The Easter Octave

The "Alleluia" of Easter Sunday is not confined to one day - but, because our cries of jubilation continue, they are extended through 8 days - the Easter Octave.  What is this about?  Eight days of Sundays?  Where did and "octave" come from.  These are the questions I've tried to answer for you this week.

Origin of the "Octave"

 

The number 7 played a very important role in Jewish life.  Every seventh day is a sabbath; the seventh month is sacred; the seventh year is a sabbatical year.  The jubilee year was brought about by the number seven multiplied by seven; many Jewish feasts lasted seven days, the feast of Pentecost was seven times seven days after the Passover; the feast of the Tabernacles lasted seven days, the days of convocation numbered seven (Willis, "Worship of the Old Covenant", 190-1; "Dict. of the Bible", s.v. Feast and Fasts, I, 859). 

However, the octave day, without having the symbolic importance of the seventh day, also had its role.  The eighth day was the day of circumcision (Genesis 21:4; Leviticus 12:3; Luke 1:59; Acts 7:8 etc.).  The feast of Tabernacles, which lasted seven days, was followed on the eighth by a solemnity which may be considered as an octave (Leviticus 23:36, 39; Numbers 29:35; Nehemiah 8:18); the eighth day was the day of certain sacrifices (Leviticus 14:10, 23; 15:14, 29; Numbers 6:10). It was on the eighth day, too, that the feast of the dedication of the Temple under Solomon, and of its purifications under Ezechias concluded (2 Chronicles 7:9; 29:17).  Many speculate that the custom of celebrating the octave of feasts dates back to the days of the Apostles themselves, although there is no solid evidence to support this speculation.  At first the Christian feasts had no octaves.  Sunday, which may in a sense be considered the first Christian feast, falls on the seventh day; the feasts of Easter and Pentecost, which are, with Sunday the most ancient, form as it were only a single feast of fifty days.  The feast of Christmas, which too is very old, originally had no octave attached to it.  However in the fourth century, when the idea of the fifty days' feast of the paschal time began to grow dim, Easter and Pentecost were given octaves.  Possibly at first this was only a baptismal custom, the neophytes (those newly baptized at the Easter Vigil) remaining in a kind of joyful retreat from Easter or Pentecost till the following Sunday (and thus the origin of "White Sunday" which we will celebrate next weekend during the 10:45am Mass when the neophytes leave their albs at the altar at the conclusion of the Mass).   The octave seems then to have developed of its own accord.  

The first octave mentioned in liturgical history is that of the the dedication of the Churches of Tyre and Jerusalem, under the Emperor Constantine (the Roman emperor whose conversion to the Catholic faith made Christianity legal in the Empire - after years of persecution) in the 300's, and these solemnities, in imitation of the dedication of the Jewish Temple, lasted eight days (Eusebius, "De vita Constant"., III, xxx sq.; Sozomen, Church History).  This feast may possibly have influenced the adoption of the octave by the Christians.  From the fourth century onwards the celebration of octaves is mentioned in liturgical history much more frequently.  II.26

Celebration of octaves in ancient and modern times

The liturgy of the octave assumed its present form slowly.  In the first period, that is from the fourth to the sixth and even seventh century, little thought seems to have been given to varying the liturgical formulæ during the eight days.  Early liturgical books simply mention that on the octave day the prayers of the feast is repeated.  The dies octava is indeed made more prominent by the liturgy.  The Sunday following Easter (i.e. Sunday in albis) and the octave day of Christmas (now the feast of Mary, Mother of God on January 1) are treated very early as feast days by the liturgy.  Certain octaves were considered as privileged days, on which work was forbidden - even the civil courts and theaters were closed on these days.  After Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas had received their octaves, the tendency was to have an octave for all the solemn feasts of the Church year. 

The Greeks (or Eastern Churches) also admitted the celebration of octaves into their liturgy.  Although having the same origin as the Latin octave, their octave celebration differs in it occurs sometimes on the eighth, and sometimes on the fifth, the fourth, or the ninth day.  

The Easter Octave in Particular 

The Octave of Easter is really 8-days of Sundays.  Every day we have a different account of the resurrection from each of the Gospel writers.  These various readings encourage us to constantly reflect on, as we've been asking, what Christ has done for us.  We also see how different people responded to the Lord's resurrection, and the different places and people to whom He appeared.  Each day we sing the Gloria, the Sequence before the Gospel, speaking of "this Easter day" in the preface of the Mass and beginning and ending Mass with an Easter Song.  Also this week we begin praying (and I hope soon, singing) the Regina Caeli (the "Queen of Heaven") rather than the Angelus prayer just prior to Mass.

The week ends, as I mentioned, with what was formerly called "white Sunday" - now, following it's institution by Pope John Paul II, Divine Mercy Sunday.  This year, it will also be the day on which John Paul will be Beatified by Pope Benedict XVI.  There will be lots more about JP II's beatification on this blog in the days to come.  Until then - enjoy this week of Easter Sunday!

 

HAPPY EASTER!!!