FIRE
79
FIRMAMENT
poslo nctla sloria dd ordine in Rivista SloHco Critica deUcScienze
tfologiche, XI (1906), 269 sqq., 578 sqq.; Wadding-Sbaralea.
Scriplores ordinis Minorum, ed. Nardecchia (Rome, 1906-08),
s. v.; HuGOLiNus, bibliography under Brunforte in The Catho-
lic Encyclopedia.
Paschal Robinson.
Fire, Baptism by. See Baptism.
Fire, Liturgical Use of. — Fire is one of the most expressive and most ancient of liturgical symbols. All the creeds of antiquity accorded a prominent place to this element whose mysterious nature and irresist- iljle power frequently caused it to be adored as a god. The sun, as the principle of heat and light for the earth, w-as regarded as an igneous mass and had its share in this worship. Christianity adapted this usual belief, but denied the di\-ine title to heat and light, and made them the sjinbols of the divinity, which enlightens and warms humanity. The symbol- ism led quite naturally to the liturgical rite by which the Church on the Eve of Easter celebrates the mys- tery of the Death and Resurrection of Christ, of which the extinguished and rekindled fire furnishes the ex- pressive image. The beginning of the office also re- flects ancient beliefs. The new fire is struck from a flint and is blessed with this prayer: "Lord God, Al- mighty Father, inextinguishable light. Who hast cre- ated all light, bless this light sanctified and blessed by Thee, Who hast enlightened the whole world: make us enlightened by that light and inflamed with the fire of Thy brightness; and as Thou didst enlighten Moses when he went out of Egypt, so illuminate our hearts and senses that we may attain life and light everlasting through Christ our Lord. Amen." When the fire has been struck from the flint the three- branched candle is lighted and the deacon chants the "Exultet" (q. v.), a liturgical poem whose style is as lively and charming as the melody which accompanies it. It is yet preserved in the Roman Liturgy. In the East the ceremony of the new fire occupies a place of considerable importance in the paschal ritual of the Greek Church at Jerusalem. This ceremony is the occasion for scandalous demonstrations of a piety which frequently degenerates into orgies worthy of pagan rites. The Journal of the Marquis de Nointel, m the seventeenth century, relates scenes which can- not be transcribed and which take place periodically. This ceremony is peculiar to the Holy City and does not figure in the ordinary Byzantine ritual.
In the West we see the Irish, as early as the sixth century, lighting large fires at nightfall on the Eve of Easter. The correspondence of St. Boniface with Pope Zachary furnishes a curious detail on this sub- ject. These fires were kindled, not with brands from other fires, but with lenses; they were therefore new fires. There is no trace of this custom in Gaul, where the Merovingian liturgical books are silent on the point. It is difficult to say what took place in Spain, for although the Mozarabic Missal contains a blessing of fire at the beginning of the vigil of Easter, it can hardly be admitted that this ceremony was primitive. It may have been inserted in this missal at a later date as it was in the Roman Missal, in the case of which fire is obtained from a flint and steel. It is possible that the custom, of Breton or Celtic origin, was imposed upon the Anglo-Saxons, and the missionaries of that nation brought it to the continent in the eighth cen- tury. _ An altogether diff'erent rite, though of similar meaning, was followed at Rome. On Holy Thursday, at the consecration of the holy chrism, there was col- lected in all the lamps of the Lateran basilica a quan- tity of oil sufficient to fill three large vases deposited in the corner of the church. Wicks burned in this oil mil il the night of Holy Saturday, when there were liglitcd from these lamps the candles and other lumi- naries by which, during the Eve of I'^aster, light was thrown on the ceremonies of the administration of baptism. This rite must have been attended with a
certain solemnity since the letter of Pope Zachary to
St. Boniface prescribes that a priest, perhaps even a
bishop, should officiate on this occasion. Unhappily
we are reduced to this somewhat vague information,
for neither the Roman "Ordines", nor the Sacramen-
tarjes tell us anything concerning this ceremony.
This blessing of the paschal candle and the fire at the
beginning of Easter Eve is foreign to Rome. The
large lamps prepared on Holy Thursday provided fire
on the Friday and Saturday without necessitating the
solemn production of a new fire. The feast of the
Purification or Candlemas (2 February) has a cele-
brated rite with ancient prayers concerning the emis-
sion of liturgical fire and light. One of them invokes
Christ as " the true light which enlightenest every man
that Cometh mto this world". The canticle of Sim-
eon, "Nunc Dimittis", is chanted with the anthem
"A light (which my eyes have seen) for the revelation
of the Gentiles and for the glory of thy people Israel."
.ScHANZ. Apologie (tr.), II, 96, 101; de la Sadssate, Com- parative Religion, II, 1S5; Duchesne, Origins of Christian War- ship (London, 1904); Kellner, Heortology (London, 1908); Hampson, Medii ^m, Kalendarium; Hone's Every Day Book, H. Leclercq.
Fire, Pillar of. See Pillar op Fire,
Fire Worshippers. See Parsees.
Firmament (Heb. JJ'pT; Sept. a-Tepiufm; Vulgate, firmament um). — The notion that the sky was avast solid dome seems to have been common among the ancient peoples whose itleas of cosmology have come down to us. Thus the Egyptians conceived the heavens to be an arched iron ceiling from which the stars were suspended by means of cables (Chabas, L'Antiquite hi-storique, Paris, 1S73, pp. 6J;-(37). Like- wise to the mind of the Babylonians the sky was an immense dome, forged out of the hardest metal by the hand of Merodach (Marduk) and resting on a wall surrounding the earth (Jensen, Die Kosmologie der Babylonier, Stra.sburg, 1S90, pp. 253, 260). Accord- ing to the notion prevalent among the Greeks and Romans, the sky was a great vault of crystal to which the fixed stars were attached, though by some it was held to be of iron or brass. That the Hebrews enter- tained similar ideas appears from numerous biblical passages. In the first account of the creation (Gen., i) we read that God created a firmament to divide the upper or celestial from the lower or terrestrial waters. The Hebrew word ypT means something beaten or hammered out, and thus extended; the Vulgate ren- dering, "firmamentum", corresponds more closely with the Greek (rrep^wfia (Septuagint, Aquila, and Symmachus), "something made firm or solid". The notion of the solidity of the firmament is moreover expressed in such passages as Joli, xxxvii, IS, where reference is made incidentally to the heavens, " w-hich are most strong, as if they were of molten brass". The same is impfied in the purpose attributed to God in creating the firmament, viz. to serve as a wall of separation between the upper and lower bodies of water, it being conceived as supporting a vast celestial reservoir; and also in the account of the deluge (Gen., vii), where we read that the "flood gates of heaven were opened", and "shut up" (viii, 2). (Cf. also IV Ivings, vii, 19; Is., xxiv, 18; Mai., iii, 10; Prov., viii, 28 sqq.) Other passages, e. g. Is., xlii, 5, emphasize rather the idea of something extended : " Thus saith the Lord God that created the heavens and stretched them out" (Cf. Is., xliv, 24, and xl, 22). In conformity with these ideas, the WTiter of Gen., i, 14-17, 20, repre- sents God as setting the stars in the firmament of heaven, and the fowls are located beneath it, i. e. in theair as distinct finm (lie tinnamcnt. On this point, as on many others, the Bible siinjily reflects the current cosmological ideas and language of the time.
LEsfiTHE in ViG., Diet, de la Bible, s. v.; Whitehouse in Hastings, Diet, of the Bible, s. v. Cosmogony, T. 502.
James F. Driscoll.
