BLESSING OF THE EASTER FIRE
The full text of the Easter Vigil ceremonies and Mass can be found here, beginning on page 45 of the file.
The deacon's white dalmatic, maniple, and stole are prepared.
*Liturgy Note: The prescribed color is white, but gold may be used interchangeably with white at any time. White/gold can also be a substitute for red and green.
*Liturgy Note: The prescribed color is white, but gold may be used interchangeably with white at any time. White/gold can also be a substitute for red and green.
The ministers, vested in violet, process to the fire.
The celebrant blesses the Paschal fire, asking the Creator of light to bless this new light.
The priest blesses the five incense grains that will be put into the Paschal candle and a coal is taken from the fire to ignite the incense in the thurible.
The celebrant sprinkles the fire with holy water.
He incenses the grains and the fire.
The deacon changes from a violet folded chasuble into a gold dalmatic. Bringing the Paschal light into the church and singing the Exsultet is his joyful duty, so he puts on a festive color in honor of the task he is about to fulfill.
A server holds a torch that will be used to light the tricereo (also called the "arundo" or "triple candle"). Each of the three heads of the tricereo will be lit as the people process into the church.
As each candle is lit, the deacon sings, "Lumen Christi!" (The Light of Christ!) The people genuflect and respond, "Deo gratias!" (Thanks be to God!)
THE EXSULTET AND LIGHTING OF THE PASCHAL CANDLE
When the procession reaches the sanctuary, the celebrant stands at the Epistle side of the altar and the other ministers, joined by the servers, go to a lectern off the Gospel side.
The Crucifix and the Paschal candle are positioned backwards so that the celebrant can see them from where he stands.
The deacon chants the Exsultet, praising the night that was privileged to see Christ rise from the dead, the fall of our first parents that necessitated our salvation, and the Paschal candle itself which disrupts the darkness.
"EXSÚLTET, jam angélica turba caelorum...O felix culpa, quae talem ac tantum méruit hábere Redemptórem...Flammas ejus lúciver matutínus invéniat, ille inquam, lúciver, qui nescit occásum..."
(Let the angelic hosts of heaven exult... O happy fault, that merited so great a Redeemer... May the Morning Star find [this] flame alive, that Star which knows no setting...)
(Let the angelic hosts of heaven exult... O happy fault, that merited so great a Redeemer... May the Morning Star find [this] flame alive, that Star which knows no setting...)
The deacon inserts the incense grains into the candle in the form of a cross and lights it with a flame taken from the tricereo.
After the Paschal candle is lit, the deacon changes back into violet vestments and the celebrant changes out of the violet cope into a violet chasuble.
THE TWELVE PROPHECIES
The Prophecies walk us through all of salvation history as told in the Old Testament, beginning with the Creation in Genesis and ending with the Book of Daniel's account of the deliverance of the three children from the fiery furnace.
Each Prophecy is followed by a Responsory sung by the choir and a Collect.