The Eighth Day of Easter
Quasimodogeniti is the historic name for the second Sunday of Easter. The name comes from the Latin text of the day’s historic introit, which begins with the phrase quasi modo geniti infantes (English: as newborn babes). The introit in turn is based on 1 Peter 2:2-3, which reads: “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
One of the most interesting features of Holy Week and the Easter season is that, for a brief moment, the Church’s calendar slows down to real time and follows the last days of our Lord’s earthly ministry day by day, even hour by hour. Thus, the Gospel lesson for Easter morning relates the story of the empty tomb, while the lesson for Easter Evening depicts Jesus’ time with the disciples on the road to Emmaus that evening.
Since Quasimodogeniti is the eighth day after Easter Sunday, then, the Gospel text takes up the resurrection story eight days after the women first saw the empty tomb. Specifically, the Gospel lesson tells the story of our Lord appearing to his disciples in the upper room. It is then that we hear the famous story of Jesus showing Doubting Thomas “his hands and his side,” in order to assure him that he was truly risen from the dead.
Grasping the significance of our Lord’s resurrection, Thomas gives the appropriate response to the presence of the crucified Lord: “My Lord and my God!” How blessed are we who have not seen and yet pray the same traditional response to our Lord’s presence in the bread and wine: “My Lord and my God!”
A Brief History
Quasimodogeniti is the last day of the “Octave of Easter,” an eight-day period of feasting beginning on Easter Sunday. In fact, many refer to Quasimodogeniti as “Low Sunday” because it immediately follows Easter, the “highest” of all “High Sundays.” This name is also related to the fact that it was the last day of festivities in the Octave of Easter.
Although an eight-day period of feasting is also celebrated following Christmas, Epiphany, and Pentecost, the Octave of Easter is considered to be the oldest and longest-practiced octave in the Church year. Even in ancient Rome, the entire week was considered to be sacred with no one—including the slaves—being able to engage in business or work activities.
There is also significance to the name “White Sunday,” as this Sunday is known in many European countries. This name is derived from the practice of newly baptized Christians wearing white garments during the Octave of Easter. Historically, new believers were baptized at the Easter Vigil, a service that took place on the Saturday evening before Easter Sunday. These Christians would then wear their white baptismal garments throughout the week-long celebration of Easter. After attending church on Quasimodogeniti Sunday, they would then return home and put on their ordinary dress, signifying the end of the Octave of Easter.
Due to the book’s place in popular culture, many know the name Quasimodo from the novel Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame), written in 1831 by the French poet, novelist, and playwright Victor Hugo. In this book, the archdeacon Claude Frollo finds a child abandoned on the steps of the famous Parisian cathedral on Quasimodogeniti Sunday. Subsequently, Frollo gives the child the name of the Sunday on which he found him.
Collect
Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God: that we who have celebrated the solemnities of the Lord’s resurrection, may, by the help of Thy grace, bring forth the fruits thereof in our life and conversation; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost: ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Lessons
Resources
Continue celebrating the full octave of Easter with the help of this traditional carrot cake recipe!
Issues, Etc. interview with the Rev. David Petersen on Quasimodogeneti
Propers found in Daily Divine Service Book: A Lutheran Daily Missal, edited by the Rev. Heath Curtis
References:
1. Weiser, Francis X. Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs: The Year of the Lord in Liturgy and Folklore. Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc. 1952.
2. Cowie, L.W. & John Selwyn Gummer. The Christian Calendar: A Complete Guide to the Seasons of the Christian Year Telling the Story of Christ and the Saints from Advent to Pentecost. G&C Merriam Company. 1974.
Images:
1. The Doubting Thomas from The Small Passion, Albrecht Dürer, Germany, 1510
2. The Doubting Thomas, Carl Heinrich Bloch, Denmark, 1882
3. Doubting Thomas, Caravaggio, Italy, ca. 1600
[…] week, or the Octave of Easter, begins on Easter Sunday and concludes on Quasimodogeniti one Sunday later. For the first eight centuries or so of the New Testament Church, […]