From a reader…
QUAERITUR:
I don’t get it. “Septuagesima” means “seventieth” and “sexagesima” means “sixtieth”, which are ten apart. But the Sundays are seven days apart. 10 isn’t 7. Is there an explanation?
Here is something I’ve penned before.
Roman numbering can be a little fluid.
The number 70 is more symbolic than arithmetical.
The Sundays which follow Septuagesima (“seventieth”) are Sexagesima (“sixtieth”) and Quinquagesima (“fiftieth”) before Ash Wednesday brings in Lent, called in Latin Quadragesima, “fortieth”.
These “Gesima” Sundays before the “fortieth” discipline begins, are rough estimates but within certain parameters.
- Septuagesima is the 63rd day before Easter and, therefore, it in the 7th (septimus) decade or 10-day period before Easter (61st to 70th days).
- Sexagesima Sunday is the 56th before Easter, in the 6th (sextus) decade (51st to 60th).
- Quinquagesima is the 49th day, 5th (quintus) decade (41st to 50th) days before Easter.
So the Sundays are named after the 10 day block of days rather than the precise day.
And that, dear readers, accounts for the names of the Gesima Sundays.
BONUS ANSWER
QUAERITUR:
What’s with the three figures in the image at the top?
The Church’s Liturgy is more than that of the Mass. It is also the Divine Office.
In the first week of pre-Lent we have in Matins readings about the Creation, in particular the Creation of Man and Man’s Fall in the Original Sin of our First Parents, Adam and Eve. In the second week we hear of Noah. In the third, Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac.
In each case, Adam, Noah, Abraham all receive in new levels of covenant with God. The are also harbingers of good things that come from God. Adam was the progenitor of sin, but because of that sin we had the “happy fault… felix culpa” that we sing of in the Exsultet. Christ came in the way that He came because of that sin. Noah became the second father of mankind. Abraham together with Isaac foreshadow Christ’s redemptive Sacrifice. Abraham as priest offers Isaac the victim who carries the wood up the hill. Christ is both priest and victim in His own Person.
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My somewhat retarded and autistic friend William called this Sunday “Quaesimagesima Sunday.” He died recently, but this Sunday’s name will always remain at the FSSP parish he attended.
Father, interestingly, the Legenda Aurea assigns Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima to real periods of 70, 60, and 50 days. According to Bl. Jacobus de Voragine:
“The Septuagesima beginneth when the Church singeth in the office of the mass: Circumdederunt me, and endureth unto the Saturday after Easter-day.”
“The Sexagesima beginneth when is sung in the Church, at office of the mass: Exsurge domine, and this endeth the Wednesday after Easter day . . . .”
“The Quinquagesima dureth from the Sunday in which is sung in the Church in the office of the mass, Esto mihi, etc. And that endeth on Easter day . . . .”
As with much of the Golden Legend, his explanations for these periods are fanciful and edifying.