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Adapted from the Catholic Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, and other sources.

The so-called Exultet is arguably one of the most glorious and beautiful of hymns of the liturgy. The Roman Missal gives the title simply as Praeconium Paschale, which translates literally as The Pascal Praise. It is sung by the deacon (or priest) in the liturgy of Holy Saturday, in praise of the paschal candle, which is, of course, a type of Our Lord.

The words of the Praeconium Paschale were not always the same, and so it did not always start with the word Exultet, from which we derive the common name for the hymn. There have been numerous versions. It’s probably safe to say that the version in use today has survived where others did not because of its particular beauty. Given its style, it was probably composed as early as the fifth century.

The Exultet is sung immediately after the Procession of the Paschal Candle and the Lumen Christi. Before it is sung, the priest recites the same prayers that he recites during Mass prior to the chanting of the Gospel, and, as at the Gospel, the faithful stand while it is sung.

It consists of two parts. The first part is an invitation for the faithful to join the priest in invoking the blessing of God so that he may worthily sing the praise of the candle. The tones of this first part are exquisitely beautiful, and very different from what we usually hear during the liturgy. Strictly speaking, it is Ambrosian Chant rather than Gregorian. This first part is similar to the Orate Fratres of the Mass, which is, of course, recited immediately prior to the Preface. The second part is very much like a preface and begins with the same invocations (Sursum Corda etc.).

The language of the Exultet is fairly unique in the liturgy in that it is not so much dogmatic as it is mystical and imaginative. The first lines set the mood for the entire hymn:

Let the angelic choirs of heaven now rejoice; let the divine mysteries give praise; and let the trumpet of salvation sound forth the victory of so great a King.

It goes on to recount the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, emphasizing the similarity between the pillar of fire and the Paschal Candle, both of which are types of Our Lord. It speaks of the needful sin of Adam, and the happy fault (felix culpa) that merited to have such and so great a Redeemer. It concludes by asking God’s blessings for those present, for the clergy, for the pope, and for the local bishop.

The Exultet praises the Candle as Christ. Not surprisingly, this hymn, so clearly about Christ, has a very beautiful and subtle allusion to the Blessed Mother. It is, on the one hand utterly profound, and on the other hand almost quaint.

Therefore, in this sacred night, receive, O holy Father, the evening sacrifice of this incense, which Holy Church renders to Thee by the hands of Thy ministers in the solemn offering of this wax candle, the work of bees.

Now also we know the praises of this column, which the glowing fire enkindles to the honor of God. Which fire, although divided into parts, suffers no loss from its light being borrowed. For it is nourished by the melting wax, which the mother bee produced for the substance of this precious light.

Any candle used in the liturgy serves as a type of Christ. Liturgical candles, and the Paschal Candle in particular, are, of course, made of the wax of bees. Beeswax burns with a particularly sweet scent, which represents the bonus odor Christi (the sweet odor of Christ). The flame represents the Divinity of Christ. The wick symbolizes Christ’s soul, hidden within His body. The wax body of the candle itself, made from the wax produced by the virginal worker bees using the nectar they have gathered from beautiful and sweet-smelling blossoms, symbolizes Our Lord’s pure body. As the candle burns, it gives us light, but sacrifices its body so that we can see. The bees are thus symbols of the Virgin Mary, from whom Christ took His human body.

This unique and very beautiful hymn is certainly a fitting way to introduce the extraordinarily beautiful liturgy of the Paschal Vigil.

In the image: In Italy, in bygone days, the Exultet was sung from scrolls of parchment, which were gradually unrolled during the singing. These “Exultet Rolls” were elaborately and beautifully illuminated. Nearly all such Exultet Rolls contained pictures of bees.

The feast of St. Joseph the Worker is a first-class feast. The Second Sunday after Easter is a second-class feast. Knowing that, you knew to set your Missal for St. Joseph. If you are not one to look at the liturgical calendar, you were caught off balance. (Note that they have calendars for cheap in the bookstore – given that it is May already).

As we were running the propers before Mass, one of the men observed, “This is weird music. It doesn’t sound right.” Well, yes. That is because the feast was instituted in 1955 and the music is “modern”. And not only. This particular singer is new to the game, and still, he picked up on the oddity of the chant, which oddity is actually also criticized by more scholarly types. But never mind. We’re not music critics; we’re just singers in a schola band.

Standard fare for Paschaltide: Mass I, Credo I, Vidi Aquam.

The processional was The Other Version of Jesus Christ is Risen Today. It is the bane of procession-goers all over the English-speaking world because when people see the title, they are expecting the OTHER version.

At the Offertory, Stella Coeli Extirpavit. We are SO over singing that. But we will persist until it is clear that the plague that plagues us is behind us.

At the communion, the mixed choir did Palestrina’s Sicut Cervus. Why isn’t Palestrina canonized?

For the recessional, St. Joseph trumped the typical Easter material with Hail, Holy Joseph, Hail. (For you grammar types, yes, the hymnal does correctly have the comma for direct address.) And again, we sang Sweet Sacrament Divine to get the melody into the ears and heads of the faithful because NEXT WEEK, we are going to call on them to sing it for real.

As an aside, the Greek in scripture refers to St. Joseph and Our Lord as τεκτων – Tekton. That is more correctly understood as a Master Builder, not a fellow making small wooden objects for the ladies of Nazareth. And it is much more fitting of Our Lord as Pantocrator (Greek Παντοκράτωρ) – literally, pretty much able to do everything. I can imagine when someone in Galilee wanted to have a house built, people would say, “Ite ad Joseph. He will fix you up.”

Strictly speaking, Paschaltide is the liturgical season that lasts fifty days, starting with First Vespers of Low Sunday and ending before First Vespers of Trinity Sunday. Liturgically speaking, the 8-day period immediately after Easter and prior to Paschaltide – the Octave of Easter – is distinct from Paschaltide.

For our purposes, we can consider both of these periods as similar because of the musical characteristics that are common to both and that distinguish them from the previous seasons of Septuagesima and Lent, and within Lent, Passiontide, Holy Week and the Triduum.

The most conspicuous aspect of the music during the period after Easter is the return of the Alleluia. There are a number of other very visible differences, but the Alleluia stands out.

The Gloria disappeared at the same time as the Alleluia, way back on Septuagesima Sunday, and it returns fully with the Paschal Vigil. But the Gloria had also put in an appearance on Palm Sunday and again on Holy Thursday – with the organ – and with bells!

The organ also returns at the Paschal Vigil. It had disappeared beginning on the first Sunday of Lent, but it, too, put in a couple of appearances. It was used throughout the Mass on Laetare Sunday, and put in a cameo appearance (to accompany the Gloria) on Holy Thursday.

The Gloria Patri is also back. It had been omitted during Passiontide, but we saw it conspicuously when it concluded the psalms that are sung during the distribution of palms on Palm Sunday.

We sang Mass XVII all during Lent, but we made an exception on Holy Thursday, singing Mass IV. Beginning at the Paschal Vigil, and continuing through and including Pentecost, we sing Mass I (Lux et Origo).

The Alleluia, on the other hand, ceased to be sung on Septuagesima Sunday, and not a trace of it was heard until after the Epistle at the Mass of the Paschal Vigil. It didn’t show up on Laetare Sunday. There was no hint of it either on Palm Sunday, nor on Holy Thursday. It was definitively removed from the liturgy and there were no exceptions. The Alleluia, as an exclamation of pure joy, has no place whatsoever in the liturgy, nor on our lips, during those 63 days from Septuagesima to Easter. But when it returns, it is everywhere! *

At Mass, the typical Gradual and Alleluia are replaced by two Alleluias! Alleluias are inserted in the Introit, and in the Offertory and Communion antiphons.

There is another noteworthy difference in the music after Easter. The Vidi Aquam replaces the Asperges prior to Mass, and the usual invocation (Ostende nobis) and its response conclude with an Alleluia.

Interestingly, the psalm that is sung during the Vidi Aquam is the Confitemini, the same that is sung after the Alleluia makes its first trifold appearance in the Paschal Vigil.

The difference between the music of Lent and that of the period after Easter is remarkable, principally because of the Alleluia, but for many other reasons as well. All of them together help us appreciate the meaning of the Resurrection, and the joys of Easter, in contrast with the meaning of Lent, and the sorrows of the Passion. The musical beauty of the liturgy is nowhere more apparent than it is in the contrast that the liturgy offers us during these two seasons.

This Sunday is known as Quasimodo Sunday as that is the first word of the Introit. It is also called Low Sunday.

We sang Rejoice O Mary, Heavenly Queen for the processional and our now standard Stella Stella Coeli Extirpavit at the Offertory.

At the Communion, we sang the Sequence from Easter Sunday, Victimae Paschali, then O Filii et Filiae. For the recessional the OTHER version of Jesus Christ is Risen Today.

We are planning to sing a new hymn, Sweet Sacrament Divine, at first communions in a few weeks, so after the recessional, the choir sang that so that the congregation will start to learn the melody.

* An interesting side note (pun intended): Those of us in the schola and choir must rehearse for the Easter liturgy, and so, of necessity, in the depths of Holy Week, we find ourselves practicing hymns with the word Alleluia in them. We try not to put our hearts in it though. The liturgical lives of those who sing in the schola and choir are lived about two weeks in advance of what is on the liturgical calendar.

In the image: In Victor Hugo’s novel, Quasimodo, rejected by his parents for his deformities, is abandoned inside Notre Dame Cathedral, at a place where orphans and unwanted children were dropped off.

Monseigneur Claude Frollo finds the child on “Quasimodo Sunday” and “called him Quasimodo; whether it was that he chose thereby to commemorate the day when he had found him, or that he meant to mark by that name how incomplete and imperfectly molded the poor little creature was,” Hugo wrote.

We had something of a collision of ceremonies at our humble chapel this Sunday. Normally, it being the Second Sunday of the Month, the Holy Name Men would make their observances. But we also had first Communions so the Holy Name Men were requested to stand down. And so, we did.

We are still running standard fare for Paschaltide: Mass I, Credo I, Vidi Aquam.

For the processional, we did Immaculate Mary with the Fatima refrain. It’s not that it’s inappropriate. On the contrary, it being the month of Our Lady. We might rather have done an Easter hymn. But we have May procession next week, and the lovely little girls are more familiar with the Lourdes refrain. Unfortunately, the hymn sheets we have already printed have the Fatima refrain, so we wanted the girls to hear the Fatima refrain one time before next week. Yes, sometimes our choices have very practical motives.

At the Offertory, yet again, Stella Coeli Extirpavit. It is well that it is so pretty, else we would tire of it.

At the communion, Adoro Te, and a sop to the Holy Name Men, Jesu Dulcis Memoria.

For the recessional, we sang Sweet Sacrament Divine and it was well sung, our efforts to indoctrinate the faithful having paid off handsomely.

With the Resurrection, in a moment, the history of the world was changed. And in a moment, the character of the music of the liturgy correspondingly changes.

The ceremonies of the Paschal Vigil prepare us for this glorious transition. Our first indication that things are about to change occurs when the priest, after blessing the New Fire and the Paschal Candle, and in preparation for the Solemn Procession into the church, removes the violet vestments and dons white ones. He wears white for the Procession and the Exultet. He changes back to violet for the Lessons and the First Part of the Litany, and then back again to white for the Renewal of the Promises of Baptism, after which he and the servers leave the church while the Second Part of the Litany is chanted.

The priest reenters the church in white vestments for the Mass of the Paschal Vigil. There is no processional hymn because we are moving directly from one liturgical function to the next. The Prayers at the Foot of the Altar and the Introit are omitted and Mass begins as soon as the priest enters the church with the unaccompanied chanting of Kyrie I, Lux et Origo, which is designated for use In Paschal Time.

The priest then intones the Gloria(likewise from Mass I), and the glory of it is unmistakable as the organ sings once again after a long silence, the bells ring out, and the statues are unveiled.

After the Epistle, we welcome back the Alleluia in grand fashion. The priest chants it to a beautiful and elaborate melody, and it is then immediately repeated by the schola. The priest sings it again at a higher pitch, and it is again repeated by the schola. The priest sings it a third time at still a higher pitch, and the schola again repeats it. The schola then immediately sings the versicle Confitemini, which is immediately followed by the Laudate, which, interestingly, is referred to as a Tract.

The Credo is not sung because it had previously been recited at the Vigil during the Renewal of the Promises of Baptism. There is no Offertory antiphon. The Agnus Dei is omitted because it had previously been recited during the Litany. There is no Communion antiphon.

This one time during the year, Lauds (which in this instance is very brief) is combined with the Mass and is begun as soon as the priest finishes with the ablutions. It consists simply of an antiphon, Alleluia, sung three times, Psalm 150, and the characteristic Canticle of Zachary, with the antiphon Et Valde Mane.

There is no Last Gospel, and the recessional begins immediately after the Last Blessing.

At the Offertory, the Schola sang the masterpiece of Saint Venantius Fortunatus, written in the year 604, Salve Festa Dies. The words to the simple refrain are quite moving:

Hail, great day, in all time most worthy of veneration, for today God conquered Hell while holding his place among the stars.

At the Communion, the full choir sang Palestrina’s setting for the Sicut Cervus, a canticle from this same liturgy. After our customary recessional, The Strife is O’er, the ladies’ choir sang the hymn from the Eastern Rite liturgy, Christos Anesti.

The music this day is remarkable for a number of reasons. This is not a Sunday, so there is no Asperges. And since there is no Asperges, we sing the Introit (Nos autem) as the processional. Of course, since we are in Passiontide, we omit the Gloria Patri.

The priest is not wearing violet. Rather, he is wearing white, and so you might imagine that Mass XVII is probably not to be used and that is correct. The rubrics suggest that Mass IV be used and indeed is what we sing.

Holy Thursday is special because, even though it falls in Holy Week, it is a time of rejoicing since it commemorates the institution of the Mass, Holy Orders and the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist. In keeping with the somber side of things, the Kyrie is unaccompanied, but on the other hand, the Gloria is accompanied by the organ – the last time we will hear it until the Gloria at the Mass of the Paschal Vigil. The Gloria is also accompanied by a glorious ringing of the bells, but they too will disappear until the Gloria at the Mass of the Paschal Vigil. In place of the bells, you will hear the knocking of the clacker.

The Gradual (Christus factus est) is a recurring theme throughout Holy Week, and in particular, at Tenebrae. Given the dual nature of the feast, what follows the Gradual? Certainly not an Alleluia! Not during Lent, and certainly not during Holy Week. A Tract? Not on such a day of rejoicing! So, what follows the Gradual? Nothing! And that is a rarity indeed! We proceed directly from the Gradual to the Gospel.

There is no Credo because, even though it is a time of rejoicing, the day itself is a Feria, and the Credo is not said on days of Feria.

During the Washing of the Feet, the Schola sings a number of antiphons. We keep a close eye on the proceedings because as Father approaches the last of the Apostles, we start immediately with the Ubi Caritas, which is mandatory.

The Gloria Patri is omitted at the Lavabo. At the Offertory, we once again sing Stella Coeli Extirpavit. The Preface is that of The Holy Cross.

The character of the Mass has changed, and has now become more somber. This is very apparent as we sing the Agnus Dei. We repeat the phrase miserere nobis three times and do not sing dona nobis pacem.

The second Confiteor is omitted. At the Communion, the choir sings a polyphonic setting of the Gradual, Christus Factus Est. A very full church gave us time to also sing Adoro te Devote, in honor of the institution of the Eucharist.

Instead of the Ite Missa est, Father sings Benedicamus Domino. There is no Last Blessing and no Last Gospel. As soon as Mass is ended, the Blessed Sacrament is translated in procession to the Altar of Repose. We sing the Pange Lingua in procession, repeating verses 2 through 4 until we arrive at the Altar of Repose, at which time we sing verses 5 and 6, Tantum ergo. The procession returns to the Church for the Stripping of the Altar during which the Schola solemnly chants the now familiar Psalm 21 – Deus, Deus meus.