The old Easter Vigil

[Godric2]

I’m familiar with the Easter Vigil liturgy, but not with how it used to be.

A friend was telling me about the ‘trident’ which carried the flame from the fire to the Candle - but how come that happened during the singing of the Easter proclamation? Was the candle not lit at the start and processed in?

Help, please…

PS And Have you a poem for World Poetry Day?

 

[Chatter163]

I’m familiar with the Easter Vigil liturgy, but not with how it used to be.

A friend was telling me about the ‘trident’ which carried the flame from the fire to the Candle - but how come that happened during the singing of the Easter proclamation? Was the candle not lit at the start and processed in?

Help, please…

PS And Have you a poem for World Poetry Day?

It was a triangular-shaped reed, and that was carried by the deacon into the church and from it the paschal candle was lti in the church. In earlier centuries the reed was sometimes carried to other churches and locations, for people to receive light from the blessed fire. Your question as to why that happened during the Exsultet is a bit reversed. That had been the practice for centuries–if anything, ask why it was changed in the 1950s.