LITURGICAL PRESS LITURGICAL PRESS The Illuminated Easter Proclamation
LITURGICALIllustrated by Deacon Charles Rohrbacher PRESS LITURGICAL PRESS COLLEGEVILLE, MINNESOTA Acknowledgments Thank you to my wife Paula, daughter Phoebe and son Miguel, Jim and Martha Stey, Ken, Beth and Tom Melville, Jim Fowler, Mary Stone, Sr. Mary Grace, her sisters at the Terre Haute Carmel, Sharon Henthorn-Iwane, and everyone who supported this project materially and spiritually. Special thanks to Mary Sperry for her timely and invaluable assistance.
In memory of Nancy.
Published with the approval of the Committee on Divine Worship, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, DC, and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of this New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
The English translation and chant of the Easter Proclamation (Exsultet) from The Roman Missal © 2010, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation (ICEL). All rights reserved.
Excerpts from The Divine Office © 1974, hierarchies of Australia, England and Wales, Ireland. All rights reserved.
© 2011 by Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota. All rights reserved. No part of this LITURGICALbook may be reproduced in any form, by print, microfilm, microfiche, mechanical recording, photocopying, translation, or by any other means, known or yet unknown, for any purpose except brief quotations in reviews, without the previous written permission of Liturgical Press, Saint John’s Abbey, P.O. Box 7500, Collegeville, Minnesota 56321-7500. Printed in the United States of America. PRESS ISBN 978-0-8146-3364-9 LITURGICAL PRESS Sound the Trumpet of Salvation
This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad. —Psalm 118:24
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2 Holy Mother Church
Rejoice, let Mother Church also rejoice, arrayed with the lightning of his glory. —The Easter Proclamation
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3 The Holy Cross
How great the cross! What blessings it holds! He who possesses it possesses a treasure. —St. Andrew of Crete
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4 Moses Marking the Houses of the Israelites
Your ransom was not paid in anything corruptible, neither in silver nor gold, but in the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish. —1 Peter 1:18-19
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5 Moses and the Israelites Eating the Passover Meal
Led forth like a lamb, slain like a sheep, he ransomed us from the servitude of the world, just as he ransomed Israel from the land of Egypt. —Melito of Sardis
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6 Moses and the Israelites Crossing the Red Sea
The liberation of the children of Israel, and the journey by which they were led to the homeland they had so long been promised, correspond to the mystery of our redemption, through which we make our way to the brightness of our heavenly home, with the grace of Christ as our light and our guide. —St. Bede the Venerable
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7 LITURGICAL PRESS
8 Christ’s Descent into Hell
He has torn down the barricades of hell and overthrown the power of Satan. Today our Savior has shattered the bars and burst the gates of death. —Office of Readings for Holy Saturday
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9 The King of Glory
O love, O charity beyond all telling, to ransom a slave you gave away your Son! —The Easter Proclamation
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10 The Fall
O truly necessary sin of Adam, destroyed completely by the Death of Christ! O happy fault that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer! —The Easter Proclamation
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11 The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise
Blessed is he who was pierced and so removed the sword from the entry to paradise. —St. Ephrem the Syrian
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12 Holy Baptism
In this feast the baptismal font, the womb which begets pure life, is ablaze with the light of candles under the cross, the tree of faith. Here all are sanctified by the gift of heavenly grace and fed by the spiritual sacrament, the sacred mystery. —Paschal Homily by an Ancient Author
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13 The Three Youths in the Fiery Furnace
In danger I called on the Lord; / the Lord answered me and set me free. / The Lord is with me; I am not afraid; / what can mortals do against me? —Psalm 118:5-6
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14 The Revelation to Moses at the Burning Bush
The brilliance and the flashing radiance of Christ’s light never cease, and there is no darkness of sin which can overcome them. —St. Maximus of Turin
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15 The Mother Bee
Hail, Holy Mother, who gave birth to the King who rules heaven and earth for ever. —Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary
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16 Jacob’s Ladder
The ladder which [Jacob] saw is the Church, which has its birth from the earth but its way of life in heaven. —St. Bede the Venerable
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17 Christ the Morning Star
This day is the beginning of another creation, for on this day God made a new heaven and a new earth. —St. Gregory of Nyssa
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18 Notes
p. i Jonah Coming Forth from the Great Fish As Jonah was inside the whale for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be held in the heart of the earth. Second Antiphon, Evening Prayer for Holy Saturday, The Divine Office: The Liturgy of the Hours according to the Roman Rite, 3 vols. (London: Collins, 1974).
p. ii Christ Enthroned on the Cherubim and Seraphim Exult, let them exult, the hosts of heaven. The Easter Proclamation, The Roman Missal, Third Edition.
p. 1 The Myrrh-Bearing Women at the Empty Tomb But at daybreak on the first day of the week they took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb; but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. Luke 24:1-3.
p. 2 Sound the Trumpet of Salvation This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad. Psalm 118:24.
p. 3 Holy Mother Church Rejoice, let Mother Church also rejoice, arrayed with the lightning of his glory. The Easter Proclamation, The Roman Missal, Third Edition.
p. 4 The Holy Cross How great the cross! What blessings it holds! He who possesses it possesses a treasure. A Homily of St. Andrew of Crete, The Divine Office, Second Reading, Office of Readings for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross.
p. 5 Moses Marking the Houses of the Israelites Your ransom was not paid in anything corruptible, neither in silver nor gold, but in the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish. The Divine Office (1 Peter 1:18-19), Responsory to the Second Reading, Office of Readings for Good Friday.
p. 6 Moses and the Israelites Eating the Passover Meal Led forth like a lamb, slain like a sheep, he ransomed us from the servitude of the world, just as he ransomed Israel from the land of Egypt. Homily by Melito of Sardis on the Pasch, The Divine Office, Second Reading, Office of Readings for Thursday in Holy Week.
p. 7 Moses and the Israelites Crossing the Red Sea The liberation of the children of Israel, and the journey by which they were led to the homeland they had so long been promised, correspond to the LITURGICALmystery of our redemption, through which we make our way to the brightness of our heavenly home, with the grace of Christ as our light and our guide. Commentary by St. Bede the Venerable on the First Letter of Peter, The Divine Office, Second Reading, Office of Readings for Monday in Week Three, Eastertide. pp. 8–9 Christ’s Descent into Hell PRESS He has torn down the barricades of hell and overthrown the power of Satan. Today our Savior has shattered the bars and burst the gates of death. The Divine Office, Responsory to the Second Reading, Office of Readings for Holy Saturday.
p. 10 The King of Glory O love, O charity beyond all telling, to ransom a slave you gave away your Son! The Easter Proclamation, The Roman Missal, Third Edition.
p. 11 The Fall O truly necessary sin of Adam, destroyed completely by the Death of Christ! O happy fault that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer! The Easter Proclamation, The Roman Missal, Third Edition. 19 p. 12 The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise Blessed is he who was pierced and so removed the sword from the entry to paradise. St. Ephrem the Syrian, Hymns on Paradise, trans. Sebastian Brock (Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1990), p. 85.
p. 13 Holy Baptism In this feast the baptismal font, the womb which begets pure life, is ablaze with the light of candles under the cross, the tree of faith. Here all are sanctified by the gift of heavenly grace and fed by the spiritual sacrament, the sacred mystery. Paschal Homily by an Ancient Author, The Divine Office, Second Reading, Office of Readings, Wednesday of the Octave of Easter.
p. 14 The Three Youths in the Fiery Furnace In danger I called on the Lord; / the Lord answered me and set me free. / The Lord is with me; I am not afraid; / what can mortals do against me? Psalm 118:5-6.
p. 15 The Revelation to Moses at the Burning Bush The brilliance and the flashing radiance of Christ’s light never cease, and there is no darkness of sin which can overcome them. St. Maximus of Turin, Sermon 53, The Divine Office, Second Reading, Office of Readings, Sunday, Week Five, Eastertide.
p. 16 The Mother Bee Hail, Holy Mother, who gave birth to the King who rules heaven and earth for ever. Introit Antiphon, Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary, The Roman Missal, Third Edition. Liturgist Rita Ferrone and others have noted that because the ancients believed that the mother bee reproduced virginally, medieval Christians saw in the mother bee a symbol of the Virgin Mary who gave birth to Christ, the Light of the world. The Exsultet also praises the work of bees in producing the wax from which the candle is made.
p. 17 Jacob’s Ladder The ladder which [Jacob] saw is the Church, which has its birth from the earth but its way of life in heaven. St. Bede the Venerable, Homilies on the Gospels I, trans. Lawrence T. Martin and David Hurst, OSB, Cistercian Studies 110 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1991), 176.
p. 18 Christ the Morning Star This day is the beginning of another creation, for on this day God made a new heaven and a new earth. St. Gregory of Nyssa, Ad I on the Resurrection, The Divine Office, Second Reading, Office of Readings for Week Five, Eastertide.
About the Illuminated Easter Proclamation There is a long history of illuminated ritual texts of the Easter Proclamation or Exsultet. In the early Middle Ages in southern Italy at the Easter Vigil, the deacon sang the Exsultet from a large parchment scroll while slowly unrolling it over the front of the ambo. These scrolls were unique in that the illustrations were painted upside down (in relation to the text and musical notation) so that as the scroll was unrolled the assembly could see them right-side up.
This illuminated Easter Proclamation is not a scroll but a book. It does, however, include some of the key images of those surviving Exsultet scrolls, which commonly feature a large and ornate initial letter “E,” images of angels sounding trumpets, the rejoicing figure of Mater Ecclesia, the crossing of the Red Sea, the Descent into Hell (Harrowing of Hell), and various delightful representations of the bees whose handiwork is praised in the prayer.
With the exception of the allegorical figures of baptism and of the mother bee in the hive, all of the illustrations are drawn directly from the traditional Byzantine canon of iconography. LITURGICALThe border decorations are based on four flowering or fruit-bearing plants common to the illustrator’s home in Southeast Alaska: blueberries, forget-me-nots, salmon berries, and devil’s club (a thorny medicinal plant). All of the illustrations and border decorations were painted in egg tempera on Bristol board.PRESS About the Illustrator Charles Rohrbacher studied icon painting with the Russian Orthodox iconographer Dmitri Shkolnik and with Fr. Egon Sendler, SJ, a priest of the Byzantine rite. Over the past thirty years he has painted many icons in Alaska and throughout the country for Roman Catholic, Eastern Catholic, and Orthodox churches as well as for individuals. He is a deacon of the Diocese of Juneau, Alaska. He lives in Douglas, Alaska, with his wife Paula.