Tenebrae is a Latin word signifying “darkness,” “shadows,” and obscurity. It is a word that pointedly calls our attention to the scriptural accounts of our Lord’s crucifixion: the name of this service is taken from one of the Responsories Tenebrae factae sunt (“darkness came over the whole land”, Mark 15:33). This service gathers into a single evening the themes originally assigned to the last three nights of Holy Week.