Easter Vigil - Lights before Exultet?
  • JaredOstermann
    Posts: 488
    Just curious what others do here - the Missal says in instruction #17 for the Easter Vigil: "And lights are lit throughout the church, except for the altar candles" (then the Exultet follows).

    At one extreme would be the practice of switching all of the church lights on at this point (this is the reading advocated by our liturgy office). I don't think "lights are lit" has any clear objective meaning though, given that every single church has a different lighting configuration. It would seem that this directions could just as well mean to leave all electric lights off, while lighting additional candles throughout the church (except for the altar candles). I'm not sure why we meet at night if we are just going to grill the assembly under electric lights as soon as the service starts. This version also cheapens the experience of light filling the space as candles are lit during the entrance procession.

    At the other extreme, I am also familiar with the practice of waiting to turn on all of the electric lights until the organ introduces the Gloria. This is often a favorite moment for singers and assembly - but perhaps too melodramatic?

    This is certainly not on my list of top battles to pick, but I wonder about it every year...

    If there is already a discussion of this somewhere, could somebody post a link? Otherwise, thoughts?
  • JacobFlahertyJacobFlaherty
    Posts: 338
    Your question seems like a good one. I take the quotation from the Missal: "And lights are lit throughout the church, except for the altar candles" to be in reference to the candles exclusively. I don't ask my wife, "Could you LIGHT the light for me? when I need for her to turn on the lights. I say, "Turn on the lights." The key word in this sentence is 'LIT'. I would think it means that the electronic lights stay off and the candles are what is lighting everything.

    Thoughts?
  • Adam Schwend
    Posts: 203
    It's doubtful that the Missal means that all the candles should be lit. The Latin is "Et accenduntur lampades per ecclesiam, exceptis cereis altaris"...it uses separate words for "lights" (lampades) and "candles" (cereis).

    Not to mention, one need only to watch the Holy Father's celebration of the Easter Vigil to see the Exultet is sung with the lights of the Basilica on.
  • annunciatamt
    Posts: 4
    I agree that the missal's instructions can be taken two ways. Yes, at St. Peter's, the lights are on for the singing of the Praeconium (Exsultet). However, I think it is much more liturgically fit, especially in smaller churches, that the lights be out and the church lit solely by candlelight. The Exsultet is, after all, a hymn singing the praises of the Paschal Candle. Why not let the church be bathed in that light during the Exsultet?
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,119
    The waiting until the Gloria practice is definitely not what the books envision, and creates the misimpression that the Vigil is a historical re-enactment* and also that the OT readings occurred in darkness, et cet. This is one of those interesting practices against which conservative and progressive liturgically minded people have been in some agreement.

    That said, if one were to pretend that #17 belonged after the current #19 and before #20, I am not sure anyone would bust your chops about it. But the lights other than the altar candles definitely should be on by the conclusion of the Service of Light, as the next part of the liturgy begins with an instruction that, among other things, the people are to put out their candles, et cet. The Light coming theme is completed within the Service of the Light; the lighting of the altar candles is a residue (I don't mean that in a negative way) from the time when that moment began the Mass proper, after the conclusion of the preceding office.

    * Msgr Mannion wrote a notable article for the Pastoral Review in 1998, in part cautioning against the insidious ideas about reenactment that can creep in during the Holy Week and Triduum liturgies: http://www.thepastoralreview.org/cgi-bin/archive_db.cgi?priestsppl-00038
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen JacobFlaherty
  • Paul_D
    Posts: 133
    I find it helpful to imagine the Vigil being celebrated in the ancient basilicas, before electricity etc. There wasn’t a giant MAIN POWER ON switch for Igor to throw at some key moment. Rather, there were dozens of small oil lamps throughout the church, much as you see in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre today. So after the faithful had lit their tapers, someone would start to go around the church lighting all the lamps. Thus the church would gradually grow brighter and brighter through the Exultet, and possibly into the readings. Today, I would try to re-create that by turning the church lights on one at a time, if it could be done subtly enough, throughout the Exultet. I don’t think this would fall under the concern of re-enactment, since it is not re-enacting events of the paschal mystery, but trying to capture the effect intended in the liturgy. The sudden blazing light effect is something we can only do because of technology, so I hesitate to make the “all lights on at once” effect the norm.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen canadash
  • JaredOstermann
    Posts: 488
    Thanks for the comments - I suppose this could easily degenerate into a discussion of lights during the liturgy in general. I'm reminded of Marshall McLuhan - an electric light is not a neutral medium; it has its own message. The message is: "we are not subject to the natural cycle of light/darkness or its interplay with the space we are in; instead we have the power to summon the sensation of daylight at the press of a button." To me, this has the danger of making the whole idea of lit candles (especially the Easter candle) irrelevant as a symbol of Christ's light. It also weakens the idea of a vigil in the sense that it is a waiting through darkness for light. We are usually asked to start the vigil after (or at least near) sunset - but then we create artificial daylight as soon as the service starts.

    And the bees worked so hard on that candle to dispel the darkness!

    Paul D - agreed. I don't think we can assume the Missal is referring to a main power switch in the sacristy.

    Probably the take home message is that the level of lighting implied by the missal is open to interpretation - it could just mean lighting lamps or candles around the church. If, however, we avoid turning on a bunch of lights before the exultet, this should probably be balanced by avoiding a blast of light at the Gloria. There is no reason the entire vigil can't be celebrated with only natural (or minimal electric) light. This should minimize any misunderstanding that we are doing historical re-enactment.

    Now if I could just avoid the Becker litany of the saints....
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,986
    Don't get me started on Becker! If I threw it out, the choir would lynch me. Urgh!
  • redsox1
    Posts: 217
    Ah, the Becker. It is definitely near and dear to many people, although I dropped it at the last cathedral I was at and no one seemed to mind. At another cathedral, we struck a deal-chant for Easter Vigil, Becker for ordinations.
  • canadashcanadash
    Posts: 1,501
    Becker? I found it on Youtube. I'm glad I'd never heard of this before.
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