Religion: Laetare Sunday

To good Roman Catholics, Lent means 40 days of fast, abstinence, prayer, penitential works. Three Sundays before it begins, all churches are draped with mourning purple in memory of Christ's Passion. A change occurs on Laetare ("Rejoice") or Rose Sunday, when the Church bids her faithful for a day to look beyond the sorrows of Lent to the rejoicings of the coming Easter and when rose vestments and draperies are substituted for purple. To Pope Pius XI in Vatican City, Laetare Sunday last week was especially a day for rejoicing. With use...

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