ALTAR AND HOME - April 1958 - IJust a Line or Two...2The Culvert

Sep 21, 2026

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ALTAR AND HOME April 1958 (volume 25, number 5) presents a Catholic family magazine centered on liturgical life and prayer. The issue includes editorial content about the Easter Vigil and the Exsultet, emphasizing reverent worship and the meaning of church ritual symbolism. It also offers a short story, “The Culvert,” alongside contributions by multiple authors, and features subscription, publication, and household devotional guidance such as Easter water practices.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryReligion & Spirituality

FormatPDF

Pages36

Reading Time1 h 31 min

AccessFree to download

IJust a Line or Two...2The Culvert

Easter water

The Culvert

APR1458 AARYGROVE COLLEGE LIBRA民 DTROIT.MICHIGANALTApoo NOT REMoveA PRIL 1958 A magazine of family life and prayer chRISt IS RISEn ALTARANDHOME April 1958,volume 25 number 5 # IJust a Line or Two...2The Culvert Sister M.Faith,0.S.B.8O Blessed CrossTherese Mueller10Vestments:a Matter of FormAlcuin Greenburg,0.S.B.16The Passover DanceIrwin St.John Tucker21The Hero Niles Wesch,0.S.B.26A Psalm for Easter28Take It from MotherRuth Oswald ALTAR AND HOME,a family magazine devoted to the full liturgical apostolate,is published monthly except during June and August by the monks of ConceptionAbbey at Conception,Mo.,with ecclesiastical approbation.Editor,Maur Burbach;Assistant Editor,Hugh Tasch;Art Director,Norbert Schappler;Business Man-ager,Philip Schuster,all of the Order of Saint Benedict. SUBSCRIPTION PRICES—Domestic $2.C0 annually;a two-years'subscription or two subscrip-tions,$3.50;a three-years'suhscription or three subscriptions,$5.00.Foreign:$2.50 annually.Second class mail privileges authorized at Conception.Mo.Printed in USA.Contents ccpvrighted neWS ....comments .... neWs....comments idolatry? One of the more important mo-ments of the Easter Vigil Serviceis,of course,the singing of theExsultet.The Deacon chants itstanding before the Paschal candle.It is a beautiful hymn to Christthe light of the world. There is boldness to such a cere-mony.It might even frighten us ifwe did not know better.Worship-ing a candle!(Study the text andsee just how bold the language is.) But the Exsultet does not wor-ship a creature of God.It payshonor to Christ whom we call tomind by means of a candle.Suchis the religious method of Ho!yMother Church.And we can do no better than to get ourselves in tunewith such dramatic and humanrealism. Easter water Holy Saturday is the baptismalfeast of the Church.It is a day torenew our baptismal vows,tu-gether,perhaps as a family group. It is also the day on which weobtain for our homes the newEaster water.There is a grand oy-portunity here for special"familyliturgy.”Perhaps the father couidbless each member of the house-]iold,and each room in the house.And let's find a special containerf;.the blessed object.It must betr:ated with all religious esteem. 1 Sr.M.Faith,O.S.B. I think it is the location of theculvert and the black stove thatmakes me remember this incidentso well.The one was so cold andgray and frosty that winter eve-ning;the other was so warm andbeautiful. The culvert was a thin bridge ofcement,housing a channel wherewater flowed through from a littlecreek under the road.It was dampand cold in winter,the brown grasslining it and the black mud reach-ing from grass down to water. The black stove was at the en-trance of the kitchen,just insidethe open door leading to the dining room,and my Mother stood thereat five o'clock frying two blackskillets full of potatoes.She man-aged them with an expert hand,turning the brown crispiness witha pancake turner and keeping bothskillets balanced over the comfort-ably glowing griddles that restedover the wood fire. But the story did not really be-gin at either place. It had been three-thirty thatcloudy afternoon,the sun far awayfrom St.Mary's School and theplayground a beaten soggy massof cinders,melting snow andpatches of ice.Margaret and I in The CULVERT a short story plaid dresses sat side by side in thedouble desk working eagerly.Weboth loved school with almost apassion,and work came out of theBig Chief tablets in pagefuls.Itwas writing time,and we carefullycopied words in our copybooks. Sister sat at the desk,beautiful ina black habit with a face framed inimmaculate white.She was cor-recting arithmetic papers.Sudden-ly I heard my name called.Ithought it was for an errand to door maybe even to get a holy picture. At the desk I stood looking intoSister's face. “Why did you copy?”she said. “Oh Sister,I didn't.” She didn't answer but took meto the fateful hall,lined with blackovershoes for

FAQs

What is the focus of the Easter Vigil discussion in this issue?

It centers on the Exsultet, describing how the Deacon chants it before the Paschal candle and explaining that the hymn honors Christ rather than worshiping a creature.

What does the issue say about Holy Saturday and Easter water?

Holy Saturday is presented as the Church’s baptismal feast and a day to renew baptismal vows, and it is also described as the day to obtain blessed Easter water for homes.

What incident is the short story “The Culvert” built around?

The story recalls a private moment tied to a cold, damp culvert by a creek and contrasts it with the warmth of a kitchen stove, leading into a school-related event about copying that escalates emotionally.

Sep 21, 2026

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