This Sunday has many names. The first is Dominica in Albis, meaning Sunday in white, because the newly baptized wore their white garments to Mass on this Sunday. This is also called Low Sunday. No one is quite sure where this name comes from, but it would seem that this Sunday of the Octave of Easter is “low” compared to the greatest feast of all, Easter. This is also called Quasimodo Sunday, from the opening words of the Introit of the Day: “As new born babes”. In Victor Hugh’s novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the protagonist is called Quasimodo, named by the priest that found him abandoned as a baby on the steps of Nôtre Dame in Paris.
The newest addition to names of this Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday, a name introduced by St. John Paul II because of his devotion to the writings of St. Faustina of Poland. Whatever name we give this Sunday, it marks the end of the Great Easter Octave. And for that we can only say: Alleluia!
Father Richard Gennaro Cipolla
