Scrutunies

 

You may notice in Lent, something a little different. Also, I found a photo for this post, and it came up when I searched "Scutunies" it looks to be St. John Cantius in Chicago (judging by the black Mozetta usually worn by canons, and the fact that the back kind of looks like the high altar at Cantius, but, I'm not 100% for sure), but there are other photos that show what you might see better. But, yes, after looking more, this is John Cantius, and it is the scrutunies. 

Now, Liturgically, the Scrutunies take place after the homily. And there is also a specially Votive Mass used, that is found in the Roman Missal. With this, the Collect for Sunday is not used, and the Collect and other prayers (like the Prayer over the Offerings, and Prayer after Communion) are used. And besides this, the readings from the Sunday in Year A are used, rather than the "proper" year in the lectionary (unless we are in year A, which this year we are not, then the readings are the same all mass). 

The Scrutunies are apart of what is now known as OCIA, or Order of Christian Initation of Adults, formerly known as Rite of Christian Initiaition of Adults, formely known as probably something else. With this also comes a new book with slightly differnt prayers for the scrutunies.

At my parish, we have about 4 candidates. These candidates participated in the scrutunies during Lent. The last of which was celebrated this Sunday. Next week will be Palm Sunday, and we will look at the whole series of Holy Week, next week! These candidates are preparing to recieve Baptism, Confirmation, and First Communion on Easter Vigil. 

They all end with the sending off of the candidates (as well as special orders for the petitions), and in our case, they remained in the church, as is provided by the order. I usually helped with these by holding the book for the priest and deacon (like the one canon in the photo).

The scrutunies are an interesting part of Lent, and if you got to witness them, they are a very great part of the OCIA process. And each part centers on something different, all relating to the readings, which is why we use Reading A, rather than the yearly ones.