LITURGICAL CALENDAR, I: CATHOLIC

Although from the beginning of the Christian Era, the Christians followed the Julian solar calendar of 46 b.c. for general purposes, and with it adopted the Roman usage of counting the days of the month in a continuous series in relation to nones, ides, and kalends, they also evolved a specifically Christian calendar, the center of which was the day of the Resurrection.

Easter. Since the majority of the early Christians were Jewish converts, it is understandable that from the outset the Christian calendar was governed by the fact that the death and Resurrection of Christ had taken place at the time of the chief Jewish feast, the Pasch, or Passover, celebrated on the 14th day of the month of Nisan,i.e., at the full moon following the Spring equinox. However, rather than literally follow the Jewish Passover, since this would necessitate the commemoration of the Resurrection on a different day of the week each year, Christian custom (sanctioned at the Council of nicaea i in 325; Concilorum occumenicorum decreta [Bologna-Freiburg 1962] 2–3, n.6) fixed the anniversary of Christ's Resurrection on the actual day of the week (the first day) on which the Resurrection had taken place. As a result, Easter falls on the first day of the week (Sunday) after the first full moon following the spring equinox, and can be as early as March 22 and as late as April 25.

The Christian Week. The Christians also adopted from the Jews the seven-day week, dividing it the Christians much as the Jews did, but with some striking differences. Since Christ had died on the eve of the Passover Sabbath and had risen from the dead on the first day of the week following that Sabbath, the sacred character of the Jewish Sabbath (the last day of their week) was now transferred, in memory of the Resurrection, to "the first day of the week" (Acts 20.7), "the Lord's Day" (Rv1.10), "the day named after the sun" (St. Justin, First Apology, ch. 67; c. 150). Likewise the Jewish tradition of a day of rest was transferred from the Sabbath to sunday, becoming law in the fourth century. Again, the traditional Jewish fasts on Tuesday and Thursday were advanced by a day to Wednesday (the day of the betrayal of Christ in Passover week) and Friday (the day of the Crucifixion). Apart from the first day of the week, however, Christian usage retained Jewish designations for all the days of the week, thus the second day (Monday) became feria secunda and the Sabbath became Sabbathum (Saturday).

Movable Feasts. By the mid–fourth century there was a cycle of commemorations that had evolved around the feast of Easter, again paralleling Jewish usage. Pentecost, the celebration of the descent of the Holy Spirit, was related to Easter much as the Jewish Pentecost (Feast of Tabernacles, or First-Fruits) related to the Passover, and at the same interval of 50 days. Likewise, the penitential period before Easter, said by leo i (d. 461) to be of apostolic institution, was modeled on that observed by the Jews before the Passover. Ascension Day, however, was determined by the fact that, as the Acts of the Apostles testify (Acts 1.3), the event had taken place 40 days after the Resurrection.

Computation of Easter. In the early centuries the diversity of rules for observing Easter was the cause of much strife among the churches (see easter controversy; computus). If various computations of the lunar cycle were current (e.g., those of Alexandria and Rome), the matter was further complicated by the adherence of some Christians (quartodecimans) to the variable weekday. The Council of Nicaea, however, imposed Sunday as the fixed day of the commemoration of the Resurrection; the universal acceptance of the Alexandrian 19-year cycle or computus of Easter is due to the Scythian monk dionysius exiguus at Rome in 526, although the Celtic Church still clung to the Roman computation until 664 (see whitby, abbey of). The introduction of a chronological Christian Era is also the work of Dionysius; for, when continuing the Easter tables of cyril of alexandria for another 95 years, he counted for the first time the years from the birth of Christ, which, however, he wrongly dated to 754 a.u.c., at least four years too late.

The Dionysian cycle was universally followed until the Gregorian reform, which altered the cycle so as to predict the date of full moons more accurately. Belief in the Nicene origin of the Dionysian cycle was one reason for opposition to the Gregorian reform by the Orthodox Churches which still use the old cycle, making their Easter sometimes differs by as much as five weeks from that of the Latin Church. The full moon computed by the Gregorian cycle may differ from the date of the astronomical full moon, so that occasionally the Gregorian Easter differs from that determined astronomically (e.g., 1962). This was well known to the authors of the reform and is inherent in any form of cyclical computation. It could be avoided by using the astronomical full moon, but this solution was rejected, for it would bring its own difficulties; e.g., full moon may fall on different days on either side of the date line.

The fact that the dates of Easter on the Gregorian and Julian Calendars do not correspond has been perceived as a source of scandal and a sign of disunity among Christians on the holiest of days. In the 1990s, the World Council of Churches made several unsuccessful attempts to come up with a common date for Easter for Orthodox, Catholics, and other Christians.

The Christmas Cycle. A second cycle of feasts, this time a fixed one, was introduced some time after the movable Easter cycle. The earliest mention of an anniversary of the birth of Christ on christmas Day (December 25) is in the Philocalian Calendar. The entry, which may be dated to 336, reads: VIII.kal. Ian. natus Christus in Betleem Iudeae. Many scholars think that the date was chosen to offset the imperial feast of the Natalis solis invicti (the birthday of the unconquered sun). The Christological controversies of the fourth and fifth centuries doubtless contributed to the feast's growth in importance; it also aided in lessening the importance of the feast of the epiphany, originally a more important feast, to the point that it became part of the Christmas cycle, a position that evolved in Africa sometime between 380 and 530, passed from there into Spain, and then to Italy. advent, which now prefaces the cycle, appears to have been introduced at Rome by Pope simplicius or Pope gelasius i in the second half of the fifth century.

Other Fixed Commemorations. In Asia Minor from the end of the second century and at Rome from at least the third, the anniversary of a martyr's death was kept as a feast, with a liturgical celebration at his tomb. This day was the dies natalis of the martyr, possibly meaning his "heavenly birthday." These commemorations, together with a brief indication of the time, place, and circumstances of the martyr's death or burial, were often entered into registers roughly known as martyrologies. The oldest extant compilation of this nature occurs in a commonplace book of Furius Dionysius Filocalus. Begun at Rome in 336 and completed in 354, it contains an invaluable list of popes (Depositio episcoporum ) and martyrs (Depositio martyrum ), together with indications of other Roman commemorations, e.g., Christmas. From an examination of the three most ancient martyrologies (Philocalian; Syrian, 411; Carthaginian, c. 450) and of other martyrologies such as the Hieronymian, the Gallican of Polemius Silvius, the Mozarabic, and the Andalusian, it may be concluded: (1) that although the celebrations of martyrs were occasioned initially by local cultus, the more celebrated of these martyrs soon obtained favor outside their own localities; (2) that from an early date, feasts were granted to the Apostles;(3) that feasts of Our Lady (see marian feasts) were not general until c. 650, although the purification of mary was kept locally at Jerusalem on Feb. 14 (later Feb. 2) from c. 350.

Reforms and Revisions. The multiplication of lists of martyrs (to which non-martyrs were added in time) and the emergence of liturgical books (of the Roman rite) such as sacramentaries, lectionaries, and Gospel books (see: evangelary) contributed greatly to the decline of the ferial day, especially during the Carolingian period, when continuators of the classic martyrology of bede (d.735) rushed to fill in every blank space. The inclusion of new saints and new devotional interests led, well before the end of the Middle Ages, to overcrowded and chaotic calendars. A greater uniformity throughout the Church was ensured by the reformed calendar of pius v (1568–70), inasmuch as all churches and religious orders that could not prove a prescription of 200 years were obliged to conform to the new disposition of the calendar. An instruction of the Congregation of Rites of Feb. 14, 1961 [ Acta Apostolicae Sedis 53 (1961) 168–180], reducing considerably the commemoration of saints, now allows the ferial day much of its original Paschal connotation. However, the most far-reaching reform of the liturgical calendar was effected by the 1969 General Norms of the Roman Calendar, which drastically pruned the number of commemoration of saints from 338 to 191.

Particular Calendars. The General Norms of the 1969 Roman Calendar allow the formation of particular calendars, i.e. the insertion of special celebrations into the general calendar by individual regions, countries, dioceses, and religious families. In June of 1970, the Congregation for Divine Worship issued an instruction giving specific norms for the establishment of such calendars.

Particular calendars may include saints proper to a region or religious community, as well as those saints listed in the universal calendar to whom a higher rank will be given. To insure historical credibility, proper hagiographical studies must, when necessary, be conducted regarding the life and deeds of the saint. Whenever possible, the saint should be commemorated on the day of death; otherwise, on a day of importance in the cult of the saint. If the feast already occurs in the general calendar, it should generally be observed on the same day. Permission is granted for a more solemn celebration of the saint in some parts, rather than in the whole of a diocese or religious family.

In addition to commemorating those saints having a special connection with a particular diocese, the diocesan calendar may include a proper liturgical celebration of the principal and secondary patrons of the diocese, as well as the anniversary of the dedication of the cathedral.

Bibliography: The three earliest martyrologies in h. lietzmann, ed., Die drei ältesten Martyrologien (Bonn 1903). see additional bibliog. under martyrologies, martyrology, roman, martyrology of st. jerome. l. duchesne, "La Question de la Pâque au concile de Nicée," Revue des questions historiques 28 (1880) 5–42. n. nilles, ed., Kalendarium manuale utriusque ecclesiae, orientalis et occidentalis, 2 v. (Innsbruck 1896–97). w. h. frere, Studies in Early Roman Liturgy, 3 v. (Oxford 1930–35) v.1. b. botte, Les Origines de la Noël et de l'Épiphanie (Louvain 1932). h. delehaye, Les Origines du culte des martyrs (2d ed. Brussels 1933). p. jounel, "Le Sanctoral romain du 8^e au 12^e siècles," Maison-Dieu 52 (1957) 59–88. Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship, "Normae universales de anno liturgico et de calendario," Notitiae 46 (Apr.–June 1969) 165–176 (Eng. tr., USCC pub. v-453). "Instructio de calendariis particularibus atque officiorum et Missarum propriis recognoscendis," Notitiae 58 (Nov. 1970) 348–370. t. j. talley, The Origins of the Liturgical Year (Collegeville, 1991); a. j. martimort, ed. The Church at Prayer IV: The Liturgy and Time (Collegeville 1986);a. adam, The Liturgical Year: Its History & Its Meaning after the Reform of the Liturgy (New York 1981). j. f. baldovin, "The Liturgical Year: Calendar for a Just Community," in Liturgy and Spirituality in Context, ed. e. bernstein (Collegeville, Minn 1990) 98–114. "Towards a Common Date for Easter: WCC/MECC Consultation," Saint Vladimir's Theological Quarterly 41 (1997) 235–247. b.l. marthaler, "The Date of Easter, Anno Domini, and Other Calendar Considerations : Chronology or Eschatology?" Worship 73 (1999) 194–211.

[l. e. boyle/eds.]