Author: Paul Cassman

Quinquagesima Sunday is the last of the three Sundays of the short transitional season of Septuagesima. Ash Wednesday is this week and so begins the penitential season of Lent.

During Lent, we will sing the commons of Mass XVII (seventeen), which is for Advent and Lent. Recall our rule of thumb: If the priest is wearing green, we usually sing Mass XI (eleven), and if the priest is wearing violet, we usually sing Mass XVII. Of course, Septuagesima is the exception to this general rule because the priest is wearing violet but the Liber Usualis prescribes Mass XI (generally, without the Gloria).

The use of the organ is suppressed during Lent, so this Sunday is also noteworthy because it is the last time we will hear the organ (apart from a few exceptions that we will cover when the time comes).

On the first Sunday of every month, the men of our Holy Name Society pay special honor to the Holy Names of God and Jesus by entering the church in procession with the priest and servers, sitting together in the front of the church, and by receiving communion together as a body. To further honor the Holy Names, we will sing Jesu Dulcis Memoria, the 12^th century vespers hymn for the Feast of the Holy Name.Each month of the calendar year has its dedication, and this month is the month of St. Joseph, whose feast day falls on the 19^th. We will honor St. Joseph today with two hymns.

Normally, during the Mass, the Gradual is followed by the Alleluia. But since we are avoiding the word Alleluia during Septuagesima and Lent, in place of the Alleluia, we will sing the Tract. 

Generally speaking, certain melodies are repeated within each Tract, some of which are quite long. And the same melodies are used for the tracts each Sunday. So, the melodies will seem familiar to you, and will evoke Septuagesima Seasons of the past and call to mind the penitential character of the Season.Once again, the priest will be wearing purple, but it’s not yet time for Mass XVII. We will be singing Mass XI, but we will sing it without its Gloria, which is also suppressed during Septuagesima and Lent. Though it is not required, we usually sing Credo I with Mass XI, just because they go together nicely.

The joyful seasons of Christmas and Epiphany are behind us, and we will soon enter the penitential season of Lent. The season of Septuagesima bridges the three weeks between the Epiphany Season and Lent. Dom Guéranger, in The Liturgical Year, tells us how the Church now gives us these three weeks to prepare for “…the solemn warning she is to give us, at the commencement of Lent, by marking our foreheads with ashes.”

We now also leave behind the joyful hymn, the Gloria, and the joyful word, Alleluia. The Gloria will be sung on Holy Thursday, and feast days, but the Alleluia will be strictly avoided until the mass of the Pascal Vigil. So, of course, we will refrain from singing hymns that contain the word Alleluia.

The hymns we choose during Septuagesima will generally have a penitential character, but we still have much to celebrate. So, for example, we will sing Immaculate Mary (with the Lourdes refrain) in honor of Our Lady of Lourdes, which feast we celebrated last week.Recall our rule of thumb that if the priest is wearing green, we will likely sing Mass XI. There is another rule of thumb: If the priest is wearing purple, we will usually sing Mass XVII. But it would be premature to sing Mass XVII during Septuagesima because Mass XVII is to be used for Lent and Advent. The book that gives us much guidance regarding the Liturgy, the Liber Usualis, doesn’t give us an option for the commons, prescribing Mass XI. So, we have the interesting case where the priest is wearing purple, but we are singing Mass XI – and of course, we will sing it without its Gloria.