Angelus News | April 19-26, 2019 | Vol. 4 No. 15

prayers. And, again, it lasted “all the
night” long.
The greatest Scripture scholar of the
ancient Church, Saint Jerome, insisted
that “we have the tradition from the
apostles that the congregation is not to
be dismissed before Midnight during
the Easter Vigil.”
He explained that the Jews believed
the Messiah would arrive at night,
during the hour when the first Passover
had been celebrated in Egypt.
He noted, furthermore, that Jesus, in
the Parable of the Wise and Foolish
Virgins, spoke of the Bridegroom
arriving “at midnight” (Matthew 25:6).
So it was reasonable, he concluded, to
require Christians to stay till midnight.
But the rite itself could — and usually
did — go on much longer, indeed
“until cockcrow,” which is just before
daylight. Testimonies from the middle
and late A.D. 100s — in lands from
North Africa to modern Turkey — reveal
that the clergy did not even begin
to celebrate the sacraments (baptism
and Eucharist) until dawn.
Darkness to bright light
Saint Augustine lived a long life and
preached at many Easter Vigils. It was
emotional for him, because it revived
the memory of his own reception into
full communion at age 33. He called it
“the mother of all vigils.”
The long liturgy signified every
Christian’s lifelong journey, he said,
“from darkness to light.” During the
night, Christians were to focus on the
Scripture readings as if they were the
only rays of light.
Light was introduced, suddenly or
gradually, depending on the local customs.
In Europe in the fourth and fifth
centuries, it became fashionable to use
Easter candles made of wax.
Saint Jerome abhorred this as an
unacceptable and unbiblical novelty,
since the biblical figures used oil
lamps and not candles. But the fashion
caught on, and even Saint Augustine
wrote a hymn to the Easter candle.
When Christianity was legalized, the
light was extended beyond the Church
to the entire city. The fourth-century
historian Eusebius said that the Christian
Emperor Constantine “changed
… the holy night vigil into a brightness
like that of day, by causing waxen
tapers of great length to be lighted
throughout the city.”
An exciting story
From the ancient lectionaries we
learn that the program included as
many as 12 Bible readings, some of
them quite long, with psalms sung in
between. The night itself was to be the
overarching story of God’s relationship
with the human race — from creation
to fall to redemption.
Its highlights were dramatic: Noah’s
rescue from the raging flood; Abraham’s
vocation to sacrifice his only son
Isaac; Israel’s deliverance from slavery
in Egypt; the Chosen People’s restoration
from exile in Babylon.
It was a single epic woven from many
great adventures. It was communal —
the story of all. But it was personal, too
— the story of each.
Today’s congregations squirm at the
thought of so many long readings. But
matters were different in an age before
electronic media — and before the
printing press.
Books were expensive, and relatively
few people could read. So people relished
the chance to hear a good story
well told. And there was none greater
than the whole-Bible story of the Easter
Vigil. This was entertainment.
The presiding bishop or priest
connected the readings in a stirring
homily. The earliest surviving example
is from the mid-100s, by Saint Melito,
the bishop of Sardis.
It is a long and stunning work of vivid,
rhythmic poetry, and it must have
thrilled the assembly of first-time hearers.
Melito explained why Jesus’ death
and resurrection were foreshadowed in
the events of Israel’s history.
What is this strange mystery,
that Egypt is struck down for destruction
and Israel is guarded for salvation?
Listen to the meaning of the mystery.
This is what occurs in the case of a
first draft;
it is not a finished work but exists so
that, through the model,
that which is to be can be seen.
Therefore a preliminary sketch is made
of what is to be,
from wax or from clay or from wood,
Bringing back
the drama
As Christianity became the
norm in Europe, adult conversions
dropped off — and
in some places vanished altogether.
If everyone was already Christian,
there were no adults left to convert.
And so dwindled the sense of
drama in the rite. Gradually, the
celebration moved earlier in the
day. By the first half of the 20th
century, it was typically celebrated
on the morning of Holy Saturday.
In the 1950s, Pope Pius XII mandated
that the celebration should
be returned to Saturday evening
after sunset. In 1972, with the
establishment of the Rite of Christian
Initiation of Adults (RCIA),
the Catholic Church restored the
ancient methods of preparing and
catechizing converts.
The Easter Vigil became, once
again, the normal time for adult
converts to receive the sacraments
of initiation.
Catholics belonging to the
Neocatechumenal Way, an itinerary
of post-baptismal Christian
initiation born out of the Second
Vatican Council, celebrate the vigil
overnight after fasting during Holy
Saturday. In most parishes, the
Easter Vigil tends to run later now,
though not all night. But every
moment is glorious.
— Mike Aquilina
A catechumen is anointed with holy oil by
Archbishop Gomez at the 2015 Easter Vigil.
VICTOR ALEMÁN
April 19-26, 2019 • ANGELUS • 13