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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Offertorium – 42 Nowadays the service for the Easter Vigil is held on the Saturday night, after dark, or at least after sunset. It celebrates the resurrection of Christ, which took place sometime during the night (the women came to the tomb ‘very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen’ – Mark 16:2; or possibly even before the sun was risen: ‘toward the dawn of the first day of the week’ – Matthew 28:1; ‘at early dawn’ – Luke 24:1; ‘early, while it was still dark’ – John 20:1.) They found that Jesus was already risen. The exact time of the resurrection being unknown, it is considered permissible to celebrate it at any convenient time during the night. During the Middle Ages however, and indeed until recent times, it was not done to celebrate a Mass in the evening, and the Vigil was celebrated on Holy Saturday morning, rather incongruously, since Christ had certainly did not rise on the Saturday morning. Then, as now, the Mass was not celebrated until a formidable number of readings had been made from the Old Testament. Formerly, the priest and ministers wore violet vestments for the earlier part of the service, changing into white only for the Mass itself; nowadays white is worn throughout. In the Middle Ages, and until the recent revisions, the Easter Vigil was not a popular service. Whereas everyone turned out for the ‘creeping to the cross’ on Good Friday, only a few would attend the Vigil, the popular celebration of the Resurrection taking place (not unreasonably) on Easter Sunday morning. A fire is kindled ‘de lapide’, from a flint, outside the Church. Why from a flint? Usually in a church, a fire is lit from another fire. That is to say, there is always a light burning, at least in front of the Blessed Sacrament. One can simply get a light from it with a taper, and light the altar candles, and from them the acolytes’ candles, and so on. Handy in the old days before the invention of matches, when to kindle a flame from scratch was a bit of a performance. However, at the Easter Vigil there is no Blessed Sacrament reserved, it having been entirely consumed the day before. Nor are there any lights burning: Christ is dead, the Light of the World has gone out. The fire is a new fire, not lit from any other. I understand that in the Holy Sepulchre the fire is generated spontaneously, by an annual miracle. In the west we have to rely on a flint. Something is made of this in the opening prayer: Deus, qui per Filium tuum, angularem scilicet lapidem, claritatis tuae ignem fidelibus contulisti: productum e silice, nostris profuturum usibus, novum hunc ignem sanctifica: et concede nobis, ita per haec festa paschalia caelestibus desideriis inflammari; ut ad perpetuae claritatis, puris mentibus, valeamus festa pertingere. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. ‘O God, who through thy Son, who is the true corner-stone, hast bestowed upon thy faithful people the fire of thy brightness: we beseech thee that thou wouldest sanctify this new fire, now struck by us from the flint-stone, to be profitable to our service: and grant unto us that by this paschal feast we may be so inflamed with heavenly desires, that we may with pure hearts and minds attain unto the feast of thy eternal brightness. Through the same Christ our Lord.’ Tomorrow we shall see how the service proceeds. ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Messenger - NEW crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html