Does the Triduum overlap with Easter?

[Fone_Bone_2001]

My question concerns the standard calendar for the Roman Rite in the Catholic Church.

I have long since known/been taught that contrary to some peoples’ impressions, Lent and the Holy Triduum do not actually overlap: Good Friday and Holy Saturday are not part of Lent at all, because Lent ends when the evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper begins on Holy Thursday. Once that Mass starts on Holy Thursday evening, Lent is over and the Triduum has begun.

Yet I have also read that the Triduum runs through Easter Sunday inclusive, ending with vespers that evening.

So my question is this: I know that Lent and the Triduum do not overlap. But the Easter season and the Triduum do overlap, right? Since the solemnity of the Resurrection of the Lord (Easter Sunday) is obviously a part of Easter, even though it is also part of the Triduum?

In other words, is this right?

most of Holy Thursday = Lent
Holy Thursday when the Mass of the Lord’s Supper starts through the Easter Vigil = Triduum
Easter Vigil through (to?) vespers on Easter Sunday = Triduum and Easter season
Vespers on Easter Sunday through Pentecost = Easter season

Thanks!

 

[ConstantineTG]

No. Lent ends on Holy Wednesday and the Triduum is a separate Liturgical season.

 

[Fone_Bone_2001]

No. Lent ends on Holy Wednesday and the Triduum is a separate Liturgical season.

I’m quite sure that in the Roman Rite, Lent ends not on Wednesday of Holy Week but rather when the Mass of the Lord’s Supper begins on Holy Thursday.

But yes, my post did indeed assert - as yours did - that the Triduum is a separate liturgical season that does not overlap with Lent. My question about Easter and the Triduum remains, though…

 

[ConstantineTG]

I’m quite sure that in the Roman Rite, Lent ends not on Wednesday of Holy Week but rather when the Mass of the Lord’s Supper begins on Holy Thursday.

But yes, my post did indeed assert - as yours did - that the Triduum is a separate liturgical season that does not overlap with Lent. My question about Easter and the Triduum remains, though…

So you mean after sundown on Thursday?

 

[Fone_Bone_2001]

So you mean after sundown on Thursday?

Not exactly. PASCHALIS SOLLEMNITATIS from the Congregation for Divine Worship asserts that the Triduum lasts from “the evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday until Vespers of Easter Sunday” (38) and goes on to say, “With the celebration of Mass on the evening of Holy Thursday the Church begins the Easter Triduum” (44).

So yes, the Triduum is a separate liturgical season that does not overlap with Lent.

I was confused, though, by the fact that these same sources say that the Triduum concludes after Vespers on Easter Sunday… but since Easter Sunday is (obviously) part of the Easter season, doesn’t that mean Easter and the Triduum overlap, unlike Lent and the Triduum? If not, why not, in light of their defined timespans?

 

[FrDavid96]

Not exactly. PASCHALIS SOLLEMNITATIS from the Congregation for Divine Worship asserts that the Triduum lasts from “the evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday until Vespers of Easter Sunday” (38) and goes on to say, “With the celebration of Mass on the evening of Holy Thursday the Church begins the Easter Triduum” (44).

So yes, the Triduum is a separate liturgical season that does not overlap with Lent.

I was confused, though, by the fact that these same sources say that the Triduum concludes after Vespers on Easter Sunday… but since Easter Sunday is (obviously) part of the Easter season, doesn’t that mean Easter and the Triduum overlap, unlike Lent and the Triduum? If not, why not, in light of their defined timespans?

Yes. They do overlap.

Easter Sunday is part of the Triduum, and it is also part of the Easter Season.

What I don’t undertand though is why this confuses you.

 

[Fone_Bone_2001]

Yes. They do overlap.

Easter Sunday is part of the Triduum, and it is also part of the Easter Season.

What I don’t undertand though is why this confuses you.

Haha, probably not for any good reason, Father.

I think it was the fact that the sources I was reading preferred to emphasize that the Triduum is itself its own liturgical season and thus made much of the fact that it doesn’t overlap with Lent. I guess my confusion was a foolishly rationalistic expectation for a similar structural picture on the other end of the Triduum - but yeah, I see that Easter Sunday is part of both Easter and the Triduum.

I was thinking like Chesterton’s hypothetical “mathematical creature from the moon” in the chapter in* Orthodoxy* on the paradoxes of Christianity.

 

[FrDavid96]

Haha, probably not for any good reason, Father.

I think it was the fact that the sources I was reading preferred to emphasize that the Triduum is itself its own liturgical season and thus made much of the fact that it doesn’t overlap with Lent. I guess my confusion was a foolishly rationalistic expectation for a similar structural picture on the other end of the Triduum - but yeah, I see that Easter Sunday is part of both Easter and the Triduum.

I was thinking like Chesterton’s hypothetical “mathematical creature from the moon” in the chapter in* Orthodoxy* on the paradoxes of Christianity.

I think we see the emphasis on the Triduum not-being-Lent because it’s easier to get confused on that side.

“Is Good Friday part of Lent?” is one of those “good question, let’s take a look at that…” sort of things.

While on the other hand, “Is Easter Sunday part of the Easter Season?” is a question that is much less likely to ever be asked–even though you just asked it.

 

[Fone_Bone_2001]

I think we see the emphasis on the Triduum not-being-Lent because it’s easier to get confused on that side.

“Is Good Friday part of Lent?” is one of those “good question, let’s take a look at that…” sort of things.

While on the other hand, “Is Easter Sunday part of the Easter Season?” is a question that is much less likely to ever be asked–even though you just asked it.

In my defense, I do suppose my question could be rephrased into the (seemingly) much more reasonable, “Is Easter Sunday a part of the Triduum even though the latter is its own liturgical season?”

To which it seems the answer is yes.

 

[Digitonomy]

With that established, I’m curious about the broader related question of what other seasons overlap? Are there any? And, how do these answers compare in the traditional Roman calendar, or the Eastern calendars?

 

[dochawk]

Lent starts on Monday, not Wednesday, in the East–and does not include Holy WQeek.

If memory serves, the Ambrosian Rite has a different calculation of Lent than the Roman, as well.
hawk

 

[dochawk]

Lent starts on Monday, not Wednesday, in the East–and does not include Holy WQeek.

If memory serves, the Ambrosian Rite has a different calculation of Lent than the Roman, as well.
hawk