Mothering Sunday

Psalmus: Laetatus sum in his quae dicta sunt mihi: in domum Domini ibimus.Commentators of the period associate this with the personification of the Church as the Bride of Christ or with the Virgin Mary.

[8] The Epistle reading for the day is Galatians 4:21–31, Paul the Apostle's analysis of the story of Hagar and Sarah, speaking of 'Jerusalem … which is the mother of us all.'

During the 16th century, Christians continued to return to their local mother churches for a service held on Laetare Sunday.

[12] Anyone who did this was commonly said to have gone 'mothering', a term recorded by 1644:[13] Every Midlent Sunday is a great day at Worcester, when all the children and godchildren meet at the head and cheife of the family and have a feast.

[4] This book has a series of four chapters outlining the different aspects of motherhood that the day should honour beyond a strictly biological one: By the 1950s, the occasion was celebrated across the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries.

[3] In modern Britain, 'Mother's Day' has become another term for Mothering Sunday in commercial contexts due to American influence, but it continues to be held during Lent.

[15] The holiday has also gained secular observance in Britain as a celebration of motherhood, following the American tradition, rather than its original religious meaning.