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Septuagesima Sunday PDF Print E-mail

Summary of comments of this office by Dom Schuster, in his work L'année liturgique.

In the Latin Church, the practice of the fast has suffered some variations. By beginning the Lenten cycle with the 1st Sunday of Lent, we have in reality, as Saint Gregory the Great aptly notices, forty days of preparation, but out of these, only thirty six are dedicated to fasting. To make up for the four days missing, which are the four Sundays on which there is no fast, pious people and ecclesiastics, at a very early date, began to abstain from meat on Quinquagesima Monday (in carnis privio or in carne levario " Carnaval" - litteraly: privation from fleshmeat). However, it is only in the time of Saint Gregory the Great that we find in the antiphonary the liturgical consecration of the caput ieiunii on Quinquagesima Wednesday.

But the piety of the faithful was not satisfied with only these four additional days. The Greeks were beginning earlier and the Romans, who lived with them during the Byzantine period, would not allow to be outdone by them. Consequently, Saint Gregory instituted, or at least gave the final approval, to a three-week preparatory cycle to Lent, with three solemn stations in the patriarcal Basilicas of Saint Lawrence, Saint Paul and Saint Peter, as if to place the Lenten fast under the protection of the three great patron saints of the Eternal Rome.

It would seem that the three Masses of Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima Sundays date back to the Gregorian period, for they perfectly reflect the terror and sadness which had taken hold of Roman souls in these years when the plague, wars, and earthquakes looked as if they were going to reduce to naught the ancient queen of the world.

The Introït is taken from Psalm 17: "The groans of death surround me, the sorrows of hell encompassed me: and in my affliction I called upon the Lord, and He heard my voice, from His holy gemple."

From this Sunday until Maundy Thursday, in the Masses de tempore, we do no longer hear the Gloria, which originally was chanted only for Christmas and Easter. Its use was later extended to all the Sundays outside of Lent, and to the feasts of the martyrs, but always as an exceptional privilege.


The Gradual is taken from Psalm 9: "And the Lord is become a refuge for the poor, a helper in due time in tribulation: let them trust in Thee, who know Thee: for Thou dost not forsake them that seek Thee, O Lord. For the poor man shall not be forgotten to the end: the patience of the poor shall not perish for ever: arise, O Lord, let not man be strengthened."


Instead of the Alleluia verse, which originally may have been a mere acclamation after the Gospel, consequently distinct from the psalmody, or which followed the second reading, we have today the psalmus tractus (i.e. the Tract). This latter was present in the psalmody of any Mass on a feast day before Saint Gregory extended the use of the alleluia to all the Sundays outside Lent. "From the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord; Lord hear my voice. Let Thine ears be attentive to the prayer of Thy servant. If Thou shalt observe iniquities, O Lord, Lord, who shall endure it? For with Thee is propitiation, and by reason of Thy law I have waited for Thee, O Lord" (Ps. 129).


The Offertory is taken from Psalm 91: "It is good to give praise to the Lord, and to sing to Thy name, O Most High."


The Communion antiphon is taken from Psalm 30: "Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant, and save me in Thy mercy: Let me not be confounded, O Lord, for I have called upon Thee."

 

 
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