Questions on the Easter Vigil Liturgy

[Gorgias]

I am not a liturgical expert but my understanding of no. 42 from the Roman Missal on the Easter Vigil, which states, “If no one is to be baptized and the font is not to be blessed, the Litany is omitted, and the blessing of Water (no. 54) takes place at once,” is that if the font is blessed, even without Baptism, then Litany is sung.

In years past? Yep. I’d agree. However, #37 says “the priest goes with the ministers to the baptismal font, if this can be seen by the faithful. Otherwise a vessel with water is placed in the sanctuary.”

So, this year, due to the extraordinary circumstances, #42 holds: omit the litany and go straight to the blessing of water and the renewal of baptismal promises.

In this case, we end up there due to a number of unusual circumstances: the font isn’t visible (we were live streaming the sanctuary, and our font isn’t located there), there were no baptisms / confirmations (our bishop has deferred them to a later date), and so… go straight to the blessing of water. Do not pass ‘GO’, do not collect $200.

I watched the St. Patrick’s Cathedral Easter Vigil again and it did have the Litany and the Kyrie, but upon watching it again it appeared the Cardinal might have been blessing a new baptismal font that was standing in the sanctuary.

Right. If the font were able to be “seen by the faithful” (even if the faithful were simply watching on the 'net), then that makes sense.