LULUABOURG, VICARIATO APOSTOLICO of. — In the central-southern part of the Belgian Congo, entrusted to the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Missionaries of Scheut), who have been working there since 1887.
It was established as a mission sui iuris under the name of Upper Kassai on 26 July 1901, with territory detached from the apostolic vicariate of the Belgian Congo; it was elevated to an apostolic prefecture on 18 March 1904 and to an apostolic vicariate on 13 June 1917. After several cessions of territory for the establishment of other missions, on 10 March 1949 it received the new name of L.
It has an area of 196,000 sq. km. and 1,500,000 inhabitants, of whom 386,558 are Catholics, with 2,158 churches and chapels served by 26 diocesan priests and 155 religious, assisted by 5 male and 29 female religious communities. It has 1 major and 1 minor seminary; more than 2,000 schools (including 1 vocational and 5 teacher-training schools), and 120 charitable and welfare institutions (including 15 hospitals, 2 leprosariums, and 5 orphanages). It has a printing press publishing a periodical with a circulation of 13,000 copies.
«LUMEN CHRISTI! DEO GRATIAS!» — An ancient Christian acclamation, used when lighting a lamp. In Roman (Benedictine) monasteries, when, during supper, the approach of night required a lamp to be lit, the lamp-bearer, entering, would exclaim aloud, «Lumen Christi!», and all would respond, «Deo gratias!» (Ordo of Giovanni archicantor, ed. C. Silva-Tarouca [V. BIBLICA.], p. 214). It may already have been in use in the time of s. Benedetto (F. J. Dölger [V. BIBLICA.], p. 37). It is also indicated on two fifth-century lamps, one found at Selinunte (Sicily), the other in ancient Cuicul (Djemila in Numidia), both bearing the inscription «Deo gratias!» around the Christogram (F. J. Dölger, p. 37 ff.). Similarly, the word of blessing together with «Lumen Christi!» is found on many lamps from Palestine or Asia Minor. It is used in the Mass of the Presanctified (of s. Gregorio) of the Greek rite during Lent (F. J. Dölger, pp. 19-20). This also clearly explains the fact that in Africa, when the light was lit, the words «Deo gratias!» could be heard from Catholic homes, while the Donatists shouted «Deo laudes!» (F. J. Dölger, pp. 37-38).
This Christian acclamation of «Lumen Christi!» replaced a pagan rite already practiced by the ancient Romans. According to Servius (Coment. in Aen., ed. Thilo, I, Leipzig 1881, p. 720), when the light was lit the Romans would remain silent for a few moments, so as not to lose Grace through an unnecessary word, while the lamp-bearer uttered the acclamation. Similarly, in the fourth century, an acclamation to the light was uttered in Spanish homes, as Ammianus Marcellinus relates: «inferentes vespertina lumina pueros exclamasse ex usu 'Vincamus'...» (F. J. Dölger, pp. 40-41). The use of an acclamation or a word of blessing when lighting the light can be observed down to our own time in monasteries or in southern regions (F. J. Dölger, pp. 143-44). The ancient Christian acclamation of «Lumen Christi!» is preserved in the rite of Holy Saturday.
After the new fire has been blessed outside the church, the deacon, during the procession, lights three times the three candles placed arundine (v.), and, raising his voice, says each time: «Lumen Christi!»; all respond: «Deo gratias!». At Rome, this procession with the new fire, introduced in the eighth century (Ordo Suburbicalis; B. Capelle [V. BIBLICA.], pp. 113-114), was conducted in silence («cum supplici silentio»), not only on Holy Saturday but also in the evening on the final three days of Holy Week. In the Mozarabic rite, however, after the new fire had been blessed on the evening of Holy Saturday, the bishop, on entering the church, said «Deo gratias!» three times, and the people repeated II. The silent rite of the Ordo Suburbicalis was still used in the Ordo of the Romano-Germanic Pontifical of the tenth century (M. Andrieu [V. BIBLICA.], I, pp. 495-525; B. Capelle, pp. 117-18). But an Ordo from Upper Italy of the tenth century (edited by H. M. Bannister, in Miscellanea Ceriani, Milan 1910, p. 135) mentions for the first time the cry «Lumen Christi!»; the same is found in the Ordo Cassinensis hebd. maj. of the twelfth century (ed. T. Leuterman, Montecassino 1941, p. 78 ff.), perhaps of Beneventan origin: after the still-silent procession, the deacon, having greeted the faithful and pointed out to them the Paschal candle lit by the acolyte with the flame obtained from the new fire brought from outside, uttered «Lumen Christi!» three times; that cry referred to the Paschal candle itself, not, as today, to the triple candle. Our custom—that is, «Lumen Christi!» in the procession and the arundine—is mentioned for the first time in the Ordo Apameus of 1114 (B. Capelle, p. 118), in the Ordo Romanus XII, no. 30 (of the twelfth century), and in the Ordo Romanus XIV, no. 94 (of the fourteenth century). The tricero (arundine) originally had a purely practical purpose: if the wind extinguished one, another flame would remain lit (Ordo offic. Eccl. lat.; F. J. Dölger, pp. 32-33). The cry «Lumen Christi!», on the other hand, in Spanish usage derives from the ancient Christian acclamation used when lighting the lamp (F. J. Dölger, p. 40). Instead of «Lumen Christi!», in certain particular rites the hymn of Prudence «Inventor rutili» was sung during the procession until modern times (B. Capelle, p. 118; Missale Treverense, 1608); during the procession of the light on these final three days of Holy Week, the Cluniacs recited Psalms 52, 50, 66, and 69 (B. Albers, Consuet. Parfentes, in Consuet. Monast., I, pp. 48, 55). The use of such splendid light on the Holy Night derives from the rite practiced in Jerusalem on that night.