The Passover

In his fifty-fifth tractate on John, preached at Hippo, Augustine, Father and Doctor of the Church, corrects the view that pascha is a Greek word meaning suffering: it is Hebrew, and means passover, from the people’s crossing. He notes a fitting accordance between the two languages. It bears on the literal sense by the meaning of the name.

Pascha (passover) is not, as some think, a Greek noun, but a Hebrew: and yet there occurs in this noun a very suitable kind of accordance in the two languages. For inasmuch as the Greek word paschein means to suffer, therefore pascha has been supposed to mean suffering, as if the noun derived its name from His passion: but in its own language, that is, in Hebrew, pascha means passover; because the pascha was then celebrated for the first time by God’s people, when, in their flight from Egypt, they passed over the Red Sea.

In the Catena Aurea on Luke, Bede explains the day of unleavened bread of the Passover as the fourteenth day of the first month, on which, the leaven having been put away, the lamb was kept toward evening. It bears on the literal sense by the date of the rite.

By the day of unleavened bread of the Passover, He means the fourteenth day of the first month, the day on which, having put away the leaven, they were accustomed to hold the Passover, that is, the lamb, towards evening.

In the Catena Aurea on Luke, Bede, Doctor of the Church, says the Hebrew Phase is named not from the Passion but from the passing over, because the destroying angel, seeing the blood on the doors of the Israelites, passed over them and touched not their first-born. It bears on the literal sense by what the name recalls.

Now the Passover, which is called in Hebrew “Phase,” is not so named from the Passion, but from the passing over, because the destroying angel, seeing the blood on the doors of the Israelites, passed over them, and touched not their first-born. Or the Lord Himself, giving assistance to His people, walked over them.

In the Summa Theologica, I-II, q. 102, Aquinas gives the literal reason of the paschal banquet: to commemorate the blessing of being led out of Egypt, and to declare that the eaters belonged to the people God had taken to himself. He adds the sprinkled blood as a mark against the Egyptians’ worship of the ram. It bears on the literal sense.

The literal reason of the paschal banquet was to commemorate the blessing of being led by God out of Egypt. Hence by celebrating this banquet they declared that they belonged to that people which God had taken to Himself out of Egypt. For when they were delivered from Egypt, they were commanded to sprinkle the lamb's blood on the transoms of their house doors, as though declaring that they were averse to the rites of the Egyptians who worshipped the ram. Wherefore they were delivered by the sprinkling or rubbing of the blood of the lamb on the door-posts, from the danger of extermination which threatened the Egyptians.

In the Summa Theologica, I-II, q. 102, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church, explains the haste of the first meal by what was eaten: unleavened bread, since the Egyptians pressed them to depart, roast meat, which took less time, and no bone broken, for want of time. It bears on the literal sense.

Their haste was shown in two ways. First by what they ate. For they were commanded to eat unleavened bread, as a sign "that it could not be leavened, the Egyptians pressing them to depart"; and to eat roast meat, for this took less time to prepare; and that they should not break a bone thereof, because in their haste there was no time to break bones.

In the Summa Theologica, III, q. 74, Aquinas notes that the paschal solemnity began, as Exodus 12 prescribes, on the evening of the fourteenth day of the moon, and that Christ instituted the Eucharist after immolating the Paschal Lamb. He reconciles John’s reckoning with the other Evangelists’. It bears on the literal sense by the date of the Supper.

As we read in Ex. 12, the paschal solemnity began on the evening of the fourteenth day of the moon. So, then, after immolating the Paschal Lamb, Christ instituted this sacrament: hence this day is said by John to precede the day of the Pasch, while the other three Evangelists call it "the first day of the Azymes," when fermented bread was not found in the houses of the Jews, as stated above.

Challoner, in his annotations to the Douay-Rheims Bible, remarks that the Phase might be performed with a lamb or with a kid, the same rites and ceremonies being used with either. Richard Challoner was an eighteenth-century Catholic bishop. It bears on the literal sense by the details of the offering.

The phase might be performed, either with a lamb or with a kid: and all the same rites and ceremonies were to be used with the one as with the other.

Haydock’s Catholic Bible Commentary of 1811 annotates “evening” as the Hebrew “between the two evenings,” about two hours, belonging to the fourteenth of Nisan, when the lamb was sacrificed, though it was eaten in the night. It bears on the literal sense by the time of the rite.

Evening. Hebrew, "between the two evenings," or "suns," according to the Chaldee, alluding to the sun when it declines and when it sets, including about the space of two hours. This time belonged to the evening of the 14th [of Nisan], at which time the lamb was to be sacrificed, though it was to be eaten in the night, which pertained to the 15th.

Haydock’s Catholic Bible Commentary, following Calmet, explains Phase as the passing over of the destroying angel, who spared only the houses marked with blood, to insinuate the necessity of faith in Christ’s death, and rejects the derivation from the Greek for “to suffer.” It bears on the literal sense.

Phase, which the Chaldee writes Pascha, signifies the passing over (Calmet) of the destroying angel, when he spared those houses only which were marked with blood, to insinuate the necessity of faith in Christ's death. Some have derived the word from the Greek Pascho, "to suffer," on account of the similarity of sound. (Haydock)

Haydock’s Catholic Bible Commentary observes that “first-born” often denotes the most beloved, and, since Moses says every house had one dead, in houses with no child the dearest person was taken. It bears on the literal sense by who was struck.

First-born, often denotes the most beloved; or, when spoken of those under oppression, the most miserable. (Isaias xiv. 30; Psalm lxxxvii. 27.) Moses observes, (ver. 30,) that every house had one dead, which would not probably be true of the first-born, taken in a literal sense; but where there was no child, there the most dear and honourable person was cut off, Habacuc iii. 13, 14.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, on the signs of bread and wine, teaches that in the Exodus the unleavened bread of the Passover commemorates the haste of the departure that liberated Israel from Egypt, and the manna recalls that Israel lives by the bread of the Word of God. It bears on the literal sense by the meaning of the foods.

But they also received a new significance in the context of the Exodus: the unleavened bread that Israel eats every year at Passover commemorates the haste of the departure that liberated them from Egypt; the remembrance of the manna in the desert will always recall to Israel that it lives by the bread of the Word of God; their daily bread is the fruit of the promised land, the pledge of God's faithfulness to his promises.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that in the sense of Sacred Scripture the memorial is not merely recollection but the proclamation of God’s mighty works, which in the liturgy become in a certain way present and real. Israel so understands its liberation from Egypt at each Passover. It bears on the literal sense by what keeping the feast means.

In the sense of Sacred Scripture the memorial is not merely the recollection of past events but the proclamation of the mighty works wrought by God for men. In the liturgical celebration of these events, they become in a certain way present and real. This is how Israel understands its liberation from Egypt: every time Passover is celebrated, the Exodus events are made present to the memory of believers so that they may conform their lives to them.

In the post-synodal apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis (2007), on the Eucharist, Pope Benedict XVI notes that the Last Supper took place within the ritual meal commemorating Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, a remembrance of the past and at the same time a prophetic remembrance of a deliverance to come. It bears on the literal sense.

It took place within a ritual meal commemorating the foundational event of the people of Israel: their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. This ritual meal, which called for the sacrifice of lambs (cf. Ex 12:1-28, 43-51), was a remembrance of the past, but at the same time a prophetic remembrance, the proclamation of a deliverance yet to come.