Someone told me that Lent ends on Holy Saturday?

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Someone recently told me, and I read somewhere that Lent ends at the end of the day on Holy Saturday. However, I always believed Lent ended on Holy Thursday, the beginning of the Easter Triduum. Am I correct?

Also, our Pastor told us that the Church encourages to keep our Paschal fast through the Easter Vigil? Meaning, the fast from Good Friday through the Easter Vigil.
 
CatholicZ09 said:
Someone recently told me, and I read somewhere that Lent ends at the end of the day on Holy Saturday. However, I always believed Lent ended on Holy Thursday, the beginning of the Easter Triduum. Am I correct?

Also, our Pastor told us that the Church encourages to keep our Paschal fast through the Easter Vigil? Meaning, the fast from Good Friday through the Easter Vigil.
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Lent ends on Saturday at sunset, which is also the first opportunity for an Easter Vigil service.

Pax,
OA
 
Well, that’s exactly what happened to me, so then I got on this website to find out the answer as well and I did:

catholic.com/thisrock/quickquestions/keyword/Lent/page2

If you scroll down a little bit, it says that lent ends on Holy Thursday. Which I did not know until today. Yes, I graduated from a legit Catholic University and it was my younger cousin who told me when lent ends.
 
But that doesn’t make any sense, because we all know that Lent is 40 days long.

If you count the days from Ash Wednesday (2/17/10), and exclude the Sundays (which is what you’re supposed to do, because you don’t fast on Sundays), the 40th day is this Saturday, 4/3/10. Therefore Lent must include Good Friday and Holy Saturday.
 
Orleans_Attny said:
Lent ends on Saturday at sunset, which is also the first opportunity for an Easter Vigil service.

Pax,
OA
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My parish is having Easter Vigil Masses before sunset at 4 pm and 6 pm prior to their later Vigil with Rites of Christian Initiation.
 
CMatt25 said:
My parish is having Easter Vigil Masses before sunset at 4 pm and 6 pm prior to their later Vigil with Rites of Christian Initiation.
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my understanding was you cannot hold a mass before sunset for Easter
 
From EWTN Q&A section (here):
Sunday Vigil Mass
Question from Ron on 5/13/2004:

It is my understanding, and please correct me if I’m wrong, that the Sunday vigil Mass arose out of the Jewish tradition of a feast beginning the night before at sunset. If this is the case, why are some Saturday night vigil Masses being held in some places on Saturday afternoons at 3, 4, or 5pm when it is clear that sunset (especially during the summer months) isn’t until around 8pm?
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I could see why there may not be an official document which speaks to the specific time a vigil Mass could be held since sunset varies from place to place, but having the norm established by the diocesan bishop would make sense.
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Many thanks!

*Answer by Fr. John Trigilio on 7/28/2004:
ONLY the diocesan bishop can determine when the Saturday evening ‘vigil’ or ‘anticipated’ Mass for the Sunday obligation can take place. Canon Law allows each diocese and bishop to ascertain how early this can take place. Prior to the 1983 Code of Canon Law, the anticipated or vigil Mass was considered to be an exception for serious reasons, i.e., people who had to work in occupations of necessity on Sundays, like doctors, nurses, pharmicists, etc. It was not originally intended for everyone and anyone (restaurant owners and employees, retail store owners and employees, etc.)
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HOWEVER, the 1983 Code of Canon Law now allows an indiscriminate use of the anticipated or vigil Mass so that anyone and everyone can go either on Sunday or the Holyday itself, or on the evening before. Most dioceses do not allow the anticipated or vigil Mass to take place before 4 or 5 o’clock in the afternoon (early evening). In a few places bishops have allowed a 3:30 or 3pm Mass (for hospitals and/or prisons) but the pastor himself does not have the authority to determine how early, only the diocesan bishop can do that. It is ironic that will the proliferation of vigil and anticipated Masses, fewer Catholics attend Sunday and Holyday Masses than in the old days when you could only go on the day itself.*
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This seems like a perfectly adequate way of turning a logical and easy to understand rule into a legalistic bunch of mush. Really, do we need to play fast and loose with the Third Commandment?

Pax,
OA
 
Abenadar said:
But that doesn’t make any sense, because we all know that Lent is 40 days long.

If you count the days from Ash Wednesday (2/17/10), and exclude the Sundays (which is what you’re supposed to do, because you don’t fast on Sundays), the 40th day is this Saturday, 4/3/10. Therefore Lent must include Good Friday and Holy Saturday.
Click to expand...
LENT FIGHT! :slapfight:

See the articles under “DURATION” – Lent is approximately 40 days long.
PS: The correct answer to the OP may also be found there: Lent runs from Ash Wednesday until the Mass of the Lord’s Supper exclusive.

:tiphat:
tee
 
Is there any official Church document that clears this up? I.E. Vatican stuff…not EWTN or something? I have the same question. I grew up believing it was sunset on Holy Saturday, but at Mass this past Sunday the pastor said It ends on Wednesday of Holy Week. What - no fast or abstinence on Good Friday anymore? I’m totally confused. I also have a liturgical calendar from the F.S.S.P (Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter) that has the rubrics for Lent, and it says noon on Holy Saturday.
 
We where told by the Deacon running our RCIA program and our parish Priest that Lent ends on Holy Thursday but Good Friday is still a day of Fast and Abstinence.
 
pickguard1 said:
Is there any official Church document that clears this up? I.E. Vatican stuff…not EWTN or something? I have the same question. I grew up believing it was sunset on Holy Saturday, but at Mass this past Sunday the pastor said It ends on Wednesday of Holy Week. What - no fast or abstinence on Good Friday anymore? I’m totally confused. I also have a liturgical calendar from the F.S.S.P (Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter) that has the rubrics for Lent, and it says noon on Holy Saturday.
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General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar (February 14, 1969) – Look it up anywhere you like, the Vatican if you can find it. One such (non-Vatican) site is here.

Of note (among others) to this question are:
28. Lent runs from Ash Wednesday until the Mass of the Lord’s Supper exclusive.
  1. On Good Friday and, if possible, also on Holy Saturday until the Easter Vigil, the Easter fast is observed everywhere.
tee
 
Thanks tee. Do you know if prior to 1969 the norms for Lent were different? Maybe that’s what is causing the confusion…?
 
Our 2010 Holy Week schedule is clear enough:

**The customary fast for Holy Communion remains unchanged.

The Lenten Fast does not end until after the Easter Vigil Mass.

Holy Saturday is a day of complete Abstinence and Fast according to the Rites of Holy Week.**

Our Easter Vigil Mass begins sharp at 0000hrs on Easter Sunday.

'nuf said.

:cool:
 
tee_eff_em said:
LENT FIGHT! :slapfight:

See the articles under “DURATION” – Lent is approximately 40 days long.
PS: The correct answer to the OP may also be found there: Lent runs from Ash Wednesday until the Mass of the Lord’s Supper exclusive.

:tiphat:
tee
Click to expand...
Hi tee…

The link is broken. Why is lent “approximately” 40 days? I thought everybody knows that Lent is, in fact, 40 days.

For everybody else, all I did was count the days (not including the Sundays, for obvious reasons) and got the number 40…Just like Lent is supposed to be. If Lend ends on Holy Thursday, wouldn’t that mean Lent is less than 40 days? Aren’t the 40 days symbolic of several things???
 
Lent ends on Holy Thursday, positively according to my 80 year old conservative mother
 
Abenadar said:
Hi tee…

The link is broken. Why is lent “approximately” 40 days? I thought everybody knows that Lent is, in fact, 40 days.

For everybody else, all I did was count the days (not including the Sundays, for obvious reasons) and got the number 40…Just like Lent is supposed to be. If Lend ends on Holy Thursday, wouldn’t that mean Lent is less than 40 days? Aren’t the 40 days symbolic of several things???
Click to expand...
:imsorry: *Mea culpa *-- Corrected link:

LENT FIGHT! :slapfight:

tee
 
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