Pre-Lent ~ Ash Wednesday ~ Porch of Lent ~ First Sunday of Lent
Though eliminated due to the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council, what was formerly known as Quinquagesima Sunday (or estomihi) was the designation given for the Sunday immediately before Ash Wednesday. The title is derived from Latin word quinquagesimus, meaning “fiftieth.” Traditionally, after that Sunday, the subsequent Tuesday would be called Shrove Tuesday and, this year, Lent will begin on February 14. The three days after Ash Wednesday can be considered the porch of Lent that lead up to the opening of the great door to Lent or Quadragesima Sunday — the First Sunday of Lent.
As a season made holy by self-denial, Lent is the Church’s major penitential period. What was once known as Saint Michael’s Lent or Michaelmas had been the penitential period that began on the Assumption of the BVM and extended to the feast of St. Michael the Archangel (September 29), during which St. Francis received the stigmata. So, the practice originated in the Franciscan tradition, though that penitential period is now seldom observed. The four penitential Ember Days—a successive set comprising the weekdays of Wednesday, Friday and Saturday were days of prayer and fasting that once sanctified the four seasons of the year: spring (after Ash Wednesday), summer (after Pentecost), fall (after the Exaltation of the Cross) and winter (after the feast of Saint Lucy), though, today, they tend to be ignored. Even the penitential character that once marked the eves of great feasts has long been forgotten, as well. Advent, the penitential season of expectation before Christmas, is too often a period for partying and self-indulgence and not sacrifice.
Lent, then, for all intents and purposes, is primarily the only annual, sustained attempt at penance that Catholics are likely to encounter. It is a tradition that formed after the canon of the Bible was established and is found as a liturgical practice in western Christianity starting around the eighth century of the Christian era. The placing of ashes on the head, however, is biblical and can be found in several places in the Bible as an act accompanying fasting, repentance, and sorrow for sins committed. For instance Israel is exhorted to put on sackcloth and ashes by the prophet Jeremiah, while Job makes this statement, “By hearsay I have heard of you, but now my eye has seen you. Therefore I disown what I have said and repent in dust and ashes..” (Job 42: 5-6). Ash Wednesday (Lat. Feria quarta cinerum) is a day of strict fast and abstinence from meat and it begins the season of fasting in preparation for Easter. This is the explanation as to why the tradition of imposing ashes on the foreheads of the faithful became a current liturgical practice. In other words, this symbolic participation in an ancient expression of repentance, makes Ash Wednesday the ideal way to begin Lent. The use of ashes and, at one time, the wearing of sackcloth came to outwardly represent an interior state of heart.
In the distant past, those practices were used when God’s people were seriously distressed and contrite of heart. Even the pagan Ninevites, after taking Jonah’s warning to heart and repented, called for a fast, which is a way of opening oneself to God, expressing grief and sorrow over sinfulness, and redirecting thoughts to God by making petitions that seek divine guidance and wisdom. As the people of Nineveh heeded the righteous declarations they heard from the prophet Jonah and, then, trusted the authenticity of that divine message, they called a fast. Moreover, in the ancient world, people who mourned usually girded themselves with sackcloth, a garment made from goat or camel hair. This garment was rough and uncomfortable. The wearing of sackcloth symbolized grief or despair. Jonah’s message not only touched the lives of the Ninevites but also reached even as high as the royal palace of that city. When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his sumptuous robes, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat on a pile of ashes.
The term ashes refers to the powdery residue left after burning a substance. Like fasting and wearing sackcloth, ashes are expressions of penitence and humility, implying an earnest desire to seek forgiveness — Remember you are dust and unto dust you shall return (Lat. Memento, homo, quia pulvis es et in pulverum reverteris).
Nature and dignity 