Legenda Aurea: Quadragesima

Three reasons can be assigned to explain why we observe the fast for this number of days. The first, given by Augustine, is that Matthew has forty generations leading to the coming of Christ: "To this purpose the Lord came down to us through forty generations, that we should ascend to him through forty days of fasting." Augustine adds another explanation: ''In order that we may reach the fiftieth, a tenth must be added to the fortieth, because in order to attain our blessed rest we must labor throughout the whole time of this present life. Hence the Lord stayed with his disciples for 40 days, and the tenth day thereafter sent the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete."

Master Praepositivus, in his Summa de officiis, gives a third reason, saying: "The world is divided into four parts and the year into four seasons; man is constituted offour elements and four complexions; and we have transgressed the New Law, which comprises the four gospels, and the Old Law in its Ten Commandments. It is proper, then, that the 4 be multiplied by the 10, making 40, and that we fulfill the commandments of the Old and New Laws throughout the time of this life. Our body, as we have said, consists of four elements, and these have, as it were, four 'seats' in us: fire is predominantly in the eyes, air on the tongue and in the ears, water in the genitals, and earth in the hands and the other members. So curiosity lodges in the eyes, scurrility in the tongue and ears, sensual pleasure in the sexual organs, cruelty in the hands and other members. The publican in the gospel confesses all four of these: he stood afar off to confess his sensuality, which smells bad, as if to say: 'I dare not come nearer, Lord, lest my stench reach your nostrils.' He did not lift his eyes to heaven, thus confessing his curiosity. He beat his breast with his hand, confessing cruelty. When he said: 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner,' he accused himself of scurrilous conduct, because sinners are often called buffoons, scurrilous fellows, or better, lechers.' Thus far Praepositivus.

Gregory also, in one of his homilies, proposes three reasons: "Why is the number 40 retained for the fast, unless it is that the power of the Decalogue reaches its fullness through the four books of the holy Gospel? Moreover, we subsist by the four elements in this mortal body, and we contravene the Lord's commandments by indulging the body. Therefore, since we have violated the precepts of the Decalogue in yielding to the desires of the flesh, it is right that we should castigate the flesh 4 X 10 times over. Again, from Quadragesima Sunday to Easter day there are six weeks or 42 days, from which the six Sundays are subtracted from the fast, leaving 36 days of fasting. Now there are 365 days in the year, so we are, so to speak, giving a tenth of our year to God." This from Gregory.