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 Peter 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 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. | |
| Peter | Obvious. | |
| Anthony | A long-serving choir assistant is good at singing, surprise? | |
| Kolya | Pray? Sing? That’s all he does. | |
| Videmos | WCC’s last fully Rad-Trad man | |
| Luca | A famous music composer | |
| Armaan | The main reason is _______ [redacted]. He’s just good at singing. | |
| Julian Kwasniewski | The name says it all | |
| Dominic | Proving that the WCC Roman sacristan can be a lover of tradition. We used to be unsure with his predecessors. | |
| Margaret Mary | Men almost always take precedence and lead in this rite, but she’s totally capable | |
| Teresa | Compline is in Latin, so the Latin tutor ought also to have a ranking position. | |
| Bridget | Music is very mathematical, and she’s a math tutor, so it makes since that she’s among the highest ranking woman. | |
| Any other frequent attendee (man) | If no one else higher is around | |
| Any other frequent attendee (woman) | Actually happened once (last week). A huge win for diversity. It was a freshmen. Come on guys, don’t be a wimp. | |
| Quinn Lasnoski | ||
| The other Quinn | ||
| President Biden | Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s. |
Of course, this is only the current line of succession. The graduation of this year’s seniors will certainly shake it up.