Septuagesima () is the ninth Sunday before Easter, the third before

Ash Wednesday Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and marks the first day of Lent: the seven weeks of Christian prayer, prayer, Religious fasting#Christianity, fasting and ...

. The term is sometimes applied to the seventy days starting on Septuagesima Sunday and ending on the Saturday after Easter. Alternatively, the term is sometimes applied also to the period sometimes called pre-Lent that begins on this day and ends on

Shrove Tuesday Shrove Tuesday (also known as Pancake Tuesday or Pancake Day) is the final day of Shrovetide, which marks the end of the pre-Lenten season. Lent begins the following day with Ash Wednesday. Shrove Tuesday is observed in many Christian state, Ch ...

, the day before Ash Wednesday, when

Lent Lent (, 'Fortieth') is the solemn Christianity, Christian religious moveable feast#Lent, observance in the liturgical year in preparation for Easter. It echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring Temptation of Christ, t ...

begins. The other two Sundays in this period of the

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

are called

Sexagesima Sexagesima , or, in full, Sexagesima Sunday, is the name for the second Sunday before Ash Wednesday in the pre-1970 Roman Rite liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church, and also in that of some Protestant denominations, particularly those with ...

and Quinquagesima, the latter sometimes also called '' Shrove Sunday.'' The earliest date on which Septuagesima Sunday can occur is January 18 (Easter falling on March 22 in a common year) and the latest is February 22 (Easter falling on April 25 in a leap year).

Origins of the term

''Septuagesima'' comes from 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 for "seventieth." Likewise, ''

,'' '' Quinquagesima,'' and '' Quadragesima'' mean "sixtieth," "fiftieth," and "fortieth" respectively. The significance of this naming (according to Andrew Hughes, ''Medieval Manuscripts for Mass and Office'' oronto, 1982 10) is as follows: "Septuagesima Sunday sso called because it falls within seventy days but more than sixty days before Easter. The next Sunday is within sixty, Sexagesima, and the next within fifty, Quinquagesima ... Falling within forty days of Easter (excluding Sundays) the next Sunday is Quadragesima." Because every Sunday recalls the resurrection of Christ, they are considered "little Easters" and not treated as days of penance. ''Quadragesima'' serves as the Latin word for the season of Lent, which (not counting Sundays) is forty days long. Amalarius of Metz would have the name indicate a period of seventy days made up of the nine weeks to Easter plus Easter Week, which would mystically represent the seventy-year

Babylonian captivity The Babylonian captivity or Babylonian exile was the period in Jewish history during which a large number of Judeans from the ancient Kingdom of Judah were forcibly relocated to Babylonia by the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The deportations occurred ...

.Francis Meersham, ''Septuagesima''
in

Catholic Encyclopedia ''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...

He wrote, "for as the Jews were obliged to do penance seventy years, that they might thereby merit to return into the promised land, so Christians sought to regain the grace of God by fasting for seventy days." According to the First Council of Orleans, "many pious ecclesiastics and lay persons of the primitive Church used to fast seventy days before Easter, and their fast was called, therefore, Septuagesima, a name which was afterwards retained to distinguish this Sunday from others." Septuagesima was also the day on which one could begin a forty-day Lenten fast that excluded from its observance Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Devotional and liturgical practices

The 17-day period beginning on Septuagesima Sunday was intended to be observed as a preparation for the season of

, which is itself a period of spiritual preparation (for

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

). In many countries, however, Septuagesima Sunday marked and still marks the traditional start of the

carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...

season, culminating on

, sometimes known as Mardi Gras. In the pre-1970

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) ...

liturgy, the ''Alleluia'' ceases to be said during the liturgy. At first Vespers of Septuagesima Sunday, two alleluias are added to the closing verse of ''Benedicamus Domino'' and its response, ''Deo gratias'', as during the Easter Octave, and, starting at Compline, it is no longer used until Easter. Likewise, violet

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

are worn, except on feasts, from Septuagesima Sunday until Holy Thursday. As during Advent and Lent, the '' Gloria'' and ''

Te Deum The ( or , ; from its incipit, ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to a date before AD 500, but perhaps with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin ...

'' are no longer said on Sundays. The readings at Matins for this week are the first few chapters of Genesis, telling of the creation of the world, of

Adam and Eve Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...

, the fall of man and resulting expulsion from the

Garden of Eden In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden (; ; ) or Garden of God ( and ), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the biblical paradise described in Genesis 2–3 and Ezekiel 28 and 31.. The location of Eden is described in the Book of Ge ...

, and the story of

Cain and Abel In the biblical Book of Genesis, Cain and Abel are the first two sons of Adam and Eve. Cain, the firstborn, was a farmer, and his brother Abel was a shepherd. The brothers made sacrifices, each from his own fields, to God. God had regard for Ab ...

. In the following weeks before and during Lent, the readings continue to Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. The

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

reading for Septuagesima week is the

parable A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, whe ...

of the Workers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16).

Catholic usage after 1969

The liturgical books for the Ordinary Form of the

revised after the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

omit Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima Sundays, which are found in the earlier versions, and treat this period as part of

Ordinary Time Ordinary Time () is the part of the liturgical year in the liturgy of the Roman Rite, which falls outside the two great seasons of Christmastide and Eastertide, or their respective preparatory seasons of Advent and Lent. Ordinary Time thus inc ...

, so that the use of violet vestments and the omission of "Alleluia" in the liturgy do not begin until Ash Wednesday. The Ordinariate Use and

Extraordinary Form In the Catholic Church, preconciliar Latin liturgical rites ("preconciliar": before the Second Vatican Council, which began in 1962) coexist with postconciliar rites. In the years following the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI initiated sig ...

of the

have retained the Pre-Lenten season and its traditional observances.

Lutheran usage

While

Lutherans 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 ...

who adopted a three-year lectionary modeled on that of the Roman Catholic Church eliminated the season of Septuagesima and instead observe an extended Epiphanytide, Lutherans who retained the traditional calendar have continued to observe Septuagesima. The following antiphon, drawn from Psalm 137, is traditionally appointed in Lutheran use for the Saturday before Septuagesima:

Hymnum cantate nobis, Alleluia, de canticis Sion, Alleluia, Quomodo cantabimus canticum Domini in terra aliena? Alleluia, septuaginta annos super flumina Babylonis sedimus et flevimus, dum recordaremur Sion, Alleluia, ibi suspendimus organa nostra, Alleluia. Gloria Patri... Sing us a hymn, Alleluia, one of the songs of Zion, Alleluia, How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? Alleluia, seventy years we sat by the rivers of Babylon and wept when we remembered Zion, Alleluia, there we hung our harps, Alleluia. Glory be to the Father...

Beginning at First

Vespers Vespers /ˈvɛspərz/ () is a Christian liturgy, liturgy of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Catholic (both Latin liturgical rites, Latin and Eastern Catholic liturgy, Eastern Catholic liturgical rites), Eastern Orthodox, Oriental O ...

of Septuagesima, ''Alleluia'' is not said again until 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 ...

, and the '' Gloria'' is not said on Sundays.

Anglican usage

Most provinces of the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Communion adopted the same change. In the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

these Sundays retain their original designations where the

Prayer Book A prayer book is a book containing prayers and perhaps devotional readings, for private or communal use, or in some cases, outlining the liturgy of religious services. Books containing mainly orders of religious services, or readings for them are ...

Calendar is followed, but in the Common Worship Calendar they have been subsumed into a pre-Lent season of variable length, with anything from zero to five "Sundays before Lent" depending on the date of Easter. Churches in the Episcopal and

Continuing Anglican movement The Continuing Anglican movement, also known as the Anglican Continuum, encompasses a number of Christian churches, principally based in North America, that have an Anglican identity and tradition but are not part of the Anglican Communion. The ...

that use the 1928

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the title given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christianity, Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The Book of Common Prayer (1549), fi ...

(or the various missals based upon it) also observe Septuagesima.

Polish National Catholic Church usage

The Polish National Catholic Church has officially reinstated the Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima Sundays in 2014 throughout the entire Church. The celebration of this season as a preparation for Holy Lent is now highlighted as a part of the Liturgical Year.

Eastern usage

A pre-Lent season also exists in the

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

and Byzantine Catholic liturgical calendar, and is found in the liturgical book known as the ''Triódion'' (which continues to Easter Even). It is 22 days long because it begins on the Sunday before Septuagesima, but not 24 since the Byzantine

commences on a Monday instead of a Wednesday. The Sunday of the Prodigal Son is

equivalent of

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

Septuagesima.

In popular culture

In 1894,

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

told the actor Charles Brookfield, who had complained about Wilde's conducting rehearsals for his play '' An Ideal Husband'' on Christmas Day, "the only festival of the Church I keep is Septuagesima". Ellmann, Richard. ''Oscar Wilde''. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 428.

References

External links

Lections and resources for Septuagesima Sunday
{{Liturgical year of the Catholic Church Christian Sunday observances January observances February observances Holidays based on the date of Easter