globe, corrected the foolish opinions of the heathen, and gave them a taste for divine things and heavenly wisdom.
Prayer.
Most amiable Jesus, we thank Thee for having called us to Thy Church, and for having communicated to us Thy doctrine. Give us grace to become by it each day better and more pleasing to Thee, and finally to attain eternal happiness. Enlighten also the nations living in heresy and darkness, that they may know Thee, and be delivered from the wrath to come. Amen.
Septuagesima Sunday
Why is this Sunday called Septuagesima?
The word means seventy. According to the First Council of Orleans, in the year A.D. 545, many pious ecclesiastics and lay persons of the primitive Church used to fast seventy days before Easter, and their fast was called, therefore, Septuagesima, a name which was afterwards retained to distinguish this Sunday from others. The same was the case with the three following Sundays; many Christians beginning their fast sixty days before Easter, whence the name Sexagesima; others fifty days, whence Quinquagesima; others forty days, whence Quadragesima.
Why did the first Christians fast seventy days?
Alcuin and Amakrius say that the captivity of the Jews in Babylon first suggested it; for as the Jews were obliged to do penance seventy years, that they might thereby merit to return into the promised land, so Christians sought to regain the grace of God by fasting for seventy days.
Why does the Church, from this Sunday until Easter, omit all joyful chants, as the Te Deum, Alleluia, Gloria in excelsis?
To remind the sinner of the grievousness of his errors, and to exhort him to penance. To incite us to sorrow for our sins, and to show us the necessity of repentance, the Church at the Introit in the name of all nations unites her prayers with David, saying: "The sorrows of death surrounded me, the sorrows of hell encompassed me, and in my affliction I called upon the Lord, and He heard my voice from His holy temple. I will love Thee
