seven white candles closeup photography

The word ‘tenebrae’ is Latin for gloom/shadows and is the name given to the service of Matins and Lauds belonging to the last three days of Holy Week. The tone of the whole Office is most noticeably mournful. The Tenebrae service recreates the emotional aspects of the passion narrative (the betrayal, abandonment, and agony) and it is left unfinished, because the passion narrative isn’t over until Easter Day.