The Third Sunday of Easter is the day that occurs two weeks after the Christian celebration of

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

Western Christianity

In the historical Roman Rite of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, this day was officially known as the Second Sunday after Easter. It was also nicknamed Misericordia Sunday and Good Shepherd Sunday. The "Misericordia Sunday" designation was due to the incipit ("Misericórdia Dómini") of the

introit The Introit (from Latin: ''introitus'', "entrance") is part of the opening of the liturgy, liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations. In its most complete version, it consists of an antiphon, Psalms, psalm verse and ' ...

assigned to this day's liturgy. The full text of the introit in its original

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

was: "Misericórdia Dómini plena est terra, allelúia: verbo Dómini caeli firmáti sunt, allelúia, allelúia. Exsultáte, iusti, in Dómino: rectos decet collaudátio." This introit is based on verses 5, 6, and 1 of Psalm 33. This day was called "Good Shepherd Sunday" due to the Gospel reading traditionally assigned to it (). In the 1970 revision of the ''

Roman Missal The Roman Missal ( la, Missale Romanum) is the title of several missals used in the celebration of the Roman Rite. Along with other liturgical books of the Roman Rite, the Roman Missal contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of th ...

'', this day was designated the "Third Sunday of Easter." The "Misericórdia Dómini" introit for this Sunday was swapped with that of the following Sunday, and the "Good Shepherd" Gospel reading was likewise moved forward one week.

Local celebrations

On some local

liturgical calendar The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and whi ...

s (such as that of the

Capuchins Capuchin can refer to: *Order of Friars Minor Capuchin The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (; postnominal abbr. O.F.M. Cap.) is a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, one of Three " First Orders" that reformed from t ...

and that of the

Archdiocese of Seville The Archdiocese of Seville is part of the Catholic Church in Seville, Spain. The Diocese of Seville was founded in the 3rd century. It was raised to the level of an archdiocese in the 4th century. The current archbishop is José Ángel Saiz Men ...

), this Sunday was formerly known as the Feast of Our Lady, Mother of the Good Shepherd. (The Archdiocese of Seville now celebrates this feast as a memorial on the following Saturday.) In

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

and among the

Franciscans , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

, this Sunday was formerly celebrated as the Feast of the Holy Sepulchre.

Eastern Christianity

In the

Greek Orthodox Church The term Greek Orthodox Church ( Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also cal ...

, this day is called the Sunday of the

Myrrhbearers In Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition the Myrrhbearers (Greek: Μυροφόροι; Latin: ''Myrophorae''; Slavonic: Жены́-мѷроно́сицы; ro, mironosiţe) are the individuals mentioned in the New Testament who were directly inv ...

. Armenian Christianity celebrates on this day the dedication of the first Christian church on Mount Zion.

References

{{Liturgical year of the Catholic Church Christian Sunday observances Eastertide

Western Christianity

Local celebrations

Eastern Christianity

See also

References