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Saturday, April 8, 2023

Exult! – The Easter Proclamation

A Deacon Chanting the Exultet
From the Barberini Exultet Roll
Italian (Montecassino), c. 1087
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Cod.Barb.Lat. 592

Note:  I first wrote this essay on the Exultet rolls in 2013.  At that only the merest handful of poor-quality images were available on the internet.  I updated it once, in 2021, and there were still very few images available.  

However, two years can make a big difference in scholarly availability as well as in human lives!  This past week, as I looked around for any additional available images I was astounded at how much had become available.   Best of all, what has become available is the entire manuscript, whether in the form of a scroll or of a codex, not just a random picture or two from each.

It's not yet perfect, of course.  There are some images for which I haven't yet found a better version, but the new material available and the quality of the images has improved so much as to really require an update this year.  And, bets of all, the Vatican Library has at last enabled word searches of their digital materials (which I'm sure will only grow in number).  This is a resource that has been much anticipated!


The gathering darkness of the evening of Holy Saturday finds the Church assembled in joyful expectation around the makings of a fire. A spark is struck, the fire is lit and from that fire a large candle.

A procession, centered on that large candle, moves through the church, stopping three times to proclaim “The Light of Christ”. From that candle smaller candles are lit and, little by little, the light gathers strength until it illumines the entire church. These actions speak through symbols of the dawning of a new day, the first day of a new creation, the Kingdom of the Risen One, the Light of the World.



The candle is placed in a prominent position near the altar and a deacon (or cantor) steps forward and begins to sing an ancient song, the Exsultet (or Exultet), which, in the newest English translation,
 begins:

Exult, let them exult, the hosts of heaven,
exult, the Angel ministers of God exult,
let the trumpet of salvation
sound our mighty King’s triumph!1


The Hosts of Heaven
From an Exultet Roll
Italian (Montecassino), c. 1075
London, British Library
MS Additional 30337, Image # 2


Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her,
ablaze with light from her eternal King,
let all corners of the earth be glad,
knowing an end to gloom and darkness.

Rejoice, let Mother Church also rejoice,
arrayed with the lightning of his glory,
let this holy building shake with joy,
filled with the mighty voices of the peoples.1


Terra (Earth) and Mater Ecclesia (Mother Church)
From an Exultet  Roll
Italian (Montecassino), c. 1075
London, British Library
MS Additional 30337, Image # 3


(Therefore, dearest friends,
standing in the awesome glory of this holy light,
invoke with me, I ask you,
the mercy of God almighty,
that he, who has been pleased to number me,
though unworthy, among the Levites,
may pour into me his light unshadowed,
that I may sing this candle's perfect praises.)1


A Deacon Preparing to Sing
From an Exultet Roll
Italian, Montecassino), c. 1075
London, British Library
MS Additional 30337, Image # 4



He begins:

It is truly right and just, with ardent love of mind and heart
and with devoted service of our voice,
to acclaim our God invisible, the almighty Father,
and Jesus Christ, our Lord, his Son, his Only Begotten.

Who for our sake paid Adam's debt to the eternal Father,
and, pouring out his own dear Blood,
wiped clean the record of our ancient sinfulness.1


The Crucifixion
From an Exultet Roll
Italian (Montecassino), c. 1075
London, British Library
MS Additional 30337, Image # 6




The song recounts the stories of the Fall, the Passover and Exodus, and the new Passover of the Lord.   His song memorably recounts:

These, then, are the feasts of Passover,
in which is slain the Lamb, the one true Lamb,
whose Blood anoints the doorposts of believers.

This is the night,
when once you led our forebears, Israel's children,
from slavery in Egypt
and made them pass dry-shod through the Red Sea.

This is the night
that with a pillar of fire
banished the darkness of sin.1

The Passage Through the Red Sea and the Harrowing of Hell
From an Exultet Roll
Italian (Montecassino), c. 1075
London, British Library
MS Additional 30337, Image # 7
Rolls are read in the opposite direction from the pictures (and vice versa).


And then:

This is the night,
when Christ broke the prison-bars of death
and rose victorious from the underworld.

Our birth would have been no gain,
had we not been redeemed.

O wonder of your humble care for us!
O love, O charity beyond all telling,
to ransom a slave you gave away your Son!
O truly necessary sin of Adam,
destroyed completely by the Death of Christ!
O happy fault
that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!

O truly blessed night,
worthy alone to know the time and hour
when Christ rose from the underworld!1

The Sin of Adam and Eve and the Risen Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene
From an Exultet Roll
Italian (Montecassino), c. 1075
London, British Library
MS Additional 30337, Image # 8



And the recently restored:

The sanctifying power of this night
dispels wickedness, washes faults away,
restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to mourners,
drives out hatred, fosters concord, and brings down the mighty.  

On this, your night of grace, O holy Father,
accept this candle, a solemn offering,
the work of bees and of your servants’ hands,
an evening sacrifice of praise,
this gift from your most holy Church.

But now we know the praises of this pillar,
which glowing fire ignites for God's honor,
a fire into many flames divided,
yet never dimmed by sharing of its light,
for it is fed by melting wax,
drawn out by mother bees
to build a torch so precious.1


The Work of the Bees
From an Exultet Roll
Italian (Montecassino), c. 1075
London, British Library
MS Additional 30337, Image # 10


The candle is incensed.

O truly blessed night,
when things of heaven are wed to those of earth,
and divine to the human.

Therefore, O Lord,
we pray you that this candle,
hallowed to the honor of your name,
may persevere undimmed,
to overcome the darkness of this night.

Receive it as a pleasing fragrance,
and let it mingle with the lights of heaven.1



Incensing the Candle
From an Exultet Roll
Italian (Montecassino), c. 1075
London, British Library
MS Additional 30337, Image # 9



The Deacon Chanting
From an Exultet Roll
Italian (Montecassino), c. 1075
London, British Library
MS Additional 30337, Image # 11 (Upper)


And finally:

May this flame be found still burning
by the Morning Star:
the one Morning Star who never sets,
Christ your Son,
who, coming back from death's domain,
has shed his peaceful light on humanity,
and lives and reigns for ever and ever.

R. Amen.1


Christ in Majesty
From an Exultet Roll
Italian (Montecassino), c. 1075
London, British Library
MS Additional 30337, Image # 11 (Lower)





This candle, the Paschal Candle, is at once both a large, decorated candle made of wax, and a symbol of the Risen Jesus, present among us in a special way.

This chant and the accompanying actions are, like the Easter Vigil in total, a kind of “insect in amber”. Performed only once each year they have come down the centuries without much change, shortened here and there, time shifted, restored, translated, but never entirely altered. They connect us with an earlier world, more aware of the powerful but silent speech of symbols.



Opening of an Exultet Roll
Location Unknown
Notice that the text and the picture move in opposite directions



The Exultet Rolls

Indicative of how little things have actually changed are a series of rolled manuscripts, known collectively as the Exultet Rolls. Specific to medieval southern Italy, from about the 10th to the 12th centuries, they were decorated scrolls from which the deacon, standing in the ambo (pulpit) of the church, sang the chant.2


Exultet Text with Musical Neumes
From a Gospel Book
English (Southeast), First Half of 11th Century
London, British Library
MS Royal 1 D III, fol. 7v
This is an example of what the Exultet looked like outside of Southern Italy during the 11th Century. This codex manuscript is English and this is how the Exultet still appears in our modern liturgical books.



One extremely interesting feature of the Exultet rolls is the fact that the illustrations and the text face in opposite directions. This is so that both parties involved in the ceremony could understand the meaning. For, while the deacon read the words and notes, the congregation could see the pictures that illustrated his words as the scroll unfurled.


Another example of the different directions for text and image
From an Exultet Roll
Location Unknown


Additional Exultet Rolls


From Montecassino in 1087, comes the Barberini Exultet Roll, now in the Vatican Library (Cod.Barb.Lat.592)



Reading the images from the bottom they are:
The Hosts of Heaven
Earth (Terra)
Mother Church (Mater Ecclesia)



From the top:
The Fall of Adam and Eve
The Harrowing of Hell



From the bottom:
Noli Me Tangere
The Deacon Chanting in Presence of the Candle and Congregation



And another roll from 1136, from a church in the town of Fondi and about fifty years later, comes a roll now in the Bibliotheque nationale de France in Paris.  (Unfortunately, unlike the Vatican and British Libraries, the Bibliotheque nationale didn't provide Image numbers for the pictures in this roll, some of which differ from the previously posted rolls, so I was obliged to guess at the order that they follow.)

Assembly of the Clergy and People
From an Exultet Roll
Italian (Fondi), 1136
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Nouvelle acquisition latine 710
This is a mixed group of men.  From the left is a lay noble, a deacon, a priest and two monks.  I presume this to be the congregation gathered for the Vigil.)



The Bishop Blesses the Candle
From an Exultet Roll
Italian (Fondi), 1136
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Nouvelle acquisition latine 710




The Deacon Incenses the Candle
From an Exultet Roll
Italian (Fondi), 1136
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Nouvelle acquisition latine 710



The Deacon Proclaims the Exultet
From an Exultet Roll
Italian (Fondi), 1136
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Nouvelle acquisition latine 710
The congregation is seen to be divided into two parts.  On the left are the clergy, including monks.  On the right are lay persons.  In this group the first two are men, have beards and wear crowns.  It is impossible to say much about the people behind them.  Some have beards and are clearly male, but some do not and have rather defined large eyes, which may suggest that they are female.



The Arrest of Jesus
From an Exultet Roll
Italian (Fondi), 1136
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Nouvelle acquisition latine 710



The Crucifixion
From an Exultet Roll
Italian (Fondi), 1136
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Nouvelle acquisition latine 710


Pharaoh Pursuing the Hebrews
From an Exultet Roll
Italian (Fondi), 1136
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Nouvelle acquisition latine 710



The Passage of the Red Sea, Pharaoh's Chariots and Charioteers Are Drowned
From an Exultet Roll
Italian (Fondi), 1136
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Nouvelle acquisition latine 710




The Sin of Adam and Eve
From an Exultet Roll
Italian (Fondi), 1136
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Nouvelle acquisition latine 710



The Harrowing of Hell
From an Exultet Roll
Italian (Fondi), 1136
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Nouvelle acquisition latine 710




Christ in Majesty, "the Morningstar that Never Sets", Acclaimed by Kings
From an Exultet Roll
Italian (Fondi), 1136
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Nouvelle acquisition latine 710
These "kings" may be two crowned heads that appeared in the picture of the deacon chanting before the congregation.



The Virgin and Child
From an Exultet Roll
Italian (Fondi), 1136
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Nouvelle acquisition latine 710



Several of the images from different scrolls illustrate the very action they contain, showing the church setting, the candle in place, the clergy and congregation assembled and the deacon singing.



The Deacon Singing
From an Exultet Roll
Italian (Bari), End of 11th Century
Bari, Archivio capitolare
Exultet MS 1



Image of the lighting of the Paschal Candle
from 12th century Exultet roll
Unknown Location




Even after the use of rolls for this important moment in the liturgical year had passed, the manuscript books (codices) from which it was sung were decorated, if not with the scenes about which the deacon sang, at lease with the images of the deacon at work.


The Beginning of the Exultet
From a Gradual Book
Italian, 12th-13th Century
Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
MS Arch.Cap.S.Pietro.B.78 13, fol. 3r




The Candle Is Carved
From a Gradual Book
Italian, 12th-13th Century
Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
MS Arch.Cap.S.Pietro.B.78 13, fol. 13v





Lamps Are Lit and the Deacon Sings
From a Gradual Book
Italian, 12th-13th Century
Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
MS Arch.Cap.S.Pietro.B.78 13, fol. 15v



Tonight, those who attend the Easter Vigil will assemble in exactly the same way to repeat an ancient process and proclaim an eternal joy.


Suggestion:
See the video below for a beautifully proclaimed Exsultet from the Easter Vigil of 2020 at St. Peter's Basilica.  Due to the fact that the basilica, like all churches in Italy and in most of the world, was closed due to the pandemic lockdowns, the Vigil was held, not at the main altar, located above the tomb of Saint Peter, but at the Altar of the Chair, with the mighty Cathedra Petri by Gianlorenzo Bernini in the background.  For information on the Cathedra, see here.



A Happy and Blessed Easter!

© M. Duffy, 2013.  Revised 2021.  Rewritten with new material 2023.
______________________________________
1. Excerpt from the English translation of the Roman Missal © 2010, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. All rights reserved




Something Strange Is Happening Today -- The Lord Jesus Is Breaking Down the Gates of Hell

Pseudo-Jacquemart, The Harrowing of Hell
From the Petites Heures of Jean de Berry
French (Bourges), c. 1385-1390
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 18014, fol. 166r













The Apostles Creed, prayed by virtually every Christian denomination that uses a creed, says of Jesus the "He descended into hell" following His death and before the Resurrection. 




The fact that this subject is found in the Apostles Creed testifies to its early appearance in Christian belief, as does the Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday, which is a reading from the Divine Office for Holy Saturday.  







This beautiful reading, part of the Office of Readings of the Liturgy of the Hours for Holy Saturday states:

"Something strange is happening—there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated.

For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.

See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.

I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell.

The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.

Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity."
1


This belief is that during the time between His death on the Cross and the Resurrection, Jesus descended to limbo to free the souls of the previously deceased just who were confined in waiting there.  Limbo is a place of darkness and peace, but not of the Presence of God, which had been lost through Original Sin.   Their souls were confined to limbo because had been barred from entering heaven by Adam's sin, but they were set free by Christ's saving death.  For them He truly became the Key of David, breaking down the walls of death and leading the captives to freedom and joy.  

There is a long tradition of images in art illustrating this subject. 

In the East the tradition culminates in the dramatic and dynamic Anastasis of the church of Saint Saviour in Chora in Istanbul, in which Christ seems to drag Adam and Eve from their graves.  

Anastasis (Harrowing of Hell)
Byzantine, 1316-1321
Istanbul, Church of Saint Saviour in Chora

In the West the image appears in the Klosterneuberg Altarpiece by Nicholas of Verdun, as well as in many paintings.

Nicholas of Verdun, Harrowing of Hell
Mosan (Meuse region), 1181
Klosterneuberg Austria, Klosterneuberg Priory

There are two distinct types of iconography that apply to most of these images. In one, Christ breaks down actual gates, which are often shown thrown to the ground or hanging off their hinges.  

Harrowing of Hell
From the Psalter of Christina of Markyate_
English (St. Alban's), 1124-1145
Hildesheim, Dombibliothek
Page 49


Workshop of Duccio, Harrowing of Hell
Italian, 1308-1311
Siena, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo




Giotto Workshop, The Harrowing of Hell
Italian, c. 1320-1325
Munich, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek





Fra Angelico, Harrowing of Hell
Italian, 1437-1445
Florence, Museo di San Marco




Master of the Osservanza, Harrowing of Hell
Italian, c. 1445
Cambridge (MA), Fogg Museum



In the other Christ leads or sometimes drags the souls of the dead from the 'mouth of hell', shown as the jaws of a whale-like monster or from a cave that resembles an open mouth.

Harrowing of Hell
From Miniatures of the Life of Christ
French (Northern), 1170-1180
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library
MS M 44, fol. 11v





Andrea da Firenze, Harrowing of Hell
Italian, 1365-1368
Florence, Santa Maria Novella, Capella Spagnuolo




Alabaster Relief, Harrowing of Hell
English, c. 1440-1470
London, Victoria and Albert Museum




Luca Penni, Harrowing of Hell
Italian, c. 1547-1548
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art


In both types He carries the staff, topped with a cross or with a pennant bearing a cross, that is His banner of victory over death.

Later images show Christ dragging the souls of the just from a more generalized image of a limbo jammed with just souls in waiting.  In these images the iconography of the gates or the mouth of hell is not as emphasized as in the earlier images.



The Harrowing of Hell
From a Book of Homilies
German (Lower Rhine), c. 1320-1350
Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum
MS W. 148, fol. 21r



Friedrich Pacher, The Harrowing of Hell
German, c. 1460s
Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts




Andrea Mantegna, Harrowing of Hell
Italian, 1468
Private Collection 




Agnolo Bronzino, Harrowing of Hell
Italian, 1552
Florence, Church of Santa Croce




Tintoretto, Harrowing of Hell
Italian, 1568
Venice, Church of San Cassiano



© M. Duffy, 2023, 2024

1.  Office of Readings, Holy Saturday.  Source is:  Patrologiae cursus completus ...: Series graeca. Edited by Jacques Paul Migne, France, 1864, Volume 4, Section 43, "Seven Homilies", Paragraphs 440-463, "Sancto et magno Sabbato".