Easter Vigil - when did you start and finish?

[Hare]

We have never used the ancient triple Alleluia chant. Tends to be the Celtic with the verses. We had "hands in the air" in the congregation this year!

Is there a rubric that says the fire should NOT be pre-lit?

Two years ago, the week after Easter, the gas board were called in to investigate why the church's bill was astronomical, and discovered a humdinger of an underground leak and gas build-up.....directly under where we have the fire!

[quaeritor]

As a matter of interest, how do you, dear reader, cope with this Easter Alleluia?

Exactly a you do, John - Celebrant does as directed, then Deacon intones the simple alleluia which is the response for the Gospel Acclamation, as he does every Sunday - works perfectly well, and he doesn't feel displaced by the Priest Celebrant singing the posh one.

Q

[VML]

We did, for a few years, have the full long Alleluia sung by a cantor, when the then PP was distinctly not a singer, but was responsible for huge encouragement of the choir. Now, PP sings well most Sundays, and even took time to practise the long one this year, but was not, in the end, sufficiently confident, so sang the chant one, which we followed with the psalm using the same chant.
The long one is imprinted in my memory from hearing it sung at 7 Vigils of each side of 1960. Fr Patrick Killian OSA also sang the Exsultet.

[VML]

I am reviving this thread as I think timing the Vigil may be an issue this year. Local sunset time on 20th April will be 20.14. I have a feeling I am going to have either a battle or to bite my tongue when PP tells me we start at 8.00. In any case, we do not now sing the full Exsultet, as he has his own version with responses and no changes since pre 2011.

[VML]

Very similar to Keitha - 8.00 start - rather too daylight outside for the start, but dark by the time we processed in with candles and got to the Exsultet (sung by the Deacon - used to be my party piece before we had a Deacon - serves me right for enjoying it too much!)

Q

I have to admit this too, Quaeritor.

[High Peak]

Since I started this thread, we have a new PP whose liturgical sensibilities are more akin to my own. He has an app that tells him when "Civil Twilight" is. So it looks like our Vigil will start at 9pm.

I am a much happier bunny.

[PhloridaPhil]

We started at 8.30pm and with 11 baptisms but only 3 readings/psalms we were done by 11.15pm. I was not a happy bunny to be playing the sunrise mass at 6am but I was delighted to be singing Joncas’ ‘As morning breaks’ as a post communion song just as the sun graced our worship.

[alan29]

We started at 8.30 when it was still light outside.
It got darker during the Exultet. That isn't quite what is meant to happen, is it?

[Southern Comfort]

Have heard about a number of Vigils that started in substantial daylight at 8:00pm, and one or two even earlier! The Vigil I played for was scheduled to start at 9:00pm, in practice was a few minutes later than that. Ended at 11:45pm, followed by a party for the newly-initiated which I did not stay long for, having to play for an early Mass in the morning.

[High Peak]

We started at 8.30 when it was still light outside.
It got darker during the Exultet. That isn't quite what is meant to happen, is it?

No,indeed it isn't.......
"The entire celebration of the Easter Vigil takes place at night. It should not begin before nightfall; it should end before daybreak on Sunday" (Paschale Solemnitatis 78)

Our new PP takes Civil Twilight as a guide. Civil Twilight in our town was 8:54pm (sunset 8:16pm) and so the Vigil started at 9pm.

[Peter]

... I was not a happy bunny to be playing the sunrise mass at 6am but I was delighted to be singing Joncas’ ‘As morning breaks’ as a post communion song just as the sun graced our worship.

Did you take the opportunity to include Bernadette Farrell's "This is the night of new beginnings" (one of my Easter Vigil must-haves) earlier in the Mass?

Our Vigil started at 8pm, just as it did in the nearby Cathedral: presumably our PP dared not have it later for fear of losing liturgically less aware congregation members to an earlier alternative. The fire was lit in a brazier inside the church at the back and the congregation remained in their places, so unable to see any of the actions involving the candle. However, the light spreading from there into the church as people lit their own candles, passing the flame from one to another was very atmospheric even though the church had not been in real darkness before that.

The most bizarre timing for an Easter Vigil I can recall was at the CofE church at Old Basing many, many years ago, celebrated by one of the priests from Basingstoke and starting at 6.30pm! There was another Vigil Mass in the main church later on, but as that church was small for the numbers in the parish, this one was available as an alternative. I don't remember the experiment ever being repeated, though.

[Nick Baty]

Right, I'll 'fess up! We started at 7pm. My head was totally against this but something inside told me to trust the PP.
The result was, instead of the usual 60 or 70 in one of our smaller churches, we had 400+ in our largest building. Yes, the sun was setting as I sang the Exultet

"The entire celebration of the Easter Vigil takes place at night. It should not begin before nightfall; it should end before daybreak on Sunday" (Paschale Solemnitatis 78)

but there was something magical about the strands of light filtering through our rather high windows.

There were three baptisms and nine receptions (12 in total). I usually include the names of the newbies in the litany – although this year included "Delia" – but at some stage we lost track of how many were actually coming. And at one point the PP whispered to me, "Isn't it the litany now?" to which I replied, "No. You've already moved past it" and then, in the mixup the assembly wasn't sprinkled so we didn't sing the planned sprinkling song.

Overall: This may not be the best Vigil I've attended, but it's the best I've witnessed in the 15 years I've been in my present parish. Yes, we started in daylight, we messed up a few places... But we had a crowded church, an assembly which responded brilliantly to song, very visual receptions/baptism (because of the layout of the building)... And they were still singing Taizé's Surrexit Christus as they left the building.

I'm just pleased we did what we did: Perhaps next year we'll start slightly later. And, after the experience they had this year, perhaps that smiling, singing assembly will return.

[organist]

8.30 p.m. at the cathedral fire at the back inside, 3 readings, choir on superb form, Vierne Messe solenelle with top B flats from the boys, baptisms, confirmations by the Cardinal. Finished 10.30 p.m. In bed at midnight. Up at 4.30 a.m. to drive to Anglicans 5.30 a.m. start 3 readings, litany, 3 singers who did well. Hallelujah chorus played at the end Cooked breakfast provided. Played 10 a.m. sung Eucharist played Howells Saraband for the mornign of Easter at end and sang at evensong locally. Result happy but knackered!

[mcb]

8.30 p.m. at the cathedral fire at the back inside, 3 readings...

Three? I wonder what grave pastoral necessity made them cut things back so far. Evidently not shortage of time, since there was time enough for the Vierne Messe Solenelle.