Quinquagesima Sunday

Quinquagesima Sunday is a semi-double of the second class and its liturgical colour is violet. The Gospel pericopes are taken from St. Luke and give the account of the giving of sight to the man born blind.

At Vespers yesterday afternoon the antiphons and psalms of Saturday were sung. The chapter was proper to Quinqugesima Sunday, Fratres: Si linguis hominum, and the Office hymn was Jam sol recedit igneus. The antiphon on the Magnificat and collect were proper to Quinquagesima Sunday. After the collect of the Sunday the Suffrage of the Saints was sung. At Compline the Dominical preces were sung.

At Mattins, as on the previous two Sundays, the antiphons and psalms are those used on Sundays throughout the year and the Office hymn is Primo die. In the first nocturn the lessons are again from Genesis and this Sunday concern the story of Abraham. In the second nocturn the lessons are from St. Ambrose on the Book on the Patriarch Abraham and in the third nocturn the lessons are a homily from St. Gregory on St. Luke's Gospel of the man blind from birth whose sight was restored by the LORD. The blind man is a figure of the human race according to St. Gregory. A ninth responsory, Caecus sedebat secus viam etc, is sung in place of the Te Deum.

At Lauds the 'second scheme' of psalms is sung: Pss. 50, 117, 62, Benedictus es and 148. The antiphons at Lauds are proper for Quinquagesima Sunday, Secundum multitudinem etc. The Office hymn is Aeterne. The antiphon at the Benedictus and the collect are proper to Quinquagesima. After the collect of the Sunday the Suffrage of the Saints is sung.

At all the Hours the antiphons and chapters are proper to Quinquagesima Sunday. The hymns are sung with the melody and Doxology of the Incarnation. At Prime the order of psalmody is that used when the second scheme of Lauds is sung, i.e. Pss. 92, 99 (displaced at Lauds) and Ps. 118i & 118ii. The versicle in the short responsory at Prime is Qui natus es. The Dominical preces are sung.

At Mass the Gloria is omitted, the second collect is A cunctis, the third collect is chosen by the Dean or rector of the place. A Tract is sung after the Gradual, the Credo is sung, the Preface is of the Blessed Trinity and Benedicamus Domino is sung as the dismissal by the deacon facing the altar.

At Vespers the antiphons and psalms are those used on Sundays, the chapter is proper to the Sunday as is the antiphon at the Magnificat. The Office hymn is Lucis creator. After the collect of the Sunday commemorations are sung of the following feast of St. Casimir and of St. Lucius followed by the Suffrage of the Saints. At Compline the Domincal preces are sung.

In the 'liturgical books of 1962' the Suffrage of the Saints has been abolished. The Dominical preces at Compline and Prime have been abolished. At Mattins there is but a single nocturn. At Prime Pss. 53, 118i & 118ii are sung, as on major feasts. At Mass there is a single collect and Benedicamus Domino is suppressed in favour of Ite, missa est. At Vespers there are no commemorations.

Art: Jerome Nadal