The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb, and a detail, 1521–22. Oil and tempera on limewood, Kunstmuseum Basel.by: Hans Holbein the Younger
HOLY SATURDAY or EASTER EVE
Holy Saturday (Latin: Sabbatum Sanctum) is the day after Good Friday. It is the day before Easter and the last day of Holy Week and Lent, in which Roman Catholics prepare for Easter. This day commemorates the day that Jesus Christ's body laid in the tomb. It is sometimes known as Black Saturday or Easter Saturday, though the latter name is more correctly applied to the Saturday in Easter week.
In the primitive Church Holy Saturday was known as Great, or Grand, Saturday, Holy Saturday, the Angelic Night, the Vigil of Easter, etc. It is no longer, like Maundy Thursday, a day of joy, but one of joy and sadness intermingled; it is the close of the season of Lent and penance, and the beginning of paschal time, which is one of rejoicing.
The paschal Sabbath lasts from Good Friday sunset to Holy Saturday sunset. This is the middle day of the Triduum. It is perhaps the strangest, most mysterious, most puzzling day on the calendar.
In Latin, Holy Saturday is Sabbatum Sanctum, the Holy Sabbath. In the tomb, Jesus rested on the Sabbath. The church rests in Christ today.
I. THE BLESSING OF THE NEW FIRE
The Lumen Christi (Latin: Light of Christ) is a Versicle sung in Catholics and Lutheran churches as part of the Easter Vigil. It is chanted by the deacon on Holy Saturday as he lights the triple candle.
The procession then moves up the church, the deacon in a white Dalmatic carrying the triple candle. Three times the procession stops, the deacon lights one of the candles from the taper and sings, "Lumen Christi", on one note (fa, in the Solfege system), dropping a minor third (to re) on the last syllable. The choir answers, "Deo gratias", to the same tone. Each time it is sung at a higher pitch. As it is sung, all genuflect. Having arrived at the altar, the deacon begins the blessing of the Paschal Candle (Exultet). The meaning of this rite is obvious: a light must be brought from the new fire to the Paschal Candle; out of this the ceremony grew and attracted to itself symbolic meaning, as usual.
II. THE BLESSING OF THE PASCHAL CANDLE
The worshiping assembly in school then processes into the church led by the Paschal candle. The candle is raised three times during the procession, accompanied by the chant "The light of Christ" to which the assembly responds "Thanks be to God". Following the procession the Exultet is chanted, traditionally by a deacon, but it may be chanted by the priest or a cantor. The Exultet concludes with a blessing of the candle:
Accept this Easter candle,
a flame divided but undimmed,
a pillar of fire that glows to the honor of God.
(For it is fed by the holy melting wax, which the mother bee brought forth
to make this precious candle.)
Let it mingle with the lights of heaven
and continue bravely burning
to dispel the darkness of this night!
May the Morning Star which never sets
find this flame still burning:
Christ, that Morning Star,
who came back from the dead,
and shed his peaceful light on all humanity,
your Son, who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.
III. THE PROPHECIES
After the blessing of the Paschal candle the deacon lays aside his white dalmatic and puts on a violet stole and maniple. He then goes to the celebrant, who after laying aside his cope puts on a violet maniple and chasuble. The Prophecies are then chanted without any introduction, while the priest standing on the Epistle side of the altar reads them in a low voice.
The reading of the twelve Prophecies served the object formerly of a final initiation of the catechumens.
1) Genesis 1:1-31; 2:1-2
Through baptism the souls of men will recover the rights which they enjoyed in Eden before the fall of Adam.
2) Genesis 5; 6; 7; 8 passim
God, through baptism, brings souls into the Church, which is the Ark of Salvation. As after the flood, so now the world is renewed, by the saving waters of baptism.
3) Genesis 22:1-19
Through baptism and their faith in Jesus Christ, the converts were enrolled among the children promised by God to Abraham. On Quinquagesima Sunday, when the liturgy was concerned with the history of this patriarch, no mention was made of his sacrifice because, to follow St Augustine, this type of our Lord's sacrifice is held over until Passiontide, when it is fulfilled.
4) Exodus 14: 24-31; 15
By baptism Christ rescues the catechumens from the yoke of Satan as Moses freed the Israelites from the captivity of Egypt.
5) Isaias 54:17;55:1-11
Through baptism souls are incorporated in the new nation with which God enters into a covenant immeasurably superior to the covenant of Sinai.
6) Baruch 3:9-38
The souls of the baptised will enjoy eternal peace if they observe the lessons of life and of wisdom which the Church teaches them on behalf of God.
7) Ezechiel 37:1-14
Baptism infuses new life into our souls. This is what is meant by the dry bones which at the command of Ezechiel stood up unto their feet, put on flesh and became a mighty army.
8) Isaias 4:1-6
Christ, after purifying our souls in baptism, will take them under His protection.
9) Exodus 12: 1-11
All who have been baptized shall eat the flesh of the Lamb of God of which the Paschal Lamb is the figure.
10) Jonas 3:1-10
Like the Ninevites of old, our souls in baptism will obtain mercy from God.
11) Deuteronomy 31:22-30
The souls of those that have been baptized must bear in mind, like the people led by Moses, the law of God and His munificence.
12) Daniel 3:1-24
The souls of those who have been baptized are shielded by God in the midst of all danger, as were the three young men in the furnace.
IV. THE BLESSING OF THE FONT
At the end of the reading of the Prophecies, if there is a baptismal font in the church the priest who is about to bless it puts on a violet cope and, preceded by the processional cross, the candelabra and the lighted blessed candle, goes to the font with his ministers and the clergy, while the following Tract is sung:
Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes aquarum: ita desiderat anima mea ad te, Deus. V. Sitivit anima mea ad Deum vivum: quando veniam, et apparebo ante faciem Dei? V. Fuerunt mihi lacrimae meae panes die ac nocte, dum dicitur mihi per singulos dies: Ubi est Deus tuus?
As the hart panteth after the fountains of water, so my soul panteth after Thee, O God. V. My soul hath thirsted for the living God: when shall I come and appear before the face of God? V. My tears have been my bread day and night, while they say to me daily: Where is thy God?
(Psalm 12:2-4)
Having blessed the font, if there are any to be baptized he baptizes them in the usual way. Then, while the priest and his ministers return to the altar, two cantors begin the Litany.
V. THE LITANY OF THE SAINTS
The celebrant puts aside his chasuble, and with his ministers prostrates himself before the altar. All the rest kneel and two cantors in the middle of the choir sing the Litany, both sides repeating each invocation.
At the invocation Peccatores, te rogamus, audi nos the priest and his ministers rise and go into the sacristy, where they put on white vestments for the solemn celebration of Mass. Meanwhile the candles are lighted on the altar.
VI. MASS AND VESPERS
During the singing of the Litany the neophytes re-entered the church, and the Mass was begun which inaugurated the solemn services of Easter (Secret). This celebrates the glory of the risen Christ (Gospel), and that of the souls who, through baptism, have entered on a new life, a pledge of their future resurrection (Epistle, Collect, Hanc igitur). Hence the joyful Alleluia that is sung, the pealing of the organ and the ringing of the bells.
MEDITATION ON HOLY SATURDAY:
Through these rites of Holy Saturday, historically and devotionally so gripping, from ancient ages the most solemn of all Vigils of the year, we see Our Lord revealed to us in specific ways, and we in turn are called upon to reflect Him in those ways in our own lives. Together, on this, the "Mother of All Holy Vigils," as St. Augustine calls it, we hear the Lessons that teach us the history of our Faith, the Old Law before the fulfillment of our redemption under the New. We come through the darkness of Our Lord's Passion and Death into the light, as together we now celebrate His glorious Resurrection.
