11 August 2018

An Example Of What I'm Getting At

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Have a look at three versions of how the next twelve days were, could extraordinarily and are ordinarily being celebrated.  I haven't included the particular arrangements for the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle in 1866 caused by its celebration of the Dedication of the Pro-Cathedral.) Vespers on Sunday are included because they were a natural part of parish life in the nineteenth century. This is the Calendar as seen by a layperson in England and Wales.

The Indulgence is one of eight periods of the year in which Catholics were urged to communicate and to earn a plenary indulgence when doing so.  The conditions varied, but for this indulgence (and three others) they were:


You will note that the fourth condition requires a sort of community service: you can't be a Catholic and not be part of a community you have to serve.


Pre-1910
Post-1962 EF
2018 OF
The Indulgence begins

12 SUNDAY. 12th after Pentecost. St Clare, Virgin, double; 2nd prayers and last Gospel of the Sunday. Second Vespers of the Feast of St Clare, commemoration of the Sunday, the Octave of St Laurence and Sts Hippolytus and Cassian, Martyrs. White.
12 SUNDAY. 12th after Pentecost. 2nd class. Green
12 SUNDAY. 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Green.
13 Monday. Of the Octave, semidouble; 2nd prayers of Sts Hippolytus and Cassian, Martyrs, 3rd prayers Concede. Red.
13 Monday. Feria 4th class. Commemoration of Sts Hippolytus and Cassian, Martyrs. Green.
13 Monday. Weekday in Ordinary Time (or Sts Pontian and Hippolytus, Martyrs). Green (or Red).
14 Tuesday. Vigil of the Assumption. 2nd prayers of the Octave, 3rd prayers of St Eusebius, Confessor, Violet. FAST.
14 Vigil of the Assumption, 2nd class Vigil. Commemoration of St Eusebius, Confessor. Violet.
14 Tuesday. St Maximilian Kolbe, Priest Martyr. Memorial. Red
15 Wednesday. The ASSUMPTION of the BVM, double of the 1st class with an Octave. during which commemoration of the Octave, Creed and Preface of the BVM. White. Second Vespers of the Feast, commemoration of St Hyacinth only. Plenary Indulgence.
15 Wednesday. The ASSUMPTION of the BVM, 1st class. White.
15 Wednesday. The Assumption of the BVM. Solemnity. White.
16 Thursday. St Hyacinth, Confessor, double. White.
16 Thursday. St Joachim, Father of the BVM. 2nd class. White.
16 Thursday. Weekday in Ordinary Time (or St Stephen of Hungary, King Martyr). Green (or Red).
17 Friday. The Octave of St Laurence, Martyr, double. Red. Abstinence.
17 Friday. St Hyacinth, Confessor. 3rd Class. White. Abstinence.
17 Friday. Weekday in Ordinary Time. Green.
18 Saturday. Of the Octave of the Assumption, semidouble; 2nd prayers of St Agapitus, Martyr, 3rd prayers of the Holy Ghost. White.
18 Saturday. The BVM on Saturday. 4th Class. Commemoration of St Agapitus. White.
18 Saturday. Weekday in Ordinary Time. Green.
19 SUNDAY, 13th after Pentecost. St Joachim, Father of the BVM, greater double; 2nd prayers and last Gospel of the Sunday, 3rd prayers of the Octave, Preface of the BVM. White. Second Vespers of the Feast, commemoration of St Bernard Confessor and Doctor, of the Sunday and of the Octave. 
19 SUNDAY. 13th after Pentecost. 2nd Class. Green
19 SUNDAY. 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Green.
20 Monday. St Bernard, Confessor Doctor, double. White.
20 Monday. St Bernard, Confessor Doctor. 3rd Class. White.
20 Monday. St Bernard, Abbot Doctor. Memorial. White
21 Tuesday. St Jane Frances de Chantal, Widow, double. White.
21 Tuesday. St Jane Frances de Chantal, Widow. 3rd class. White.
21 Tuesday. St Pius X, Pope. Memorial. White.
22 Wednesday. The Octave of the Assumption of the BVM, double; 2nd prayers of St Timothy and Companions, Martyrs. White.

The Indulgence ends
22 Wednesday. The Immaculate Heart of Mary. 2nd class. Commemoration of St Timothy and Companions, Martyrs. White.
22 Wednesday. The Queenship of the BVM. Memorial. White.

The main difference between the first two calendars is the sabbatarianism that precludes almost every Sunday from being a saint's day. That destroys a different relationship: that between the BVM, whose Assumption is celebrated as a Holyday of Obligation, and the next Sunday (ie the next time lay Catholics would attend Mass) on which Her father's feast was celebrated. And as Her father's feast was celebrated during the Octave of the feast of the Assumption, the preface at Mass is of the BVM, uniting St Joachim and the BVM to the action of the priest in re-presenting Christ's sacrifice on Calvary. That whole structure of relationships disappeared. St Hyacinth was shifted from the 16th to the 17th so that St Joachim could have his feast on the day after the Assumption - but few laypeople would get to Church on a weekday.

The abolition of the Octave of the Assumption made a temporary home for the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which had been celebrated on the third Sunday after Pentecost (unsurprisingly the Sunday in the Octave of the Sacred Heart of Jesus) but which had effectively disappeared from the Calendar. The Queenship of Mary is a modern feast, instituted by Pius XII. Whichever form you choose, however, you are celebrating the abolition of the Octave of the BVM.  Octaves are special weeks: some feasts are sufficiently important to have Vigils on which we fast so that we can better celebrate the feast itself, and the feast shapes the character of its Octave.  At the start of this week our 1866 ancestors are in the Octave of St Laurence; our modern EF brethren get the Vigil (do they still fast?), but not the Octave.  In the OF the feast on a Friday is probably an excuse to avoid abstinence.

I could labour this, but I won't The fact remains that a structure of lex orandi lex vivendi lex credendi was broken and recast, and the new version didn't - couldn't - work as well as what came before it.

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