Quasimodo
Quasimodo is one of the main characters of the 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Notre Dame de Paris in French) by French author Victor Hugo.
Quasimodo's physical deformities, which include his famous hump, invoke fear in others. The novel opens to a carnival, where Quasimodo's physical appearance is mistaken for a costume.
He was adopted as a baby by Claude Frollo and made to be the bell-ringer in the Cathedral. Deaf, blind, and barely able to speak, he falls in love with the young gypsy girl Esmeralda.
Many adaptations and movie versions of Hugo's novel have been made. Several actors have played Quasimodo including:
Quasimodo Sunday is, in the liturgical year, the first Sunday after Easter (also known as Low Sunday). The name is said to come from the opening line of the Latin, Quasi modo geniti infantes, rationale sine dolo lac concupiscite...), and also from the fact that the observance that day is "almost in the manner" of Easter. It was on this day that the character Quasimodo (above) was discovered abandoned on the steps of Nôtre Dame; hence his name.
