Do people who sing the Twelve Days of Christmas carol notice there aren’t twelve days of Christmas most years? And what happened with the Forty Days of Christmas?
Fascinating, Roseanne - those periodic calendar changes over time really do produce some challenges. I'd be so interested to hear your thoughts on Lenten calculations/Passiontide/etc!
Ending Christmastide on Candlemas really makes so much sense. Epiphany falls right into the Christmas cycle, and with Candlemas, spring starts to emerge...it feels like the closing of a chapter and the opening of a new one.
Thanks Kristin! I appreciate your appreciation. I don't have any thoughts about Lent and Passiontide that are compelling enough for me to post about them though. Well one thought is that the end of the Christmas season means Septuagesima Season, the lost three weeks to prepare for Lent cannot be far behind. I might have written about that, I'll have to check. Now you've gotten me thinking . . ..
Thank you for this post! I was researching this exact topic for my recent post, so I'm glad to know more about the history of it in the Catholic Church. The Orthodox Church (and Eastern Rite Catholic churches) still celebrate as you explain was historically done.
From DEsquerra via email: I will read all of this as I have the time now and it will refresh my memory. Which the Good Lord knows needs refreshing. (Laughter.)
It reminds me of when I was working at Weller Public School in Milpitas, and it was my turn to take treats for the teachers' lunchroom. It was after Easter Day but during Eastertime, so I took a few fresh Easter eggs and some leftover Easter candy among other appetizers. One coworker who was not a teacher or aide, not knowing I was the one who brought them, said to me, "Who brought Easter Eggs? Easter is over!" It gave me the opportunity to explain to him that many Christians celebrate Easter as a season and not all Christians celebrate it on the exact same date.
The Christmas season was already screwed up well before Vatican II and the 1960 calendar is no savior. There were Octaves of Saint Stephen, Saint John, and the Holy Innocents that were all prayed along with the Christmas Octave and the Octave Days themselves of each of these saints Jan 2, 3, and 4 wonderfully bridged the gap between the Octave of Christmas and the Vigil of the Epiphany. This was greatly diminished by Pius X after Divino Afflatu and finally eliminated by Pius XII in 1955. You see it didn't start with Vatican II.
I appreciate your observation. I keep finding more and more aspects of the calendar that were changed by popes before Vatican II. Yesterday, I found the Octave of St. Stephen was celebrated on that date in the Tridentine liturgical year, but the octave was dropped by 1910. I hadn't even heard of the other octaves you mention.
I go to the 1962 mass but pray the Office from a 1917 breviary which means I get the best of both. Personally I think the church should go back to the pre 1955 calendar as it has a balance to it which all others lack. Only this year did I appreciate that Epiphany once covered not only the magi but also the baptism of Jesus and the miracle of Cana.
Last night I was reflecting that the old calendar has a continuity which the modern lacks, in that you run through Christ's life in chronological sequence, beginning with the longing of advent, then you welcome Jesus into the world and live his life with him through Christmastide, septuagesima and Lent. You experience his death and resurrection, followed by learning about the new way of life with the apostles and then enter the post Pentecost time in which we follow them spreading the new life. There is no "ordinary time" here, all revolves around Jesus' life, which we replicate each year. On another level is the pre- Christian period, the life of Jesus and the Christian age we now live in. Multiple levels of meaning which the modern calendar has thrown out.
Your devotion is admirable, praying the Office from the 1917 breviary. I don't share your opinion because I never compared the pre 1955 calendar to the the 1962 one allowed by the Church. I love this "There is no 'ordinary time' here."
Fascinating, Roseanne - those periodic calendar changes over time really do produce some challenges. I'd be so interested to hear your thoughts on Lenten calculations/Passiontide/etc!
Ending Christmastide on Candlemas really makes so much sense. Epiphany falls right into the Christmas cycle, and with Candlemas, spring starts to emerge...it feels like the closing of a chapter and the opening of a new one.
Thanks Kristin! I appreciate your appreciation. I don't have any thoughts about Lent and Passiontide that are compelling enough for me to post about them though. Well one thought is that the end of the Christmas season means Septuagesima Season, the lost three weeks to prepare for Lent cannot be far behind. I might have written about that, I'll have to check. Now you've gotten me thinking . . ..
Thank you for this post! I was researching this exact topic for my recent post, so I'm glad to know more about the history of it in the Catholic Church. The Orthodox Church (and Eastern Rite Catholic churches) still celebrate as you explain was historically done.
Thanks for your comment. It's a fascinating topic.
From DEsquerra via email: I will read all of this as I have the time now and it will refresh my memory. Which the Good Lord knows needs refreshing. (Laughter.)
It reminds me of when I was working at Weller Public School in Milpitas, and it was my turn to take treats for the teachers' lunchroom. It was after Easter Day but during Eastertime, so I took a few fresh Easter eggs and some leftover Easter candy among other appetizers. One coworker who was not a teacher or aide, not knowing I was the one who brought them, said to me, "Who brought Easter Eggs? Easter is over!" It gave me the opportunity to explain to him that many Christians celebrate Easter as a season and not all Christians celebrate it on the exact same date.
The Christmas season was already screwed up well before Vatican II and the 1960 calendar is no savior. There were Octaves of Saint Stephen, Saint John, and the Holy Innocents that were all prayed along with the Christmas Octave and the Octave Days themselves of each of these saints Jan 2, 3, and 4 wonderfully bridged the gap between the Octave of Christmas and the Vigil of the Epiphany. This was greatly diminished by Pius X after Divino Afflatu and finally eliminated by Pius XII in 1955. You see it didn't start with Vatican II.
I appreciate your observation. I keep finding more and more aspects of the calendar that were changed by popes before Vatican II. Yesterday, I found the Octave of St. Stephen was celebrated on that date in the Tridentine liturgical year, but the octave was dropped by 1910. I hadn't even heard of the other octaves you mention.
Yes all three of the octaves existed together until the changes made in 1911.
I go to the 1962 mass but pray the Office from a 1917 breviary which means I get the best of both. Personally I think the church should go back to the pre 1955 calendar as it has a balance to it which all others lack. Only this year did I appreciate that Epiphany once covered not only the magi but also the baptism of Jesus and the miracle of Cana.
Last night I was reflecting that the old calendar has a continuity which the modern lacks, in that you run through Christ's life in chronological sequence, beginning with the longing of advent, then you welcome Jesus into the world and live his life with him through Christmastide, septuagesima and Lent. You experience his death and resurrection, followed by learning about the new way of life with the apostles and then enter the post Pentecost time in which we follow them spreading the new life. There is no "ordinary time" here, all revolves around Jesus' life, which we replicate each year. On another level is the pre- Christian period, the life of Jesus and the Christian age we now live in. Multiple levels of meaning which the modern calendar has thrown out.
Your devotion is admirable, praying the Office from the 1917 breviary. I don't share your opinion because I never compared the pre 1955 calendar to the the 1962 one allowed by the Church. I love this "There is no 'ordinary time' here."