[Theoden]

I think it depends on the individual parishes and priests. We went to midnight Mass last night and we sang Silent Night at the end but we did not use candles. I’ve also been to ones in the past where we did have candles at the beginning of the Mass.

[maryz]

I'm a cradle Catholic, and I've never seen anything like that at Midnight Mass. Sounds lovely, and we do have something like that at the Easter Vigil. Does your parish have a liturgy committee you could finagle your way onto? ;-)

Maybe you could talk to your pastor: I don't think it could be incorporated into the Mass, but most churches I've known usually have a half hour or so of carols before Christmas Mass. Maybe that could be done in a candlelit church, with lights on for Mass -- and Christ the Light of the World!

That was just a thought -- there are people here who know way more about what's done or not done and why. Christmas might not be the day to ask -- people are mostly involved with the festivities (or for parents, maybe trying to sneak in some extra sleep after putting together toys!). I'm on my way out to our family dinner even as we speak . . .

BTW, Merry Christmas!

[vladimir998]

It was always done at my Latin Mass parish. ?

[Ann Archy]

Never been to a Mass like that.

[Coleus]

Hi, we've never used candles as a parish for Midnight Mass; however, the choir did process down the isle this year with lit candles singing O Come all Ye Faithful.   The Catholic Church, although universal, is comprised up of people from many cultures all over the world and some parts of the traditions are a little different from parish to parish.   If you recall, it was Pope John Paul II who initiated the big Christmas Tree in St. Peter's Basilica as well as decorating St. Peter's with so many Poinsettias for Christmas.   I'm sure that with a German Pope, this new tradition will continue.  The only time when the parish uses candles during mass is at the Saturday Evening Easter Vigil Mass when the Pascal Candle is lit.  Welcome to the church!

 

 

[narses]

+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic Ping List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to all note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.

[NYer]

Is this not done in the Catholic church, then? Or was it just our (lovely) church which did not do this? The service was beautiful, but it was Not Right!! :)

Like Theoden and maryz, I have never experienced anything like that except at the Easter Vigil Mass. Prior to attending Midnight Mass last night, I watched live coverage of the Vigil Mass from the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. The Church, as you described, was in total darkness except for candles held by those in attendance. It began with the Proclamation of the Birth of Christ From The Christmas Martryology, again something I had never experienced before. If the tradition you describe is prevalent in certain Protestant churches, perhaps some of the Catholic Churches are now 'borrowing' it to embellish their liturgies. I have seen this in the RC Diocese of Albany where certain parishes now celebrate the Anglican tradition of 'Lessons and Carols'.

Our Midnight Divine Liturgy began with the singing of Silent Night as Father processed up the aisle carrying the infant Jesus to place in the creche. We had candles burning in the windows but the Church was fully illuminated. It was, as always, a beautiful liturgy.

[livius]

First of all, Merry Christmas!

As for Silent Night, I think it should be done and - prior to the Novus Ordo - it was not uncommon for people to sing it at the end of Mass. The author was a Catholic and it has always had a big place in Catholic musical devotion.

Why don’t you write a letter to the pastor and say that you’d like to hear Silent Night at Midnight Mass. It’s the best-known hymn in the world, btw.

[ReignOfError]

“Stile Nacht” was written by a German priest whose organ was broken. That is to say, his church’s organ was broken. So he wrote a simple carol that could be accompanied by a guitar.

Many churches close their Christmas ceremonies with “Silent Night” just because it’s such a simple, quiet and solemn carol. My college held an annual ceremony of lessons and carols — it was a Methodist school, but the ceremony was based on the Anglican.

The ceremony closed with “Silent Night” sung with the accompaniment of a single guitar out in the vestibule. By candlelight in an otherwise unlit church. It was a denouement from the big pageantry, and you could not walk out into the cold night without that simple and beautiful melody lingering in your mind.

[Cicero]

As several people have said, candles are an essential element in the Easter Vigil, although the full ceremony as presently observed is, oddly enough, a post-Vatican II liturgy, one of the few places where you might say that an improvement was made in the liturgy—although older practices were incorporated, I believe. (They said that about the Novus Ordo, as well, but it’s largely untrue.)

Properly done, you have a fire outside the main doors of the church. The celebrant and attendants and any of the congregation who want to, go outside. All the lights are put out, and the new paschal candle is lit with a new flame. Then other candles are lit from that, until this new fire spreads through the whole congregation, as the celebrant priest and others re-enter the church.

Lumen Christi.

Candles are, of course, traditional at all masses, since they have always been on the altar and in earlier days were used for lighting the whole church, before electricity was invented. It’s also traditional to have a side chapel with candles for offering and petition, and a candle in a red glass holder to mark the presence of the Sacrament in the tabernacle.

During Advent, four candles on an Advent Wreath are lighted over the course of the four weeks, to anticipate the coming of Christmas. But other than that and the usual candles on the altar, it’s optional whether more are used. Usually, people try to make the church look especially nice for Christmas with flowers, evergreens, and a creche, but the details aren’t part of the liturgy. Rather, they are customary—and so, important for that reason.

[Salvation]

Welcome home!

We have a dark church on Easter Vigil Mass when the Easter candle is lit.

I have never heard of a candlelight “Silent Night”, but it sounds beautiful.

At Easter, the logic is that we have been stuggling with darkness (through Lent and the Passion of Christ) and are ready to celebrate the Resurrection and the New Light of Christ.

Candles are lit from the new Easter candle, then passed on from one person to another.

All the Old Testament readings are read in the semi darkness. There can be as many readings as the priest wants from the suggested list. Most go with an average of four readings.)

Then the Gloria is sung. The church lights are turned on and, of course, then the candles are exterminated.

Finally the Epistle is read from the New Testament.

Then the Gospel.

Then we get into the purpose of the vigil with the Baptisms, Eucharist, and Confirmation. But you know all this because you just went through it all.

As I said above — Welcome home!

[markomalley]

As said by others, it is not a traditional part of the Midnight Mass rubrics, at least as indicated in the GIRM.

However, as somebody who has participated frequently at the Shrine (The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception), the service of light is a traditional part of how they celebrate the Vigil Mass (they don’t have a Midnight Mass there). I think it is a fitting commemoration, as it illustrates how Christ, the Light of the world, came into incarnate existence on this night.

But it isn’t hardly mandatory...and for the traddies here, it isn’t a part of either big “T” or little “t” tradition.

[sneakers]

I’ve never seen it done at Mass. Our masses have always been beautiful without such things. Usually, the lights are turned out and the priest processes in lead by altar boys carrying the crucifix and candles, then the creche is blessed and then the lights are turned on. I’ve seen this at both our local Ordinary Form mass and the Latin Masses (Extraordinary Form) masses that I’ve attended.

[Greg F]

“Silent Night” — The legend/history of the song is that the organ was damaged in a church and the priest wanted a song that could be sung accompanied by a guitar for his Christmas mass in the early 1800’s. So . . . the origin of the song and its use at Christmas services is not Protestant . . .