Quadragesima

Quadragesima (fortieth day) is a name sometimes applied to the Lenten season, or more properly to the first Sunday of Lent (q.v.). It is so called by analogy with the three Sundays which precede Lent, and which are called respectively Septuagesima, seventieth; Sexagesima, sixtieth; and Quinquagesima, fiftieth. The whole period of Quadragesima is in the Roman Catholic Church accounted as tempus clausum.