The Second Sunday of Easter is the eighth day of the

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

season of Eastertide, and the seventh after

Easter Sunday Easter, also called Pascha (Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek language, Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, de ...

. It is known by various names, including Divine Mercy Sunday, the Octave Day of Easter, White Sunday (), Quasimodo Sunday, Bright Sunday and Low Sunday. In

Eastern Christianity Eastern Christianity comprises Christianity, Christian traditions and Christian denomination, church families that originally developed during Classical antiquity, classical and late antiquity in the Eastern Mediterranean region or locations fu ...

, it is known as Antipascha, New Sunday, and Thomas Sunday.

Biblical account

The Second Sunday of Easter is the eighth day after Easter using the mode of inclusive counting, according to which Easter itself is the first day of the eight. Christian traditions which commemorate this day recall the Biblical account recorded to have happened on the same eighth day after the original

Resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions involving the same person or deity returning to another body. The disappearance of a body is anothe ...

. It is because of this Scriptural episode that this day is called ''Thomas Sunday'' in the Eastern tradition.

Western Christianity

Names

White Sunday

In early

Roman Rite The Roman Rite () is the most common ritual family for performing the ecclesiastical services of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. The Roman Rite governs Rite (Christianity) ...

liturgical books, Easter Week used to be known as "White Week" (), because of the white robes worn during that week by those who had been baptized at the

Easter Vigil The Easter Vigil, also known as the Paschal Vigil, the Great Vigil of Easter, or Holy Saturday at the Easter Vigil on the Holy Night of Easter, is a Christian liturgy, liturgy held in Christian worship#Sacramental tradition, traditional Christian ...

. A pre-Tridentine edition of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

's ''

Roman Missal The Roman Missal () is the book which contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of the Roman Rite, the most common liturgy and Mass of the Catholic Church. There have been several editions. History Before the Council of Trent (1570) ...

'', published in 1474, called Saturday ''in albis'', short for ''in albis depositis'' or ''in albis deponendis'' (of removal of the white garments), a name that was kept in subsequent Tridentine versions of the missal for that Saturday. In the 1604 edition of the Tridentine missal (but not in the original 1570 edition), the description ''in albis'' was applied also to the following Sunday, the octave day of Easter. The 1962 ''Roman Missal'' (still in limited use today) refers to this Sunday as ''Dominica in albis in octava Paschæ''. The name ''in albis'' was dropped in the 1970 revision.

Quasimodo Sunday

The name ''Quasimodo'' (or ''Quasimodogeniti'') originates from the

incipit The incipit ( ) of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of Musical note, notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin an ...

of this day's traditional Latin

introit The Introit () is part of the opening of the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations. In its most complete version, it consists of an antiphon, psalm verse and '' Gloria Patri'', which are spoken or sung at the ...

, which is based on . Translated into English:

Low Sunday

Another name traditionally given to this day in the English language is ''Low Sunday''. The word "low" may serve to contrast it with the "high" festival of Easter on the preceding Sunday. Or, the word "low" may be a corruption of the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word ''laudes'', the first word of a

sequence In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is cal ...

used in the historical

Sarum Rite The Use of Sarum (or Use of Salisbury, also known as the Sarum Rite) is the Use (liturgy), liturgical use of the Latin liturgical rites, Latin rites developed at Salisbury Cathedral and used from the late eleventh century until the English Refor ...

Divine Mercy Sunday

On April 30, 2000,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

designated the Second Sunday of Easter as ''

Divine Mercy Sunday Divine Mercy Sunday (also known as the Feast of the Divine Mercy) is a feast day that is observed in the Roman Rite calendar, as well as some Anglo-Catholics of the Church of England (it is not an official Anglican feast). It is celebrated on th ...

'', based on a petition by St.

Faustina Kowalska Maria Faustyna Kowalska of the Blessed Sacrament, Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, OLM (born Helena Kowalska; 25 August 1905 – 5 October 1938) was a Catholic Church in Poland, Polish Catholic religious sister and Christia ...

(19051938), who said that Jesus had made this request of the Church in an apparition. In the ''

'', the official title of this day is "Second Sunday of Easter; or, Sunday of Divine Mercy" (). Five years later, Pope John Paul II died the evening before Divine Mercy Sunday, on Saturday, April 2, 2005. His successor,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

beatified Beatification (from Latin , "blessed" and , "to make") is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. ''Beati'' is the ...

him also on a Divine Mercy Sunday, on May 1, 2011.

Celebrations

In the Catholic Church, special Divine Mercy celebrations often take place on this day, and the Sacrament of Reconciliation is often administered. The Italian feast of Our Lady of the Hens and the Chilean festival are held on this day. Both festivals include Eucharistic processions. In the

Lutheran Church Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...

es, the Second Sunday of Easter (or Quasimodogeniti), according to ''The Lutheran Missal'', "recounts the appearance of Our Lord to the apostles in the locked upper room, together with Thomas’ confession." Dates The Second Sunday of Easter falls 7 days after Easter, between March 29 and May 2 respectively.

Eastern Christianity

, this Sunday is called ''Antipascha'', meaning "in place of Easter". It is also called ''Thomas Sunday'' due to the Gospel passage read in the

Divine Liturgy Divine Liturgy () or Holy Liturgy is the usual name used in most Eastern Christian rites for the Eucharistic service. The Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Lutheranism, Eastern Lutheran Churches and the Eastern Orthodox Church believe the Divi ...

. Another name for this day in Eastern Christianity is "New Sunday". This Sunday has many hallmarks of a Great Feast, despite not actually being one. For example, no Resurrection texts from the Octoechos are sung, there is a Polyeleos and magnification, the Matins Gospel is read from the Royal Doors and there is no veneration of the Gospel Book, and the Great Prokimenon 'Who is so great a God as our God?' is sung at Vespers on Sunday evening.

In popular culture

* Quasimodo, the fictional

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

's 1831 French novel '' Notre Dame de Paris'' (or ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame''), was, in the novel, found abandoned on the doorsteps of

Notre Dame Cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris ( ; meaning "Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris"), often referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the River Seine), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, France. It ...

on the Sunday after Easter. In the words of the story: "He baptized his adopted child and called him Quasimodo, either because he wanted to indicate thereby the day on which he had found him, or because he wanted the name to typify just how incomplete and half-finished the poor little creature was."

Notes

References

{{Liturgical year of the Catholic Church Christian Sunday observances Eastern Orthodox liturgical days