Wyoming Catholic College students are serious about following tradition. So when it comes to the traditional 1962 Latin Compline sung each night at the college, even details like who gets to officiate and who gets to be the lector matter. It’s all part of the rubrics–and local custom. It’s a very formal process that is always followed, with a full, perfect line of succession of who gets to be the officiant, the number one position, and who gets to be the lector, the second highest, with both together acting as the cantors according to the local ceremonial customs of celebration. The only two exceptions to the following table of the current official WCC Compline line of succession are when a higher-ranking person arrives late and if Luca is sick. Compline must always start on time at exactly 7:29 PM on Sunday night and 8:31 PM on all other nights. Should a higher ranking person not be present exactly on time to light the candles, a lower ranking person may seize control of the ceremonial for the entire prayer, even if a higher ranking person is just about to enter.
Note that the second highest ranking person in attendance, who takes the role of lector, is also in charge of distributing and collecting the Compline books as part of the formal final ceremony of the rite, the gathering of the books.
The graduation of the Class of 2024 caused the largest shake-up in how Compline was prayed at WCC and in the line of succession, members of that class long having held general primacy. We covered the 2023-2024 line of succession here, and the Fall 2024 line of succession is still a little shaky, but here is how IIT expert agents think things are shaking out this season.
Certain modernist miscreants attempted to impose a modernist change in custom at the beginning of the year after hymnal racks were installed in all pews. Rather than the traditional manner of the Compline books being placed at the back of the chapel, and the officiant bringing stacks forward to the two front pews for all in attendance, the books were temporarily placed in the racks in each pew. This led to all sorts of problems as would be expected with all rapid changes contrary to tradition, including books going missing, attendees spreading out throughout the chapel rather than praying together, as well as a loss of the traditional post-Compline gathering of the books ceremony, and so forth, but local pressure was able to overcome the modernists and tradition has returned for now.
| The Bishop (but that would never happen) | Well, the Rubrics say that the local bishop “with jurisdiction shall preside” |
| Fr. David Anderson (WCC Byzantine chaplain) | This might come as a surprise, but as he himself says, “I like the Roman Rite more than all of them combined.” So, if he came, he would preside. |
| Luca | Obvious. He’s pretty much becoming Peter Ellis. He even takes his spot in the back of the chapel to pray after Compline. Just hope for Grace’s sake that he doesn’t follow Peter all the way. |
| Vidimos | WCC’s last fully uncorrupted Rad-Trad man |
| Noah Sauer | The fastest man to rise from nothing, the best rags to riches story. From little to no singing experience, he often now leads even though only a sophomore, leapfrogging many with more experience and past higher rankings within the line of succession. |
| Kolya | Kolya is still everywhere that there is praying and singing, and still ranks, even though he’s very humble about it and doesn’t strike out for a higher position |
| Dominic | Yes, he’s the Byzantine sacristan now, but still holds fast to his Roman roots every night. Good for him! |
| James | Somehow still around… |
| Edward | There’s some freshman whose name I don’t know who has lectored a few times. I hope it’s ok, but I worry. Has he been fully vetted for modernist opinions? |
| A freshman ( ? ! ? ) | This might come as a surprise, but as he says, “I like the Roman Rite more than all of them combined.” So, if he came, he would preside. |
| Armaan | He was third highest last year, and highest over the summer, but for some reason has given up power and mostly abdicated so far this semester. |
| Teresa | Compline is in Latin, so the Latin tutor still has to have a high-ranking position. Ok, you extreme Rad-Trads, I know she’s a woman, but Compline can be prayed by women, as is referenced in the Church fathers… |
| Filomena | Similar to the last one… Probably the most consistent attendee of anybody, so that has to count for something. |
| Any other frequent attendee (man) | If no one else higher is around |
| Any other frequent attendee (woman) | Happened once (last semester). A huge win for diversity. It was a freshman. Come on guys, don’t be a wimp. |
| Quinn Lasnoski | |
| The other Quinn | |
| Dr. Schubert | Hey, its Scripture, she shouldn’t object to that… |
| Magister | Protestant, but likes the Hail Mary in Latin… And he’s a Latin teacher who I think came… once |
| President Biden | Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s |
| Vice President Harris | Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s (according to the Presidential Line of Succession) |
| Speaker Johnson | Ok, we’re just following the Presidential Line of Succession now. |
| President (In Saecula Saeculorum) Trump | Didn’t he actually win? He’s the real president so should probably rank higher? Actually, we just got a statement from his spokesman and he said there is “HUGE FRAUD IN THE COMPLINE LINE OF SUCCESSION. I WON IT, BUT WAS FALSELY PLACED AT THE BOTTOM. #FAKENEWS.” |
| Thomas Curley | He’s worked for the government before and is now in the military, so is somewhere in the Presidential line of succession and ought therefore to be in this one. |