VIGILIA. — It is the day that precedes, as a preparation, the great feasts of the Lord (Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Pentecost) and those of the saints (of the Madonna, of s. Giovanni, of the Apostles, of s. Lorenzo, etc.).
They are distinguished into privileged and ordinary; the privileged are of the 1st and 2nd classes; the former, Easter and Pentecost, yield to no feast; the latter, Epiphany, yield only to a feast of a higher or equal rite and to a feast of the Lord; the ordinary ones are merely commemorated when they coincide with a feast of double rite. If they fall on a Sunday, they are celebrated or commemorated on the preceding Saturday. They have a proper Office and Mass. The CIC prescribes fasting, in addition to Holy Saturday (until the bells are untied), on the V. Christmas, Pentecost, the Assumption of the Most Holy Maria, and All Saints (v. DIGIUNO).
It originated with the Paschal v., “the mother of all vigils” (s. Agostino, Serm., 219), anciently a pannuchia, a celebration lasting throughout the night, with readings taken from the Holy Books alternating with the responsorial singing of psalms, canticles, and the corresponding collects; the Mass followed. Such a V. Pentecost, on the Sundays of the Quattro Tempora, and was extended to the feasts of the principal martyrs: of the apostles Pietro and Paolo, of s. Lorenzo, etc. At Milan, a similar V. preceded the feast of ss. Pietro and Paolo, the translation of the relics of ss. Gervasio and Protasio, and the dedication of the Ambrosian Basilica (s. Ambrogio, De virginitate, XIX, 124; Ep., 22, 2). Similarly, at Carthage it preceded the feast of s. Cipriano (s. Agostino, Enarr. in ps., 32, XI, 1, 5; 85, 24); at Toulouse it was held at the tomb of s. Saturnino. From this public v., with the participation of the clergy and the faithful, one distinguishes the private one, such as that which, for example, the faithful held at the tomb of some martyr, but without the celebration of the Eucharist. Later, perhaps as early as the beginning of the 5th century, the cemetery v., outside the city at the tombs of the martyrs, was held at sunset on the preceding evening (cf., for example, Mass I of s. Lorenzo in the Leonine Sacramentary: “praevenientes natalem”). The other V. Easter, Pentecost, and the Sundays of the Quattro Tempora were moved to Saturday evening in the 7th century. A distinctive feature of these V. was that they began on the evening preceding the feast or Sunday and ended before midnight. They were then brought forward again to the time of None and received a proper Office for the choir and for the Mass. The original liturgy is preserved in the vigil of Holy Saturday, Pentecost, and the Saturdays of the Quattro Tempora.
THE NIGHT HOUR OF THE OFFICE. - This V. derives its origin not from the V. as pannuchia, but from the private prayer of the faithful at midnight, performed communally by the monks and consequently also by the Churches (v. MATTUTINO; NOTTURNO; UFFICIO). On weekdays it consisted of one Nocturn with 9 psalms and 3 lessons (in the monastic Office, of 2 Nocturns with 6 psalms each and 3 lessons in the first Nocturn). On Sundays the number of lessons increased (9 in the Office of the Churches, 12 in the monastic Office), with the psalms and lessons divided among 3 Nocturns.
The number of 3 Nocturns does not derive from military watches, but from practical necessity: there was a pause, a moment to catch one’s breath, between or after 3 or 4 lessons; they were not regarded as three distinct watches, because the individual V. did not conclude with a corresponding Collect, but ended as though they constituted a single v., with one Collect. It should be noted that this V. was always performed after midnight (in contrast to the other V. mentioned above), “at first cockcrow” (around three o’clock), and was combined with that morning Office now called Lauds. The anticipation of it to before midnight or to the preceding evening began in the 12th century.
Recently J. M. Hanssens has maintained that the V. prayer, but is to be regarded as an amplification of the properly morning Office of Lauds, preceded, on the part of the monks, by the customary recitation of the Psalter, either alone or interspersed with lessons, as was done in order to spend devoutly a complete or partial night watch in preparation for the morning Office.