328 BuoniCattolici
Christ died at that hour and those baptized entered into his death.^118 The
urban chapels, even those that enjoyed special exemptions, closed this day
as the city clergy attended the vigil baptisms with their congregations.^119 On
Holy Thursday, the church had extinguished all lamps and candles save
those of the Tenebrae hearse; the vigil began with the kindling of the new
fire of Easter. Most commonly, the archpriest struck it from flint and steel in
the piazza before the duomo and blessed it. This rite was usually performed
without solemnity, but at Modena the archpriest struck the new fire as the
clergy chanted a litany of the saints, invoking the seven most important
patrons of the city.^120 The people carried tapers, but these were not lighted
until later, at the baptisms. People kept the Easter tapers and brought them
home to light during storms and times of illness.^121 The vigil service itself was
conducted in a darkness recalling that of Christ’s tomb and of sin.^122 The
archdeacon carrying the new fire led the people into the semidarkness of the
cathedral, chanting three times ‘‘Lumen Christi’’—‘‘The Light of Christ.’’
He then lighted the great towering Easter candle next to the pulpit and
ascended to chant the Exultet, the solemn proclamation of Christ’s Resurrec-
tion. During the Exultet, it was common to fix grains of incense into the
candle and anoint it with holy chrism.^123
At Siena, the new fire was struck in the confessional below the altar of
Saint Crescentius. The cathedral clergy, who had gathered in the confes-
sional, chanted None. A deacon took a clump of candles, lest a draft extin-
guish a single flame, lighted them from the new fire, and carried them along
with a lighted wick (arundinus) to the bishop at his throne. The bishop blessed
the new fire and sprinkled it with holy water. Then the canons, preceded by
the cross, led the bishop and the deacon carrying a small Easter candle to
the great western doors. There he showed the new fire to the people assem-
bled outside, and all entered the church. The clergy returned to the choir
before the high altar of the Blessed Virgin. The deacon lighted the great
candle near the pulpit and chanted ‘‘Lumen Christi’’—‘‘Light of Christ.’’
He then ascended the pulpit to chant the Exultet. The Exultet blessing
traced the history of salvation and praised the bees who had produced the
wax of which the candle was made. During this long prayer, the clergy came
- Sicardo,Mitrale, 6. 14 , col. 337 ; Verona, Biblioteca Capitolare,ms lxxxiv, fol. 103 v; for Caroling-
ian witness to the hour, see Amalarius,Liber Officialis, 5. 29. 1 ,Amalarii Episcopi Opera Liturgica Omnia,ed.
Jean Michel Hanssens (Rome: Biblioteca Vaticana, 1948 ), 1 : 499. - E.g., the exempt church of Santa Vita in Vicenza, whose clergy attended ‘‘sicut et alii Capellani
nostri’’: Vicenza Stat., 168 n. 1 ; document edited in Francesco Barbarano dei Mironi,Historia ecclesiastica
della citta`, territorio e diocesi di Vicenza(Vicenza: Cristoforo Rosio, 1649 ), 1 : 250. - Parma, Biblioteca Palatina,msPar. 996 , 47 r–v.
- On these rites, see Sicardo,Mitrale, 6. 14 , cols. 322 – 23 ; ‘‘Instrumentum Litis,’’ 1. 1 ,p. 129 ;Ordo
Officiorum della cattedrale [volterrana], 113 – 26 (Volterrams 222, fols. 44 r– 50 v). On the people’s keeping the
candles, see Sicardo,Mitrale, 6. 14 , col. 325. - Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale,msMagl.xiv. 49 , fols. 60 v– 61 r.
- As at Modena; see Parma, Biblioteca Palatina,msPar. 996 , fols. 50 v– 51 r.