Skip to main content
Happy Pentecost Eve
The Holy Spirit comes gently. He is not felt as a burden. The Spirit comes with the tenderness of a true friend and protector to save, to heal, to teach, to counsel, to strengthen, to console. The Holy Spirit enables us to see things beyond the range of human vision.
~ St. Cyril of Jerusalem.
Comments
Prior to the liturgical "wreckovation" under Pius XII, i.e. the 1955 Holy Week Reforms, there was a true Pentecost Vigil.
Already in very ancient times, the sacrament of baptism was celebrated on the feast of Pentecost as on Easter; this is said explicitly by Pope Saint Siricius (d. 399) in a letter to bishop Himerius of Tarragon. Pope Saint Leo I (d. 461) reasserts that this was the practice of the Church in a letter to the bishops of Sicily, exhorting them to follow the example of the Apostle Peter, who baptized three thousand persons on Pentecost day. This custom is expressed in the liturgy of the vigil of Pentecost, which resembles in many respects the rite of Holy Saturday. This resemblance is found in the Missal of St. Pius V (i.e. the "Tridentine Missal"), as in all of the missals that came before it, and in the medieval usages of the great cathedrals and religious orders.
The rite begins in the penitential color, violet. There is no blessing of a Paschal fire, nor of a Paschal candle, nor the Exsultet; therefore, the vigil begins with six prophecies, repeated from the vigil of Easter, each of which is followed by a prayer, and the three tracts from Easter night are also repeated in their respective places. The six prayers are different from those of the Easter vigil, but express in many respects the same ideas. After the sixth prophecy, the blessing of the baptismal font is repeated, changing only the prayer at the beginning, following which the Litany is sung. During the Litany, the major ministers (subdeacon, deacon, and priest) return to the sacristy and change to red vestments for the Mass.
Other rites of the Easter vigil are repeated at this vigil Mass, e.g. there is no Introit (except at private Low Mass), and the bells are rung at the Gloria in excelsis. The collect (Opening Prayer) of the Mass refers to the baptismal character of this celebration even more clearly than that of the Easter vigil Mass! After the Alleluia of the Mass there is sung the same Tract from Easter night. At the Gospel, the acolytes do not carry candles. Just as on Easter night the Resurrection is watched for, but not anticipated, so also with this same gesture, the Church watches for the coming of the Holy Spirit in tongues of fire, as Christ told His disciples to do, but does not anticipate it. A further reference to the baptisms done in the first part of the rite is found in the Canon of the Mass, in which the proper Hanc igitur of Easter is said. This text speaks explicitly of those whom the Lord "(has) deigned to regenerate of water and the Holy Spirit, granting to them remission of their sins." It is said in this Mass, and through the entire octave of Pentecost, as it is also said at the Mass of the Easter vigil, and throughout the octave.