday of Lent, a Sun- day of the first class, not permitting the celebration of any feast, no matter of what rank, but allowing a commemoration of feasts which are not transferred. It is called Dominica de Passione in the Roman Missal, and Dominica Passionis in the Breviary. Durandus and other liturgical writers speak of it as Dominica in Passione, or simply Passio, or Passio Domini. It is also known as Judica Sunday, from the first word of the Introit of Ma.ss; Isti sunt, from the beginning of the first response in the Matins; Octava mediana, it being the eighth day after Lcelare Sunday, called sometimes Mediana, or Middle of Lent; Rcpiis, an abbreviation of repositus, i. e. abscondilus, or hidden from the veiling of the Crosses (Du Cange, "Glo.ssar." s. V. repositus). Among the Slavs it is the Nedela strastna (pain, suffering, terrible), muki (painful, or sorrowful), gluha (deaf or silent), tiha (quiet), smer- telna (relating to death), or also cerna (black), which
appellation is also found in some parts of Germany
as Schwartzer Sonntag. Since after this Sunday there
are not many more days of the Lenten season the
Greek Church admonishes the faithful to special
mortifications, and places before them the example
of the penitent St. Mary of Egypt.
Butler, Movable Feasts and Fasts (New Yorlt) ; Guerangeb, The Liturgical Year, Lent.
Francis Mekshman.
Passiontide, the two weeks between Passion Sun- day and I'laster. The last week is Holy Week, while the first is called by the Latins " Hebdomas Passionis", by the Greeks "Week of the palms" (from the Sunday following). During this time the monks of the East, who had chosen the desert for a severer mode of life, returned to their monasteries (Cyril of Scythopolis in "Life of St. Euthymius", n. 11). The rubrical pre- scriptions of the Roman Missal, Breviary, and "Ca?re- moniale Episcoporum" for this time are: before Vespers of Saturday preceding Passion Sunday the crosses, statues, and pictures of Our Lord and of the saints on the altar and throughout the church, with the sole exception of the crosses and pictures of the Way of the Cross, are to be covered with a violet veil, not translucent, nor in any way ornamented. The crosses remain covered until after the solemn de- nudation of the principal crucifix on Good Friday. The statues and pictures retain their covering, no matter what feast may occur, until the Gloria in Excelsis of Holy Saturday. According to an answer of the S. R. C. of 14 May, 1878, the practice may be tolerated of keeping the statue of St. Joseph, if out- side the sanctuary, uncovered during the month of March, which is dedicated to his honour, even during Passiontide. In the Masses de tempore the Psalm Judica is not said; the Gloria Patri is omitted at the A.sperges, the Introit, and the Lavabo; only two orations are recited and the Preface is of the Holy Cross. In the Dominical and ferial offices of the Breviary the doxology is omitted in the Invitatorium and in the responses, whether long or short. The crosses are veiled because Christ during this time no longer walked openly among the people, but hid him- self. Hence in the papal chapel the veiling formerly took place at the words of the Gospel: "Jesus autcm abscondebat se." Another reason is added by Du- randus, namely that Christ's divinity was hidden when he arrived at the time of His suffering and death. The images of the saints also are covered because it would seem improper for the servants to appear when the Master himself is hidden (Nilles, "Kal.", II, 188).
In some places the crosses were covered on Ash Wednesday ; in others on the first Sunday of Lent. In England it was customary on the first Monday of Lent to cover up all the crucifixes, images of every kind, the reliquaries, and even the cup with the Blessed Sacrament. The cloths used were of white linen or silk and marked with a red cross (Rock, infra, IV, 258). The two beautiful hymns of the season, " Vexilla Regis" and "Range lingua gloriosi", are the work of Venantius Fortunatus (q. v.). Bishop of Poi- tiers. On the Friday of Passion Week the Church very appropriately honours the Seven Dolours of Our Lady. On Saturtiay the Greeks commemorate the resuscitar- tion of Lazarus.
Rock, The Church of Our Fathers (London, 1904); Nilles, Kal. man. (Innsbruck, 1897).
Francis Mershman.
Passos (or, more fully, Santos Passos), the Portu- guese name locally used to designate certain pious exercises, including representations of the Sacred P;ussion, practised annually during Lent at Goa and in other Catholic communities in India. The repre- sentations of the Passion are made by means of images and figures, although at one period in the past, living beings also took part in them. According to Father
