Easter Vigil 2026: Equisite Exsultet in Melbourne
The singing of the Exsultet, or Easter Proclamation, is one of the most beautiful moments in the Church's year. It's history and usage is explained here: https://www.ampleforthabbey.org.uk/news/exsultet . The current English version was arranged by the three-man music committee of ICEL (Dr. Geoffrey Cox of Melbourne, James O'Donnell then of London and Fr Anthony Ruff of Collegeville, Minnesota) as part of the process to produce the most recent English translation of the Roman Missal (around the 2010 period). Many of us have a view on what small tweaks we may have made here and there, but there is no doubt that the revised English text (whomever was resposible for that) and the musical arrangement by these three experts is a combined work of exquisite beauty, a gift for which we should all feel greatly blessed. The longer form (see https://www.liturgyoffice.org.uk/Missal/Text/Exsultet-Longer.pdf ) is very … well, long. It is not especially difficult to sing, once the few p...
