In the Catholic service, after the new fire has been blessed outside the church, a light is taken from it by an acolyte. The procession moves up the church toward the altar, the deacon in a white Dalmaticcarrying the triple candle. Three times the procession stops, the deacon lights one of the candles from the taper and sings, "Lumen Christi", on one note, dropping a minor third on the last syllable. The choir answers, "Deo gratias", to the same tone. Each time it is sung at a higher pitch. As it is sung, all genuflect. Having arrived at the altar, the deacon begins the blessing of the Paschal Candle.
History and variations
From time to time, a light must be brought from the new fire to the Paschal Candle. The ceremony grew from this practical need and later acquired symbolic meaning. At first, the triple candle was likely a precaution against the light blowing out on the way. At one time there were only two lights. The Sarum Consuetudinary says: "Let the candle upon the reed be lighted, and let another candle be lighted at the same time, so that the candle upon the reed can be rekindled if it should chance to be blown out". A miniature of the eleventh century shows the Paschal Candle being lighted from a double taper. triple candle appears first in the twelfth and fourteenth Ordines Romani, about the twelfth century. Father Thurston suggests a possible connection between it and the old custom of procuring the new fire on three successive days. But precaution against the light blowing out accounts for several candles. The mystic symbolism of the number three applies, too. Guillaume Durand, in his chapter on the Paschal Candle, does not mention the triple candle. In the Sarum Rite, only one candle was lighted. While it was carried in procession to the Paschal Candle, a hymn, Inventor rutili dux bone luminis, was sung by two cantors, the choir answering the first verse after each of the others. In the Mozarabic Rite, the bishop lights and blesses one candle; while it is brought to the altar an antiphon, Lumen verum illuminans omnem hominem, etc., is sung. In Milan, in the middle of the Exultet, a subdeacon goes out and brings back a candle lit from the new fire without any further ceremony. He hands this to the deacon, who lights the Paschal Candle from it, and then goes on with the Exultet.
Works based upon
The Roman three-part version of the Lumen Christi, with its repetitions in ascending half-steps, is the basis for the dramatic organ workIncantion pour un jour saint by Jean Langlais, a favorite Easter postlude.
Other uses
Lumen Christi is also the name of several Catholic convents, high schools, and of the German religious community Gemeinschaft Lumen Christi. Schools using the name include:
