To the same association of ideas, the Paschal candle certainly owes its origin. It is not yet clear where we are to look for the origin of this custom. In Spain, there is evidence to show that the blessing of a candle or lamp (_lucerna_) on Easter night was common. The fourth synod of Toledo (633), in its ninth canon, recommends the adoption of this practice to the churches of Galicia. The Paschal candle is a symbol of Christ, and is blessed through the chanting of the _præconium paschale_ or _Exsultet_, a grand song of triumph, said to have been composed by St Augustine. This candle, placed in its own candlestick near the altar, is lit at High Mass throughout Eastertide. Two prefaces for its blessing are found in the writings of Bishop Ennodius of Pavia († 521), and mediæval liturgical writers generally attribute the blessing of the Paschal candle to Pope Zosimus.[168] At an earlier period, the special ceremonies of Holy Saturday commenced in the afternoon, the forenoon being devoted to decorating the church and preparing for the festival.[169] These ceremonies are, the blessing of the Paschal candle, the lections from the Old Testament, and the blessing of the baptismal font, all of which are only preparatory to the solemn administration of baptism. As has been said, these ceremonies only commenced towards evening and continued into the night, which was observed as a vigil (_pervigilium paschale_). When they were concluded, the neophytes were baptised, and then, also in the night, followed the Mass of the day. To this the newly baptised, along with the people and clergy, proceeded in a solemn procession from the baptistery, when there was one, to the principal church. The Emperor Constantine allowed the streets and squares of the capital to be illuminated on this night. He himself as a catechumen passed the night in prayer in his private chapel, and hallowed the Easter festival by the bestowal of rich alms. The Mass is entitled in the service-books, _in vigilia paschæ_. Since it came after midnight, the Alleluia could be sung at it. This arrangement as regards the time of the Mass still held good in the eleventh century, for Rupert of Deutz (_De div. Off._, 7, 11) still speaks of it as being the established practice, and only later on were the above-mentioned ceremonies and the Mass transferred to the afternoon of Saturday, the Alleluia thus coming before its time. Upon this followed the psalmody of Easter, which had to be made as short as possible on account of the length of these ceremonies. Sermons also were usually short at Easter, for the same reason.[170]