§ 7S. THE EASTER CYCLE. 4;0.i
as early as tlie year 325 ; for the council of Nice presupposes the existence of this season.' Tliis fast was an imitation of tho forty days' fasting of Jesus in the wilderness, which itself was put in typical connection with the forty days' fasting of Moses,' and Elijah,' and the forty years' wandering of Israel through tlie desert. At first a free-will act, it gradually assumed the character of a fixed custom and ordinance of the church. Respecting the length of the season much difierence prevailed, nntil Gregory I. (590-604) fixed the Wednesday of the sixth week before Easter, Ash Wednesday as it is called,' as tho beginning of it. On this day the priests and tlie peo])le sprinkled themselves with dust and ashes, in token of their perisbableness and their repentance, with the words : " Remember, O man, that dust thou art, and unto dust tliou nust return ; repent, that thou mayest inherit eternal life." During Quadl-agesima criminal trials and criminal punishments, weddings, and sensual amusements were forbidden ; solemn, earnest silence was imposed* upon public and private life ; and works of devotion, penance, and charity were multiplied. Yet much hypocrisy was practised in the fasting ; the rich compensating with exquisite dainties the absence of forbidden meats. Chrysostom and Augustine are found already lamenting this abuse. During the days preceding the beginning of Lent, the populace gave themselves up to unrestrained merriment, and this abuse aflerward became legitimized in all Catholic countries, especially in Italy (Nourishing most in Rome, Yenice, and Cologne), in the Carnival.^
' In its fifd\ canon, where it orders that provincial councils be held twice a year, before Quadyuffesima {-rrph tt]? reffo-apaKocrT^s), and in the autumn.
■ Ex. ixxiv. 28,
' 1 Sings xix. 8.
- Jies cinerum^ caput jejunii, or quadra gesimce.
' From caro and vale ; fiesh taking its departure for a time in a jubilee of reve!- •g. According to others, it is the converse : dies quo caro valet ; i. e., the day on vvhich it is still allowed to eat flesh and to indulge the flesh. The Carnival, or Shiove-tide, embraces the time from the feast of Epiphany to Ash Wednesday, or, commonly, only the last three or the last eight days preceding Lent. It is celebrated m every city of Italy; in Rome, especially, with masquerades, races, dramatic plays, farces, jokes, and other forms of wild meiTiment and frantic joy, yet with good humor ; replacing the old Roman feasts of Saturnalia, Lupprcftlin »-n(\ Floralia.
402 THIRD PKKIOD. A.D. 311-500.
The six Sundays of Lent are called Quadragesima prima, i<€cunda, and so on to sexta. They aie also named after the initial words of the introit in the mass for the day : Jnvocahit (Ps. xci. 15), Reminiscere (Ps. xxv. G), Oculi (Ps. xxxiv. 15), Lcstare (Is. Ixvi. 10), Judlca (Ps. xliii. 1), Palmarum (from Matt. xxi. 8). The three Sundays preceding Quadragesima are called respectively Estomihi (from Ps. xxxi. 2) or Quin- (juagesima (^. e., Dominica QuinquagesimtE diei, viz., before Easter), Sexagesi7na, and Sepiioagcsima / M'hich are, however, inaccurate designations. These three Sundays were regarded as preparatory to the Lenten season proper. In the larger cities it became customary to preach daily during the Quadi-agesimal fast; and the usage of daily Lenten sermons {Quadragesimales, or sermones Quadragesimales) has maintained itself in the Roman church to this day.
The Quadragesimal fast culminates in the Grkat, or Silent, or Holy Week,' which is especially devoted to the commemoration of the passion and death of Jesus, and is distinguishc<l by daily public worship, rigid fasting, and deep silence. This week, again, has its prominent days. First Palm Sunday,'' which has been, in the East since tlie fourth century, in tlie West since the sixth, observed in memory of the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem for His enthronement on the cross. Next follows Maundy Thursday,^ in commemoration of the institution of the Holy Supper, which on this day was observed in the evening, and was usually connected with a love feast, and also with feet-washing. The Friday of the Holy Week is distinguished from all others as Good Friday," the day of the Saviour's death ; the day of the deepest penance and fasting of
^ Septimana sancta, magna, muta ; hel)domas nigra, or pascJialis ; t^So/ias usyd\r]; Passion Week.
"^ Dorainiai palmarum ; eoprij rwv $ at wi/.
^Feria qninta paschaj, dies nataliseucharistiao, dies viridiiim ; rj neyd\Tj -niu-Kr-i). The English name, Maundy Thursday, isderivedfromiHYMiw/.v or baskets, in which on that day the king of England distributed alms to certain poor at Whitehall. Maund is connected with the Latin mendicare, and French viendicr, to beg.
* Dies dominium passionis; vapaffKevfi, xicrxa arravpdxrifiov, ijfxepa rov ffravpov. In German: Gluir-Freitag ; either from the Greek x<i/'«s, o'N more probably, from the Latin cams, beloved, dear, comp. the English Good Fiiday.