The third Sunday of Advent, so called from
the first word of the Introit
at Mass (Gaudete, i.e. Rejoice). The season
of Advent originated
as a fast of forty days in preparation for Christmas, commencing on
the day after the feast of St. Martin (12 November), whence it was often called
"St. Martin's Lent"-- a name by which it was known as early as the
fifth century. The introduction of the Advent fast cannot be
placed much earlier, because there is no evidence of Christmas being kept on
25 December before the end of the fourth century (Duchesne, "Origines du
culte chrétien", Paris, 1889), and the preparation for the feast could not
have been of earlier date than the feast itself. In the ninth century, the
duration of Advent was
reduced to four weeks, the first allusion to the shortened season being in a
letter of St. Nicholas I
(858-867) to the Bulgarians,
and by the twelfth century the fast had been replaced by simple abstinence. St. Gregory the Great was
the first to draw up an Office for the Advent season, and the
Gregorian Sacramentary is the earliest to provide Masses for the Sundays of Advent. In both Office and Mass provision is made
for five Sundays, but
by the tenth century four was the usual number, though some churches of France observed five as
late as the thirteenth century. Notwithstanding all these modifications,
however, Advent still
preserved most of the characteristics of a penitential season which made it a
kind of counterpart to Lent,
the middle (or third) Sunday corresponding with Laetare or Mid-Lent Sunday. On
it, as on Laetare Sunday,
the organ and flowers,
forbidden during the rest of the season, were, permitted to be used;
rose-coloured vestments were allowed instead of purple (or black, as formerly);
the deacon and subdeacon
reassumed the dalmatic
and tunicle at the chief Mass, and cardinals wore
rose-colour instead of purple. All these distinguishing marks have continued in
use, and are the present discipline of the Latin Church.
Gaudete
Sunday, therefore, makes a breaker like Laetare Sunday, about
midway through a season which is otherwise of a penitential character, and
signifies the nearness of the Lord's coming. Of the "stations" kept
in Rome the four Sundays of Advent, that at the Vatican
basilica is assigned to Gaudete, as being the most important and imposing of
the four. In both Office
and Mass throughout Advent continual
reference is made to our Lord's second coming, and this is emphasized on the
third Sunday by the
additional signs of gladness
permitted on that day. Gaudete Sunday is further marked by a new Invitatory,
the Church no longer
inviting the faithful
to adore merely "The Lord who is to come", but calling upon them to
worship and hail with joy
"The Lord who is now nigh and close at hand". The Nocturn lessons from the
Prophecy of Isaias describe the Lord's coming and the blessings that will
result from it, and the antiphons
at Vespers re-echo the
prophetic promises. The joy
of expectation is emphasized by the constant Alleluias, which occur in
both Office and Mass throughout the entire
season. In the Mass, the Introit
"Gaudete in Domino semper" strikes the same note, and gives its name
to the day. The Epistle again incites us to rejoicing, and bids us prepare to
meet the coming Saviour with prayers and supplication
and thanksgiving, whilst the Gospel, the words of St. John Baptist, warns us
that the Lamb of God is even now in our midst, though we appear to know Him not. The spirit
of the Office and Liturgy all through Advent is one of
expectation and preparation for the Christmas feast as well
as for the second coming of Christ,
and the penitential exercises suitable to that spirit are thus on Gaudete
Sunday suspended, as were, for a while in order to symbolize that joy and gladness in the Promised
Redemption which should never be absent from the heart of the faithful.
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