The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-03-22

from a letter of st. Boniface, was by
the use of lenses or burning glasses.
1t may be noticed that this method
also must almost necessarily have
been used out of doors.
The Procession to the Altar.
When the fire has been lit and
blessed, the thurible filled with Goals,
the grains of incense to be used for
the paschal candle also blessed, and a
taper lit with the new flame, a little
procession forms and moves up the
church The rubric in the Holy
Week book describes this ceremony
as follows:
Then the deacon, putting on white
dalmatic, takes a rod with three can
dies fixed on the top. The thurifer
goes first with an acolyte, carrying on
plate the five grains of incense; the
subdeacon with the cross follows, and
the clergy in order; then the deacon
with the triple candle, and last of all
the priest. When the deacon is come
into the church, an acolyte, who car
ries taper lighted from the new fire,
lights one of the three candles on the
top of the rod, and the deacon, hold
ing up the rod, kneels, as do all the
rest except the subdeacon, and sings
alone:
Lumen Christi (Behold the light of
CHRISTI.
And the response is:
Dec gratias. (Thanks be to Cod.
Simple as all this is, there is some
thing very striking about the scene
as the procession passes up the aisle.
The contrast of the white dalmatic
with the purple vestments, the new
fire, the chanted words which seem to
speak of hope and comfort, all these
things make an impression like that
of the grey light of the dawn break
ing after long spell of darkness.
Three times the procession halts, the
deacon repeating the "Lumen Christi"
each time in a higher key, until all
the three tapers on the reed are
| lighted.
The "ExuItet"
When, after the triple Lumen
Christi, the procession finally reaches
the sanctuary, the deacon, still clad
in his white dalmatic, asks the bless
ing of the celebrant as he would do
before the Gospel. Then making his
way to a lectern or pulpit beside the
paschal candle he incenses the book
and begins to chant that magnificent
eucharistic prayer known from it's first
word as the Exsultet. From every
point of view, whether we consider the
antiquity of the rite, the composition
of the prayer, or the music to which
it is sung, this is one of the most
striking chants in all the Church's
liturgy.
While the paschal candle is thus
being consecrated, the deacon two or
three times interrupts his chanting for
few moments in order to fix in the
candle the grains of incense which
had been blessed along with the fire
at the church porch, to light it from
the taper on the reed, and to light
the lamps. The grains of incense are
considered, as said above, to typify
the five Wounds in our Saviour
glorified Body.
The Prophecies.
And now we come to what l fear
many good Catholics consider a very
wearisome portion of the service, the
reading of the Prophecies. They are
usually spoken of as the Prophecies
though they do not belong to the
prOphetical books, but the passages
have some indirect reference at least
to the coming of the Messiah. After
each Prophecy "Flectamus genua'
; (Let us bend the knee) is chanted with
it's response, 'Levate" (arise) and a
Collect follows. To these Collects we
should do we'll to turn for an explana
: ton of the spiritual fruit which the
Church wishes us to obtain from that
particular reading. After the twelfth
Prophecy, that which narrates the his
tory of Nabuchodonosor and the chill
dren thrown into the fiery furnace
"Flectamus genua" is not said. II
has been suggested that the genuflec
tion is omitted here because the sur
; would by this time have set and be
cause it would have been considered
. unlawful toskneel after the eve of the
Sunday had fairly begun. From &
very early age, as Tertullian bears
, witness, the Christians were accus
toned to pray standing on Sunday:
and in paschal time. We still retai1
: trace of this in the rubric commonly
observed for kneeling or standing il
the recitation of the Angelus, or o
l the Antiphons of Our Lady. On the
other hand the rubricians, even from
: an early date, explain the omission O
the "Flectamus genua" after thu
twelfth Prophecy. by referring to tht
! story just read of the three children
who refused to bow the knee before
? : the statue which King Nabuchodono
! sor had set up.
t The Blessing of the Font.
To the font we have next to turn
On the conclusion of the Prophetic
the clergy make their way thither il
procession, the celebrant vested in
purple cope and the deacon and sui