Liturgical Colour : White

Solemn Procession

Priest : Lumen Christi.

Response : Deo gratias.

Priest : Lumen Christi.

Response : Deo gratias.

Priest : Lumen Christi.

Response : Deo gratias.

(Deacon : Jube, domne, benedicere.)

(Priest : Dominus sit in corde tuo, et in labiis tuis : ut digne et competenter annunties suum Paschale praeconium : In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.)

English translation

Priest : The Light of Christ.

Response : We thank You, o God.

Priest : The Light of Christ.

Response : We thank You, o God.

Priest : The Light of Christ.

Response : We thank You, o God.

(Deacon : Pray, sir, a blessing.)

(Priest : May the Lord be in your heart and on your lips, that you may worthily and competently declare His Paschal proclamation, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.)

The Paschal Exsultet

Exsultet jam Angelica turba caelorum : exsultent divina mysteria : et pro tanti Regis victoria, tuba insonet salutaris.

Gaudeat et tellus tantis irradiata fulgoribus : et aeterni Regis splendore illustrata, totius orbis se sentiat amisisse caliginem.

Laetetur et Mater Ecclesia, tanti luminis adornata fulgoribus : et magnis populorum vocibus haec aula resultet.

Quapropter astantes vos, fratres carissimi, ad tam miram hujus sancti luminis claritatem, una mecum, quaeso, Dei omnipotentis misericordiam invocate. Ut qui me non meis meritis intra Levitarum numerum dignatus est aggregare : luminis Sui claritatem infundens, cerei hujus laudem implere perficiat.

Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Suum : qui cum eo vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus per omnia saecula saeculorum.

Response : Amen.

Deacon : Dominus vobiscum.

Response : Et cum spiritu tuo.

Deacon : Sursum corda.

Response : Habemus ad Dominum.

Deacon : Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro.

Response : Dignum et justum est.

Vere dignum et justum est, invisibilem Deum Patrem omnipotentem, Filiumque Ejus unigenitum, Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, toto cordis ac mentis affectu, et vocis ministerio personare. Qui pro nobis Aeterno Patri, Adae debitum solvit : et veteris piaculi cautionem pio cruore detersit.

Haec sunt enim festa Paschalia, iniquibus verus ille Agnus occiditur, cujus Sanguine postes fidelium consecrantur.

Haec nox est, in qua primum patres nostros filios Israel eductos de Aegypto, mare Rubrum sicco vestigio transire fecisti.

Haec igitur nox est, quae peccatorum tenebras, columnae illuminatione purgavit.

Haec nox est, quae hodie per universum mundum, in Christo credentes, a vitiis saeculi, et caligine peccatorum segregatos, reddit gratiae, sociat sanctitati.

Haec nox est, in qua destructie vinculis mortis, Christus ab inferis victor ascendit. Nihil enim nobis nasci profuit, nisi redimi profuisset.

O mira circa nos Tuae pietatis dignatio!

O inaestimabilis dilectio caritatis : ut servum redimeres, Filium tradidisti!

O certe necessarium Adae peccatum, quod Christi morte deletum est!

O felix culpa, quae talem ac tantum meruit habere Redemptorem!

O vere beata nox, quae sola meruit scire tempus et horam, in qua Christus ab inferis resurrexit! Haec nox est, de qua scriptum est : Et nox sicut dies illuminabitur : et nox illuminatio mea in deliciis meis.

Hujus igitur sanctificatio noctis fugat scelera, culpas lavat : et reddit innocentiam lapsis, et maestis laetitiam. Fugat odia, concordiam parat, et curvat imperia.

In hujus igitur noctis gratia, suscipe, Sancte Pater, incensi hujus sacrificium vespertinum : quod tibi in hac Cerei oblatione solemni, per ministrorum manus de operibus apum, sacrosancta reddit Ecclesia.

Sed jam columnae hujus praeconia novimus, quam in honorem Dei rutilans ignis accendit. Qui licet sit divisus in partes, mutuati tamen luminis detrimenta non novit. Alitur enim liquantibus ceris, quas in substantiam pretiosae hujus lampadis, apis mater eduxit.

Overe beata nox, quae exspoiliavit Aegyptios, ditavit Hebraeos! Nox, in qua terrenis caelestia, humanis divina juguntur.

Oramus ergo Te, Domine : ut Cereus iste in honorem Tui Nominis consecratus, ad noctis hujus caliginem destruendam, indeficiens perseveret. Et in odorem suavitatis acceptus, supernis luminaribus misceatur Flammas ejus Lucifer matutinus inveniat. Ille, inquam, Lucifer, qui nescit occasum. Ille, qui regressus ab inferis, humano generi serenus illuxit.

Precamur ergo Te, Domine : ut nos famulos Tuos, omnemque clerum, et devotissimum populum : una cum beatissimo Papa nostro (Name of Pope) et Antistite nostro (Name of Bishop) quiete temporum concessa, in his Paschalibus gaudiis, assidua protectione regere, gubernare, et conservare digneris.

Respice etiam ad eos, qui nos in potestate regunt, et, ineffabili pietatis et misericordiae Tuae munere, dirige cogitationes eorum ad justitiam et pacem, ut de terrena operositate ad caelestem patriam perveniant cum omni populo Tuo.

Per eumdem Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum : Qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus : Per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation

Let the Angelic Host of Heaven now exult, exult the mysteries divine, and for the victory so great a King, sound the trumpet of salvation.

Let earth rejoice, irradiated by such mighty beams, and, being lighted up with the splendour of the Eternal King, let her feel the shadows gone from all her sphere.

Let Mother Church also rejoice, adorned with the effulgence of so great a light, and let this place ring with the voices of many.

Wherefore, all of you are present, o most dear brethren, in the wondrous brightness of this holy Light, join me, I pray, in invoking the mercy of Almighty God, that He, Who, for no merits of my own, had deigned to number me among the Levites, may shed upon me the brightness of His Light and make me perfectly perform the praise of this Candle.

Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, His Son, Who with Him live and reign in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.

Response : Amen.

Deacon : The Lord be with you.

Response : And with your spirit.

Deacon : Lift up your hearts.

Response : We have lifted them up to the Lord.

Deacon : Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

Response : It is right and just.

It is truly right and just, that with all the powers of heart and mind, uplifting, too, our voices, we sing the God invisible, the Father Almighty, and His only begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who had paid for us unto the Eternal Father the debt of Adam, and had wiped out with His dear Blood the reckoning of the ancient offence.

For these are the Paschal rites wherein the true Lamb is slain with Whose Blood the doorposts of the faithful are consecrated.

This is the night on which You had caused our fathers, the children of Israel, to cross dry-shod the Red Sea, leading them out of the land of Egypt.

This, then, is the night that had purged away the darkness of sins with the illumination of the pillar of fire.

This is the night which now, throughout all the world, had separated believers in Christ from the iniquities of the world and the gloom of sins, and had restored them unto grace, and joined them unto holiness.

This is the night on which, bursting the bonds of death, Christ came victorious from the grave. For it profited us nothing to be born except that we might be redeemed.

O wondrous condescension of Your great kindness in our regard!

O inestimable affection of charity : to redeem the slave, You had given up the Son!

O truly necessary sin of Adam, that is wiped out by the death of Christ!

O happy fault, that was worthy to have such an so great a Redeemer!

O truly blessed night, that alone was worthy to know the time and the hour when Christ rose again from the dead. This is the night of which it is written : And the night shall be enlightened like day, and the night is my enlightening in my pleasures.

The sanctification of this night, therefore, drove away evil deeds, cleansed offences, restoring innocence to the fallen and gladness to the mournful. It drove out hatred, it produced concord and curbed tyrannies.

In thanksgiving, then, for this night, o Holy Father, receive the evening sacrifice of this incense, which most holy Church rendered to You by the hands of her ministers, in this solemn oblation of wax, from the labours of the bees.

And now we know the glories of this column which the flickering fire had kindled in God’s honour. Which fire, though it be divided into parts, yet knew no diminution of its light. For it is nourished by the fluid wax which the mother bee had produced for the material of this precious torch.

O truly blessed night that despoiled the Egyptians and enriched the Hebrews! Night in which heavenly things are joined with earthly things, divine with human!

We beseech You, therefore, o Lord, that this wax candle, hallowed in honour of Your Name, may continue to burn to dissipate the darkness of this night. And being accepted as a sweet savour, may be united with the heavenly lights. Let the Morning Star find its flame alight. That Morning Star, I mean, which knows no setting. He, Who returning from hell, serenely shone forth upon mankind.

We beseech You, therefore, o Lord, that You would grant peaceful times during this Paschal Festival, and vouchsafe to rule, govern and keep with Your constant protection us, Your servants, and all the clergy, and the devout people, together with our most holy Pope (Name of Pope) and our Bishop (Name of Pope).

Have regard, also, for those who reign over us, and grant them Your ineffable kindness and mercy, direct their thoughts in justice and peace, that from their earthly toil, they may come to their heavenly reward with all Your people.

Through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, Our Lord, Who with You lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.