17 Apr

2022

Easter Vigil at St. Mary’s Norwalk, Part 3

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The Easter Vigil at St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk, CT.

This series begins at Part 1

The acolytes prepare the altar for the festive Mass of Easter.
Toward the end of the Litany, the celebrant and ministers return.  
The Mass of the Easter Vigil, due to its extreme antiquity, has no Introit, but instead the Litany is concluded with the solemn recitation of the Kyrie.
The celebrant intones the Gloria.  The church bells are sounded throughout, the first time they have been heard since Maundy Thursday, and the images of the church are uncovered.
The Canon of the Mass
First Holy Communions
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17 Apr

2022

Easter Vigil at St. Mary’s Part 2: The Christenings and Confirmations

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A procession is formed to the baptistery, led by the Paschal Candle.
When the procession reaches the baptistry, the celebrant offers a prayer before passing through the gates.
Once inside the baptistery, the celebrant prays over the font, that the Lord will deign to remake those about to die to their old selves in its waters into His spiritual sons and daughters by the grace of His Spirit. He divides the water in the form of a cross. He touches the water with his hand.
The celebrant breathes on the water three times in the shape of a cross
The celebrant plunges the Paschal Candle into the water thrice
The acolyte removes some of the baptismal water for the aspersory: the celebrant sparges himself and his ministers with the Easter Water. An assisting priest circles the church to sprinkle the faithful with Easter Water.
The celebrant pours the Oil of Catechumens and the Oil of Sacred Chrism into the baptismal water. The consecrated baptismal water will be retained in the font for the baptisms throughout the year.
The celebrant changes into white vestments
The catechumens are baptized. This year there were nine baptisms.
Each newly baptized receives his white garment—a symbol of his baptismal innocence
Each receives his baptismal candle, lit from the Paschal candle. It symbolizes the new light of grace which he received.
The procession returns to the sanctuary. The Confirmation candidates kneel.
The celebrant anoints each by name on the brow with the Chrism consecrated by the bishop on Spy Wednesday. 
He strikes the cheek of each, a sign of the hardships and mockery each will endure as a Christian.
The sacred ministers divest and prostrate themselves at the foot of the altar. After a time, they retreat to the sacristy to change into festive vesture. The Litany of the Saints is chanted by cantors. On this night, the entire invocation is repeated after the cantors, not only the response.

Please continue to Part 3

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17 Apr

2022

Easter Vigil at St. Mary’s Part 1: Easter Fire, Exsultet, Prophecies

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The Easter Vigil at St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk, CT, Part I. (Descriptions courtesy of John Pia)

The celebrant and ministers—vested in penitential violet, the celebrant in cope, the ministers in folded chasubles—approach to sanctify the new fire, in anticipation of the light of Easter Day.
A taper is lit from the new fire
The deacon changes his penitental folded chasuble into the white dalmatic of joy.
The deacon takes up the triple-branched reed, whose staff represents the bronze serpent which Moses fashioned on a rod to heal the Israelites in the desert, and whose three candles mystically symbolize the three days in the tomb, as well as the three Marys approaching the tomb on Easter morn.  A procession is formed; the faithful follow the clergy into the church.
Three times along the way the procession stops, and one of the three candles in lighted with the taper lit from the new fire: at each lighting the faithful should genuflect, save the subdeacon who bears the cross.  The deacon sings “The light of Christ” each time on a higher pitch, to which the people respond “Thanks be to God”.
When the sacred ministers reach the sanctuary, the deacon hands the reed over, and seeks a blessing from the celebrant.
The deacon proceeds to consecrate the unlit Paschal candle by the great Easter proclamation, the ancient “Exsultet.”  The deacon and his retinue face towards the North: towards those dark regions that do not yet know the Light of Christ.
The deaon pauses to pierce the Paschal Candle with the five grains of incense in the form of a cross, symbolizing the five Holy Wounds of our Lord at His crucifixion.
The deacon lights the Paschal Candle with the flame taken from the reed, which itself was lighted from the new fire.
The dedication candles and the lamps of the church are now lighted from the Paschal Candle.
The Prophecies:  The Twelve Prophecies of the Vigil are among the oldest cycle of readings known in the Roman Rite, prefiguring our salvation and recounting the duties, trials, and hardships of the Christian, they form the final catechesis for the elect who are to be baptized.  They are sung by a series of lectors to their own tone.

Please continue to Part 2

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17 Apr

2022

Good Friday at St. Mary’s Norwalk, Part 2: Procession of the Cristo Muerto and Burial of the Body of Jesus

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16 Apr

2022

Good Friday at St. Mary’s, Norwalk, Part I

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The Mass of the Presanctified and the Veneration of the Holy Cross.

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15 Apr

2022

Holy Thursday at St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk

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10 Apr

2022

Palm Sunday at St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk

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(Above) The asperges.

The Mass of the Palms: Blessing of the deacon prior to the reading the Gospel.

The Blessing of the Palms.

The start of the procession.

The cantors (above) and the schola of women (below).

(above) Cantors singing “Gloria Laus et Honor” (All Glory, Laud and Honor) before the entry of the procession into the church.

(Above) The Passion according to St. Matthew.

(Above and below) The singing of the conclusion of the Passion.

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