After the epistle, sung as usual by the subdeacon, another subdeacon (_Uditore di Rota_) wearing a white _tonacella_ or tunic announces at the foot of the throne the joyful tidings to His Holiness[124] by chanting aloud; "_Pater sancte, annuntio vobis gaudium magnum, quod est, Alleluja_": having then kissed the Pope's foot he returns into the sacristy. This word of joy[125] _Alleluja_, (praise God) which had not been once uttered during the long season of mourning which preceded this solemnity, is now sung thrice by the Celebrant, gradually raising his voice to a higher tone. The choir reechoes it each time, singing it in _contrapunto_, and then chants the verse _Confitemini_, and the tract, which is ordinarily recited in penitential times. Throughout the mass the joy of the church is incomplete; for though Christ has risen from the dead, He has not yet appeared to His disciples, and the light of faith is still overclouded, as Alcuin remarks: hence lights are not carried at the gospel; the Creed, offertory, motetto and _Agnus_ _Dei_ are omitted, and the kiss of peace is not given[126]. Merati adds to the cause already assigned the wish to abridge service; particularly on account of the newly-baptised children, who communicated at this mass; and the unusual shortness of the Vespers confirms this opinion. [Sidenote: End of the mass.] After the Celebrant has communicated, Vespers are sung by the choir, in place of the _communion_ and postcommunion. They consist of the anthem _Alleluja_ repeated three times before and after the short psalm _Laudate Dominion omnes gentes_ etc.; of the anthem _Vesper autem sabbati_, which the Celebrant commences and the choir continues; of the _Magnificat_[127] and in fine of the prayer which is chanted by the Card. Celebrant. While the anthem before the _Magnificat_ is sung, the Pope puts incense into the thurible; the celebrant incenses the crucifix and the altar, and is incensed by the deacon, and the incensing continues as after the offertory at high-mass (See p. 21) At the _Gloria Patri_ the deacon, having incensed the Card, priests, bows his head in the middle of the chapel, and then proceeds to incense the Card, deacons. After the prayer; _Ite Missa est, Alleluja, Alleluja_, is sung; and the choir answers, _Deo gratias Alleluja, Alleluja_: the Pope gives the usual blessing, the Celebrant publishes the indulgence of thirty years and this beautiful service terminates. In the sacristy His Holiness puts on a _mozzetta_ of white (instead of red) damask, and wears it during the whole of Easter week: His shoes also are white. The Cardinals put on red _mantellette_ and _mozzette_ over their purple cassocks; these they afterwards change for others of scarlet. [Sidenote: Mass of Pope Marcellus.]