Responsories for Holy Week Responsories for Holy Week Responsories for Holy Week (Latin: Responsoria pro hebdomada sancta) are three sets of nine responsories, for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday respectively, the three days of the Holy Week preceding Easter Sunday. They are also known as the Tenebrae responsories, and were set to music for instance by Carlo Gesualdo ("Responsoria et alia ad Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae spectantia", 1611) and by Jan Dismas Zelenka (ZWV 55). The Night Hours ("preceding" the Little Hours) of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday consist of matins (each with three nocturns) and lauds. The lessons of these
Days of week on Hebrew calendar the "four gates". Since three arrangements cannot occur within the fixed calendar, most holidays can each occur on one of four possible days. All the holy days and festivals fall in the months of Nisan through Tishrei, months one to seven. These months always have the same number of days, alternating 30 and 29. The next two months are Cheshvan and Kislev, months eight and nine. Both or either of these months can have either 29 or 30 days, allowing for adjustments to be made and the schedule in the coming year to be manipulated. (On a regular year, Cheshvan