'Mothering Sunday': The Lenten connection to Mother's Day

While Mother's Day in the United States is celebrated each year in May, for the United Kingdom, Ireland and parts of the Commonwealth, Mother's Day, or "Mothering Sunday," is held during the Fourth Sunday of Lent. 

Mothering Sunday "is a day for people of all ages to thank their mothers for giving them life and love," Fr. Conor McDonough O.P., a Dominican friar based in St. Saviour's Priory, Dublin, told Fox News Digital. 

"Its origins are a combination of the liturgical and practical," he said, noting that "in the past, the season of Lent involved fasting from dairy, eggs, and other rich foodstuffs, which were consumed in great quantities on the threshold of the season." 

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In modern times, this pre-Lenten feast is known as "Mardi Gras" or "Pancake Tuesday," said McDonough. 

The Fourth Sunday of Lent brought with it a "relaxation in fasting," said McDonough.

It became a tradition over time in Ireland and the U.K. to make cakes on the Fourth Sunday of Lent, which became known as "Mothering Sunday," said Fr. Conor McDonough, O.P., a Dublin-based friar. (iStock)

On that Sunday, which was dubbed "Mid-Lent/Mi-Carême," people were permitted to use any leftover ingredients lest they become spoiled, he said. 

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"This custom became associated with various celebrations, often involving visits to neighbors or family. In Britain and Ireland, such visiting came to focus on parents, and mothers in particular," he said.

The holiday known as Mothering Sunday has its origins in Lent, said Fr. Conor McDonough, O.P., shown above at right. (iStock/Br. Sean Blackwell O.P.)

In the early 20th century in County Cork, Ireland, it became traditional for the married daughters of a family to return home with a "fancy cake," McDonough told Fox News Digital. 

"Another source from the same time, from Co. Kilkenny, mentions that servants and apprentices were given a holiday that day to visit their family homes, a practice known as ‘going a-mothering,'" he said. 

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The term "Mothering Sunday" also came to involve taking a visit to one's "mother church," the location where the person was baptized. 

The modern practice of "Mothering Sunday" was revived in the early 20th century, partly in response to the creation of Mother's Day in the United States. 

A woman named Constance Adelaide Smith of Nottingham, England published a book titled "The Revival of Mothering Sunday" in 1921. 

Constance Adelaide Smith stressed the importance of honoring the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, on "Mothering Sunday" as well.  (Andia/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

While not a mother herself, Smith sought to return a religious aspect to a day for respecting and honoring mothers, says the website for the British Library.

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The book had "chapters exploring various facets of mothering: ‘The Church – Our Mother’; ‘Mothers of Earthly Homes’; ‘The Mother of Jesus’; and ‘Gifts of Mother Earth,'" said the British Library.

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"Smith aimed to show that there was already an international tradition of honoring mothers of all types on the 4th Sunday in Lent, and this only needed to be strengthened through official recognition," said the same source. 

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