Septuagesima in the Book of Common Prayer
Septuagesima in the Book of Common Prayer refers to the first of the three historic pre-Lenten Sundays appointed in classical Anglican prayer books. The name, derived from the Latin word for "seventieth", does not mark an exact count of days before Easter but identifies a traditional season of preparation before Lent. In the Book of Common Prayer, Septuagesima stands at the threshold between the Epiphany cycle and the penitential discipline of Lent, giving Anglican worship a gradual movement toward Ash Wednesday rather than an abrupt transition.
Place in the church year
In the traditional Western calendar, Septuagesima Sunday is followed by Sexagesima and Quinquagesima, the three Sundays before the First Sunday in Lent. These titles were received into the English prayer book tradition from the medieval calendar and were retained in the principal editions of the Book of Common Prayer, including the 1549 and 1662 books.[1]
The season is often called pre-Lent or, in older usage, Shrovetide when attention turns especially to confession and preparation for Lent. Unlike Lent itself, Septuagesima is not presented in the Prayer Book as a period of formal fasting. Its liturgical function is more preparatory: it introduces themes of human frailty, divine grace, and disciplined Christian perseverance before the fuller penitential observances of Lent begin.
In parish use, the date of Septuagesima depends on the date of Easter. Because Easter is movable, Septuagesima also moves each year. It occurs nine Sundays before Easter and therefore normally falls in late January or February. In years with a long Epiphany season, it shortens the number of Sundays after Epiphany that are observed in the historic calendar.
Prayer Book propers
The classical Prayer Book appoints a proper collect, epistle, and gospel for Septuagesima. In the 1662 book, the epistle is drawn from Saint Paul's athletic imagery in 1 Corinthians, where the Christian life is compared to disciplined running and striving. The gospel is the parable of the labourers in the vineyard from Matthew 20, a passage that emphasizes the generosity of God and the dependence of all laborers on the master's gift.[2]
These readings give the day a distinctive theological character. The epistle stresses self-examination and perseverance, while the gospel resists any claim that divine mercy is earned by length of service or visible achievement. Together they prepare worshippers for Lent by joining moral seriousness to the doctrine of grace. This combination is characteristic of much Anglican liturgical theology: penitence is real, but it is framed by God's prior mercy rather than by spiritual self-reliance.
The collect for Septuagesima asks for God's merciful hearing and deliverance in the midst of deserved correction. Its tone is sober, but not despairing. It assumes that the church approaches God as a people in need of pardon, protection, and renewal. In this respect it anticipates the more explicit penitential language of Ash Wednesday and the Lenten collects.
Anglican interpretation and later use
Septuagesima has been especially important in Anglican traditions that preserve the older Prayer Book calendar. It gives the parish year a measured descent into Lent, allowing preaching, music, and catechesis to introduce penitential themes before the Lenten fast begins. In such settings, Septuagesima may affect hymnody and ceremonial even where the Prayer Book itself gives relatively restrained directions.
Some later Anglican calendars reduced or removed the pre-Lenten Sundays, extending the Sundays after Epiphany until the beginning of Lent. This change reflects a broader twentieth-century tendency in several churches to emphasize the Epiphany season as a continuous cycle and to reserve penitential emphasis for Lent itself.[3] The older nomenclature, however, remains familiar in Prayer Book Anglicanism, Anglo-Catholic usage, and communities shaped by the 1662 calendar.
Septuagesima is therefore more than an archaic calendar label. It represents a particular Anglican way of ordering spiritual preparation: gradual, scriptural, and corporate. By placing the themes of discipline and grace before the formal beginning of Lent, the Prayer Book invites the church to enter penitence with theological clarity and liturgical patience.
References
- ↑ The 1549 and 1662 editions of the Book of Common Prayer include proper collects, epistles, and gospels for Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima.
- ↑ The Book of Common Prayer (1662), "The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels to be used throughout the Year," Septuagesima Sunday.
- ↑ Modern Anglican prayer books vary in their treatment of the pre-Lenten Sundays; some retain the traditional names, while others use Sundays after Epiphany until Ash Wednesday.