The Sacristan's Lantern II

Among the other ceremonial accessories from the Tridentine Mass is one of my favorite pieces, the Sacristan's Lantern or the Processional Lantern. As the sanctamissa.org website defines it:

"A processional lantern is similar in type to a torch, except that the lighted candle is enclosed in a glass

lantern. These are usually carried by altar boys in processions of the Blessed Sacrament, as on Corpus

Christi. In outdoor processions they are particularly useful..."

These lanterns are also used in Communion and in special Advent Masses called Rorate Masses where, before dawn, the Mass is celebrated in honor of the Virgin Mary. Also, it is traditionally celebrated in the dark of dawn resulting to the use of candles by the faithful and the altar servers. The darkness symbolizes the dawn of Creation and also the darkness Before the Coming of the Messiah. The Rorate Mass is also reasoned to have originated from the necessity of farmers to go to Advent Mass before early morning work, as Mass was prohibited in the night back then. (Take note that the Rorate Masses are the origin also of the Aguinaldo Masses or the Missa de Gallo in the Philippines.

The lanterns played a good part in making the Liturgy more beautiful because they were often carried by the servers during the celebration. It gives a feeling of the "first light of creation" as the solemn procession enters the altar in the beginning of the Mass.