The term “Lent” comes from the Anglo-Saxon word, lencten, meaning Spring, and lenctentid, meaning March, the majority of which this liturgical season falls.
By the sixth century, Christians were generally practising 6 weeks of fasting. However the Mathematics was not quite right. 6 weeks, not counting Sunday, which is a day of celebration with no fasting on that day, amounted to 36 days. Hence, Pope Gregory moved the start of Lent to Ash Wednesday.
Lent became more regularised after the legalisation of Christianity in A.D. 313. at the Council of Nicea, which was assembled by the Roman Emperor Constantine in 325, bishops at Nicea developed a complex formula that placed the date for Easter on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the first day of spring. The canons emerging from that council also referenced a 40-day Lenten season of fasting. The traditional 40-day Lenten fast begins on Ash Wednesday, excludes Sundays and carries through to the night before Easter.
In the early Church, there has been evidence for a time of preparation before Easter. St. Irenaeus for instance in 2 A. D. wrote to Pope St. Victor I about the controversy surrounding the dating of Easter and the observance of the preparation Fast, “The dispute is not only about the day, but also the actual character of the Fast. Some think that they ought to fast for one day, some for two, others for still more; some make their ‘day’ last for 40 hours on end.” (Eusebius, history of the Church, V, 24)
But the General Norms for the Liturgical Year and Calendar, promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969, established slightly different parametres for the season of Lent.
Returning to a long-held custom within the church, the Second Vatican Council re-established the three days before Easter as a separate holy time apart from Lent proper. Known as the Easter or Sacred Triduum, this three-day period begins with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday and concludes at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday, which is when the Easter season begins.
Why Are There Forty Days in Lent?
The reason for the period of 40 days is attributed to the following biblical references:
- Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness before He began His ministry.
- Moses also fasted for 40 days in the desert.
Traditionally, Christians were to abstain from meat and all things that come from “flesh” such as milk, fat and eggs. Fasting meant one meal a day, normally taken in the mid-afternoon. This practice gave rise to Shrove Tuesday or the Mardi Gras, celebrated before Ash Wednesday. People would feast on pancakes to use up their eggs and milk before Lent. These norms have evolved over the years.
Source: The Catholic Register
By Brian Bartholomew Tan