The word Lent is used in English in lieu of the Latin quadragesima, which refers to the 40 days leading up to the celebration of Our Lord's Resurrection.
The general rule is that there are to be no altar flowers during Lent. Exceptions are made for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday, as well as solemnities and certain feasts. (General Instruction of the Roman Missal section 305.) The solemnities are the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary on March 19 and the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord (March 25).
The reason for the rule, of course, is that Lent is a penitential season of fasting and penance. The return of flowers on Easter helps express the joy of the resurrection.
Liturgically, Lent ends just before the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday, which is when the Easter Triduum begins. It is both customary and entirely appropriate to decorate the Altar of Repose with flowers. It is also appropriate to decorate the altar for Holy Thursday Mass because that Mass celebrates the institution of the Eucharist and of the Priesthood. But of course the main altar is stripped after Holy Thursday Mass, and there are no altar flowers on Good Friday.
2 comments:
I happened to visit a site today that featured dried flowers for Lent. Please do not do this. When the Church says no flowers during Lent it means no flowers -- not even dead ones.
Our chruch fills the sanctuary with the branches of what seems to be an entire willow tree. These have to be removed laboriously before every Latin Mass.
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