www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology the Latin Easter Vigil

Dear Friends,

I know this is not Byzantine but it is Faith and Worship

This little effort is due to the plea from Alex - if you already know the Latin Easter Vigil then please feel free to move on - but of course each Parish celebrates in its own peculiar fashion !!

OK we start preparing the Easter Vigil some months before as the actual time of sunset has to be confirmed - the Service must start after sunset.

On the appointed evening apart from the Choir [ we have tried to join the others but found our seats had gone on our return to the Church, or since we now sit in the Organ Loft/gallery some of our less agile members could not climb the stairs easily - so we were volunteered to stay there] we all meet outside the Church for the first part. The Church is in total darkness - even the organist does not have a light.
The Service of Light
The Priest says the opening prayer which reminds us about this most Holy Night when Christ passed from death to life and the fire is blessed.
(Now this is supposed to be a solemn moment but of course all sorts of problems can arise - it does not light, it lights all too well etc etc and yes one year we really felt that the Fire Brigade was going to have to visit us !)
The Paschal Candle is now lit from the Fire and all process inside and just inside the Doors the Principal Celebrant raises the candle on high and sings "Christ our Light" to which we all respond "Thanks be to God" This is sung 3 times as the Procession makes its way to the Sanctuary - and now the fire from the Candle is passed to all of us as we light our candles - this is a moving sight as the light slowly spreads throughout the Church and we have light !

As the Priests and servers go up the steps onto the Sanctuary, the lit Easter Candle is placed on its beautifully decorated stand - a mass of green, gold and white flowers and leaves. Once the Book and the Candle have been censed then hopefully there is either a Priest or a Deacon to sing the Exsultet - if this is not possible then the Cantor sings it omitting parts which can only be sung by a priest or Deacon. This is a wonderful hymn which sends shivers up and down your spine each time it is sung no matter how well you know it.
............ This is the night when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death and rose triumphant from the grave.......

After that the lights in the Church are put on and we put out our candles , carefully , as they will be needed again.

next comes The Liturgy of the Word - seven Old Testament Readings with their correct Psalms and a Prayer. Now the candles on the Altar are lit and the Gloria is sung and during that we make a joyful sound as we sing and the Servers try to outdo us with the ringing of the bells.

We then have the opening Prayer of the Mass and the New Testament Reading followed by the Easter Psalm [117] and then the Gospel and this is followed in its turn by the Homily.

The Liturgy of Baptism, the Blessing of the Baptismal Water and our renewal of our Baptismal Vows and here we have our candles lit once more. The Litany is sung if there are to be any Baptisms - this year we had not - our Candidates were from Protestant Churches. Now we are Sprinkled with the Baptismal Water , the Creed is omitted and we move on to

The Liturgy of the Eucharist and at the Reception of the Most Sacred Body and Blood of Our Lord and our new Members join us for the first time - truly a joyful occasion

This year despite having 3 new Members we had no Confirmations , which normally are after all have renewed their Baptismal Vows as the Archbishop decided that he wished to confirm all the new Members in the Archdiocese himself and will do so on May 15
This Service takes about two and a half hours obviously depending on the number of Candidates/Catechumens. this year we started at 7.30 and it ended at 10.00 and as we all left there were mini Easter eggs for all and a cup of Coffee[ at last ] or something a little stronger in our Meeting Room for all who wished to partake of these, together with cakes and biscuits - me I had to run away as I had no idea as to the whereabouts of my husband - he had gone into England to bring back a group of pilgrims returning from Lourdes and the Jumbulance [ with 8 beds and 24 reclining seats] had had mechanical problems so he had taken the spare Jumbo down to shadow them back to Glasgow.

As usual I returned the next morning for 9.30 Mass as I like to be able to really concentrate on the Mass of Easter instead of having to anticipate what is about to happen [ and in Holy Cross things do go wrong with great regularity and we have become very adept at thinking on our feet !!] No matter how well we rehearse we cannot guarantee that our Priests will do/say what they have promised to do - I'm sure all you Cantors will understand what we mean

And Oh Yes - I forgot to add for Mor Ephrem at times we can hardly see through the clouds and clouds of Incense - normally it is not used[ ] but at Easter Vigil we make up for it[ pity about the asthmatics ]

[ 04-04-2002: Message edited by: Our Lady's slave of love ]

Dear Angela,

Thank you for such a wonderful explanation and description of the Easter Vigil!

Regardless of Rite, if we don't feel tired and a bit in pain afterwards - it just isn't Easter!

God bless,

Alex

Just a small correction -- the deacon is the one who, properly, chants "Christ, our Light!" and who sings the Exultet.

An interesting comparison... in my Melkite parish the celebration of the "New Light" which corresponds to the Blessing of the New Fire (of which the procession of the Easter Candle is the last portion) takes place at NOON. There is no Latin equivalent of the procession with the burial cloth of Christ.

Edward, deacon and sinner

Bless me a sinner, Rev. Fr. Deacon!

Does the Latin Church remove a figure of Christ from the Cross on Good Friday and wrap it in linen?

If so, what becomes of the figure at Easter?

Christus Resurrexit!

Alex

Aha - but if you ain't got a deacon ??
Point taken - but we have not had a deacon in the 12 years I have been in the Parish - sad but true Maybe Archbishop Mario will give us some deacons now - it would be nice - and they would be such a help to our aging priests.

Alex
Our big Crucifix at the back of the Altar is removed and on Good Friday we venerate an enormous Cross [ no Corpus] carried by the priest from the back to the front of the Church.

The Crucifix is returned for the Easter Vigil -- oh and our 4 statues are not veiled - a pity I think.

CHRISTOS VOSKRES!
VO ISTINU VOSKRES!

Alex wrote: "...Does the Latin Church remove a figure of Christ from the Cross on Good Friday and wrap it in linen?

If so, what becomes of the figure at Easter?..."

Well, in my Slovak grandmother's Roman Catholic parish, on Good Friday, they took the corpus off the Crucifix and then set up a tomb made of faux stone and placed a life-size corpus of Christ wrapped in linen. The tomb was surrounded with lillies and flowers.

At the Easter Vigil service on Holy Saturday, the corpus had been removed and was replaced with a life-size statue of the Risen Lord complete with staff and flag. This remained on display throughout Easter week.

The members of the parish would stand all night vigil on Good Friday into Holy Saturday. I remember my uncle and aunt used to go at 2 or 3 am and stay with others and chant the Sorriful mysteries of the rosary during their vigil.

Now, this is only one parish. I haven't been there since my grandmother died in 1991 but I think they still do many of these customs.

CHRIST IS RISEN!

mark

Dear Mark,

How interesting!

This explains a tradition in a number of Ukrainian Catholic Churches up here.

The tradition being the statue of the Risen Christ that is also to be found at St Mary's in Mississauga, at least the last two times I was there at Easter.

And when I served at a small Church of the Dormition, the statue was prominently carried during the Easter procession at the beginning of the Matins of the Resurrection.

That we are Byzantine and yet celebrate Easter on different dates reminds me of the history of the Church in Britain where Kings and Queens would belong to the Roman and Celtic Churches respectively.

St Bede the Venerable noted how one King of the Latin Rite celebrating Easter while his wife, of the Celtic Church, was still fasting.

It always tickled me a bit to see how we sometimes preach to the Orthodox about unity, and yet don't have a basic unity on the date of Easter as Byzantine Catholics.

Funny and sad

Khrystos Voskres!

Alex

Agela: This a beutiful description of the whole vigil. Just an additional point: The Liturgy of the Word (Old Testament and New Testament) readings are a complete narration of the History of the Salvation of the Humanity and is plenty of symbols: the water, the fire, fall, redemption.

Indeed beautiful.

+JMJ+

Anglea:

I agree, time to start veiling statues again!

In the Phillipines they have processions with several images of the Crucified Body of our Lord. These processions go from Church to Church all day long.

The Philipinos could really teach the rest of us Latins about devotional practices.

Joe Zollars

PS: Alex: Why doesn't everyone in the East use the Julien Calender? I think it would be much simpler.

Dear Joe,

I think both East and West should use the Julian Calendar!

And yes, it would be much simpler for one and all!

God bless,

Alex

In most Latin churches the crucifix (cross with corpus) is simply covered from after the Holy Thursday "Mass of the Lord's Supper" until sometime on Holy Saturday before the Easter Vigil. The cloth that is used to cover the crucifix is not considered anything special as it is in the Eastern Churches -- that is, there is no thought of it being an epitaphion.

I know of no church in my area where the corpus us removed from the cross -- or if it's even possible.

Edward, deacon and sinner

The Easter Vigil in the Latin rite is beautiful, and I try to make it every year, although this year I couldn't.

One of the reasons I like it so much is because I get to hear the Exsultet, which as Angela says, sends shivers up and down your spine as you hear it...it's especially good when you've been fasting and stuff all during Lent, and then you hear in the third line (in English anyway, as I can't figure out where it is when I hear it sung in Latin) "Jesus Christ our King is risen!"

I'm happy to hear that at least in some Latin parishes, all the Vigil readings are used. In the parish I normally go to for the Vigil, they omit some readings for the sake of timing...I think time shouldn't be such a big consideration, considering IT'S EASTER!

As far as veiling statues and images goes, I'd heard of this, but never actually saw it done, until Monday of Holy Week. I was in Manhattan, and decided to leave Saint Patrick's Cathedral when I saw there was going to be a funeral there (figured it was polite to leave), and then I went to Saint Agnes. It's a small and beautiful church...very traditional. People knelt at the altar rail for Communion, they used real candles instead of electric lights at the small shrines on the sides, and best of all, all the statues and images were veiled in violet. It was very austere looking, but it was very moving and beautiful in its austerity, and now I love the custom...I too wish Latins would start veiling things again during Lent.

If you haven't gone to an Easter Vigil yet, go...I don't care if you're on the Julian Calendar or not, just go. :p

My Spiritual Director's wee church is very traditional . I went to him during Holy Week last year and everything in the Chapel was veiled - crucifix , staues [ all 2 of them] and the 2 Icons had been removed - not a flower, nothing.
Even the statue of St Mungo in the entrance to Turnbull Hall was veiled. Most impressive.

Dear Angela,

How very interesting and inspiring!

I've heard that Anglicans have the rite of "stripping of the altars" during the Triduum.

Does the Latin Church have this also? What does it signify?

As the Catholicos said, time should be forgotten during the Easter Vigil.

I have friends who attend all-night Vigils once in a while and they really get a spiritual charge out of it.

Prayer is really prayer when we spend time participating in it. I used to complain about the length of services, but now they seem too short!

Does the Latin Chuch have all-nighters in terms of Vigils? Does the Byzantine Church? Catholicos, what about your ecclesial neck of the Woulds?

Alex