We have here doubtless the origin of the names given to the three Pre-Lenten Sundays which act as a kind of warning of the approaching fast. As the first Sunday in Lent is Quadragesima or the fortieth day before Easter, so, in round numbers, Quinquagesima is fiftieth, Sexagesima sixtieth, and Septuagesima seventieth. It is worthy of note in this connection that in the services for all these three Sundays before Lent the Apostle S. Paul is held up as a noble example of zeal, and selfdenial, and suffering for Christ. On Quinquagesima his great words about the worthlessness of all such selfsacrifice and zeal without love give the true Christian watchword for a right Lent-keeping. The custom of keeping a fast in preparation for Easter is of very early origin. It is mentioned by Irenæus, the Bishop of Lyons who died in A.D. 202, and by Tertullian, a priest and a native of Carthage, who died in 220. There was at first, however, great variation in the length of the season. Irenæus speaks of it variously as one day, or forty hours, or two days or more. Socrates, the Church historian, who was born in 380, speaks of the fast as three weeks, while Sozomen, who continued Socrates' history down to 440, refers to it as six weeks. "The observance of the forty days of Lent is first distinctly mentioned in the fifth canon of Nicæa, A.D. 325.” It was not, however, till the end of the sixth century that the present arrangement of the forty days was established. It was Gregory the Great, the Bishop of Rome who sent Augustine the monk to England in 596, who fixed the beginning of the season on Ash-Wednesday, forty-six days before Easter, thus giving forty days of abstinence by leaving out the Sundays, which are called "in" and not "of" Lent. 1 Duchesne, p. 365. "1 "The primary object of the institution of a fast before Easter," writes Mr. Blunt, "was doubtless that of perpetuating in the hearts of every generation of Christians the sorrow and mourning which the Apostles and Disciples felt during the time that the Bridegroom was taken away from them. This sorrow had, indeed, been turned into joy by the Resurrection, but no Easter joys could ever erase from the mind of the Church the memory of those awful forty hours of blank and desolation which followed the last sufferings of her Lord; and she lives over year by year the time from the morning of [the first] Good Friday to the morning of [the first] Easter-Day by a re-presentation of Christ 'evidently set forth crucified among us'.2 This probably was the earliest idea of a fast before Easter. But it almost necessarily followed that sorrow concerning the death of Christ should be accompanied by sorrow concerning the cause of that death; and hence the Lenten fast became a period of self-discipline; and was so probably from its first institution in Apostolic times. And, according to the literal habit which the early Church had of looking up to the pattern of her Divine Master, the forty days of His fasting in the wilderness, while He was undergoing temptation, became the gauge of the servants' Lent, deriving still more force as an example from the typical prophecy of it which was so evident in the case of Moses and Elijah."3 The popular name of Ash-Wednesday, the first day of Lent, has been acquired "from the custom of blessing ashes made from the palms distributed on the Palm Sunday of the preceding year, and signing the cross with them on the heads of those who knelt before the officia1 S. Matt. ix. 15. 2 Gal. iii. 1. Deut. x. 10; 1 Kings xix. 9. The Annotated Prayer Book, p. 90. ting minister for the purpose, while he said, 'Remember, man, that thou art dust, and unto dust shalt thou return'." The day before Ash-Wednesday is popularly known as Shrove Tuesday because, in medieval days penitents were accustomed to go to private confession on that day, and to be shriven, that is, absolved, in preparation for a good Lent. In Shakespeare's time it had become the equivalent of the Italian carnival, which signifies "farewell to flesh," in reference to the giving up of flesh-meat during Lent; both words thus acquiring a meaning the reverse of their original one. Though the Sundays in Lent are not fast days, it may be best to note here the popular name given to the Fourth Sunday. Besides being known as Mid-Lent Sunday (in French, Mi-Carême), it is commonly called Refreshment Sunday on account of the Gospel for the day, which contains the story of the Miraculous Feeding of the Five Thousand in the wilderness. 1 Ann. Pr. Bk., p. 91. CHAPTER XX HOLY WEEK "We are drawing nearer and nearer to the Cross; and do not our hearts burn within us in the way? To those who really know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, what a season is this!”—Bp. Coxe, Thoughts on the Services. "The royal banners forward go, The Cross shines forth in mystic glow, -V. Fortunatus. It is a common mistake to speak of the last week in Lent as Passion Week. That name belongs properly to the week preceding. The Fifth Sunday is Passion Sunday, when the Epistle for the day begins to tell the story of the great Sacrifice. The correct name for the last week is Holy Week. The Germans give it the significant name of Still, or Silent Week. The Orientals call it the Great Week. The first day of the week, the Sixth Sunday or the Sunday next before Easter, is popularly known as Palm Sunday, that being the day of our Lord's solemn entry into Jerusalem proclaiming His Messiahship. In "The Pilgrimage of Silvia" she gives us an account of the ceremonies of Holy week in Jerusalem in the fourth century, and of the procession of palm-bearers on Palm Sunday.2 As denoting the vast importance of these last days of 2 Duchesne, p. 484. 1 S. John xii. 13. our Lord's brief life on earth, it is very significant that more than one-fourth of the four gospels is taken up with the record of the events of Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday. Though no attempt is made in the Prayer Book to follow chronologically the scenes leading to and around the Cross which form the one absorbing subject of the Gospels for every day, nevertheless it is well for us to take due note of the events of the three days following Palm Sunday. On Monday, on His way to Jerusalem, our Lord pronounces His judgment on the barren fig-tree as a type of the Jewish Church. He cleanses the Temple for the second time, driving the buyers and sellers from its courts. The chief priests and scribes take counsel to put Him to death.1 On Tuesday Christ teaches in the Temple; answers the questions of His enemies; speaks many parables; denounces woe on the scribes and Pharisees; sits with His disciples on the Mount of Olives overlooking the city, and foretells its destruction.2 The last day of His public ministry. On Wednesday He foretells His betrayal. The chief priests agree with Judas for thirty pieces of silver.3 Maundy Thursday is the popular name given to the Thursday before Easter, the day on which our Lord made preparation to eat the Passover with His disciples. It was on the evening of this day according to our reckoning, but on the commencement of Good Friday according to the Jewish reckoning, that He ate the Passover, and afterwards instituted the Holy Eucharist at the table, and out of the very elements of the ancient feast, which was but the shadow of the new and infinitely 1 S. Mark xi. 12-20. 2 S. Mark xi. 20-end; xii., xiii. 3 S. Luke xxii. 1–7. |