The Vigil of Pentecost

Tomorrow is Pentecost, the great solemnity celebrating the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. The Church has long celebrated this event in three ways: the solemnity of the day itself, the octave of the day, and the vigil. With the liturgical reforms of the 1960s and 1970s, all but the day itself was suppressed, a sad testament to liturgical minimalism.

However, in the 2002 Missale Romanum, promulgated in English in 2011, the great Vigil of Pentecost has been restored!

It’s kind of like a miniature version of the Easter Vigil, with four Old Testament readings taken from salvation history, speaking of the yearning of the coming of God to His people. This is no accident. This vigil, like the Easter Vigil, was traditionally one of the days when the catechumens were baptized. Even when that custom fell out of favour, it was a day when the newly baptized neophytes would wear their white baptismal garments for the last time. Hence, an alternative name for Pentecost in English was Whitsunday (i.e. “White Sunday”).

Last year, at my parish of Holy Rosary, we celebrated this extended Vigil. Unfortunately this year, we are having to forgo it in favour of the much simpler version. Here’s hoping this ancient tradition can be restored again in the future!