| 18 Saturday | |
| | violet | HOLY SATURDAY | | | The Paschal Fast is observed if possible. [CR 20] Celebration of the Mass and the sacraments is strictly prohibited, except for Penance and Anointing of the Sick. Communion may be given only as viaticum. | | | Hours of the day. The Office of Readings and Morning Prayer in public is recommended.
Night Prayer is celebrated only by those not present at the Vigil. | | | | Preparation for the Vigil includes: preparation of the bonfire; candles for all the faithful present; water for the liturgy of Baptism; flowers and decorations for the altar. | | | |
| white | The Easter Vigil. | | | The celebration should truly have the character of a Vigil. It must take place at night. It should not begin before nightfall and should end before dawn. To start earlier (e.g. at the customary time for a Sunday vigil Mass) is a "reprehensible abuse". [PS 78]
The Vigil has four parts:
I. Service of Light : Bonfire, Procession with Candle, Exsultet.
II. Liturgy of the Word : Readings, psalms, prayers, Gloria, homily.
III. Liturgy of Baptism : Litany, Blessing of Water, Baptism and/or Confirmation,
Renewal of Promises, Prayer of the Faithful.
IV. Liturgy of the Eucharist : Preface of Easter I ("on this night"), special
Communicantes and Hanc igitur; double alleluia at dismissal.
This liturgical order must not be changed by anyone on his own initiative. [PS 81]
| | | Wherever possible, all the readings should be read so that the character of the Easter Vigil, which demands that it be somewhat prolonged, be respected at all costs. Where pastoral conditions require that the number of readings be reduced, there should be at least three readings from the Old Testament, taken from the law and the prophets; and the reading from Exodus (ch. 14) with its canticle, must never be omitted. | | | The Readings [41]: | |
- Gen 1:1-2:2 or 1:1, 26-31a with Ps 104:1-2, 5-6, 10+12, 13-14, 24+35 or Ps 33:4-5, 6-7, 12-13, 20-22
- Gen 22:1-18 or 22:1-2, 9a,10-13, 15-18 with Ps 16:5+8, 9-10, 11
- Exod 14:15-15:1 with Exod 15:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 17-18 This reading and psalm are obligatory.
- Isa 54:5-14 with Ps 30:2+4, 5-6, 11-12a+13b
- Isa 55:1-11 with Isa 12:2-3, 4, 5-6
- Bar 3:9-15, 32-4:4 with Ps 19:8, 9, 10, 11
- Ezek 36:16-17a, 18-28 with Ps 42:3, 5; 43:3, 4 (when baptisms occur) or (when no baptisms) Isa 12:2-3, 4bcd, 5-6 or Ps 51:12-13, 14-15, 18-19
- Epistle: Rom 6:3-11
- Alleluia Psalm: Ps 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23
- Gospel: Matt 28:1-10
| | | Bells are to be rung during the Gloria, and the altar candles lit. |
| The celebrant -- or, in case of necessity, a cantor -- intones the triple alleluia before the Gospel. The gospel is honored with incense, but candles are not carried.
For the texts of the rites of Baptism and Confirmation, see the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.
The dismissal with double alleluia is used tonight and throughout the octave. |
| Anniversary: | 188th anniversary of the death of P. William Vierin (43) d. 1883 at Mopeia, Mozambique.  | | Anniversary: | 142nd anniversary of the death of F. Francis Simonis (87) d. 1929 at Dunbrody, RSA. | | Anniversary: | 86th anniversary of the death of P. Josip Weissgerber (CRO) (63) d. 1985 at Zagreb, Croatia. | | Anniversary: | 76th anniversary of the death of P. John Monaghan (74) d. 1995 at Portland, USA. | | Anniversary: | 63rd anniversary of the death of P. Vital Dias Pereira (87) d. 2008 at Lisbon, Portugal. | | Birthday: | 137th birthday of P. J. Paul BRASSIL (born this day in 1934). | | Birthday: | 106th birthday of P. Sebastian M. MALAMBO (born this day in 1965). |
On this day in our Jesuit history...
| | 1541 | Ignatius is elected General again, after refusing or declining the first election results. | | 1541 | On his 35th birthday, St. Francis Xavier embarked from the quay of the Tagus River known as the Place of Tears to go to India with two other Jesuits. The voyage took them 13 months. | | 1580 | Father Robert Parson, Edmund Campion and Brother Ralph Emerson and others set out from Rome for the English mission. They entered England by different routes and in different disguises. | | 1906 | Fr. General Luis Martin dies. | | 1949 | St. Benedict Center, Cambridge, MA, under Fr. Leonard Feeney, is placed under interdict. | | 1959 | Francis P. Donnelly, S.J. dies New York Province. Teacher, writer, author of many textbooks on English. | | | | |
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