PALM SITNDAY (Lat. Dominica Palma run.). The last Sunday of Lent, so called from the custom of blessing branches of the palm tree, or of other trees substituted in those countries in which palm cannot be procured, and Of carrying the blessed branches in procession, in commenek ration of the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem (John xii.). The date of the origin of this custom is uncertain. Some special eelebra tion of the day is described as early as 3S6, but the ceremony of blessing the branches can hardly be referred to an earlier date than the ninth. or possibly the eighth century. A procession i. formed, the members of which issue from the church carrying brandies in their hands, and singing the hymn of Venantius Fortunatus, bans. ct honor." In the Greek Church the book of the Gospels is borne in front. In some countries a priest, or occasionally a lay figure, was led at the head, mounted upon an ass, a usage which still exists in Spain and in Spanish America. Before their return to the
church the doors have been closed, and certain strophes of the hymn are sung alternately by a choir within the church and by the procession without, when, on the sub-deacon's knocking at the door with the shaft of the processional cross, it is again thrown open. and the procession re enters. During the singing of the passion in the solemn mass, which ensues, the congregation hold the palm branch in their hands, and at the con clusion of the service it is carried home to their respective houses. where it is preserved (hiring the year. The ashes employed in the service of Ash Wednesday are made by burning the palms of the preceding year.