Its essential elements – the liturgy of the Word, baptism and the Eucharist – are examined in depth, with a careful look at their evolution and the theological meaning that still challenges every believer today. A valuable guide to fully experience the holiest night of the year.
The early Church, as we know, celebrated the resurrection of Christ every Sunday: there is no testimony on the celebration of a fixed Sunday, of the resurrection of the Lord before the 2nd century[1] . Since then we have testimonies that give us valuable details about the way Easter night was celebrated. In particular, we are reminded of fasting during the days – one or two – preceding the Vigil. Such fasting is mentioned by both Tertullian[2] and Hippolytus of Rome[3] . But it would be wrong to think that this fast had exclusively ascetic connotations. The penitential fasting of Lent ended with Maundy Thursday; with Good Friday, the festive fasting after Easter began, in expectation of the resurrection. According to Tertullian, with fasting Christians honour the days when Christ was taken from his Church[4] . It would therefore be opportune to rediscover today the meaning of fasting, which, while awaiting the return of the Bridegroom, animated all the vigils of the Church. This, moreover, explains why no one took communion on Good Friday: since the Eucharist was considered the truest food, those who took part in it broke their fast. Therefore one had to fast until the return of the Bridegroom, that is, until his resurrection
Regarding the celebration, the Didascalia of the Apostles, a 3rd century Syrian document, offers us interesting details for the first time:
On Friday and Saturday, your fast will be total and you will not eat any food. Gather together, do not sleep, keep vigil all night in prayers, supplications, psalms, reading the prophets, the gospel and the psalms…until three o’clock in the night following the Sabbath. Only then shall you cease your fast .[5]
With regard to the liturgy of the Word, in the article Le choix des lectures de la veillée pascale (QLP, 32 [1952], 65-70). Bernard Botte O.S.B. concludes that the readings of the Easter Vigil in the Roman Church were traditionally six and that the four readings that appear in the Gregorian Sacramentary reflect a later custom.
At the time of Hippolytus of Rome (3rd century), Easter night included a celebration of readings and the celebration of the three sacraments of Christian initiation .[6]
The celebration of Christian initiation on Easter night only became a generalised fact in the 4th century.
Three fundamental elements characterised the Easter Vigil very early on: the celebration of the Word (first element) up to the moment of baptism (second element); all crowned by the celebration of the Eucharist (third element).
Since one had to go from the church, where the celebration of the Word had taken place, to the baptistery, where the water was to be consecrated, a litany was to be sung to accompany the procession. We have an example of these litanies in the Ordo XVII, before the blessing of the candle .[9]
It even went so far as to divide a single litany into two parts: the first was sung before the blessing of the font and then before the baptism; the second, afterwards, and served as the Kyrie for the mass.
The Ordo of the Easter Vigil, before the 1952 reform implemented by Pope Pius XII and therefore called the Pious Reform, had preserved some archaism in the Eucharistic celebration. For example, going back beyond the time of Pope Sergius I (687-701), who had introduced the singing of the Agnus Dei during the breaking of bread, the Agnus Dei was not sung during the Vigil Mass. Similarly, the kiss of peace was not given, because at the first dawn of Easter Day, at cockcrow, this sign of peace was conferred with the greeting Pax vobis.[11] . These archaisms have been suppressed.
However, to these three fundamental components of the Vigil (word, initiation, normally followed by the Eucharist) two symbolic elements were to be added, with which it was intended to emphasise common and sometimes necessary customs, and which took on a more or less relevant importance according to the various Churches, namely the blessing of the new fire and the procession of the lumen Christi with the laus cerei.
To illuminate the basilicas where the faithful would soon gather, there was then only one means: that of lighting a fire from which, with coals, light would be drawn to illuminate the sacred space. After the lamps were extinguished, at the end of the lucernare, light had to be provided for the liturgical offices of the following day. That is why in the 9th century we find in Rome a blessing of the fire on Good Friday[12] . On Easter night, this blessing of fire, like that of the Paschal candle and baptismal water, gives us a glimpse of the effects of redemption. The world now takes on a new face: the infra-human creature resumes its function of service and becomes again an instrument of grace. It is as if a kind of mime of creation were taking place. In the 8th century we have more details[13] . On Maundy Thursday, at the ninth hour, a flint flame is lit at the door of the basilica. With this, a candle is lit and placed on a reed. With this fire, a lamp is kept burning until Holy Saturday so that the candle that is to be blessed can be lit. The custom is apparently of Frankish origin. One enters the church with this candle and lights seven lamps in front of the altar, then the church is lit. At that instant the celebration of mass begins. These lamps are then extinguished with a certain solemnity during the Matins and Lauds offices. From then on, the usages of the different Orders became confused and the problem became complicated. In the 13th century, a three-armed candle is used[14] . It is possible that this custom was borrowed from Jerusalem where the bishop lit three candles first, then after him the deacons and then the assembly .[15]
The 1951 reform abolished the three-branched candle, the exact meaning of which was no longer perceived, and instead introduced the custom of lighting the candles of the faithful, a ceremony that, although it had no precedent in the Roman liturgy, had nonetheless been customary in Jerusalem with an obvious theological significance. We note, however, that no official formula for the blessing of fire can be found before the Roman Pontifical of the 12th century.
The so-called Exultet did not make its appearance, in various forms, until the end of the 4th century. However, while the blessing of the Paschal candle was already being celebrated everywhere – even in Rome – towards the end of the 5th century, the papal liturgy ignored it in the 11th century[16] This was perhaps due to the influence of St Jerome. In a letter to Presidius (384), he in fact accuses, in harsh tones, the frivolity of the ‘Exultet[17]
First, the one who is to bless the candle, standing in the middle in front of the altar, asks for prayers to be said for him, makes a sign of the cross on the candle and, receiving from the subdeacon the hidden light on Good Friday, after lighting the candle, chants: Dominus vobiscum; then he recites an oration, then continues with the Sursum corda[18] , etc. We possess several Exultet formulas. The formula of the laus cerei, as it was sung before the liturgical reform, is said to have been composed by St Ambrose of Milan.[19] Several accessory rites used ad libitum were introduced at the time of the preparation of the Paschal candle.
The courage and competence that characterised the first reform of the Easter Vigil passed in 1951, according to which this Vigil could be celebrated ad libitum, cannot be emphasised enough. While respecting, as was only right and proper, that reform, several adjustments were made to it after an experience of its Ordo lasting more than ten years. On the whole, these retouches have been quite happy, even though they present the side of certain criticisms.
The preparation of the Paschal candle has not been changed, although, depending on pastoral needs, certain elements, or all, of the liturgy may be omitted. But there is more. Episcopal conferences have been authorised to insert other formulas. In fact, the engravings made on the candle, with the words that accompany them, while interesting in their intention to highlight a certain mime, can leave the faithful indifferent, especially if they are numerous, because they are not able to realise what is being said and done. The insertion of the five grains of incense in the candle, as is well known, has its origin in a misreading of a Latin text, in which the term incensum – meaning lit and referring to the candle – was confused with the identical term meaning incense. This confusion gave rise to the incense grains that symbolically represent the five wounds of the Lord. Such symbolism, while it may be of interest to a certain number of the faithful, is not so rich that it cannot be simplified or even disappear. And this is so as not to further clutter a celebration that is already full of symbols and mimes, and which must further not be obscured by placing everything on the same level. In fact, a celebration of the Vigil must be careful to emphasise the truly fundamental elements: The celebration of the word, the celebration of the water and, above all, the celebration of the Eucharist, which constitutes its crowning glory and which runs the risk of taking second place because, in this case, it does not involve its own originality.
The richness brought by the last Ordo consists in having proposed, for the liturgy of the word, prayers of one’s choice, some of which, perhaps, can make one better understand and pray what has just been proclaimed.
It is recommended to proclaim all the readings proposed by the new Ordo and not only the compulsory ones. Unfortunately, it is well known that a certain number of pastors, insufficiently trained in Scripture and liturgy, are allergic to a prolonged celebration. The education of the faithful is at stake, however, and it must be noted that objections to an authentic Vigil almost always come more from the clergy than from the faithful, who – as experience in various places proves – enjoy a well-done Vigil.[20]
By Fr. Giorgio Bontempi C.M.
[1] The Sunday, ed. MARCEL ROONEY, In, The Liturgical Year, in ANAMNESIS No. 6, 67 – 91.
[2] TERTULLIAN, De Ieiunio, 2, 14; CCL 2, 125. 1271.
[3] HIPPOLYTE DE ROME, La Tradition Apostolique, 33: ed. B. Botte (LQF, 39) Münster i W 1963, 79-81
[4] Cf., TERTULLIAN, no. 6
[5] Didascalia et Constitutiones Apostolorum: ed. F.X. Funk, Padeborn 1950, I, 288 (tr. Franc.: La Didascalie des Douze Apôtres, by F. Nau, Paris 191², 174-175).
[6] HIPPOLYTE DE ROME, La Tradition Apostolique, 20-21: ed. cit., 43-45.
[7] M.ANDRIEU, Les Ordines romani du haut myoen àge, III, Louvain 1951, 272 (Ordo XXIII).
[8] Didascalia et Constitutiones Apostolorum: ed. F.X. Funk, cit. 181-183.
[9] Constitutiones Apostolorum 7, 43 ed. cit., 450.
[10] Justin, I Apologia, LXV, Ed. Pauline, Rome, 193, 115-116.
[11] M, ANDRIEU, Les Ordines romani…, 457 (Ordo XXX A).
[12] ID., ibid., 272 (Ordo XXII).
[13] ID., ibid., 325-326 (Ordo XXVI).
[14] ID, Le Pontifical de la Curie Romaine au XIII sìecle, in Le Pontifical romain au moyen ȃge,II, Vatican City, 1940,565.
[15] F.C. CONYBEARE, art. Rituale Armenorum in Dictionaire d’Archeologie Chretienne et de Liturgie, XV, 1177-1178.
[16] M…. ANDRIEU, Les Ordines romani…, III, Louvain 1951, 272 (Ordo XXIII).
[17] Full text in H. SCHMIDT, Hebdomanda Sancta, II/I, Romae-Friburgi, Br-Barcinone. 1957, 629-633.
[18] M. ANDRIEU, Les Ordines romani…, cit, 190 (Ordo XVIII.
[19] B. CAPELLE, L’Exultete pascal, oeuvre de saint Ambroise, in Miscellanea Giovanni Mercati, I, Vatican City 1946, 214-246. This attribution, however, has been the subject of much controversy.
[20] Triduum Sacrum, ed. Adrien Nocent, in Anàmnesi 6, L’Anno Liturgico, Genoa, Marietti, 1989, 103-104.
