Quadragesima is a church name for the first Sunday in Lent — the Sunday that begins the long wait and fast before Easter. The Latin behind it means “the fortieth.” Church people counted about forty days from Ash Wednesday to Easter. They counted in an old way (both ends of the count sat inside the number), and they did not count Sundays as fast days. In older books, Quadragesima can also mean the whole season of Lent, not only that Sunday. In English now you almost never hear it on the street. Church notices and old writing still use it. Most people just say “the first Sunday of Lent.”

四旬期第一主日（天主教用語；基督新教多說大齋期／預苦期）