Sunday at the Beginning of Lent

The Ambrosian Rite has never recognized Ash Wednesday (this year on February 18), which is typical of the Roman Rite tradition. Instead, it has always begun this liturgical season with the first Vespers on the sixth Sunday before Easter, which Ambrosian liturgical books still refer to as the Sunday “at the beginning of Lent” (“in capite quadragesimæ”).

A comprehensive answer as to why there is this difference in calculation between the two Rites is certainly very complex. It seems clear, however, that the Milanese liturgy tends to follow, on the one hand, the tradition according to which fasting was not required on Saturdays and Sundays and, on the other hand, the more ancient and original calculation of Lent. It was in fact considered to be the period between the Sunday at the beginning of Lent and the vespers of Holy Thursday, when the Triduum of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of the Lord begins. The Ambrosian Lent is thus a period of forty days of penance, but not of strict fasting, in preparation for the celebrations of the solemn Easter Triduum.

Furthermore, for a long time, in Milan itself, the Rite of Imposition of Ashes was not celebrated in connection with Lent: for example, a provision from the time of St. Charles Borromeo, in 1583, prescribes that, in the Ambrosian Rite, ashes be imposed on the faithful on the first of the three days of penance (Triduans Litany) celebrated before Pentecost. According to a more recent tradition, this penitential rite was connected with the beginning of Lent, specifically on the first Monday, with the possibility of bringing it forward, for pastoral reasons, to Sunday, when the participation of the faithful is greater.

This year, in the Cathedral, the Rite of Imposition of Ashes will be performed during the 5:30 p.m. celebration on Sunday, February 22, presided over by Archbishop Mario Delpini, and at the end of all the celebrations on Monday, February 23 (Monday of the First Week of Lent).