Exsultet question (when sung by laity)
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    I know that "the Lord be with you" is excluded. Is that all?

    USCCB website has this:

    (V. The Lord be with you.
    R. And with your spirit.)
    V. Lift up your hearts.
    R. We lift them up to the Lord.
    V. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
    R. It is right and just.

    Which seems to indicate that the lay cantor would sing "Lift up your hearts." Is that correct, or is this entire dialogue section excluded?
  • JonLaird
    Posts: 245
    You are correct; the lay cantor sings "Lift up your hearts" and everything following. What is excluded is everything beginning "Therefore, dearest friends" up through the "and with your spirit" which you quote above.

    Also excluded is the blessing which appears in the Missal before the proclamation. The blessing is only given to a Deacon.
    Thanked by 1ryand
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    The part beginning "Therefore, deaest friends ..." through "... this candle's perfect praises" is also excluded. The cantor does indeed sing "Lift up your hearts" ... i.e. the rest of the dialogue section is not excluded.
  • Don9of11Don9of11
    Posts: 708
    I cantor but our priest leads each invocation. A call and respond. R is the congregation and V is the priest. Are you discussing the EF Mass?
  • @Don9of11 - the discussion concerns services (such as Compline, not a mass) for which there is not a priest (or deacon) celebrant.
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,471
    No, this discussion seems to have been split from another, and is about the Easter Vigil. What Don9of11 describes is what I did, stopped, let the priest say (he will not sing) the exchange with the congregation, and then continued the chant. I did this because observation of the previous cantor (who had been a choral scholar at King's) suggested that the congregational sung response was very feeble, my wife and I were 40% of the response. Whether I and the priest should have done it this way, I do not know, but the congregation did respond well. I did scrupulously avoid the sections a layman should not sing.
  • seems to have been split from another


    Ah, thanks. I couldn't tell that it was split off.