Though this is no longer done, there is no reason to doubt the accuracy of his statement, nor can we wonder that he saw in it a type of the crucifixion of the true Paschal Lamb.
It was built of white marble, with finely carved Corinthian columns, and sculptures of the seven-branched candlestick, the paschal lamb, and the pot of manna.
He then gives the reed to an acolythe; and before he sings the exultet or blessing of the Paschal candle, he receives the benediction of the Card.
He is preceded by acolythes bearing the paschal candle[130], and the cross and usual lights, as well as by the candidates for baptism and orders, and the chapter of the basilica.
The bishop of that city every year, at the season of the paschal solemnity, exhibits it to be adored by the people, after he himself has first performed his act of profound veneration".
The paschal candle also, an emblem of Christ the true light, as we shall afterwards see is removed on the day of the ascension: this circumstance may explain the above-mentioned custom.
Dei) mentions some verses written by himself in praise of the paschal candle.
Arevalo conjectures that the grains of incense were fixed in the paschal candle even at the time of Prudentius in the 4th century.
When the blessing, as it is called, is ended, the paschal candle is left lighted near the pulpit and the seats of the Card.
Footnote 138: In the afternoon the parish-priests bless with prayers and holy water the houses and paschal food of their parishioners.
Cancellieri, at the end of his Funzioni della Settimana Santa, describes two blessings of the paschal candle contained in manuscripts of the 12th century.
The paschalcandle is painted according to an ancient custom.
The bishops refused to give up their temporal possessions, and resisted with such determination that Paschal was compelled to cancel his agreement with Henry V.
Evangelist leads him throughout to represent Jesus as the truePaschal lamb.
The first: "A bone of him shall not be broken," is merely the prescription with regard to the Paschal lamb, Ex.
The king voluntarily abandoned lay investiture and the claim to homage during the pontificate of Paschal II.
After two months of close confinement Paschal consented to an unqualified renunciation on his part of the right of investiture.
The disciples, unconscious of treachery, asked where they should prepare the paschal supper.
And they would also find, in the analogous institution of the paschal feast, a similar use of language (Exod.
The same abbot speaks of their astonishment at St. Denis when Paschal II.
It may be noted, without prejudice, that Paschal was seeking the sympathy and aid of France in his quarrel with Germany.
Indeed, an ancient writer, Hugo Flaviniacensis, declares there was a feeling that Pope Paschal did not, for financial reasons, approve the censure passed by his legates.
The paschal lamb was roasted on a cross, by ancient Israel, and is still so done by the Samaritans at Nablous.
According to the "John" narrator, Jesus ate no Paschal meal, but was captured the evening before Passover, and was crucified before the feast opened.
A new tradition gained currency among the Roman Christians to the effect that Jesus before his death had not eaten the Passover, but had died on the very day of the Passover, thus substituting himself for the Paschal Lamb.
According to the Synoptics, Jesus partook of the Paschal supper, was captured the first night of the feast, and executed on the first day thereof, which was on a Friday.
The paschal lamb was eaten at home, and the doorposts of the house were sprinkled with its blood.
But a further difficulty remained: uncleanness not only disqualified from killing the paschal lambs, but from taking any part in the Passover; and a multitude of the people were unclean.
For this reason fasting is not ordered by the Church during the whole of the Paschal season, nor on Sundays: and if anyone were to fast at these times in contradiction to the custom of Christian people, which as Augustine declares (Ep.
The principal points were as follows: Both parties agreed that it must be on Sunday, in the third week of the first lunar month, and the paschal full moon must not fall before the vernal equinox.
For John, keeping thepaschal time according to the decree of the Mosaic law, had no regard to the first day after the Sabbath [i.
Bearing in mind the crowded condition of Jerusalem during the Paschal week, and that probably it was hardly yet 10 p.
Carrying palm branches, with shouts of joy and triumph, they hailed Jesus as the Messias, and King of Israel; in the words of the great Paschal chant (Ps.
Paschal lamb; yet, St. John tells us here that the prophecy was fulfilled in Christ.
At the Paschal Supper the company at the table might not be less than ten nor more than twenty.
Hence we unhesitatingly reject any view which supposes Him to have anticipated the legal time for the Paschal Supper.
Lord and the Apostles eat the Paschal Supper on the night of the 14th of Nisan, while the Jews that year eat it on the night of the 15th.
Suppose the paschal feast to have been eaten on Thursday night, Friday would still be the preparation day of the Passover, inasmuch as the next day (Saturday) was the Sabbath of the Passover.
The difficulty has always been to account for the sudden change from the calmness of the Paschal feast to the awful struggle of Gethsemane.
In that ordinance He had prepared the minds of His disciples to turn from the Paschallamb of the old covenant, to behold henceforth the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.
The entire feast would be closely associated in His mind with the dark event with which the day must close; for of all the types of the great sacrifice He was about to offer, the most significant was the paschal lamb.
