- Sexagesima
Sexagesima, or, in full, Sexagesima Sunday, is the name for the second Sunday before
Ash Wednesday in theGregorian Rite liturgical calendar of theRoman Catholic Church , and also in that of someProtestant denominations, particularly those withAnglican andLutheran origins.The name "Sexagesima" is derived from the
Latin "sexagesimus", meaning "sixtieth," and appears to be a back-formation ofQuinquagesima , the term formerly used to denote the last Sunday before Lent (the latter name alluding to the fact that there are fifty days between that Sunday and Easter, if one counts both days themselves in the total). Through the same process, the Sunday before Sexagesima Sunday was formerly known as Septuagesima Sunday, and marked the start of thePre-Lenten Season which eventually became the time forcarnival celebrations throughoutEurope , this custom being later exported to places settled and/or colonized by Europeans. WhileQuinquagesima (50th day) is mathematically correct (allowing for the inclusive counting), Sexagesima andSeptuagesima are only approximations (the exact number of days is 57 and 64 respectively). The earliest Sexagesima can occur isJanuary 25 and the latest isFebruary 28 (orFebruary 29 in aleap year ).The reforms of the
Second Vatican Council eliminated Sexagesima and the other pre-Lent Sundays in the newRoman Catholic liturgical calendar . These reforms went into effect in 1970. Six years later the churches of the Anglican Communion likewise abolished Sexagesima and the other pre-Lent Sundays. Sexagesima and the other pre-Lent Sundays remain in celebrations of the extraordinary form of the Roman rite according to the 1962 Roman Missal (theGregorian Rite ).See also
Ordinary Time
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