What were the last two weeks of Lent called prior to Vatican II?

Answer 1

In the Roman calendar in place in 1962, the last two weeks of lent were called (in English), "Passiontide". There were subtle changes in the liturgy during this time to denote the deepening Lenten observance of the passion and death of the Lord... for example, the psalm Iudica me at the foot of the altar was not said. Passiontide started on the second Sunday before Easter (the 5th Sunday in Lent-- the weekend after Laetare Sunday) and was labeled Dominica Prima Passionis (the first Sunday of the Passion). The following Sunday was simply Dominica II Passionis seu Palmis, or "the Second Sunday of the Passion or (Sunday) of Palms". On this day and through the week (Holy Week), the liturgy would become even more solemn with the distribution, blessing, and procession with palm branches on Sunday and the reading of the passions from the different gospels on Sunday and the other days of the week. In the present calendar, Passiontide is more or less equivalent to Holy Week, with little additional outward observance compared to the rest of Lent. Two seemingly vestigial practices are observed in the current liturgy. First, the prefaces of the Passion of the Lord may be used from the fifth week of Lent, on. Second, there is a small note after the Saturday Mass of the 4th week of Lent in the current missal which notes that the crucifix and statues may be covered in the Church, according to instructions from the Conference of Bishops. (I suppose that, based on these observances, one could argue that Passiontide continues to be observed in the last two weeks of Lent with its growing focus on the Passion and death of the Lord.)