Paschaltide and Eastertide

Easter celebrates Jesus’s resurrection, His victory of sin and death and salvation for mankind is a floating holiday that falls on the first Sunday following the first full moon on or after the spring equinox (March 21). Easter is preceded by the Sacred Paschal Triduum—Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil. The word “Easter” comes from Old English, meaning simply the “East.” The sun which rises in the East, bringing light, warmth, and hope, is a symbol for the Christian of the rising Christ, who is the true Light of the world. The Paschal Candle used during the Easter Vigil is a central symbol of this divine light, which is Christ.

Name in Traditional Liturgy: Tempus Paschale

Season Preceding Easter: Paschale Tridiuum

Commences: The first Sunday following the first ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or after the vernal (spring) equinox, fixed at March 21. Easter vigil is held after night falls on Holy Saturday, the evening before Easter Sunday.

Ends: Easter season officially ends on Pentecost Sunday, which is 50 days after Easter Sunday. 

The Catechism and Easter:

281 And so the readings of the Easter Vigil, the celebration of the new creation in Christ, begin with the creation account; likewise in the Byzantine liturgy, the account of creation always constitutes the first reading at the vigils of the great feasts of the Lord. According to ancient witnesses the instruction of catechumens for Baptism followed the same itinerary. 119

625 Christ’s stay in the tomb constitutes the real link between his passible state before Easter and his glorious and risen state today. The same person of the “Living One” can say, “I died, and behold I am alive for evermore”: 465

God [the Son] did not impede death from separating his soul from his body according to the necessary order of nature, but has reunited them to one another in the Resurrection, so that he himself might be, in his person, the meeting point for death and life, by arresting in himself the decomposition of nature produced by death and so becoming the source of reunion for the separated parts. 466

647 O truly blessed Night, sings the Exsultet of the Easter Vigil, which alone deserved to know the time and the hour when Christ rose from the realm of the dead! 512 But no one was an eyewitness to Christ’s Resurrection and no evangelist describes it. No one can say how it came about physically. Still less was its innermost essence, his passing over to another life, perceptible to the senses. Although the Resurrection was an historical event that could be verified by the sign of the empty tomb and by the reality of the apostles’ encounters with the risen Christ, still it remains at the very heart of the mystery of faith as something that transcends and surpasses history. This is why the risen Christ does not reveal himself to the world, but to his disciples, “to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.” 513

1095 For this reason the Church, especially during Advent and Lent and above all at the Easter Vigil, re-reads and re-lives the great events of salvation history in the “today” of her liturgy. But this also demands that catechesis help the faithful to open themselves to this spiritual understanding of the economy of salvation as the Church’s liturgy reveals it and enables us to live it.

1168 Beginning with the Easter Triduum as its source of light, the new age of the Resurrection fills the whole liturgical year with its brilliance. Gradually, on either side of this source, the year is transfigured by the liturgy. It really is a “year of the Lord’s favor.” 42 The economy of salvation is at work within the framework of time, but since its fulfillment in the Passover of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the culmination of history is anticipated “as a foretaste,” and the kingdom of God enters into our time.

1169 Therefore Easter is not simply one feast among others, but the “Feast of feasts,” the “Solemnity of solemnities,” just as the Eucharist is the “Sacrament of sacraments” (the Great Sacrament). St. Athanasius calls Easter “the Great Sunday” 43 and the Eastern Churches call Holy Week “the Great Week.” The mystery of the Resurrection, in which Christ crushed death, permeates with its powerful energy our old time, until all is subjected to him.

1170 At the Council of Nicaea in 325, all the Churches agreed that Easter, the Christian Passover, should be celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon (14 Nisan) after the vernal equinox. Because of different methods of calculating the 14th day of the month of Nisan, the date of Easter in the Western and Eastern Churches is not always the same. For this reason, the Churches are currently seeking an agreement in order once again to celebrate the day of the Lord’s Resurrection on a common date.

1217 In the liturgy of the Easter Vigil, during the blessing of the baptismal water, the Church solemnly commemorates the great events in salvation history that already prefigured the mystery of Baptism:

Father, you give us grace through sacramental signs

which tell us of the wonders of your unseen power. In Baptism we use your gift of water,

which you have made a rich symbol

of the grace you give us in this sacrament. 11

1238 The baptismal water is consecrated by a prayer of epiclesis (either at this moment or at the Easter Vigil). The Church asks God that through his Son the power of the Holy Spirit may be sent upon the water, so that those who will be baptized in it may be “born of water and the Spirit.” 40

1433 Since Easter, the Holy Spirit has proved “the world wrong about sin,” 29 i.e., proved that the world has not believed in him whom the Father has sent. But this same Spirit who brings sin to light is also the Consoler who gives the human heart grace for repentance and conversion. 30

The Octave of Easter 

The eight-day liturgical period in the Roman Catholic Church that prolongs the celebration of Jesus Christ’s resurrection from Easter Sunday through the Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday). During this time, the Gloria is sung or recited every day, white or gold vestments of Easter are worn, non penitential practices or fats are permitted. The six intermediate days (Easter Monday through Easter Saturday) are each celebrated liturgically as individual Solemnities of the Lord—ranking higher than normal solemnities or feast days.

Name in Traditional Liturgy: Octava Paschæ or Dominica in Albis in Octava Paschæ

Latin: Octava Paschæ means the “Octave of Easter,” referring to the full sequence of eight celebratory days. The final Sunday carries the traditional designation Dominica in Albis because it marks the day when newly baptized Christians (“neophytes”) traditionally laid aside the white baptismal garments they had worn continuously since the Easter Vigil.

Commences: Easter Sunday 

Ends: Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) 

Color: White (Gold Ascents) (Symbolizing joy, light, and the Resurrection) 

Mass: Additions such as The Gloria, The Easter Sequence (Victimæ paschali laudes), Double Alleluia at Dismissal, Proper Eucharistic Insertions (Special forms of Communicants: “In communion with those” and Hanc igitur, “Therefore, Lord, we pray”).

Of the Octave of Easter: Solemnities of the Lord, Divine Mercy Sunday

• Day 1: Easter Sunday (The Solemnity of the Resurrection of the Lord)

• Day 2: Monday within the Octave of Easter (Easter Monday)

• Day 3: Tuesday within the Octave of Easter

• Day 4: Wednesday within the Octave of Easter

• Day 5: Thursday within the Octave of Easter

• Day 6: Friday within the Octave of Easter

• Day 7: Saturday within the Octave of Easter

• Day 8: The Second Sunday of Easter / Divine Mercy Sunday (Concluding the Octave).

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Divine Mercy Sunday: In a series of revelations to St. Maria Faustina Kowalska in the 1930s, our Lord called for a special feast day to be celebrated on the Sunday after Easter. Today, we know that feast as Divine Mercy Sunday, named by Pope St. John Paul II at the canonization of St. Faustina on April 30, 2000. The Divine Mercy image depicts Jesus at the moment he appears to the disciples in the Upper Room, after the Resurrection, when he empowers them to forgive or retain sins. This moment is recorded in John 20:19-31, which is the Gospel reading for this Sunday in all three yearly Sunday liturgical cycles (A, B, and C). This reading is placed on this day because it includes the appearance of Jesus to the Apostle Thomas (in which Jesus invites him to touch his wounds). This event occurred on the eighth day after the Resurrection (John 20:26), and so it is used on the liturgy eight days after Easter.

Office: The Liturgy of the Hours repeats the complete prayers and psalms from Sunday Week I every single day for Morning Prayer (Lauds) and Evening Prayer (Vespers). The entire week is treated as one continuous, extended feast day (a “single great Sunday”), meaning the four-week psalter rotation is suspended. During the octave days, the standard short responsories for Lauds, Vespers, and Compline are often substituted with Psalm 118:24 (“This is the day the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it”).

The Octave of Easter and the Catechism: 

1169 Therefore Easter is not simply one feast among others, but the “Feast of feasts,” the “Solemnity of solemnities,” just as the Eucharist is the “Sacrament of sacraments” (the Great Sacrament). St. Athanasius calls Easter “the Great Sunday” 43 and the Eastern Churches call Holy Week “the Great Week.” The mystery of the Resurrection, in which Christ crushed death, permeates with its powerful energy our old time, until all is subjected to him.

The Easter Season (Eastertide, Paschaltide) 

Eastertide (or Paschaltide) is the longest liturgical season in the Catholic Church. The faithful spend 50 days rejoicing and celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus. The Sundays of this season rank as the paschal Sundays and, after Easter Sunday itself, are called the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Sundays of Easter. The period of fifty sacred days ends on Pentecost Sunday. The first eight days of the Easter Season make up the octave of Easter and are celebrated as solemnities of the Lord. The weekdays after the Ascension until the Saturday before Pentecost inclusive are a preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete. This sacred season of fifty days comes to an end on Pentecost Sunday, which commemorates the giving of the Holy Spirit to the apostles, the beginnings of the Church and its mission to every tongue and people and nation.

Commences: Commences with the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday Night

Ends: Pentecost Sunday (Spans 50 Days) 

Name in Traditional Liturgy: Tempus Paschale, Quinquagesima Paschalis, Quinquagesima laetitiae, Festa paschalia. 

Latin:

• Tempus Paschale: The literal liturgical term for the “Paschal Time” or Easter season spanning fifty days.

• Quinquagesima: Derived from the Latin word quinquagesimus, which means “fiftieth.”

• Paschalis: Derived from the Latin adjective paschalis, meaning “of Easter” or “relates to the Pasch (Passover/Easter)” (from pascha, Easter).

• Festa paschalia: Translates directly to “Easter festivals” or “Paschal feasts” in the Roman Catholic Church.

Color: White (or gold) is used for the majority of Eastertide, from Easter Sunday through the Saturday before Pentecost (symbolizes light, purity, joy, and the glory of Christ’s resurrection).  

Mass: The Double Alleluia: An extra “Alleluia” is added to the dismissal (Ite, missa est) and the response during the Octave of Easter and on Pentecost Sunday. Throughout the entire 50-day season, the Gospel acclamation features a prominent, repeated Alleluia.

The Sequence: A special poetic hymn or chant called the Sequence (Victimae paschali laudes) is sung or recited right before the Gospel acclamation on Easter Sunday and Pentecost. During the Liturgy of the Word, the first reading is taken from the Acts of the Apostles instead of the Old Testament, emphasizing the life of the early Church. 

Special Eucharistic Insertions: Specific references acknowledging the joy of the season (such as proper Communicantes prayers) are added within Eucharistic Prayer I (the Roman Canon) during the Easter Octave.

Of Eastertide: Easter Vigil, The Octave of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday

Office: During Eastertide (Paschaltide), the entire Liturgy of the Hours (the Divine Office) is marked by the joyful and frequent return of the Alleluia, which is added to antiphons, versicles, and responses. During the octave days, the standard short responsories for Lauds, Vespers, and Compline are often substituted with Psalm 118:24 (“This is the day the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it”).

Eastertide and the Catechism: 

1169 Therefore Easter is not simply one feast among others, but the “Feast of feasts,” the “Solemnity of solemnities,” just as the Eucharist is the “Sacrament of sacraments” (the Great Sacrament). St. Athanasius calls Easter “the Great Sunday” 43 and the Eastern Churches call Holy Week “the Great Week.” The mystery of the Resurrection, in which Christ crushed death, permeates with its powerful energy our old time, until all is subjected to him.

Canon Law and Easter

Can. 920 §1. After being initiated into the Most Holy Eucharist, each of the faithful is obliged to receive holy communion at least once a year.

Can. 920 §2. This precept must be fulfilled during the Easter season unless it is fulfilled for a just cause at another time during the year.

Can. 530 The following functions are especially entrusted to a pastor:

1/ the administration of baptism;

2/ the administration of the sacrament of confirmation to those who are in danger of death, according to the norm of  can. 883, n. 3;

3/ the administration of Viaticum and of the anointing of the sick, without prejudice to the prescript of can. 1003, §§2 and 3, and the imparting of the apostolic blessing;

4/ the assistance at marriages and the nuptial blessing;

5/ the performance of funeral rites;

6/ the blessing of the baptismal font at Easter time, the leading of processions outside the church, and solemn blessings outside the church;

7/ the more solemn eucharistic celebration on Sundays and holy days of obligation.

The Structure of Easter and Paschaltide 

The Octave of Easter 

Type of Liturgical Day: Solemnity (Sollemnitas)

Name in Traditional Liturgy: Octava Paschæ or Dominica in Albis in Octava Paschæ

Latin: Octava Paschæ means the “Octave of Easter,” referring to the full sequence of eight celebratory days. The final Sunday carries the traditional designation Dominica in Albis because it marks the day when newly baptized Christians (“neophytes”) traditionally laid aside the white baptismal garments they had worn continuously since the Easter Vigil.

Color: White (Gold Ascents) (Symbolizing joy, light, and the Resurrection)

Mass: Additions such as The Gloria, The Easter Sequence (Victimæ paschali laudes), Double Alleluia at Dismissal, Proper Eucharistic Insertions (Special forms of Communicants: “In communion with those” and Hanc igitur, “Therefore, Lord, we pray”).

Office: The Liturgy of the Hours repeats the complete prayers and psalms from Sunday Week I every single day for Morning Prayer (Lauds) and Evening Prayer (Vespers). The entire week is treated as one continuous, extended feast day (a “single great Sunday”), meaning the four-week psalter rotation is suspended. During the octave days, the standard short responsories for Lauds, Vespers, and Compline are often substituted with Psalm 118:24 (“This is the day the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it”).

Commences: Easter Sunday

Ends: Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday)

The Easter Season (Eastertide)

Name in Traditional Liturgy: Tempus Paschale, Quinquagesima Paschalis, Quinquagesima laetitiae, Festa paschalia. 

Latin: Tempus Paschale: The literal liturgical term for the “Paschal Time” or Easter season spanning fifty days.

Quinquagesima: Derived from the Latin word quinquagesimus, which means “fiftieth”.

Paschalis: Derived from the Latin adjective paschalis, meaning “of Easter” or “relates to the Pasch (Passover/Easter)” (from pascha, Easter).

Festa paschalia: Translates directly to “Easter festivals” or “Paschal feasts” in the Roman Catholic Church.

Color: White (or gold) is used for the majority of Eastertide, from Easter Sunday through the Saturday before Pentecost (symbolizes light, purity, joy, and the glory of Christ’s resurrection). 

Mass: The Double Alleluia: An extra “Alleluia” is added to the dismissal (Ite, missa est) and the response during the Octave of Easter and on Pentecost Sunday. Throughout the entire 50-day season, the Gospel acclamation features a prominent, repeated Alleluia.

The Sequence: A special poetic hymn or chant called the Sequence (Victimae paschali laudes) is sung or recited right before the Gospel acclamation on Easter Sunday and Pentecost. During the Liturgy of the Word, the first reading is taken from the Acts of the Apostles instead of the Old Testament, emphasizing the life of the early Church. 

Special Eucharistic Insertions: Specific references acknowledging the joy of the season (such as proper Communicantes prayers) are added within Eucharistic Prayer I (the Roman Canon) during the Easter Octave.

Office: The hymns, short readings, responsories, and closing prayers are completely distinct for the 50 days of Easter and are pulled exclusively from the Proper of Seasons volume.

Commences: Commences with the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday Night.

Ends: Pentecost Sunday (Spans 50 Days)

Liturgical Colors for the Octave of Easter

White (or gold): Used throughout all eight days of the octave—from Easter Sunday through the Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday)—to signify supreme joy, light, victory, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.