Millions of Christians around continue their metaphysical journey to Calvary having traveled from Palm Sunday to Spy Wednesday. Today we enter into the Holy Triduum which is the is the period of three days that begins with the liturgy on the evening of Maundy Thursday, reaches its high point in the Easter Vigil. It actually closes with evening prayer on Easter Sunday which will be covered in the post on Easter Week
As Christians take time in this jubilee year to reflect on the core of our faith millions of others will not. They won’t go to church services or think deeply about Jesus’s passion. They will continue to release movies, books and music to the wider world as if nothing special is going on. They will add sins to Jesus cross by killing others and starting wars. But people of all races and creeds will achieve great things in which the cross has set them free. Some of these events are recorded in the history books. Normal secular life walks along the road of cavalry with pious faith filled Christians.
What events big and small happen as folks went to Holy Week services?
Listed below are some of those memorable events.
I have listed the current liturgical feast and date.
Followed by an event that happen on the same date, but different year.
And finally an event that happen on the same liturgical date but a different date and year.
What is confusing about Lent and Easter is that an event that happen on one day one year may not happen on the same day next year. It’s tricky but for the lover of history its fun to unravel and wrap your mind around.
We start out Holy Week two days before with two movies opening in cinemas that our perfect to start out the journey to Jerusalem.
Please Note That Historical Data is comprised and quoted from Wikipedia.
Maundy Thursday April 17, 2025
This is moving. Jesus, washing the feet of his disciples. Peter didn’t understood it at all, he refused. But Jesus explained it for him. Jesus – God – did this! He himself explains to his disciples: “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord – and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you” (Jn 13:12-15).
It is the Lord’s example: he is the most important, and he washes feet, because with us what is highest must be at the service of others.
March 28, 2013: Mass of the Lord’s Supper |Pope Francis’s First Maundy Thursday Service as Pope.
April 17, 1907 – The Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than on any other day.
Maundy Thursday March 28, 1907
Venerable Sister Lúcia (March 28, 1907 – February 13, 2005) is born. Sister Lúcia and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto claimed to have witnessed the apparitions of Our Lady of Fátima in 1917.
Maundy Thursday April 17, 2025
April 17, 1937 – The Warner Bros. cartoon character of Daffy Duck was introduced, making his first appearance in the Porky Pig animated short film Porky’s Duck Hunt.
Maundy Thursday, March 25, 1937
The Nagoya Pan-Pacific Peace Exposition which is a world’s fair was held in what is now part of the Minami Ward of Nagoya city, Japan from March 15-May 31 1937.
Maundy Thursday April 17, 2025
April 17, 1964 – Jerrie Mock completes the first around-the-world airplane flight by a woman. Her solo flight in the Spirit of Columbus, which took 29 1/2 days, took off and landed at the Port Columbus International Airport in Ohio.
Maundy Thursday March 26, 1964
U.S. Army Captain Floyd J. “Jim” Thompson was captured by the Viet Cong in South Vietnam after he and his pilot, Richard L. Whitesides, were shot down over the Quang Tri Province, near the village of A Vao. Whitesides was killed in the crash, while Thompson was sent to a prison camp in North Vietnam, where he would spend almost nine years in captivity. Released on March 16, 1973, ten days short of the anniversary of his capture, Captain Thompson remains the longest serving American prisoner of war.
You Only Live Twice, Ian Fleming‘s twelfth James Bond novel, and the last of his novels to be published during his lifetime, was first published by Jonathan Cape.
Good Friday April 18, 2025
Dear brothers and sisters, the word of the Cross is also the answer which Christians offer in the face of evil, the evil that continues to work in us and around us. Christians must respond to evil with good, taking the Cross upon themselves as Jesus did. This evening we have heard the witness given by our Lebanese brothers and sisters: they composed these beautiful prayers and meditations. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to them for this work and for the witness they offer. We were able to see this when Pope Benedict visited Lebanon: we saw the beauty and the strong bond of communion joining Christians together in that land and the friendship of our Muslim brothers and sisters and so many others. That occasion was a sign to the Middle East and to the whole world: a sign of hope.
We now continue this Via Crucis in our daily lives. Let us walk together along the Way of the Cross and let us do so carrying in our hearts this word of love and forgiveness. Let us go forward waiting for the Resurrection of Jesus, who loves us so much. He is all love!
Way of the Cross at the Colosseum (March 29, 2013) | Pope Francis’s First Good Friday Service as Pope.
Good Friday April 18, 2025
April 18, 1906 – The 7.9 Mw earthquake and fire destroy much of San Francisco, California, killing more than 3,000 people, making one of the worst natural disasters in American history.
Good Friday April 13, 1906
The New York Times, April 13, 1906
MAXIM GORKY VISITS THE TOMB OF GRANT
Rides in an Auto and Eats a St. Regis Luncheon.
MARVELS AT ALL HE SEES
Wonders at the Absence of Soldiers and at Happy Faces in the Streets – Authors to Meet Him
Maxim Gorky got his first daylight view yesterday of the New York that lies beyond the range of vision from his hotel window. In an automobile he rode up Fifth Avenue and through Central Park and Riverside Drive. He visited Grant’s tomb and took luncheon at the St. Regis Hotel. As the different sights were pointed out to him he manifested as much delight and wonder as a boy turning over the leaves of a new picture book for the first time.
Mark Twain and W. D. Howells called upon Gorky at his apartments in the Hotel Belleclaire last evening. They remained with him for about half an hour discussing literature, and invited him to attend a literary dinner about a fortnight from now. Gorky accepted the invitation.
“Yes,” said Mark Twain, “we are going to offer Gorky the literary hospitality of the country. He is big enough for the honor. It is going to be a dinner with only authors and literary men present. We want to do it in proper style, and will have authors not only from New York, but from Chicago, and we may have some literary geniuses from Indiana, where I believe they breed ’em.”
The Following Day on Silent Saturday April 14,1906 , The Azusa Street Revival, the primary catalyst for the revival of Pentecostalism this century, opens in Los Angeles.
Good Friday April 18, 2025
April 18, 1909 – Joan of Arc is beatified in Rome.
Good Friday April 9, 1909
South Dakota became the first U.S. state to officially recognize Mother’s Day by proclamation of Governor Robert S. Vessey. Governor Vessey designated “the second Sabbath in our national memorial month of May”, a date that remains in the U.S. and many other nations.
Good Friday April 18, 2025
April 18, 1917- That all Americans can do the greatest good to themselves and the United States by cheerfully and promptly discharging all the duties and obligations, laid upon them because of the war, is. the declaration made by Cardinal Gibbons today in a letter to President Wilson accepting the honorary chairmanship of the League for National Unity. In the letter the Cardinal said in part: “In these days of the gravest problems which have ever weighed upon our American Government, our thoughts go out to the Chief Executive, warmed by a heartfelt sympathy for the heavy burdens of office, which he must bear, and freighted with the unwavering determination of loyal citizens to stand by him in his every effort to achieve those ideals of justice and humanity, which compelled our entrance into the war.”
CARDINAL GIBBONS — The Catholic Telegraph 18 October 1917 — The Catholic News Archive
Good Friday, April 6, 1917
The United States declared war on Germany after passing U.S. President Woodrow Wilson‘s resolution for military action against the Empire. The United States House of Representatives voted 373 to 50 in favor of declaring war. The United States Senate also voted 82 to 6 in favor of war.
Ottoman authorities deported the entire civilian population of Jaffa and Tel Aviv on orders from Ottoman Syria Governor Djemal Pasha. Muslim evacuees were eventually allowed to return, but Jewish evacuees were not able to return until after the British conquest of Palestine.
Good Friday April 18, 2025
April 18, 1925 – The San Francisco Chinese Hospital (SFCH), the only hospital in the United States with a specific mission of providing medical care for Chinese immigrants and the only one with a staff fluent in various dialects of the Chinese language, was opened at 835 Jackson Street in the city’s Chinatown section with a dedication ceremony attended by Mayor James Rolph of San Francisco and Mayor John L. Davie of Oakland, as well as officials of the Chinese Hospital Association and leading Chinese physicians.
Good Friday April 10, 1925
The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was first published by Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Good Friday April 18, 2025
April 18, 1937 – Several hundred residents of the town of Schüttorf in Nazi Germany gathered at the town hall to protest the arrest of Friedrich Middendorff, the Lutheran pastor of the town’s Evangelical-Reformed Church, after Middendorff had been jailed for publishing the article “Ein Weniges zur Judenfrage” (“About the Jewish Question”), defying Nazi policy. Rather than overtly protesting, the persons gathered reportedly sang hymns for several hours until the Gestapo released their pastor.Mittendorf and his family fled Germany after he was freed.
Good Friday March 26, 1937
William H. Hastie (November 17, 1904 – April 14, 1976) became the first African-American federal magistrate in U.S. history when he was confirmed as judge of the Federal District Court for the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Good Friday April 18, 2025
April 18, 1949 – The Republic of Ireland Act comes into force, declaring Éire to be a republic and severing Ireland‘s “association” with the Commonwealth of Nations
Good Friday April 15, 1949
On Good Friday, Pope Pius XII issued the encyclical Redemptoris nostri cruciatus focusing on the war in Palestine.
1. The passion of Our Redeemer, rendered present, as it were to us during these days of Holy Week, makes the minds of Christians turn with deepest reverence to that land which Divine Providence willed to be the cherished home-country of the Word Incarnate, and in which Christ Jesus lived His earthly life, shed His blood and died.
2. Yet at the present time, as We recall the memory of those Holy Places with more ardent devotion, Our heart is full to overflowing with keenest anxiety because of the difficulty and uncertainty of the situation which there prevails.
17. Encourage the faithful committed to your charge to be ever more concerned about the conditions in Palestine and have them make their lawful requests known, positively and unequivocally, to the rulers of nations. But let them especially implore unceasingly the help of Him, Who is the Ruler of Men and Nations. May God look down with mercy on the whole world, but particularly on that land which was bedewed with the Blood of the Incarnate Word, so that the charity of Jesus Christ, which alone can bring tranquillity and peace, may conquer all hatred and strife.
Good Friday April 18, 2025
April 18, 1980 – The town of Elmore City, Oklahoma holds its first dance in the town’s history.[12] The film Footloose was loosely based on events that took place in the town.
Good Friday April 4, 1980
Fidel Castro removed the Cuban police who had been guarding the Peruvian Embassy in Havana, allowing the embassy grounds to become a haven for dissatisfied Cuban citizens.[27] After the police were removed, hundreds of Cubans entered the diplomatic protection of the embassy grounds.
The radical environmental advocacy group Earth First! was founded by Dave Foreman and four other men— Howie Wolke, Mike Roselle, Bart Koehler, and Ron Kezar— as the group was driving home from the Pinacate Desert in Mexico.
Silent Saturday April 19, 2025
April 19, 1775 – American Revolutionary War: The war begins with an American victory in Concord during the battles of Lexington and Concord.
Silent Saturday April 15, 1775
John Alker – son of James Alker, was baptised at All Saints’ Church, Wigan. He was a long case clock and pocket watch maker and member of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers active in Wigan, Lancashire. John Alker began a legacy of clock and watch manufacturing within his family, spanning over 100 years. The original storefront in Wigan was in operation from at least 1794 to 1860,being run by John and subsequently his sons and extended family. Eventually expanding to a second store in Chorley that was active until the late 1800’s.
Silent Saturday April 19, 2025
April 19, 1903 – The Kishinev pogrom in Kishinev (Bessarabia) begins, forcing tens of thousands of Jews to later seek refuge in Palestine and the Western world.
Silent Saturday April 11, 1903
St. Gemma Galgani (March 12, 1878 – April 11, 1903) dies. She was an Italian mystic, canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church in 1940. She has been called the “daughter of the Passion” because of her profound imitation of the Passion of Christ. She is especially venerated in the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus (Passionists).25, Italian mystic and Catholic saint (tuberculosis).
Silent Saturday April 19, 2025
April 19, 1943 – World War II: In German-occupied Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins, after German troops enter the Warsaw Ghetto to round up the remaining Jews.
Silent Saturday April 24, 1943
Jesse Owens Is Ford Worker
Detroit- Jesse Owens, former track star at Ohio State University and thrice winner in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin where Adolf Hitler refused to shake hands with him, is now personnel director among Negro employees at Henry Ford’s River Rouge Plant.
Boston Chronicle April 24, 1943
Silent Saturday April 19, 2025
April 19, 1971 – On planet earth, Charles Manson is sentenced to death (later commuted to life imprisonment) for conspiracy in the Tate–LaBianca murders.
April 19, 1971 – Meanwhile in Outer space: Salyut 1 is launched becoming the first space station.
Silent Saturday April 10, 1971
Sixteen members of the U.S. national table tennis team became the first contingent of Americans in more than 20 years to be welcomed to the People’s Republic of China as nine players, four team officials and two wives walked across a bridge from British Hong Kong at the invitation of the Chinese government for an eight-day visit described as ping-pong diplomacy. The team and accompanying reporters were flown from Guangzhou to Tokyo seven days later after their historic visit.
Mark’s First Silent Saturday Celebrated at less than 3 months old.
Silent Saturday April 19, 2025
April 19, 1975 – India‘s first satellite Aryabhata launched in orbit from Kapustin Yar, Russia.
April 19, 1975 – South Vietnamese forces withdrew from the town of Xuan Loc in the last major battle of the Vietnam War
Silent Saturday March 29, 1975
As North Vietnam’s army made its way into Da Nang, a World Airways Boeing 727 made its fourth and final flight to evacuate refugees to safety in South Vietnam. When the airline’s President, Ed Dalye, arrived, there were over 1,000 people at Da Nang. Instead of women and children, 400 South Vietnamese soldiers forced their way onto a plane which normally carried 150 passengers. The jet took off with its back stairway still open, and those who did not make it on board tried to climb on into the wheel wells and the undercarriage of the jet.
Kristin’s First Silent Saturday at 7 months old.
Silent Saturday April 19, 2025
April 19, 1985 – Two hundred ATF and FBI agents lay siege to the compound of the white supremacist survivalist group The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord in Arkansas; the CSA surrenders two days later.
Silent Saturday April 6, 1985
Top Songs
1 ONE MORE NIGHT –•– Phil Collins
2 WE ARE THE WORLD –•– USA For Africa
3 MATERIAL GIRL –•– Madonna
4 CRAZY FOR YOU –•– Madonna
The Following Day on Easter Sunday April 7, 1985 – Wham! becomes the first Western pop group to perform in China when they play a concert in Beijing‘s Workers Stadium during an historic 10-day visit.
Silent Saturday April 19, 2025
Easter Sunday April 19, 1987 – The Simpsons first appear as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show, first starting with “Good Night“.
Silent Saturday April 18, 1987
The Easter Epic is the nickname given to a National Hockey League (NHL) ice hockey game during the 1987 Stanley Cup playoffs between the New York Islanders and Washington Capitals. The seventh and deciding game of the Patrick Division semifinals, it was played April 18–19, 1987, at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, and is so named because the game started on Saturday evening but did not finish until the early hours of Easter Sunday.
Silent Saturday April 19, 2025
April 19, 1993 – The 51-day FBI siege of the Branch Davidian building in Waco, Texas, USA, ends when a fire breaks out. Seventy-six Davidians, including 18 children under age 10, died in the fire.
Silent Saturday April 10, 1993
3 Days Earlier on Spy Wednesday The Sandlot was released in theaters.
Yesterday on Good Friday Sidekicks Opened in theaters with Jonathan Brandis and Chuck Norris.
Five Days From Now on Easter Wednesday April 15, 1993 was the 10th anniversary of the opening of Tokyo Disneyland.
Silent Saturday April 19, 2025
Easter Wednesday April 19, 1995 – Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, USA, is bombed, killing 168 people including 19 children under the age of six.
Silent Saturday April 15, 1995
Silent Saturday April 19, 2025
April 19, 2011 – Fidel Castro resigns as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba after holding the title since July 1961.
Silent Saturday April 23, 2011
The guest list for the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton is announced.
One Day From Now on Easter Sunday April 24, 2011 – The 2011 Guantanamo Bay files leak occurs, WikiLeaks and other organisations publishing 779 classified documents about Guantanamo Bay detainees, and it had been exposed 150 innocent citizens from Afghanistan and Pakistan were held in the camp without trial and detainees being as young as 14 years old.
Silent Saturday April 19, 2025
April 19, 2013 – Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is killed in a shootout with police. His brother Dzhokhar is later captured hiding in a boat inside a backyard in the suburb of Watertown.
Silent Saturday March 30, 2013
The Eiffel Tower is evacuated for a time after an anonymous caller made a bomb threat. No explosives were found, police are still searching for the caller.
Scientists announce that a green meteorite Northwest Africa 7325, found in Morocco in 2012, may have originated on Mercury, which, if proven, would be the first known meteorite from that planet.
Pope Francis was elected to the throne of Peter on March 13, 2013 and celebrated his first Easter Vigil mass as Pope on this date.
March 30 2013: Easter Vigil | Francis
On this radiant night, let us invoke the intercession of the Virgin Mary, who treasured all these events in her heart (cf. Lk 2:19,51) and ask the Lord to give us a share in his Resurrection. May he open us to the newness that transforms, to the beautiful surprises of God. May he make us men and women capable of remembering all that he has done in our own lives and in the history of our world. May he help us to feel his presence as the one who is alive and at work in our midst. And may he teach us each day, dear brothers and sisters, not to look among the dead for the Living One. Amen.
Silent Saturday April 19, 2025
April 19, 2005 – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is elected to the papacy and becomes Pope Benedict XVI.
Silent Saturday March 26, 2005
“Doctor Who” returns to BBC TV after 16 years with the debut of Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose.
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