life in heaven. It is therefore the most joyful and glorious day of the year, the principal feast day of the Christian religion.





Since time immemorial, Christians have observed the night before Easter with a special liturgy. The early Christians celebrated with a vigil lasting the whole night, including readings from Sacred Scripture and receiving new Christians into the Church. This all-night vigil led up to the Mass of Easter Sunday in the morning, the first Mass offered since the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday. Today, the Easter Vigil is celebrated in the evening of Holy Saturday, distinct from the liturgy on Sunday morning. It is the most solemn liturgical celebration of the year, and also the longest, usually lasting about four hours.





The ministers vest inviolet, the color of Lent. The priest wears cope, and the deacon and subdeacon wear folded chasubles. They do not wear maniples.





The new fire

The liturgy begins outside the church, where fire is struck from flint. This is the new fire , which represents the light of Christ conquering the darkness of sin and death. The priest sings three prayers to bless the new fire. With a fourth prayer, the priest blesses five grains of incense. The priest then sprinkles the fire and grains of incense with holy water and incenses them. T he deacon removes his violet chasuble and stole and puts on a white maniple, stole, and dalmatic. He is now vested in white, the color of Easter, because his next function is a joyful one.





All now