PENTECOST. —
I. SACRED SCRIPTURE
A Jewish feast, seven weeks or fifty days (whence the Greek name “fiftieth” [day]) after Passover, it became a Christian solemnity because on that day the community directed by the Apostles was miraculously inaugurated (Acts 2:1-14).According to Lev 23:15-16: “From the day after the sabbath, that is, from the day on which you shall offer the sheaf to be waved, you shall count seven full weeks. You shall count until the day after the seventh week, that is, fifty days; then you shall offer a new cereal oblation to the Lord.” For the Pharisees, the “day after the sabbath” on which the sheaf (of barley) was offered was the 16th of Nisan, while for the Sadducees it was the day after a true sabbath. Therefore, Pentecost, fixed on the fiftieth day from the offering of the first sheaf, was always celebrated by the Sadducees on the first day of the week. Hence, if for the Pharisees it fell on the 5th or 6th, or even the 7th, of the month of Sivan (the second month after Nisan, corresponding to May-June), for the Sadducees it could fall on even later days.
In the year of Jesus’ death, which was Friday, the 14th of Nisan, the 15th of Nisan, the feast of Passover, coincided with the sabbath of the week; the 16th of Nisan was therefore Sunday, the first day of the week, and Pentecost accordingly fell on a Sunday as well.
Pentecost, the second great feast of the year, was called the “feast of harvest” or the “feast of weeks.”
The meaning of Christian Pentecost is evident from the events that took place on that day. The mission of the Holy Spirit, repeatedly promised by Jesus (John 15:26; Acts 1:4-5, 8), with its visible manifestation in tongues of fire, was the beginning of the Church. The Apostles began their preaching. The wondrous phenomenon of tongues seems to be explained as a case of glossolalia, as often occurred later in the early Church (1 Cor 14; cf. S. Lvonnett, *De glossolalia Pentecostes eiusque significatione*, in *Verbum Domini*, 24 [1944], pp. 65-75; J. Renié, *Actes* [La Ste Bible, ed. L. Pirot, 11,1], Paris 1949, pp. 55-56).
II. LITURGY
The object of the feast of Pentecost is clearly stated in the antiphon of the Magnificat at Second Vespers of the day: “Hodie completi sunt dies Pentecostes... The Holy Spirit appeared to the disciples in fire, and granted them the gifts of charisms: He sent them into the whole world to preach and bear witness...” With Pentecost, the Church, born from the side of Christ on the Cross (cf. St. Augustine, *Tract. in Johann.*, XV, no. 8; PL 35, 153), makes its first public appearance; “a day,” says St. Augustine, “has dawned for us, free of charge, on which the holy Church shines before the eyes of the faithful, and burns in their hearts” (*Sermo* 271, 1; PL 38, 1245). In antiquity, Pentecost was essentially the conclusion of the Paschal solemnities, whose joy extended over the fifty days, called “dies Pentecostes,” “Quinquagesima,” or simply “Pentecost” (“*quinquaginta diebus cimensis, quos in laetitia praecipue festivitatis exegimus*,” said St. Leo the Great, *Sermo* 81; PL 54, 421). On that day, not only was the visible descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles remembered, as if it were its birthday, as St. Augustine said (“*et venit Spiritus sanctus in quinquagesimo numero tamquam natalem sibi apud nos faciens*”: ed. G. Morin, Rome 1930, p. 185), but also the crowning of “the entire economy of salvation” (Baumstark [cited in bibliography], p. 170). However, from the moment when in the Roman liturgy Pentecost was endowed with an octave, it took on the aspect of a feast in its own right. In the Byzantine liturgy, as is evident from the idiomelon of Leo the Deacon, sung on the feast of Pentecost, the object of the solemnity seems almost exclusively to be the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. For the Russians, too, Pentecost is above all the Sunday of the Most Holy Trinity. The historical memory of the descent of the Holy Spirit is commemorated among the Easterners on the Monday of Pentecost. With the Jewish Pentecost (see above), the Christian Pentecost shares only the date.I. Origin
Pentecost (“*quinquagesimarum dies*,” according to Egeria) is as old as Passover; however, the references to Pentecost found in Acts (20:16) and in the First Letter to the Corinthians (16:8) refer to the Jewish solemnity. Among the earliest testimonies for Christian Pentecost must be counted that of Tertullian, who treats “Pentecostes,” that is, the “fifty days,” as a baptismal season like Easter (cf. *De baptismo*, 19; *De idololatria*, 14), during which one prays standing as a sign of joy (*De ieiunio*, 14; *De corona*, 3; *De oratione*, 23). Origen also speaks of “*τὰ πεντηκοστῆς ἡμέρας*,” with a reference to the descent of the Holy Spirit (*Contra Celsum*, VIII, 22; PG 11, 1549-52). The joyful character of these fifty days then became so traditional in the Church that, with few exceptions, fasts and penances were suspended during them, as attested, for example, by St. Ambrose (“*Maiores tradidere nobis pentecostes omnes quinquaginta dies ut paschae celebrandos*”: *Expositio in Lucam*, VIII, 25; PL 15, 1863); Egeria (*Itinerarium*, 41; ed. H. Pétré, Paris 1948, p. 244); St. Augustine (“*et ieiunia relaxantur, et stantes oramus, quod est signum resurrectionis*”: *Epist. ad Ianuarium*, 15; PL 33, 218); Cassian (*Collatio* XXI, 11, 19-20; PL 49, 1185, 1193 sg.); and the *Canones Hippolyti* (nn. 195-98; ed. L. Duchesne, *Origines du culte chrétien*, 5th ed., Paris 1909, pp. 544-45).
With the exception of Spain, where the Council of Elvira, at the beginning of the 4th century, had to prescribe the celebration of Pentecost (can. 43; Hefele-Leclerq, I, 1, p. 245 sg.), from the 4th century onward Pentecost took on a character of particular solemnity.
For the East, we may recall Egeria, who describes the liturgy of Pentecost in Jerusalem, where the descent of the Holy Spirit was associated with the memory of the Ascension; the service began at the first cockcrow and lasted until the following midnight (*Itinerarium*, 43, ed. cit., pp. 246-52); the *Constitutiones Apostolorum* (V, 20, 14; VIII, 33, 5; ed. F. X. Funk, Paderborn 1905, pp. 299, 538); St. John Chrysostom, who calls it “*ἐπιστολὴ τῶν δοῦρων*” (*Serm. de sancta Pentecoste*, 11, 1; PG 50, 463; cf. also *In Annam*, *Sermo* IV, 2; PG 54, 602).
For the West, see: St. Ambrose (*De Apol. proph. David*, 42: “*suscipimus advenientem in nos gratiam Spiritus Sancti die Pentecostes: vacant ieiunia, laus dicitur Deo, alleluia cantatur*”: PL 14, 907); St. Augustine (*Sermo* 269, 1; PL 38, 1234); St. Maximus of Turin (*Sermo* 63; PL 57, 377); St. Leo the Great, who recalls that Pentecost is to be “*in praecipuis festis esse venerandam*” (*Sermo* 75; PL 54, 400; cf. also *Serm.* 76-79).
2. The Vigil
Tertullian, as has already been said, regarded the days of Pentecost as a baptismal season, and Pope Siricius, at the end of the 4th century, reminded Himerius of Tarragona of the prevailing custom “among us and among all churches” of administering Baptism to catechumens during Pentecost alone—and not on other solemnities—when they had been unable to receive it during the Paschal Vigil (Ep. I, 2: PL 13, 1134). The choice of this “sacred solemnity” for the administration of Baptism was due to the fact that Pentecost “depends on the article of the Paschal feast,” as St. Leo observed to the Sicilian bishops (Ep. XVI: PL 54, 699–701; cf. Ep. CLXVIII: ibid., col. 1210). The councils of the early medieval period also insist strongly on these two baptismal days, Easter and Pentecost, in cases of urgency. See, for example, the prescriptions issued by bishops gathered “ad ripas Danubii” in 796; §4 of the pastoral instruction of Archbishop Arno in 798; can. 4 of the Council of Mainz in 813 (ed. A. Werninghoff, in MGH, Concilia aevi Karolini, II, 1 [1906], pp. 173–75, 198, 261); and can. 33 of the Council of Paris in 820 (ibid., II, 11 [1908], p. 634).
The vigil of Pentecost followed, roughly, the same structure as the Paschal Vigil, though the rites were considerably abbreviated: 1) four readings according to the ancient Gelasian and Gregorian Sacramentaries (cf. also Amalarius, *Liber officialis*, I, 38: ed. J. M. Hanssens, *Amalarii ep. opera omnia liturgica*, II, Vatican City 1948, p. 181); six readings, however, according to the *Ordo Romanus XI* (12th century), which prescribed that they be recited in Latin and Greek (n. 62: PL 78, 1049; ed. L. Duchesne, *Le liber censuum*, II, Paris 1905, p. 157)—the number that has remained in the present Roman Missal; 2) the blessing of the font; 3) Baptism; 4) Confirmation; 5) the Holy Mass. At Rome, the vigil was celebrated at the Lateran. As for fasting, which became customary in the Middle Ages, the first indications appear in the orations of the so-called Leonine Sacramentary (ed. C. L. Feltoe, Cambridge 1896, pp. 25–26) and the ancient Gelasian (ed. H. A. Wilson, Oxford 1894, p. 120); the orations of the Gregorian Sacramentary make no mention of fasting, though it was enjoined by can. 10 of the Bavarian Council of 740–50 (ed. Werninghoff, op. cit., II, 1, p. 53). The rite of the nocturnal vigil was later transferred to the afternoon and finally to Saturday morning.
3. The Feast
At Rome, the liturgical station of the day was celebrated at St. Peter’s, as the Gregorian Sacramentary already attests. Among the most characteristic texts of the feast is the reminder that the Paschal Vigil had been celebrated in 1948, when Pope Eugenius XII, on the occasion of the feast, had invited priests and ministers of the Church to participate in the rite.
The Sundays after Pentecost form a group of sixteen without special designation; their formulary is found in the fifth to twentieth Sundays after Pentecost of the ancient Roman liturgical books and the present Roman Missal. The organization of the Sundays after Pentecost, however, is due to St. Gregory the Great, who distributed them as follows: “after Pentecost,” a variable number up to five; “after the Nativity of the Apostles,” six; “after St. Lawrence,” five; “after St. Cyprian,” seven (or also “after St. Michael,” i.e., St. Michael the Archangel). The continuous numbering from 1 to 24 now in use derives from the Gelasian Sacramentary of the 8th century. Owing to limitations of space, the formulary assigned to these Sundays—some of them truly splendid—cannot be studied here; for this, see the treatments by De Puniet, Schmidt, Chavasse, and the studies cited in their bibliographies. It may be observed, however, that in the overall composition of these formularies there is no systematic concern to expound a single concept. To conclude, a peculiarity may be noted that can serve for the identification of manuscript missals: the series of alleluiatic verses for the Sundays after Pentecost in missals prior to 1570 varies from church to church, but from the 10th to the 16th century they remain constant in the liturgical books of a single church, as V. Leroquais has conclusively demonstrated (*Les sacramentaires et les missels manuscrits des Bibliothèques publiques de France*, I, Paris 1924, pp. xxiv–vii). In the Byzantine liturgy, the first fourteen Sundays after Pentecost are called “of St. Matthew” from the Gospel read on them, while the remaining Sundays up to the seventieth are called “of St. Luke” for the same reason.
6. Names and Symbolic Medieval Customs
In medieval documents, Pentecost is referred to as: *Pascha de madio* (May); *Pascha militum*; *Pascha Pentecostes*; *Pascha collectorum* (*Pascha media* was the Wednesday within the Octave of Pentecost, while *Pascha prima* and *Pascha ultima* were 10 May and 13 June, the extreme dates on which Pentecost could fall). In the late Middle Ages, the custom of symbolically representing the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles was widespread. Pentecost thus also took the name *Pascha rosatum*, or “rose Pentecost,” or “dew Pentecost,” from the most common scene of this kind, which consisted in letting fall from the ceiling of the church a shower of red roses or burning wisps of tow, in memory of the tongues of fire that descended upon the Apostles in the Upper Room. At Rome, this symbolic rain took place on the Sunday preceding Pentecost, “the *Dominica de rosa*,” in the stational church of Santa Maria ad Martyres, while the Pope, from the ambo, addressed the people on the imminent solemnity of Pentecost. At that moment, from the opening of the rotunda above, “roses” were cast down “in the likeness of the same Holy Spirit,” as the *Ordo Romanus XI* of Benedict the Canon attests in the 12th century (n. 61: PL 78, 1049; ed. L. Duchesne, op. cit., p. 157). At Bayeux, at the singing of the sequence *Sancti Spiritus adsit nobis gratia*, flowers of seven different fragrances were let fall from the vault of the cathedral to recall the Seven Gifts. Elsewhere, at the singing of the Epistle, the noise of the mighty wind mentioned in the sacred text was imitated, and trumpets were sounded. While the *Veni Creator* was sung, candles were lit, bells were rung, and seven priests vested in chasubles with lighted and perfumed censers stood with the bishop at the foot of the altar. In other churches, such as, for example, in the basilica of St. Peter’s and at Orvieto (where the custom is still alive; the ceremony of the *palombella* has taken place on the parvis for the past century, the dove traversing the aerial path marked by a rope amid the firing of a thousand explosions), doves or birds were released during the celebration of Mass. Where these were lacking, a wooden dove with a host in its beak was lowered above the altar.
For representations of Pentecost in art,
V. SPIRITO SANTO
Vedi tav. LXXVIII.1939, pp. 151, 170–71; M. Righetti, *Storia liturgica*, II, Milano 1946, pp. 209–19; J. A. Jungmann, *Pfingstokta* V. *Kirchchenbusse in der römischen Liturgie*, in *Miscellanea liturgica in honorem L. C. Mohlberg*, I, Roma 1948, pp. 169–82; H. Schmidt, *Die Sonntage nach Pfingsten in den römischen Sakramentalen*, ibid., pp. 451–93 (with extensive previous bibliography; note the observations by Dom B. Botte, in *Les questions liturgiques et paroissiales*, 31 [1956], no. 411, and by Chavasse); id., *De lectionibus variantibus in formulis identicis sacramentariorum Leoniani, Gelasiani et Gregoriani*, in *Sacris erudiri*, 4 (1952), pp. 100–73 (the formulae for the Pentecost at pp. 160–61); P. Bruylants, *Les oraisons du Missel Romain*, II, Louvain 1952 (see index); A. Chavasse, *Les plus anciens types du lectionnaire et de l’antiphonaire romains de la Messe*, in *Rev. bénédictine*, 62 (1952), pp. 3–94. A. PIETRO FRUTAZ