As we come to the end of the Pentecost Octave the New Liturgical Movement has a pair of well researched and presented articles by Gregory DiPippo about the liturgical history of Pentecost and its octave which repay reading. They indicate the emergence in the fifth and sixth centuries of what became the established practice form to the mid-twentieth century.
The two articles can be seen at The Ancient Character of Pentecost in the Roman Rite (Part 1) and at The Ancient Character of Pentecost in the Roman Rite (Part 2)
Last weekend when looking at the current 1970 Missal I was quite surprised to see that it provides a Vigil Mass for Pentecost, thus continuing the traditional concept. Hitherto I had only encountered a modern celebration of the Pentecost Vigil at Blackfriars in Oxford and had assumed it was a celebration peculiar to them or to the Dominicans as a congregation. I am surprised that more parishes do not avail themselves of this provision in the Missal. Such a liturgy introduces the celebration of Pentecost with additional solemnity, and can br seen as providing a more ceremonious conclusion to the Easter season before the modern lurch into Ordinary Time. It is all the more surprising when one recalls the post-Vatican II renewed emphasis on the operation of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church and of the individual.
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