Approaching Lent… Quinquagesima

Introduction

As we leave behind the Christmas Season there is a time of transition in which we begin to look to Lent, the Cross and Easter.

Septuagesima Sunday is the third Sunday before the start of Lent. Traditionally, it marked the beginning of preparations for Lent. It is followed by Sexagesima and Quinquagesima.
While the name Septuagesima means seventieth day in Late Latin, it is not 70 days before Easter, but only 63. But it may be that the names started with Quinquagesima (fiftieth), which is 49 days before Easter, or 50 if you include Easter. Then the previous two Sundays, working backwards, become Sexagesima and Septuagesima.

These Sundays lost their designation when the revision of services took place towards the end of the twentieth century. The names remain in the Book of Common Prayer but not in the Alternative Service Book or in Common Worship, which we use now.

In earlier times the Lenten fast was begun immediately after Septuagesima Sunday but for us the “gesima” Sundays can act as a precursor for Lent by using the collects and readings to set the scene. The themes can help us to orientate our thoughts towards keeping Lent.
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14.02.2020 Quinquagesima Sunday

Having put ourselves into the hand of God, knowing that we will be defended and strengthened, we can live out our lives relying on the love of God to encourage us in our love for God and for one another. This essential quality or virtue of love, or charity in the language of the seventeenth century, is the focus of the collect for Quinquagesima:

O Lord, who hast taught us that all our doings without charity are nothing worth: Send thy Holy Ghost, and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of charity, the very bond of peace and of all virtues, without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before thee. Grant this for thine only Son Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.                                                                               (BCP)

The epistle for this Sunday is the famous passage (1 Corinthians 13) in which St Paul speaks of love, agape, goodwill. We come to the final days before Lent. On Shrove Tuesday we make sure that we are shriven (forgiven) for our sins, and on Ash Wednesday we remember that we are dust and that we must turn away from sin and towards Christ. Whatever we do during our time of penitence and renewal during Lent, we are reminded that there is no worth in any of our endeavours unless they are underpinned by love.

This year Quinquagesima coincides with the commemoration of St Valentine of Rome who was martyred on February 14 in 269CE. This feast day was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496CE. Valentine is usually associated with “courtly love.” The romantic nature of Valentine’s Day may have originated during the Middle Ages, when it was believed that birds paired as couples in mid-February. This is alluded to by Chaucer in the Parlement of Foules, marking the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II to Anne of Bohemia. It contains the lines
For this was on seynt Volantynys day, Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.
(“For this was on St. Valentine’s Day, when every bird comes there to choose his mate.”)

Now this day is commercialised as a day for romance rather than deep unselfish love and Valentine’s martyrdom is largely ignored.

As we enter the season of Lent we recall Jesus’ words: ‘love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you’ (Luke 6.27). Perhaps we might take up the challenge and use it as a basis for our devotions during Lent.