DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5074#0264
246
LATIN EASTER EVE.
the taking of a figure of the Saviour down from the
Cross—removing each nail and the crown of thorns,
with many kisses, &c. After this six or seven short
sermons were preached in various parts of the Church,
each in a different language, by monks appointed to
the task, who are at least supposed to have studied
the language they preach in ; when we had heard the
French sermon we did not regret that the crowd pre-
vented our getting near enough to hear the others. The
last was preached in Spanish, before the Sepulchre,
which was dimly illuminated only with the torches and
candles carried in the procession, the whole of the
Eotunda remaining in darkness : it had a very fine
effect. This service was not over till near midnight.
On the Saturday—Easter Eve — some curious cere-
monies are observed. After the customary benediction
of the baptismal water for the year and the lighting of
a new lamp, the priests, &c, assembled before the
entrance to the Sepulchre,— twelve or thirteen chapters
of the Gospels were read recounting the events of the
week, and when that part of the narrative was reached
describing the placing of our Lord in the Tomb, the
Patriarch, dressed in a plain white robe with a priest
at each side of him in a white surplice, laid them-
selves flat on the ground on their faces, before the
door of the Sepulchre. Psalms and hymns were chanted
for about half an hour before they rose, and throughout
the mass that followed the two priests knelt on one
knee at each side of the door of the tomb, exactly as
the angels are always represented in old pictures of the
Entombment.
The services of these days were dreadfully long, and
the poor little children of the school fell asleep with
their heads on each other's shoulders, like rows of little
LATIN EASTER EVE.
the taking of a figure of the Saviour down from the
Cross—removing each nail and the crown of thorns,
with many kisses, &c. After this six or seven short
sermons were preached in various parts of the Church,
each in a different language, by monks appointed to
the task, who are at least supposed to have studied
the language they preach in ; when we had heard the
French sermon we did not regret that the crowd pre-
vented our getting near enough to hear the others. The
last was preached in Spanish, before the Sepulchre,
which was dimly illuminated only with the torches and
candles carried in the procession, the whole of the
Eotunda remaining in darkness : it had a very fine
effect. This service was not over till near midnight.
On the Saturday—Easter Eve — some curious cere-
monies are observed. After the customary benediction
of the baptismal water for the year and the lighting of
a new lamp, the priests, &c, assembled before the
entrance to the Sepulchre,— twelve or thirteen chapters
of the Gospels were read recounting the events of the
week, and when that part of the narrative was reached
describing the placing of our Lord in the Tomb, the
Patriarch, dressed in a plain white robe with a priest
at each side of him in a white surplice, laid them-
selves flat on the ground on their faces, before the
door of the Sepulchre. Psalms and hymns were chanted
for about half an hour before they rose, and throughout
the mass that followed the two priests knelt on one
knee at each side of the door of the tomb, exactly as
the angels are always represented in old pictures of the
Entombment.
The services of these days were dreadfully long, and
the poor little children of the school fell asleep with
their heads on each other's shoulders, like rows of little