It is used not only at pontifical High Mass but at all solemn pontifical functions, e.g.
The ashes, obtained by burning the palms or their substitutes used in the ceremonial of the previous Palm Sunday, are placed in a vessel on the altar before High Mass.
In the Roman Catholic Church the most characteristic ritual feature of the festival is now the solemn extinction of the paschal candle after the Gospel at high mass.
It became early a custom for the prebendaries and canons of a cathedral to employ " priest-vicars " or " vicars-choral " as their substitutes when it was their turn as hebdomedary to sing High Mass and conduct divine office.
Laymen as well as monks take part in the proceedings, the details of which are unknown to us except from the accounts of the Catholic missionaries - Fathers Huc and Gabet - who describe the principal ceremonial as, in outward appearance, wonderfully like the high mass.
