Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-16
LAST WEEK OF LENT
Impressive Services to Be
Held in the Churches.
ORIGIN OF THE CUSTOM
SOME PRACTICES OF THE EARLY
CHRISTIANS.
Mercy Supplanted Justice-Prisoners
Liberated-Season of Mourning
Ends With Easter.
ORIGIN OF THE CUSTOM


With today, Palm Sunday, begins Holy
Week, in which the most impressive cere-
monies of the entire year are held in the
Roman Catholic. Greek and Anglican
churches all over the world. Every effort
Is bent toward increasing the solemnity and
significance of the occasion. and each day
has its special services commemorative of
specific events in the last few days of the
life of Christ In this earth before His cruel
fixion and resurrection. 1t is the culmina-
ton of Lent, the forty days of fasting and
prayer, and leads up to the glorious out
burst of song and gladneSs on Easter morn
ing.
Origin of Lent.
The word Lent comes from an old Anglo
Saxon term meaning spring, which In turn
has its derivation in the Latin word for
long" so called from the lengthening days
of spring. In one sense the end of the
season of Lent marks the beginning of
spring. The length of this season has va
ried considerably in different times and
places. Before the third century after
Christ there is said to be positive evidence
of a solemn observance everywhere in
Christendom of the last two de- Us of Holy
Week, and it gradually spread to include
the whole week forty days fast was
also recognized officially about this time
by the famous council of Nicaea. The prob
ability IS, historians tell us, that it was
practiced by the more Jealous even in
apostolic times and gradually grew into a
rule. The period of forty days was adopted
not only to commemorate the fasting of
Christ, but that of Moses and Elijah for
the same time.
The week preceding Easter has long been
-n.at-D tod To -n. ton, g I,a
passion of Christ. In the Roman Catholic
Church the special characteristics of the
period are increased solemnity and gloom,
penital rigor and mourning. If any one of
the ordinary church festivals falls therein
it is transferred until after Easter All in
strumental music is suspended in the
churches. The affairs are stripped of their
ornaments. The pictures and statues are
yelled from public sight. Manual labor, al
though no longer prohibited by the church,
is by many persons suspended. The rigor
of fasting is redoubled and alms-deeds and
other works of mercy enjoined and prac
ticed
A Week of Mourning
All services of the week moreover, breathe
the spirit of mourning, some of them being
especially devoted to the recalling of par
ticular scenes of the passion, as heretofore
stated Palm day-today-commemo-
rates the triumphal entrance of Christ into
y
of palms by all three of the churches men
toned. The palms are carried in process
sion as they were by the people of the an
cient Hebrew city in that day. Spy We'd
nesday Is the old English name for the
day which commentaries the betrayal of
Christ by Judas, one of His apostles. Holy
Thursday, which is also called Maundy
Thursday, is the day upon which the last
supper of the Lord is remembered. With
this in mind the vestments worn on this
day at the mass by the Roman Catholic
clergy are white. Only one mass Is cele-
brated in the Roman Church on this day,
after which the affairs are solemnly dlvested
and washed by the priests.
No regular mass is celebrated on Good
Friday, but a special service is held, called
the mass of the decentralization, In
Guiding the communion of the priest from
the host reserved from the previous day on
the altar of repose. Holy Saturday was
in the early times set aside for the solemn
administration of baptism and orders. In
the present time the services on this day
begin to partake of the gladness of Easter.
In the Anglican communion, which in
cludes the Protestant Episcopal Church of
this country and the Church of England.
the week is observed in the same spirit
by the Roman Catholics all over the world.
The services are not so elaborate, but the
Scrptural selections all have a bearing on
the events for which each day stands. Good
Friday is a legal holiday in England and
Ireland and its observance is largely in
creasing, even among the non-liturgical de-
nominations throughout the English-speak-
ing world.
Practices of the Early Church.
Very interesting in this connection are
the practices of the early church in the
days of Rome's prime During Lent human
justice and the sitting of the courts were
suspended as early as the year $50 A. d.
But many of the rulers of hristendom
were not satisfied with this during the last
week or more, which has always been re-
garded as essentially a time of mercy. The
church used to grant absoluton from sin
on these days, and TO initiate this custom
many Christian rulers would order the doors
of the prisons be thrown wide open and
Nedom would be given to those who had
ia. n under the ban of human tribunals.
The only exception made to this rule was
in the case of criminals whose freedom
would have exposed their families or So
ciety TO great danger. The name of Empe-
ror TheodosiuS stands prominent for these
deeds of mercy 1t is recorded that he sent
letters of pardon to many cities of the en-
pire, ordering the release of prisoners and
granted life to those who had been
demned to death. All for the purpose of
the better sanctifying the days preceding
Easter time. Another Emperor of Rome
made this custom a law, and at a later date
similar laws were in force in the ancient
kingdom of France
But while all law-makng and legal acts
of every kind were forbidden one exception
II,
serted this paragraph into the Roman code:
1T shall nevertheless be permitted to give
slaves their liberty, in such manner that the
legal acts necessary for the emancipation
shall not be counted as contravening the
present enactment.
The church also ordered Christian masters
to give their slaves total freedom from la
Dor during the last two weeks of Lent
Some Lenten Customs.
Many interesting and very impressive GUS
toms have grown up in various parts of the
world around the Lenten season of the re-
ligious year. There was very pretty Gus
tom formerly prevalent in England and Ire
land of making a visit to the mother of the
family upon the midSunday of Lent 1t
was called "Mothering Sunday and on
that day married sons and daughters paid
this yearly visit, always carrying some gift
to their mother. There was a general fes-
tivity at home, ''furmenty being quaffed-a
drink made of grains of wheat boiled in
sweet milk, sugared and spiced In canny
Scotland the favorite dish for Mothering
Sunday was earrings" or pancakes made
from STEPPED peas, fried in butter and sea-
soned with pepper and salt. From these
the day was sometimes called Caring sun
day" The Sundays of Lent are thus emu
tal in III