Exultet: the song of victory!
"Exult in heaven, multitude of angels!" can be heard during the Easter Vigil! The Exultet (Latin for the first words of this hymn) is part of the liturgy of this Easter night celebration, during which the faithful, at the foot of the Paschal candle, watch in the night for the arrival of Christ's light.
"O night that gives us back the light". On this Holy Saturday evening, as we await Easter Day and the light of a new day, Christians recall another passage synonymous with liberation: the crossing of the Red Sea by the Hebrew people, led by Moses.
English lyrics
Exult in heaven, multitude of angels!
Exult, celebrate the divine mysteries!
Resonate, trumpet of salvation,
For the victory of such a great King!
May the earth, too, be happy,
Irradiated by so much fire:
Illuminated by the splendor of the eternal King,
Let it see the darkness go,
Which covered the whole world!
Rejoice, Mother Church,
Adorned with such radiant light!
Let the acclamation of all peoples resound in this holy place
!
(And you my beloved brothers and sisters, who stand here
In the admirable brightness of this holy light,
Invoke with me, I pray you,
The mercy of Almighty God.
He has chosen me in my unworthiness
To be at his service:
May he spread the brightness of his light,
So that I may sing the praise of the paschal candle).
Celebrant: The Lord be with you!
Assembly: And with your spirit!
Celebrant. : Let us lift up our hearts.
Ass.: We turn them to the Lord.
Cél. : Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God.
Ass. : This is just and good.
Truly it is right and good to sing with full voice,
With all the impulse of heart and mind,
The Father Almighty, invisible God,
And his only Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
It is he who handed over for us to the eternal Father
The price of the debt incurred by the first Adam;
It is he who shed his blood out of love
To blot out the condemnation of the first sin.
For this is the feast of the Passover
In which the true Lamb is slain
Whose blood consecrates the doors of believers.
This is the night when you brought the children of Israel, our fathers, out of Egypt
And led them through the Red Sea on dry land.
This is the night when the fire of a luminous column
dispelled the darkness of sin.
This is the night
That snatches from the corrupt world, blinded by evil,
Those who, today and throughout the universe,
Have put their faith in Christ:
The night that restores them to grace
And opens to them the communion of saints.
This is the night when Christ,
Breaking the bonds of death,
Has risen, victorious, from Hades.
What use would it be to us to be born
Without the happiness of being saved?
O marvellous condescension of your tenderness towards us!
Inestimable choice of your love:
To redeem the slave, you gave up the Son!
It took Adam's sin
That Christ's death abolished.
O blessed fault
That earned us such a great Redeemer!
O night of true happiness,
Which alone deserved to know the time and hour
When Christ rose from Hades!
This is the night of which it is written:
"The night will shine like the day;
the very night is light for my joy. "
For the sanctifying power of this night
casts out crimes and washes away faults,
restores innocence to the guilty and gladness to the afflicted,
dispels hatred, disposes of concord and subdues all power.
In the grace of this night,
Accept, Most Holy Father, as an evening sacrifice
(The flame rising from) this column of wax (the work of bees)
That the holy Church offers you through our hands.
But we already know what this column
proclaims, burning brightly in God's honor:
When its flame is passed on,
Its brightness does not diminish.
(For it feeds on the wax
Produced by the bee, as by a mother,
To form the substance of this precious luminary).
O night of true happiness,
Night when heaven unites with earth,
Where man meets God. So we beseech you, Lord:
Let this Paschal Candle consecrated in honor of your name
Burn without fading to dispel the darkness of this night.
May it give you a pleasant fragrance
And join its brightness to that of the stars.
May it still burn when the morning star rises,
That unparalleled star that knows no setting,
Christ, your Son, returned from the séday of the dead,
Who spreads his light and peace over mankind,
Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Assembly:
Amen!
(You can also listen to Moses' hymn of thanksgiving to God after crossing the Red Sea. This song is also part of the Easter Vigil liturgy).
Latin lyrics
Exsúltet iam angélica turba cælórum :
exsúltent divína mystéria :
et pro tanti Regis victória tuba ínsonet salutáris.
Gáudeat et tellus, tantis irradiáta fulgóribus:
et ætérni Regis splendóre illustráta,
tótius orbis se séntiat amisísse calíginem.
Lætétur et mater Ecclésia,
tanti lúminis adornáta fulgóribus:
et magnis populórum vócibus hæc aula resúltet.
[Quaprópter astántes vos, fratres caríssimi,
ad tam miram huius sancti lúminis claritátem,
una mecum, quæso,
Dei omnipoténtis misericórdiam invocáte.
Ut, qui me non meis méritis
intra Levitárum númerum dignátus est aggregáre,
lúminis sui claritátem infúndens,
cérei huius laudem implére perfíciat.]
[V/ Dóminus vobíscum.
R/ Et cum spíritu tuo.]
V/ Sursum corda.
R/ Habémus ad Dóminum.
V/ Grátias agámus Dómino Deo nostro.
R/ Dignum et iustum est.
Vere dignum et iustum est,
invisíbilem Deum Patrem omnipoténtem
Filiúmque eius unigénitum,
Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum,
toto cordis ac mentis afféctu et vocis ministério personáre.
Qui pro nobis ætérno Patri Adæ débitum solvit,
et véteris piáculi cautiónem pio cruóre detérsit.
Hæc sunt enim festa paschália,
in quibus verus ille Agnus occíditur,
cuius sánguine postes fidélium consecrántur.
Hæc nox est,
in qua primum patres nostros, fílios Israel
edúctos de Ægypto,
Mare Rubrum sicco vestígio transíre fecísti.
Hæc ígitur nox est,
quæ peccatórum ténebras colúmnæ illuminatióne purgávit.
Hæc nox est,
quæ hódie per univérsum mundum in Christo credéntes,
a vítiis sæculi et calígine peccatórum segregátos,
reddit grátiæ, sóciat sanctitáti.
Hæc nox est,
in qua, destrúctis vínculis mortis,
Christus ab ínferis victor ascéndit.
Nihil enim nobis nasci prófuit,
nisi rédimi profuísset.
Ô mira circa nos tuæ pietátis dignátio !
Ô inæstimábilis diléctio caritátis:
ut servum redímeres, Fílium tradidísti !
Ô certe necessárium Adæ peccátum,
quod Christi morte delétum est !
Ô felix culpa,
quæ talem ac tantum méruit habére Redemptórem !
Ô vere beáta nox,
quæ sola méruit scire tempus et horam,
in qua Christus ab ínferis resurréxit !
Hæc nox est, de qua scriptum est :
Et nox sicut dies illuminábitur :
et nox illuminátio mea in delíciis meis.
Huius ígitur sanctificátio noctis fugat scélera, culpas lavat :
et reddit innocéntiam lapsis
et mæstis lætítiam.
Fugat ódia, concórdiam parat
et curvat impéria.
In huius ígitur noctis grátia, súscipe, sancte Pater,
laudis huius sacrifícium vespertínum,
quod tibi in hac cérei oblatióne solémni,
per ministrórum manus
de opéribus apum, sacrosáncta reddit Ecclésia.
Sed iam colúmnæ huius præcónia nóvimus,
quam in honórem Dei rútilans ignis accéndit.
Qui, lícet sit divísus in partes,
mutuáti tamen lúminis detrimenta non novit.
Alitur enim liquántibus ceris,
quas in substántiam pretiósæ huius lámpadis
apis mater edúxit.²
Ô vere beáta nox,
in qua terrénis cæléstia, humánis divína iungúntur !¹
Orámus ergo te, Dómine,
ut céreus iste in honórem tui nóminis consecrátus,
ad noctis huius calíginem destruéndam,
indefíciens persevéret.
Et in odórem suavitátis accéptus,
supérnis lumináribus misceátur.
Flammas eius lúcifer matutínus invéniat :
ille, inquam, lúcifer, qui nescit occásum.
Christus Fílius tuus,
qui, regréssus ab ínferis, humáno géneri serénus illúxit,
et vivit et regnat in sæcula sæculórum.
Amen.
Felix culpa
One of the best-known phrases in the Exultet is:
"O felix culpa, quae talem ac tantum meruit habere redemptorem!"
which can be translated as: "O happy fault which has merited for us such a great Redeemer! "
These beautiful words underline God's infinite mercy , and far from imprisoning us in morbid guilt, they invite us to praise, to joy, to Life.
Felix Culpa; no longer looking back with remorse or regret, but seeing our history differently, taking on its full meaning in the light of the resurrection ... this is new life, the joy of Easter!
"Adam's sin was necessary, but Christ's death abolished it.
O blessed fault that earned us such a great Redeemer!"
Experience Holy Week and the climb to Easter with Hozana!
Every year, Hozana offers several programs and itineraries to help you make your way to Easter and live the Lenten season to the full. These courses are available all year round, and can be used at any time to immerse yourself in the beautiful mystery of Christ's resurrection.
For example :
- or this 9-day journey to let yourself be touched by the light of the Holy Spirit.
