Lent is the Liturgical season preceding the Easter Triduum.

By traditional reckoning, Easter falls on the first Sunday following the first full moon that occurs on or after the day of the ecclesiastical vernal equinox fixed as March 21. Following the formula decreed by the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD and later adjusted with the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1582, Easter can occur as early as March 22 or as late April 25. Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of Lent, never comes before February 4 or after March 10.

The Sundays during Lent are not counted in the forty days of the season, and hence it is more accurate to refer to the Sundays in Lent rather than the Sundays of Lent.

Images are veiled throughout the season. From Ash Wednesday on, everything is veiled in violet, save the Calvary at the High Altar and the Stations of the Cross; on Maundy Thursday, white veils replace the violet; and on Good Friday all is shrouded in black.

Flowers should not adorn the Altar or shrines in the church, except on Laetare Sunday and major solemnities.

The organ is played only to sustain singing, if at all, and voluntaries and postludes should be rigorously avoided.

The Gloria is not sung until Maundy Thursday, except on solemnities.

The Alleluia is not sung or said on any day whatsoever until the Easter Vigil, and even hymns containing the word "Alleluia" should not be sung during Lent. For the Gospel Acclamations the Tracts appointed in the Missal should be sung.

The Litany is sung in procession on the first and fifth Sundays in Lent. (see DWM 1061)

The Lent Prose (DWM 222) may be sung during the distribution of ashes on Ash Wednesday, in procession before the Introit, or elsewhere in the Mass on any of the Sundays in Lent.

Choral Matins is sung from the Chancel, thirty minutes before the principal Mass (11:15), on all the Sundays in Lent. (Note that the Te Deum is not sung at Matins during Lent.)

In this parish, the St. Joseph’s Altar with its Votive Mass occurs during Lent on the Saturday nearest March 19.

The weekdays of Lent have precedence over all memorials, both obligatory and optional.

The Stations of the Cross are traditionally prayed on the Friday evenings of Lent, together with Benediction and other Lenten devotions.