Exerpt from an article at One Peter Five by Fr. Zuhlsdorf which explains some very long Latin words …

“Septuagesima slides around from year to year because Easter slides around because the Moon is a bit of a calendrical coquette, or as Juliet calls her, “inconstant”.  Easter is early this year, 31 March.  We celebrate Easter in the Western Churches on the Sunday following the first Full Moon (25 March) after the Vernal (Spring) Equinox (19 March).  The earliest Easter can fall is 22 March and the latest 25 April, a span of 35 days.  Next year, 2025, Easter will be on 20 April.   Easter for those who follow the Julian Calendar is 5 May.  By the way, there is a sky critter that we calculate called the “ecclesiastical full moon”, which has to do with a “synodic month”.  But I think we’ve all had enough of everything synodic “walking together-ic”.  We would rather talk about the “paschal full moon”.  If you are waiting for the next earliest possible Easter, stock up: 2285, 467 years after the last time.  The latest possible Easter will be in 2038, 95 years after the last time. That one we might get to see unless the Lord returns or the big asteroid Apophis changes its course.

“More technical stuff so we don’t have to do it later.

“The three Pre-Lent Sundays are Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima, respectively in Latin “Seventieth, Sixtieth, Fiftieth”, supposedly indicating the number of days before Easter, or more precisely before the Triduum before Easter, technically not part of Lent.  The season of Lent is, in Latin, Quadragesima,” Fortieth”.

“These names obviously indicate blocks of ten, but weeks have seven days.  So how do these names make sense?  Seventieth, Sixtieth, and Fiftieth, before Lent or Fortieth begins, estimates within certain parameters.”

• Septuagesima is the 63rd day before the Triduum and, therefore, is in the 7th decade or 10-day period before Easter (61st to 70th days),
• Sexagesima Sunday is the 56th before, in the 6th decade (51st to 60th),
• Quinquagesima is the 49th day, 5th decade (41st to 50th) days before the Triduum.

And that, dear readers, accounts for the names of the Sundays.

Read the rest of the article here

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