De septuagesima
The Meaning of Septuagesima
Septuagesima is introduced as a liturgical season established to redeem holy days and symbolize the wandering of humanity through the ages.
Septuagesima marks a time of wandering, Sexagesima a time of widowhood, Quinquagesima a time of forgiveness, and Quadragesima a time of spiritual penance. Septuagesima begins on the Sunday when the chant 'Circumdederunt me' is sung, and it ends on the Saturday after Easter. Septuagesima was established for three reasons (as found in the 'Summa de officio' by Master John Beleth). The first is for the sake of redemption, because the holy fathers decreed that, out of reverence for the day of the Ascension—when our nature ascended into the heavens and was exalted above the choirs of angels—that day should always be kept as a solemn and celebrated feast, and no fast should be observed on it. In the early Church, it was just as solemn as the first day of the week, and so a solemn procession was held then to represent the procession of the disciples or of the angels themselves. Therefore, it became a common proverb that Thursday is called the 'cousin' of Sunday, because in ancient times it was just as solemn; but as the feasts of the saints grew in number, it became burdensome to celebrate so many, and so that solemnity ceased. To redeem those days, therefore, the holy fathers added one week of Christ in abstinence and called it Septuagesima. Another reason is for the sake of symbolism, since this time signifies the wandering, exile, and tribulation of the entire human race from Adam until the end of the world. This exile is indeed played out under the cycle of seven days and is included under the cycle of seven thousand years; for by seventy days we understand seventy centuries of years. From the beginning of the world until the Ascension, we count six thousand years, and then whatever time follows until the end of the world we include under the seventh millennium, the end of which God alone knows.
Exile and the Hope of Return
The liturgical changes during this season represent the Babylonian captivity and the spiritual exile of the human race.
Christ rescued us from this exile in the sixth age of the world, restoring the robe of innocence to us through baptism in the hope of an eternal reward; yet when our time of exile is finished, he will adorn us perfectly with both robes. This is why we set aside songs of joy during this time of wandering and exile. Yet on the Saturday of Easter we sing one Alleluia, rejoicing as if in the hope of our eternal homeland and recovering the robe of innocence through Christ in this sixth age of the world; to this, the tract is also joined, signifying the labor we must still endure to fulfill God's commandments. On the Saturday after Easter, when, as has been said, Septuagesima ends, we sing two Alleluias, because once the time of this world is complete, we will obtain the double robe of glory. There is another reason based on representation, since Septuagesima represents the seventy years the children of Israel spent in Babylonian captivity; just as they laid aside their instruments, saying, 'How shall we sing the Lord's song?' and so on, we too set aside our songs of praise. So we too set aside our songs of praise. Afterward, however, once Cyrus gave them permission to return in the sixtieth year, they began to rejoice, and we too sing Alleluia on the Saturday of Easter as if in that sixtieth year, representing their joy; yet because they labored much in preparing for the return and gathering their belongings, we immediately add the tract after the Alleluia, which signifies labor, while on the Saturday when Septuagesima ends, we sing two Alleluias, figuring their full joy by which they arrived in their homeland. This time of captivity and exile for the children of Israel also represents the time of our own pilgrimage, because just as they were freed in the sixtieth year, so are we in this sixth age of the world.
Labor and the Heavenly Reward
The Church encourages the faithful to labor in the vineyard of the soul, promising a threefold reward for those who persevere in penance and struggle.
And just as they worked to gather their small belongings, we too, having been set free, must work to fulfill God's commandments. But once we reach our true home, all labor will cease, our glory will be perfect, and we will sing a double Alleluia in both body and soul. In this time of exile, therefore, the Church, pressed by many tribulations and placed almost in the abyss of despair, draws sighs from the depths and cries out in the office, saying: 'The groans of death have surrounded me,' and so on. The Church thus shows the manifold tribulation it bears, both for the misery it has contracted, for the double penalty inflicted upon it, and for the guilt committed by some. Yet, so that it might not despair, a threefold healthy remedy and a threefold reward are proposed to it in the Gospel and the Epistle. The remedy is that if one wishes to be perfectly freed from these things, one must labor in the vineyard of one's own soul by weeding out vices and sins; then, one must run in the stadium of this present life through works of penance; and finally, one must fight manfully in the struggle against all the devil's temptations. If one does this, one will have a threefold reward: for the one who labors, a denarius will be given; for the one who runs, the prize; for the one who fights, the crown. Because the number seventy also signifies the time of our captivity, a remedy is proposed to us by which we can be freed from captivity: namely, by running through fleeing, by fighting through battling, and by the denarius through redeeming.
Read the original Latin
Septuagesima signat tempus deviationis, sexagesima tempus viduationis, quinquagesima tempus remissionis, quadragesima tempus poenitentiae spiritualis. Inchoatur autem septuagesima a dominica, in qua cantatur: circumdederunt me, et terminatar in sabbato post pascha. Instituta est autem septuagesima propter tres rationes (sieut invenitur in Summa de officio magistri Johannis Beleth), scilicet propter redemtionem, quoniam saneti patres statuerunt, ut propter venerationem diei ascensionis, in qua natura nostra coelos adscendit et supra choros angelorum sublimata est, semper ipsa quinta die sollemnis et celebris haberetur et in ea jejunium non observaretur, quia in primitiva ecclesia aeque sollemnis erat, sicut prima feria, unde et tunc sollemnis processio fiebat ad repraesentandum processionem discipulorum vel ipsorum angelorum. Ideo in vulgare proverbium versum est, ut diei dominicae dicatur cognata dies Jovis, quia antiquitus fuit aeque sollemnis, sed festa sanctorum supervenerunt et celebrare tot festa erat onerosum, ideo solemmitas illa cessavit. In redemtionem ergo illorum dierum saneti patres unam seplimanam Christi in abstinentia addiderunt et septuagesimam vocaverunt. Alia est propter significationem, quoniam per hoc tempus significatur deviatio, exsilium et tribulatio totius humani generis ab Adam usque ad finem mundi. Quod quidem exsilium sub revolutione septem dierum peragitur et sub revolutione septem millium annorum includitur: per septuaginta enim dies septuaginta centenas annorum intelligimus. Ab initio autem mundi usque ad adscensionem sex millia annorum computamus et tunc vero quidquid temporis sequitur, usque ad finem mundi sub septimo millenario comprehendimus, cujus terminum solus Deus novit.
Nos igitur Christus in sexta aetate mundi ab hoc exsilio in spe aeternae retribationis reddita innocentiae stola per baptismum eripnit, sed consummato tempore nostri exsilii utraque stola nos perfecte decorabit. Hinc est quod in hoc tempore deviationis et exsilli cantica laetitiae deponimus. sed tamen in sabbato paschae unum allelnja decantamus, tanquam in spe aeternae patriae gratulantes et stolam innocentiae in sexta mundi aetate per Christum recuperantes, cui etiam tractus subjicitur, per quem significatur labor, quem adhuc ad impletionem mandatorum Dei habere debemus. n sabbato post pascha, in quo, ut dictum est, terminatur septuagesima, duo alleinja cantamus, quia completo hujus mundi termino duplicem stolam gloriae consequemur. Alia est ratio propter repraesentationem, quoniam septuagesima repraesentat septnaginta annos, quibus filii Israel sub captivitate Babilonica fuerunt, et quemadmodum illi deposuerunt organa sua dicentes: quomodo cantabimus canticum domini etc. , sic et nos cantica laudis deponimus. Postea vero data illis licentia redeundi a Cyro sexagesimo anno coeperunt laetari et nos quoque in sabbato paschae tamquam in sexagesimo auno alleluja cantamus eorum repraesentando laetitiam, sed tamen illi in apparatu reditus et in colligendo sarcinulas multum laboraverunt et nos post alleluja tractum statim subjungimus, qui laborem significat, sabbato autem, quo septuagesima terminatur, duo alleluja - eantamus, eorum plenam làetitiam, per quam pervenerunt in patriam, figurantes. Hoc etiam tempus captivitatis et exsilii filiorum Israel repraesentat tempus nostrae peregrinationis, quia sient ipsi in sexagesimo anno sunt liberati, sic nos in sexta mundi aetate.
Et sic ut adhuc in colligendo sarcinulas laboraverunt, sic et nos etiam liberati in completione mandatorum laboramus. Sed cum ad patriam perventum fuerit, labor omnis cessabit et gloria perfecta erit et duplex alleluja in corpore et anima cantabimus. In hoc igitur tempore exsilii ecelesia multis tribulationibus pressa et fere in baratro desperationis posita ab alto tgahens suspiria clamat in officio et dicit: circumdederunt me gemitus mortis etc. , et ostendit ecclesia multiplicem sui tribulationem, quam habet, et pro miseria contracta et pro duplici poena inflicta et pro culpa quo ad aliquos commissa. Sed tamen ne desperet, proponitur ei in evangelio et in epistola triplex salubre remedium et triplex praemium. Remedium est, ut, si ab illis valt perfecte liberari, in vinea animae suae laboret, ahseindendo vitia et peccata, postea in stadio praesentis vitae currat 10 per poenitentiae opera, deinde viriliter in agone pugnet contra omnia dyaboli tentamenta, et si hoc fecerit, triplex praemium habebit, quia laboranti dabitur denarius, currenti bravium, pugnanti corona, quia etiam LXX significat tempus nostrae captivitatis, proponitnr nobis remedium, per quod a captivitate possimus liberari, seilicet per cursum fugiendo, per pugnam proeliando, per denarium redimendo,
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