Lætare Sunday

by Rev. Benny Kottarathil Antoney, OSB  |  03/15/2026  |  From the Clergy

This Sunday is traditionally called Lætare Sunday. The mournful and penitential character of Lent is slightly interrupted. Today’s chants speak of joy and consolation. In olden times the organ was silent for the past three weeks, but on this day the organ is played again. The liturgical color changes from purple to rose. 

Starting from the fourth century, there was a Lenten tradition in Rome, where the faithful would gather on designated churches (known as the “station churches”) to celebrate the Holy Eucharist either with the Holy Father or with his delegate. It emphasized the unity of the Christian community of Rome during penitential seasons. 

For Lætare Sunday, the Station was the Basilica of the Holy Cross (Basilica di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme). It was built in the fourth century, by the emperor Constantine. Saint Helen had a great quantity of earth from Mount Calvary brought in. Her intention was to make it the ‘Jerusalem of Rome’; so the name. She enriched it with the instruments of the Passion: we have here the fragment of the true Cross, the inscription of the Cross, a thorn from the Crown of Thorns, one of the three Nails, part of the cross of the Good Thief, and the finger of Saint Thomas.

Up to the fourteenth century, the ceremony of the golden rose took place in this church. The blessing of the golden rose is one of the ceremonies peculiar to the Fourth Sunday of Lent. The rose is symbolic also of the spring of Easter that is awaiting us. The prayer of blessing the rose highlights this anticipated joy of Easter. If the penitential practice of Lent weighs us down, Lætare Sunday gives us great encouragement for the days ahead. We are reminded today that Lent is not a season of sadness, rather a time of joy because during this season we walk side-by-side with Jesus – carrying our daily crosses.

[For more, consult Abbot Prosper Guéranger’s classic titled L’Année Liturgique, vol. V. It has an English translation (The Liturgical Year) realized by Dom Laurence Shepherd, a monk of Stanbrook Abbey].

- Rev. Benny Kottarathil Antoney, OSB