04/04/2026
HOLY WEEK: Silent Saturday
Artist: Giuseppe Sanmartino Date: 1753
Title: Cristo velato (The Veiled Christ) [Marble Sculpture]
Location: Ca****la Sansevero, Naples, Italy
Selected Readings: Genesis 1:1-2:2; Psalm 62 and 104; Matthew 27:62-66; Romans 6:1-14
Holy Saturday is the name given to the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Some Christians recognize Holy Saturday, or as I have called it “Silent Saturday,” the seventh day of Holy Week, as the day on which Jesus “rested” from His work of providing salvation. As Jesus died, He called out, “It is finished!” All his work had been accomplished. With His crucifixion, Jesus was laid in a nearby tomb, and His body remained there the entirety of Holy Saturday (Matt 27:59-60; Mark 15:46; Luke 23:53-54; John 19:39-42). The only biblical reference to what happened on Holy Saturday is found in Matt 27:62-66. After sundown on Friday, the rulers visited Pilate. This visit was on the Sabbath, since the Jews reckoned a day as starting at sundown. They asked Pilate for a guard for Jesus’ tomb. They remembered Jesus saying that He would rise again in three days (John 2:19-21) and wanted to do everything they could to prevent any such notion.
