When does Lent officially over?

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TheRoyalPain

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I’ve heard things all over the place, but when does Lent officially end? I’ve read today is the final day, tomorrow at 7pm etc…
 
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Triduum isn’t part of the 40 Days of Lent, but they’re a sacred set of days that happen between the end of the Lent and the beginning of Easter.
The summit of the Liturgical Year is the Easter Triduum—from the evening of Holy Thursday to the evening of Easter Sunday. Though chronologically three days, they are liturgically one day unfolding for us the unity of Christ’s Paschal Mystery.

The single celebration of the Triduum marks the end of the Lenten season, and leads to the Mass of the Resurrection of the Lord at the Easter Vigil.

The liturgical services that take place during the Triduum are:
  • Mass of the Lord’s Supper
  • Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion
  • Mass of the Resurrection of the Lord
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So I would think Lent ends before the Holy Thursday service begins.

But at the same time, I see people are pointing out that you can’t get to 40 days if you don’t count Triduum? So digging a little more, I see–
One could make the argument, therefore, that Lent ends with the celebration of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, the beginning of the Triduum; however, one would also be left with a less than 40-day Lent, which contradicts long-standing tradition.

So where does that leave us? Perhaps, here is where tradition carries the greatest weight. As stated above, the Second Vatican Council reminded us to keep the paschal fast throughout Lent until the Easter Vigil, the first Mass of Easter. Nevertheless, we must also celebrate the Triduum really as one saving event which allows us to live in the ever-present reality of our Lord’s Last Supper, Ppassion, death and Resurrection. The Triduum is an even more intensive time of preparation for Easter and brings Lent to its climax.
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Lent ends today, Holy Thursday, before the beginning of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. The Church doesn’t specify an exact time, but there are historical reasons for believing it may be a carryover from the Jewish calendar, in which each day begins and ends at sunset, instead of midnight. Thus when Jesus and the Twelve gathered for the Last Supper, the Jewish Friday was just beginning.
 
This is correct. The reason we dont get to 40 days of fasting (only 37 before Holy Thursday) in the 43 physical days from ash Wednesday to the start of Holy Thursday is because Sundays aren’t necessary to fast as they are feast days. Most do choose to continue the fast on Sundays of lent, though they are not obligatory. Lent ends on Holy Thursday and the triidum begins. The triidum is part of fasting as a solemn time of reflecting on Jesus’s sacrifice for us and on the lent we have observed. With the triidum of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday observed as fasting we get to the 40 days of fasting in remembrance of Jesus’s fasting.
 
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For Catholics of the Latin (Roman) Rite, the liturgical season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and continues until the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy (Maundy) Thursday, exclusive. That is, the Sacred Triduum begins with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, so Lent has already ended then.

The time of penitential practices associated with the season of Lent traditionally continues through Holy Saturday. For instance, Good Friday is a day of fast and abstinence. That does not mean that Lent continues through Holy Saturday.
 
The Triduum is not part of lent on the Church’s liturgical calendar.

The season of lent ends as the Triduum begins. Easter, then becomes a new season in the Church.
 
Fr. Zuhlsdorf on his blog here says Spy Wednesday’s collect was the last collect of Lent. That suggests either yesterday (Spy Wednesday) was the last day of Lent. If not it will end this afternoon (Maundy Thursday) before the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper.
 
Hoosier-Daddy said:
The Triduum is not part of lent on the Church’s liturgical calendar.

The season of lent ends as the Triduum begins. Easter, then becomes a new season in the Church.
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True, but this concept of the Triduum as a separate season came about with the 1970 Missal. Previously there was no mention of such in the Roman Missal.
 
OldCAFMember said:
True, but this concept of the Triduum as a separate season came about with the 1970 Missal. Previously there was no mention of such in the Roman Missal.
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I think you are correct in that the official Missale Romanum did not make this distinction. However, I have a copy of The Layman’s Missal, Prayer Book & Ritual, published by Helicon Press, Baltimore, Maryland, in 1962, with imprimatur by Archbishop Francis Grimshaw of Birmingham, England, dated 16 August 1961. In this missal, the liturgies from the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday through the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday are headed “The Paschal Triduum”. In the Table of Contents, these days are listed as “Maundy Thursday to Easter Eve” immediately after the section listed as “Lent” and immediately before the section listed as “Paschaltime” (beginning, of course, on Easter Sunday). Therefore, the idea of the Triduum being its own season pre-dates the 1970 missal and, indeed, pre-dates Vatican II.
 
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