The Exultet (also known as the Exsultet or sometimes the Easter Proclamation) is the traitional Western Rite hymn of praise intoned by the deacon during the Easter Vigil. In the absence of a deacon, it may be intoned by the priest, or by the cantor. It is intoned after the procession with the Paschal Candle before the beginning of the Liturgy of the Word. It is used in the Latin rite of the Catholic Church, the Anglican Churches, and the German, Nordic and Baltic Lutheran Churches, as well as other Western Christian denominations.