Holy Saturday at St. Mary’s, Norwalk (I)

Holy Saturday vigil in the Traditional rite – a further step in the contemporary Catholic adventure of the recovery of the Sacred. For four and one-half hours this unique liturgy, celebrated in its completeness, unfolded from the blessing of the new fire to the concluding double alleluia. What better illustration could there be of the attractive, in the truest sense educative power of tradition even – or especially – in this most demanding of liturgies? How could the nature of baptism be more clearly communicated than in the gestures and rituals of this evening? And in the chanted prophecies from the creation in Genesis to the three children in the fiery furnace we do not just listen to read texts but physically feel the vastness of the ages through which the chosen people clung to God’s promises.

The blessing of the New Fire.

Insertion of the grains of incense into the Paschal Candle and the blessing of the Paschal Candle.

Lumen Christi..

The Exsultet.

The chanting of the first Prophecy.

The chanting of the final Prophecy.

The blessing of the baptismal font.

Two Baptisms followed.