On 24 August I gave an account of the superiority of the rules in the pre-Pius XII liturgical books, which enabled a Double of the Second Class to supersede a Dominica post Pentecosten. Thereby those who are at Mass only on Sundays are exposed, something like every six years, to one of the Church's major festivals.
This year, as well as Doubles of the First Class (Ss Peter and Paul; Christ the King) and Second Class feasts of the Lord (Holy Cross; Dedication of the Lateran Basilica) which supersede Sundays even under the Novus Ordo, we have Ss Lawrence, Bartholomew, and Matthew (today) turning up on Sundays. And - in Oxford - S Frideswide, Double of the First Class, will occupy Sunday October 19. Annus vere aureus! This year's Sunday Letter is e.
I wonder if anyone has the leisure to find out whether this year is a record, or whether there are other Sunday Letters which, under the 1939 rubrics, are even more generous to the Sanctorale than is Year e?
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7 comments:
Especially since the Feast of the Presentation superseded the Sunday earlier this year then I don't think that there is!
Referring only to the liturgical books of 1962, this year, having dominical letter e, has the largest number of feasts falling on Sundays: Holy Name, Purification, SS Peter & Paul, Holy Cross, and Dedication of the Lateran. (I don't count Christus Rex since it is always celebrated on a Sunday, just as is the feast of the Most Holy Trinity.)
I recall reading that, just before St Pius X pruned the calendar or rather raised the ranking of ordinary Sundays, at the Lateran in 1911, not a single "green" Sunday occurred, as every one was replaced by a feast.
My former parish priest, ex-Anglican, now a bishop, remarked on how ridiculous it was that an ordinary Sunday nowadays outranks the feast of an Apostle. I used to look forward to Sacred Heart, which his parish celebrated on a Sunday, being the feast of title, since it marked the end of the festal half of the year, ere Boring Time took over.
Under the Regime of "1962" feasts of "2nd class" are not celebrated on Sundays except those of the Lord. This is extremely regrettable, moreover as several of had been days of Obligation for centuries and are still observed if falling on Sundays in "liturgically sensitive" Protestant congregations like some of the many Lutheran denominations. Bach even wrote wonderful cantatas for July 2nd.
However, even under the rules of 1962, feasts of 2nd class shall be commemorated (if not feast of the Lord which replace the Sunday entirely whithout commemoration of the Sunday) I wonder, in how many of your Services - as far as celebrated acc. to 1962 - this was observed yesterday. Unfortunately, our priest "forgot" it, as so often observed already in FSSPX-chapels. When I noticed this afterwards, the answer was: Oh, that might be, yes, eh, 2nd class feasts.. I should look into the Ordo tomorrow. He was clearly not aware at all, that the Sept. 21 is the feast of S. Matthew. This actually is a result of the 1962-rules which are not anymore paying the Saints the respect they used to enjoy. It would be great if at the Ordinariate this point could be improved.
Yesterday, I was the M.C. for a Missa cantata ('62); so far as I am aware, the commemoration of St Matthew is made at Low Masses only.
Joshua, in the pre-Pius X calendar, next year would see four Sundays after Pentecost celebrated as Green Sundays: the 5th, 11th, 13th and 18th, though the Sunday is of course commemorated and its Gospel said as the Last Gospel.
Joshua,
upon your comment, I consulted cf. n. 111 of the 1960 Codex of Rubrics, and - if I understand it correctly - you are right, in a Sung Mass no commemoration of St. Matthew would have been allowed on last Sunday. However, then I figured out that occasionally, this sunday the leader of our schola was ill, so we did not have sung proper. So, actually the mass was to be considered as Low Mass and thus with commemoration of St. Matthew! (But the celebrant used incense ... it would not be allowed for a Low Mass, but many priest maybe are not much aware of the fact that a Mass with sung ordinary, but vernacular hymns and no sung proper, is liturgically to be regarded as a Low Mass, and not as a Missa Cantata or High Mass)
If you ignore feasts that are assigned to Sundays (such as Christ the King), first and second class feasts in particular calendars and Sundays occurring between Christmas and Octave of the Epiphany (all of which are feasts except Sunday after Christmas)then the most first and second class feasts (according to the 1962 calendar) that fall on a minor Sunday (ie Sundays after Epiphany and Pentecost and of Easter) under pre-1955 rules occur in a common year with Sunday Letter d ie January 1 is a Wednesday - with 8 feasts. The results for each year are:
Year A (Common)- 2 feasts - 2 July (Visitation)and 6 August (Transfiguration)- next occurs 2017 (1 Jan Sunday)
Year A* (Bissextile)- 4 feasts - 24 June (Nativity S John B), 1 July (Precious Blood), 7 October (Rosary BVM) and 28 October (SS Simon and Jude) - next occurs 2040
Year b (Common) - 4 feasts - as Year A* - next occurs 2018 (1 January Monday)
Year b* (Bissextile) - 4 feasts - 8 September (Nativity BVM), 15 September (Seven Sorrows BVM), 29 September (S Michael)and 8 December (Immaculate Conception)- next occurs 2024
Year c (Common) - 4 feasts - as Year b* - next occurs 2019 (1 January Tuesday)
Year c* (Bissextile)- 7 feasts - 11 May (SS Philip & James), 29 June (SS Peter & Paul), 10 August (S Laurence), 24 August (S Bartholemew), 14 September (Exaltation Holy Cross), 21 September (S Matthew), 9 November (Dedication Lateran) - next occurs 2036
Year d (Common) - 8 feasts - 2 Feb (Candlemas)and then as for Year c* - next occurs 2025 (1 January Wednesday)
Year d* (Bissextile) - 7 feasts - 2 February (Candlemas), 31 May (Queenship BVM), 26 July (S Anne), 16 August (S Joachim), 11 October (Motherhood BVM), 18 October (S Luke), 1 November (All Saints) - next occurs 2020
Year e (Common) - 6 feasts - as Year d* excluding Candlemas - next occurs 2015 (1 January Thursday)
Year e* (Bissextile) - 4 feasts - 25 April (S Mark), 25 July (S James Greater), 15 August (Assumption) and 22 August (Immaculate Heart) - next occurs 2032
Year f (Common) - 4 feasts - as Year e* - next occurs 2021 (1 January Friday)
Year f* (Bissextile) - 1 feast - 1 May(S Joseph Workman) - next occurs 2016
Year g (Common) - 1 feast - as Year f* - next occurs 2022 - (1 January Saturday)
Year g* (Bissextile) - 2 feasts - as Year A - next occurs 2028
The above assumes that Candlemas does not occur on a pre-Lent Sunday and S Mark does not occur in Easter Octave
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