Septuagesima, Sexagesima, Quinquagesima. There being exactly fifty days between the Sunday next before Lent and Easter Day, inclusive, that Sunday was termed Quinquagesima, i. e., the fiftieth; and the two immediately preceding Sundays were called from the next round numbers Sexagesima, the sixtieth; and Septuagesima, the seventieth. The Paschal Season extends from Septuagesima Sunday to Low Sunday, a period of seventy days. It takes its name from the Paschal festival or Easter, whose services end with Low Sunday, the octave, or eighth day, of Easter. It begins with Septuagesima Sunday because the church services then begin to prepare the minds of the faithful for the services of Lent, which are themselves the preparation for Easter. May not Septuagesima Sunday be so called because there are just seventy days in the Paschal Season? Shrove-tide literally means confession-time, and is the name given to the days immediately preceding Ash Wednesday. These days were so called because on them, and especially on the last of them (Shrove Tuesday) people were accustomed to confess their sins as a preparation for Lent. In most Roman Catholic countries it begins with Quinquagesima Sunday, the Sunday before Lent. Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, (Latin _dies cinerum_, the day of Ashes), was so called because it was customary on that day for penitents to appear in sackcloth, upon which occasion ashes were sprinkled upon them. _d_--Lent, (Anglo-Saxon _lengten_. Perhaps from _lenegan_, to lengthen, because at this season the days lengthen) the forty days fast, is the preparation for Easter, and is observed in commemoration of our Lord's fast in the wilderness. In most languages the name given to this fast signifies the number of days--forty; but our word Lent signifies the Spring Fast, for Lenten-tide in the Anglo-Saxon language was the Season of Spring, in German, Lenz. The six Sundays in the Lenten-tide of forty-six days are not counted in the fast, as all Sundays in the year are reckoned as feast days, because our Saviour arose from the dead on the first day of the week. Quadragesima Sunday, the first Sunday in Lent, is so called by analogy with the three Sundays which precede Lent, and which (as has already been stated) are called respectively Septuagesima, seventieth; Sexagesima, sixtieth; Quinquagesima, fiftieth; and then Quadragesima, fortieth; in round numbers forty days before Easter. Holy Week, the last week in Lent, called also Passion Week, because within it is commemorated our Lord's sufferings. The days specially solemnized are Palm Sunday, Spy Wednesday, Holy, or Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday.