5th FEBRUARY 2012 FIFTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
SEPTUAGESIMA
Those of you who observe the calendar according to the Extraordinary Form, or those of you who have memories that stretch back far enough will know that today is Septuagesima Sunday. This marks a pre-Lenten period which covers three Sundays. The first of of these is Septuagesima meaning seventy days; next Sunday will be Sexagesima meaning sixty days; and finally, on the following Sunday, Quinquagesima meaning fifty days. The first Sunday of Lent is Quadragesima. These days are the countdown towards Easter. The Sundays themselves are not numerically exact, but are the nearest multiples of seven.
The observance of Septuagesimatide is very ancient; it was certainly well established by the reign of Pope Gregory the Great who wrote the texts which are employed at Masses during the season. These texts reflect political difficulties during Pope Gregory’s day, most particularly, the attack from Northern Barbarian hordes. Scriptural references calling for deliverance and preservation from enemies are frequent.
It is a season to prepare for the more austere penetential tide of Lent. In the Eastern Church and Orthodox tradition each of the Sundays is marked by a communal act of self-denial—the Sunday without meat, the Sunday without cheese and the Sunday without milk! This must make for a very flavourless Lenten diet. However, it would be good to recall that in the Western Church we also abstained from these items throughout the whole of Lent. This act of abstinence was known as the “Black Fast” due to the lack of dairy products, and is the origin of the practice of using up all our milk and eggs to make pancakes on Shrove Tuesday.
During Septuagesima, several liturgical changes occur: the ‘Gloria’ disappears from Sunday Mass, as does the joyful ‘Alleluia’ word, and purple vestments are worn by the priest and his assistants. The word ‘alleluia’, Hebrew for ‘Praise God’, was originally only used during Eastertide, but from roughly the sixth century onwards its use expanded to all seasons which were not penitential in tone.
From the earliest times the seventy days have been interpreted allegorically. We think of the seventy years of exile endured by the Hebrews in Babylon. When the Church puts aside her festive robes in favour of a more sombre array and silences her joyous alleluias, our minds turn to the Hebrews who, remembering Zion, sat by the waters of Babylon and hung up their harps on the willows which grew there. (I’m sure many of you will recall the song made famous in the 70s by Boney M! Or for the more classically minded among you, Psalm 136, Super Flumina Babylonis set to music by famous composers such as William Byrd.)
The season of Septuagesima was supressed as being superfluous in the changes to the calendar following the Second Vatican Council. However, some current liturgists, including our present Holy Father, who argue for a less brutal shaving of the Church’s calendar, have noted the antiquity of such observances as Septuagesima and Ember Days and have put forward a case for their reintroduction based on ancient usage. Here at the Oratory, where we use both liturgical calendars in our celebrations, we will be keeping Septuagesimatide at our High Mass and Vespers from today.
MUSIC FOR HIGH MASS
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The Mass—”Mass in B Flat”(KV375) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Credo III. Offertory Motet “The Offertory Antiphon of the day”by Palestrina
Communion Motet—Ave Verum by Mozart