Q: Thank you again for all of the attention you give to helping so many people with so many questions.
I noticed in you Dec. 10, 2022 response that you said that according to your understanding, there may only be one celebration of the Paschal Vigil per parish. I’ve seen that understanding echoed elsewhere but never with citation. The Missale Romanum says, “Vigilia huius noctis, quæ est summa ac nobilissima omnium sollemnitatum, unica sit pro unaquaque ecclesia” (Of this night’s Vigil, which is the greatest and most noble of all solemnities, there is to be only one celebration in each church.” MR uses the term paroechia elsewhere but not here, where ecclesia is used. I don’t see the subject addressed in Paschalis Solemnitatis. I am wondering whether I’m missing something somewhere else.
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A: The reason I believe that there may be only one paschal vigil per parish is that a bishop may permit a second observance of Holy Thursday in “churches and oratories” (Roman Missal #3) and of Good Friday in “parishes” (Roman Missal #4 but only in the US). But there is no such permission given for the Vigil. The bishops had opportunity to permit it when they added the Good Friday allowance, but they did not include a parallel paragraph for the Vigil.