The most interesting aspect of Septuagesima Sunday, even more so than pancakes, is that on this day, the church “locked away” the word Alleluia, and it was not used in the liturgy again until Easter Sunday. This idea of “locking away a word” intrigued me, so I dived deeper into the history, etymology, and usage of the word “Alleluia.”
Every book-collector dreams of finding a rare first-edition jumbled in with tattered paperbacks and dusty old text books. Before we even opened this beautiful gift book, we knew it was special. It might not be worth thousands of dollars, but it is indeed a first edition. And the story we discovered is perhaps more valuable than the book itself.
When we found this $20 vellum leaf at an estate sale, we knew nothing about St. Agatha. But after bringing it home, removing it from the frame, and rather clumsily translating the verse by channeling Fr. Kelly, my high school Latin teacher, we made the connection to St. Agatha.
occulta thesauri 