Laetare Sunday (

Church Latin Latin, also called Church Latin or Liturgical Latin, is a form of Latin developed to discuss Christian thought in Late Antiquity and used in Christian liturgy, theology, and church administration down to the present day, especially in the Catho ...

: ;

Classical Latin Classical Latin is the form of Literary Latin recognized as a literary standard by writers of the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. It was used from 75 BC to the 3rd century AD, when it developed into Late Latin. In some later period ...

: ; English: , , , , ) is the fourth Sunday in the season of

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

, in the

Western Christian Western Christianity is one of two sub-divisions of Christianity (Eastern Christianity being the other). Western Christianity is composed of the Latin Church and Western Protestantism, together with their offshoots such as the Old Catholic ...

liturgical calendar The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and whi ...

. Traditionally, this Sunday has been a day of celebration, within the austere period of Lent. This Sunday gets its name from the first few words () of the traditional Latin entrance (

Introit The Introit (from Latin: ''introitus'', "entrance") is part of the opening of the liturgy, liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations. In its most complete version, it consists of an antiphon, Psalms, psalm verse and ' ...

) for the

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

of the day. ("Rejoice, O Jerusalem") is Latin from

Isaiah 66 Isaiah 66 is the sixty-sixth and final chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah, and is one of the Book of the Prophets.Th ...

:10.

History

The term "Laetare Sunday" is used by most

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

and Anglican churches. The word comes from the Latin , the singular imperative of : "to rejoice". The full

reads:

Psalm:

Rejoice ye with Jerusalem; and be ye glad for her, all ye that delight in her: exult and sing for joy with her, all ye that in sadness mourn for her; that ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations. ''Psalm'':
I was glad "I was glad" (Latin incipit, "Laetatus sum") is a choral introit which is a popular piece in the musical repertoire of the Anglican church. It is traditionally sung in the Church of England as an anthem at the Coronation of the British monarch. ...
when they said unto me, We will go into the house of the Lord.

Alternative names

This Sunday is currently also known as

Mothering Sunday Mothering Sunday is a day honouring mother churches, the church where one is baptised and becomes "a child of the church", celebrated since the Middle Ages in the United Kingdom, Ireland and some Commonwealth countries on the fourth Sunday in ...

Refreshment Sunday The Refreshment Sundays or Rose Sundays are Sundays within the two major fasts observed in Western Christianity, Lent and Advent. On these days, the fast was allowed to be relaxed, hence the name "Refreshment Sunday". Correspondingly, the liturg ...

, mid-

Sunday (in French ) and

Rose Sunday The Refreshment Sundays or Rose Sundays are Sundays within the two major fasts observed in Western Christianity, Lent and Advent. On these days, the fast was allowed to be relaxed, hence the name "Refreshment Sunday". Correspondingly, the liturgi ...

(either because the

golden rose The Golden Rose is a gold ornament, which popes of the Catholic Church have traditionally blessed annually. It is occasionally conferred as a token of reverence or affection. Recipients have included churches and sanctuaries, royalty, military ...

sent by Popes to Catholic sovereigns used to be blessed at this time, or because the use of rose-colored rather than violet

vestment Vestments are liturgical garments and articles associated primarily with the Christian religion, especially by Eastern Churches, Catholics (of all rites), Anglicans, and Lutherans. Many other groups also make use of liturgical garments; this ...

s was permitted on this day). Historically, the day was also known as "the Sunday of the Five Loaves," from the story of the miracle of the loaves and fishes. Before the adoption of the modern " common lectionaries", this narrative was the traditional

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

reading for this Sunday in Roman Catholic,

, Anglican, and

Old Catholic The terms Old Catholic Church, Old Catholics, Old-Catholic churches or Old Catholic movement designate "any of the groups of Western Christians who believe themselves to maintain in complete loyalty the doctrine and traditions of the Great Chu ...

churches. The

station church Station days were days of fasting in the early Christian Church, associated with a procession to certain prescribed churches in Rome, where the Mass and Vespers would be celebrated to mark important days of the liturgical year. Although other citi ...

at Rome for this day was

Santa Croce in Gerusalemme The Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem or Basilica di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, ( la, Basilica Sanctae Crucis in Hierusalem) is a Catholic Minor basilica and titular church in rione Esquilino, Rome, Italy. It is one of the Seven Pilgrim ...

, one of the seven chief

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's Forum (Roman), forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building ...

s; the

Golden Rose The Golden Rose is a gold ornament, which popes of the Catholic Church have traditionally blessed annually. It is occasionally conferred as a token of reverence or affection. Recipients have included churches and sanctuaries, royalty, military ...

, sent by Popes to Catholic sovereigns, used to be blessed at this time and for this reason the day was sometimes called ''Dominica de Rosa''.

Customs

On Mothering Sunday, Christians have historically visited their mother church—the church in which they received the sacrament of

baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...

. In Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and Old Catholic churches flowers may appear on the

high altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paganis ...

and the organ may be played as a solo instrument. Priests are given the option to wear

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

-colored

vestments Vestments are liturgical garments and articles associated primarily with the Christian religion, especially by Eastern Churches, Catholics (of all rites), Anglicans, and Lutherans. Many other groups also make use of liturgical garments; this ...

held on this day in place of the violet vestments normally worn during Lent. The term "rose" is used to describe this lighter shade of the color violet in the Roman Rite. The Sunday is considered a day of relaxation from normal Lenten rigours; a day of hope with

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

at last within sight. Traditionally, weddings (otherwise banned during Lent) could be performed on this day, and servants were released from service for the day to visit their

mother church Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother in her functions of nourishing and protecting the believer. It may also refer to the primary church of a Christian denomination or diocese, i.e. a cathedral or a metropo ...

, the place in which they received the sacrament of baptism (hence 'Mothering Sunday'). Laetare Sunday is the date on which the recipient of

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

's Laetare Medal is announced.

Date

Laetare Sunday is exactly 21 days before Easter Sunday, a

moveable feast A moveable feast is an observance in a Christian liturgical calendar which occurs on different dates in different years.John Ayto ''Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms'' 2010 p123 019954378X "a movable feast an event which takes place at no reg ...

based on the cycles of the moon. The date can be any between 1 March and 4 April inclusive; occurrence in April is considered to be uncommon; the last occurrence was on 3 April 2011 and the next will be on 4 April 2038, after which it will not occur again until 1 April 2057 – occurrences in April are printed in the below list in . The earliest occurrence of Laetare Sunday in the twenty-first century was on 2 March 2008, and the latest will be on 4 April 2038. Laetare Sunday occurs on these dates: *2019 – 31 March *2020 – 22 March *2021 – 14 March *2022 – 27 March *2023 – 19 March *2024 – 10 March *2025 – 30 March *2026 – 15 March *2027 – 7 March *2028 – 26 March *2029 – 11 March *2030 – 31 March *2031 – 23 March *2032 – 7 March *2033 – 27 March *2034 – 19 March *2035 – 4 March *2036 – 23 March *2037 – 15 March *2038 – *2039 – 20 March *2040 – 11 March *2041 – 31 March *2042 – 16 March *2043 – 8 March *2044 – 27 March *2045 – 19 March *2046 – 4 March *2047 – 24 March *2048 – 15 March *2049 – 28 March *2050 – 20 March *2051 – 12 March *2052 – 31 March *2053 – 16 March *2054 – 8 March *2055 – 28 March *2056 – 12 March *2057 – *2058 – 24 March *2059 – 9 March *2060 – 28 March *2061 – 20 March *2062 – 5 March *2063 – 25 March *2064 – 16 March *2065 – 8 March *2066 – 21 March *2067 – 13 March *2068 – *2069 – 24 March *2070 – 9 March *2071 – 29 March *2072 – 20 March *2073 – 5 March *2074 – 25 March *2075 – 17 March *2076 – 29 March *2077 – 21 March *2078 – 13 March *2079 – *2080 – 17 March *2081 – 9 March *2082 – 29 March *2083 – 14 March *2084 – 5 March *2085 – 25 March *2086 – 10 March *2087 – 30 March *2088 – 21 March *2089 – 13 March *2090 – 26 March *2091 – 18 March *2092 – 9 March *2093 – 22 March *2094 – 14 March *2095 – *2096 – 25 March *2097 – 10 March *2098 – 30 March *2099 – 22 March *2100 – 7 March

References

''Catholic Encyclopedia'':
"Laetare Sunday" {{Liturgical year of the Catholic Church Lent Christian Sunday observances March observances

History

Alternative names

Customs

Date

See also

References