Miserere

One of the most impressive ceremonies of Holy Week is the chanting of the Miserere.

When someone did want to designate a short interval, the usual phrasing drew on religious vocabulary, calling up the duration of common prayers: the Paternoster, the Ave Maria, and the Miserere.

Psalm 50, the “Miserere,” was linked to the Passion of Christ by a peculiar story from the thirteenth century known as the “rood legend,” a popular history concerning the wood of the Cross. According to that legend, David had composed the “Miserere” as penance for his sins under the very tree that provided the wood for the Holy Cross.

The miserere, that is to say, have mercy on us, is a psalm, composed of stanzas, which are sung alternately in a very different manner.