QUARESIMA (Quadragesima). – A sacred period of 40 days in preparation for Easter, to be sanctified by more frequent prayer, works of charity, penance, and mortification, especially through fasting.
According to current practice, it begins on the Wednesday of the seventh week before Easter with the imposition of ashes and ends at noon on Holy Saturday. It is divided into three periods: the first four weeks, Passion Week, and Holy Week.
In the first Christian centuries, as attested by s. Irenaeus and Tertullian, fasting was practiced for only one or two days, in remembrance of the time during which Christ died and remained in the tomb, namely Good Friday or Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Together with the day of the Resurrection, these three days were regarded as the Paschal Triduum, simply called «Easter». In preparation for this «Paschale mysterium», other days of fasting were added, ending on Holy Thursday inclusive; for example, in Alexandria, throughout Holy Week; among the Montanists, for two weeks (Tertullian); finally, during the 4th century, following the example of Christ’s fasting in the desert, 40 days of preparation were introduced, beginning on the sixth Sunday before Easter, because fasting was the principal, though not exclusive, feature of the good works of these days. According to A. Chavasse, the Roman practice of preparation for Easter consisted: a) in the sacred Paschal Triduum, from Good Friday to the Sunday of the Resurrection; b) in Holy or Passion Week, because the Passion of s. Milano was read on Sunday (now called Palm Sunday), that of s. Luke on Wednesday, and that of s. John on Friday (v. SETTIMANA SANTA); c) in a three-week fast, mentioned by Socrates (ca. a. 440); according to Duchesne, these were three uninterrupted weeks, while according to Callewaert they were three weeks of strict fasting interspersed with an equal number of weeks of mitigated fasting. Recently Chavasse has identified these three uninterrupted weeks, like Duchesne (the «middle Sunday», our fifth Sunday), as already in use in 354, the year of the famous «Chronograph», a private document without official character; d) s. Jerome in 384 is the first witness to the new Roman practice of six weeks of fasting, from the sixth Sunday to Holy Thursday, making 40 days in all. The purpose of Q., according to s. Leo I (Serm., 45: PL 54, 288 C.), was to lead the Christian people to salvation, penitents to reconciliation, and catechumens to Baptism. In the other Churches, because people fasted every day, the fast was extended by two or three weeks, that is, in a Quinquagesima (v.), beginning on the seventh Sunday before Easter, especially in northern Italy and Gaul (Maximus of Turin and Faustus of Riez); or in a Sessagesima (v.), beginning on the eighth Sunday; or in a Settuagesima (v.).
In the East as well, preparation for Easter comprised eight weeks (a Sessagesima), as in Jerusalem, Syria, and Antioch. These preparatory weeks, however, were not everywhere a period of fasting. At Rome, the Quinquagesima was introduced after 520, and the Sessagesima is found in the time of Gregory I (Chavasse); but as regards fasting, Rome adhered to Q. in the strict sense, that is,
from the sixth Sunday until Holy Thursday or Holy Saturday, regarding, according to Cassian, Gregory the Great, and Isidore, these 36 days of fasting as a tenth of the year. The two days of Wednesday and Friday of the Quinquagesima before the beginning of Lent were days of preparation; in the 8th century, together with the additional days of Thursday and Saturday, they came to be counted among the 40 days of strict Lenten fasting, and Wednesday thus became precisely the «caput quadragesimae».
Particular features of Roman Q.: a) each day has its own liturgy, that is, the celebration of Mass with its own formulary. Whereas at first only Sundays had a liturgy, Wednesdays and Fridays were «aliturgical», with a single Mass called «catechumenorum». Already in the 4th century these two days, and in addition Mondays, became «liturgical»; in the 5th century the other days also became so, with the exception of the five Thursdays and the two Saturdays before the second Sunday and Palm Sunday. Under Gregory II (715–31), Thursdays, and finally, in the 9th century, the second Sunday and the two Saturdays also became liturgical. b) The station (v.) takes place every day. c) Secondary particularities: the order of the antiphons of the Communio from Ash Wednesday through the Friday before Palm Sunday follows the progressive numbering of Psalms 1–26, interspersed on certain days with antiphons taken from the Gospel; the tract «Domine, non secundum» on the three days (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday), of Gallican origin, has been in the Roman liturgy since the 11th century; the prayer «Super populum» is reserved by s. Gregory the Great solely for the ferias of Q.; finally, there is a twofold order for the Gospels: up to Wednesday or Thursday of the fourth week they are taken from the various Gospels (Q.), but from Friday onward they are taken only from John (the ancient order of the primitive Roman three-week fast). d) Roman particularities included the scrutinies during the period of Q., at first on the third, fourth, and fifth Sundays, and later on the ferias.