Pernoctate

Pernoctate (pronounced per-nok-tait)

(1) In Christianity, to pass the night in vigil or prayer, prior to a feast (archaic).

(2) To stay (somewhere) all night (now a secular, jocular form).

1610s: From the Latin pernoctat- (spent the night), from pernoctatus, past participle of the verb pernoctare, the construct being per- (through) + noct-, nox (night).  In Christianity, the use of pernoctation to describe “a religious watch kept during normal sleeping hours, during which prayers or other ceremonies are performed” is now rare even in ecclesiastical use and has been supplant by vigil.  Vigil was from the Middle English vigile (a devotional watching), from the Old French vigile, from the Latin vigilia (wakefulness, watch), from vigil (awake), from the primitive Indo-European weǵ- (to be strong, lively, awake).  The English wake was from the same root.  Vigil was related to vigour (vigor the US spelling) (and more distantly to vital), from the Middle English vigour, from the Old French vigour, from vigor, from the Latin vigor, from vigeo (thrive, flourish), again from the primitive Indo-European weǵ-.  Pernoctate, pernoctates, pernoctating & pernoctated are verbs, pernoctation is a noun and the noun plural is pernoctations.

Lindsay Lohan at dawn, resting in a Cadillac Escalade after pernoctating, Los Angeles, May 2007 (right).  The church having adopted vigil, pernoctate and related forms are now words used amusingly to refer to nights spent in decadent pursuits.  The church and the faithful now inhabit the day and the sinners the night.

Beginning apparently during the second century of the existence of the Christian Church, during the night before every feast, a vigil (Vigilia in the Latin; pannychis in the Greek), was kept.  On those evenings, the faithful would gather in the church or wherever it was the feast was to be celebrated and prepared themselves by prayers, readings from Holy Writ (now the Offices of Vespers and Matins); sometimes a sermon would be read (as on fast days in general, Mass was celebrated in the evening, before the Vespers of the following day).  Towards dawn, the people dispersed to the streets and houses near the church, to await the solemn services of the forenoon. This was a formalized structure but in places the intermission gave rise to grave abuses; people would assemble, play music and dance in the streets: clear improprieties.  In the way such things happen, the volume of feasts multiplied so the number of vigils was greatly reduced but the abuses could be stopped only by abolishing the vigils and where they remained, they were shifted to begin in the afternoon, a synod held at Rouen in 1231 prohibited all vigils except those before the patronal feast of a church.  The number of vigils in the Roman Catholic Calendar (besides Holy Saturday) is now seventeen: the eves of Christmas, the Epiphany, the Ascension, Pentecost, the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, the eight feasts of the Apostles, St. John the Baptist, St. Laurence, and All Saints although some dioceses and religious orders have particular vigils.

Pope Benedict XVI (1927–2022; pope 2005-2013, pope emeritus 2013-2022) baptizes a Japanese faithful during the Easter Vigil ceremony, Saint Peter's Basilica, the Vatican, 15 April 2006.

In the Christian tradition, a vigil is now understood as a period of purposeful wakefulness devoted to prayer or ceremonies and although vigils may happen at any time, historically they came to be observed during darkness and became quite common before being restricted to special occasions, such as feasts, solemnities, or important liturgical events.  No longer conducted overnight, during a vigil, participants may engage in prayer, reflection, scripture reading, and hymn singing and the direction of a vigil should be thematic, the purpose to prepare spiritually for a significant religious event or to commemorate a particular occasion.  The best known in Christianity is the Easter Vigil, which takes place on the evening of Holy Saturday, commemorating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and is the most important liturgy of the entire liturgical year.  Typically it will include the blessing of the Easter fire, the lighting of the Paschal candle, scripture readings recounting salvation history and the celebration of the Eucharist.  The reason for the significance of the Easter vigil is that the Resurrection of Christ is the central event of Christianity.  If one accepts the Resurrection, then the internal logic of Christianity is perfect but if not, while the tenants may still appeal as a guide to morality, it’s just another set of competing arguments.  Rationalists who want both can adopt the view of the more radical of the nineteenth century theologians: “One need not believe, one needs only to accept”.