ARTICLES

Does the Holy Saturday evening Mass count for Easter?

By Father John Dietzen
Catholic News Service

Q. In our parish a lot of attention is devoted again this year to the Holy Saturday evening Mass, the Easter Vigil.

I realize converts are baptized then, but it’s almost as if that Mass is more important than Easter.

I don’t understand. Does the Holy Saturday night Mass count for Easter? (Florida)

A. I have a suspicion that you, as I, are one of the Catholics who grew up and spent some of their adult years before the 1950s.

In order to understand my response, it’s important to know that there’s a big difference between those days when the church’s Holy Week liturgies had deteriorated almost beyond recognition and today when we have begun to retrieve the meaning and spiritual power of the Easter Vigil — and in fact of all the ceremonies of the sacred triduum, including Holy Thursday and Good Friday.

Easter was the first feast observed in the Christian church, celebrating the foundational event of Christianity, our Lord’s victory over death. The main, often the only, celebration of this feast was during Holy Saturday night, the night of the resurrection, in what we now know as the Easter Vigil liturgy.

On that night the lighting of the Easter candle and other lamps, the reading of the Scripture stories of God’s revelation of his love, the baptism of new Christians and the celebration of the Eucharist were the perfect way to enter the joy of the Easter season.

As centuries went on for a variety of reasons this and other magnificent liturgical treasures of our church became all but forgotten. The low point for the Easter Vigil came during the past several hundred years, including the first half of the 20th century. Partly because Masses then could not be celebrated after noon, the Easter Vigil liturgy had nearly lost all its identity.

When I was serving Mass back in the 1930s, the “vigil” was condensed into 45 minutes or so at 8 a.m. on Holy Saturday, with the priest reciting all the Bible passages and blessings almost silently — in Latin — followed by a simple Mass, much like any other weekday Mass of the year.

Of course, with the Easter Vigil gone, the Sunday morning liturgies were the only Easter Masses.

With no exaggeration, the situation was a caricature of what once was, and is becoming again, the highpoint of Catholic liturgical worship.

Beginning years before the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), Pope Pius XII realized the time had come to restore Holy Week liturgies, the Easter Vigil having top priority, and began the process of renewal.

Perhaps you can understand, then, why the Easter Vigil is not a “Holy Saturday Mass.” Given our background, it’s understandable that people ask, but priests nevertheless are sometimes amused or saddened when parishioners inquire whether the Easter Vigil Mass “counts” for Easter Sunday.

The answer is that the Easter Vigil celebration is the first and main Eucharist of the entire Easter season. All others, including those on Easter Day, only continue the celebration that begins on that holy night.

While it lasts longer than Catholics are generally accustomed to spending at Mass, I hope you take the opportunity to share in it prayerfully and thoughtfully this Easter.

If your parish does it well, you’ll begin to realize what the church has been missing for too many centuries and is now proud to have again.

Questions may be sent to Father Dietzen at the same address, or e-mail: jjdietzen@aol.com.

back to top