2026 Triduum Guest Preacher: The Rev. Roger Ferlo
March 18, 2026
We look forward to Welcome the Rev. Dr. Roger Ferlo as our guest preacher for the Triduum this year. Read the Rev. Dr. Ferlo's reflections on the Triduum and more information about him below.
The practice of the Triduum—the fancy ancient Latin word for “Three Days”—has experienced its ups and downs over the two millennia of Christian worship. It owes its current form in our Prayer Book to the great liturgical renewal of the 1950s and 1960s and has long been central to our Holy Week observance here at St. James Cathedral. In the earliest days of the church, it was the vigil of Easter. featuring baptisms conducted in the thick of night, that marked the beginning of this tradition. No wonder that the renewal of our own baptismal promises lies at the heart of the Vigil service on Saturday night. But Christians have long since filled out the story:
- on Maundy Thursday, remembering Jesus’ last supper with his friends; following his example as we wash our neighbor’s feet; standing watch with him at the hour of his betrayal
- on Good Friday, recalling his passion, death and burial in a sanctuary stripped of all ornament except a simple cross
- on Holy Saturday night, hearing the powerful stories of salvation history both spoken and sung as the new Paschal candle pierces the darkness, and then rising together, in a church newly filled with light, chanting a wildly elaborate three-fold Alleluia to herald the Easter gospel.
Christians love the number three. God is both One and Three, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, a lifegiving Trinity of love. After three days in the grave, Jesus rose from the dead. In those three days, according to revered if unbiblical tradition, he descended into Hades, “harrowed hell,” and rescued Adam and Eve—all in preparation for his resurrection glory and the healing of a broken world. So in this Trinitarian spirit, in a world once again torn by violence and division, consider these three days of the Triduum at St. James as one seamless expression of hope in the risen life of Christ our Savior.
The Rev. Dr. Roger Ferlo is a writer, musician, former English professor, and former seminary dean. He is currently a Scholar in Residence at the Newberry Library, and volunteer docent at the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures (ISAC, formerly the Oriental Institute) at the University of the Chicago. A Colgate University graduate and emeritus trustee, he earned a Ph.D. in English from Yale University. He holds honorary doctorates from Colgate and from Bexley Seabury Seminary, where he was the founding president. He lives with his wife Anne Harlan in Hyde Park and is a Priest Associate at St. Paul and the Redeemer in Kenwood. He is the author of Opening the Bible and Sensing God, and editor of Heaven.
