O.B. Hardison, Christian Rite and Christian Drama
in the Middle Ages
In the Calendar of the Ordinariate the titles of
the Septuagesima season have been retained. This is a step in the right
direction. However, the titles should be accompanied by the restoration of the liturgical fecundity of
the Mass and Office in this ancient season.
Septuagesima is associated with the seven days of
creation and the seven ages of the world foreshadowed in them. The idea is
embodied in the choice of matins readings throughout Septuagesima and Lent. The
reading for Septuagesima Sunday relates the Fall and expulsion from Paradise,
the initial breach between God and man; that of Sexagesima tells of the Deluge;
that of Quinquagesima, the sacrifice of Abraham; and so on, until the eighth,
enduring age of the New Jerusalem symbolized by the Easter octave.
This comment touches on an extremely important
layer of symbolism current throughout Septuagesima and Lent, . . . in the
readings and chants of the canonical hours. According to this tradition, the
Septuagesimal period recapitulates the whole history (i.e., the seven ages) of
the world. The concept is introduced into the Lenten liturgy in the reading of
the parable of the husbandman, and most obviously sustained by the readings and
responses for nocturns (the modern matins). It rests on traditions as old as
Jerome and Augustine, summarized emphatically in St. Gregory's homily on the
parable, which is read during the matins of Septuagesima Sunday. Gregory
writes:
The householder, then, for the cultivation of his
vineyard goes out early in the morning, and at the third hour, and at the sixth
hour, and the eleventh hour, to hire laborers into his vineyard. Thus the Lord,
from the beginning to the end Of the world, ceases not to gather together
preachers for the instruction of His faithful people. The early morning of the
world was from Adam until Noah; the third hour from Noah until Abraham; the
sixth hour from Abraham until Moses; the ninth hour from Moses until the coming
of the Lord; the eleventh hour from the coming of the Lord until the end of the
world. At this eleventh hour are sent forth as preachers the Holy Apostles, who
have received full wages, albeit they come in late.
Although Gregory, accommodating his interpretation
to the Gospel passage, finds only five ages in the history of the world,
Augustine and others agreed that there were seven, parallel to the years of the
Babylonian captivity, and when Lenten observances were extended backwards to
Septuagesima, the parallel was, perhaps, inevitable. The ages are, in the form
most often encountered, (I) Adam to Noah, (2) Noah to Abraham, (3) Abraham to
Moses, (4) Moses to David, (5) David to the return from captivity, (6) the
return from captivity to Christ, and (7) Christ to the Last Judgment. The
eighth age would then be the eternal age of the New Jerusalem. "The '
'ages" are clearly reflected in the readings of the matins office.
Septuagesima (Sexagesima in LR) records the creation, Fall, and expulsion from Paradise—a
motif to be reiterated powerfully during the dismissal of penitents on Ash
Wednesday. The reading for Sexagesima tells the story of Noah; of Quinquagesima,
Abraham; of the third Sunday in Quadragesima, Joseph; of Laetare Sunday, Moses;
and of Passion Sunday, the captivity (through the lamentations of Jeremiah). On
Coena Domini (Maundy Thursday) the
"New Law" is instituted, followed by the Crucifixion. Finally, the
octave of Easter celebrates Augustine's "second age, particularly through
the ceremonies involving the neophytes.
Finally, by implication and in several instances
by explicit identification in prayers and chants, individual Christians
recapitulate in their own lives the whole span of history from the Fall to the
Last Judgment and beyond. In his commentary on Psalm 148 Augustine wrote:
"There are two times, one which is now, and is spent in the temptations
and tribulations of this life; and the other which shall be then, and shall be
spent in eternal security and joy. In figure of these, we celebrate two
periods: the time before Easter and the time after Easter. That which is before
Easter signifies the sorrow of this life; that which is after, the blessedness
of our future state." Echoing this sentiment, Amalarius taught that
Septuagesima symbolizes "the whole of the present age during which we are
separated from the Heavenly Jerusalem" and urged his readers to "live
. . . that the sorrow [luctus] of penance may be changed to the joy [gaudium]
of the Resurrection of the Lord which returns us to the Heavenly
Jerusalem.". It is . . . a
statement about the unity of the Easter liturgy, whose beginning is not an
isolated episode and must be interpreted in terms of the event which is the
climax of the drama.
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