Apparently-To: catholic@american.edu, bath@dw3f.ess.harris.com
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.catholic
Date:         Wed, 20 Jan 1993 22:00:15 PST
From:         "John R. Covert 21-Jan-1993 0018" <covert@COVERT.ENET.DEC.COM>
Subject:      RE: Why is it?

>1.  How are the Sundays of Ordinary Time reckoned?  Why is there no
>"First Sunday of Ordinary Time"?  The Liturgy of the Hours states that
>"the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord takes the place of the First Sunday
>of Ordinary Time", yet it also states that Ordinary Time begins after
>the Feast.  Why?

In the new Latin Calendar, Sundays with no other name are called "Sundays
in ordinary time".  The First Sunday in Ordinary Time _is_ "The Baptism
of the Lord" because that's the subject of the reading for the First
Sunday in Ordinary Time.  Maronite Roman Catholics and Anglicans call
the Sundays in Ordinary Time by the season they occur in -- "The nth
Sunday of (or after) Epiphany" or Pentecost.  (The Maronites end the
season of Pentecost after Holy Cross Day and begin other seasons not
used in the Western Church by Roman Catholics and Anglicans.)

Traditionally (and still for Maronite Roman Catholics and Anglicans),
Christmastide lasts exactly twelve days; Epiphany begins on the feast
of the Epiphany (6 Jan).  In the new Latin Calendar, the feast of the
Epiphany eliminates the 2nd Sunday after Christmas (it's traditional
propers, for the Holy Family, got moved to the 1st Sunday after Christmas),
and the Christmas season continues until the Baptism of the Lord, so
Ordinary Time doesn't begin until the Monday.

>2. How is the week of Ordinary Time following Pentecost determined?

So that you always end up with the 34th Ordinary Sunday (Christ the
King) on the Sunday before the First Sunday in Advent.  See the table
below, based on the date of Easter.  "Numbered Proper" is Anglican
Usage; "Ordinary Sunday" is Roman Catholic.  The First Sunday after
Pentecost is always Trinity Sunday; Anglicans begin with the numbered
Propers on the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost because Corpus Christi is
kept on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday; Roman Catholics begin using
ordinary time on the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost in the U.S. because
Corpus Christi (Body and Blood) gets moved to the 2nd Sunday after
Pentecost except in countries where it is also a civil holiday.

>3.  In the Liturgy of the Hours, is an "(alleluia)" to be excluded during
>Lent, or added during Eastertime?

If Latin usage is like Anglican usage, this depends on the antiphon.  Some
use alleluia only during Eastertide; some are optional (but really should
be used during Eastertide) except must be omitted during Lent.

>4. Most of the epistle readings that are addressed to a group of people
>begin (for example):  "A reading from the letter of Paul to the Romans".
>However, readings from Hebrews begin:  "A reading from the letter to
>the Hebrews".  Did Paul write this letter?  Do we know who wrote it?

Authorship of Hebrews is unknown; however, we are pretty certain that
Paul did not write it.  For a medium length discussion of authorship,
see the New Jerome Bible Commentary.  Longer discussions exist.

>5.  Is blue ever a proper liturgical color?

Old English usage was blue.  Anglicans sometimes still use blue during
Advent.  I've also heard of it being used for Feasts of Our Lady.

>6.  Does a deacon "assist" at Mass?  (What is the proper verb?)  Is the
>sash that a deacon wears called a stole?

I thought anyone attending Mass "assisted."  I think only priests and
bishops wear stoles; what a deacon wears is probably called a sash.

>7.  How is the date of Passover figured?  Easter is tied to the first
>full moon of spring.  Is Passover also tied to a full moon?

Can't answer on Passover; Easter is actually tied to an old ecclesiastical
formula which does not always compute the actual first full moon.  I've
long been interested in the actual formula; I've only been able to obtain
tables of the golden numbers (out thousands of years!).  A VMS DCL procedure
for computing the date of Easter for the current set of golden numbers is
appended.

Easter  Sundays   Ash    Ascension           Numbered    Ordinary     Advent
Day     after     Wed.   Day       Pentecost Proper of   Sunday       Sunday
        Epiphany                             2 Pentecost 3 Pentecost

March 22    4   Feb. 4    April 30   May 10     #3         9          Nov. 29
March 23    4   Feb. 5    May 1      May 11     #3         9          Nov. 30
March 24    4   Feb. 6    May 2      May 12     #3         9          Dec. 1
March 25    5   Feb. 7    May 3      May 13     #3         9          Dec. 2
March 26    5   Feb. 8    May 4      May 14     #3         9          Dec. 3
March 27    5   Feb. 9    May 5      May 15     #4         10         Nov. 27
March 28    5   Feb. 10   May 6      May 16     #4         10         Nov. 28
March 29    5   Feb. 11   May 7      May 17     #4         10         Nov. 29
March 30    5   Feb. 12   May 8      May 18     #4         10         Nov. 30
March 31    5   Feb. 13   May 9      May 19     #4         10         Dec. 1
April 1     6   Feb. 14   May 10     May 20     #4         10         Dec. 2
April 2     6   Feb. 15   May 11     May 21     #4         10         Dec. 3
April 3     6   Feb. 16   May 12     May 22     #5         11         Nov. 27
April 4     6   Feb. 17   May 13     May 23     #5         11         Nov. 28
April 5     6   Feb. 18   May 14     May 24     #5         11         Nov. 29
April 6     6   Feb. 19   May 15     May 25     #5         11         Nov. 30
April 7     6   Feb. 20   May 16     May 26     #5         11         Dec. 1
April 8     7   Feb. 21   May 17     May 27     #5         11         Dec. 2
April 9     7   Feb. 22   May 18     May 28     #5         11         Dec. 3
April 10    7   Feb. 23   May 19     May 29     #6         12         Nov. 27
April 11    7   Feb. 24   May 20     May 30     #6         12         Nov. 28
April 12    7   Feb. 25   May 21     May 31     #6         12         Nov. 29
April 13    7   Feb. 26   May 22     June 1     #6         12         Nov. 30
April 14    7   Feb. 27   May 23     June 2     #6         12         Dec. 1
April 15    8   Feb. 28   May 24     June 3     #6         12         Dec. 2
April 16    8   March 1   May 25     June 4     #6         12         Dec. 3
April 17    8   March 2   May 26     June 5     #7         13         Nov. 27
April 18    8   March 3   May 27     June 6     #7         13         Nov. 28
April 19    8   March 4   May 28     June 7     #7         13         Nov. 29
April 20    8   March 5   May 29     June 8     #7         13         Nov. 30
April 21    8   March 6   May 30     June 9     #7         13         Dec. 1
April 22    9   March 7   May 31     June 10    #7         13         Dec. 2
April 23    9   March 8   June 1     June 11    #7         13         Dec. 3
April 24    9   March 9   June 2     June 12    #8         14         Nov. 27
April 25    9   March 10  June 3     June 13    #8         14         Nov. 28

In Leap Years the number of Sundays after Epiphany is as though Easter had
fallen one day later.  Also, if Ash Wednesday falls in February during a
Leap Year, it will be one day later than shown in the table.

$ ! EASTER.COM
$ !
$ ! Finds the date of Easter -- valid from 1900 to 2199.
$ !
$ if p1 .eqs. "" .or. p1 .lt. 1900 .or. p1 .gt. 2199
$ then
$   write sys$output "Usage is @EASTER year"
$   write sys$output "Year must be from 1900 to 2199"
$   exit
$ endif
$ gold=p1-(p1/19*19)+1
$ moon=f$elem(gold,",","0,14,3,23,11,31,18,8,28,16,5,25,13,2,22,10,30,17,7,27")
$ moondate=moon+"-"+f$element(moon.lt.20,",","Mar,Apr")+"-"+p1
$ i=f$loca(f$extr(0,2,f$cvti(moondate,,"weekday")),"SaFrThWeTuMoSu")/2+1
$ write sys$output f$cvtime("''moondate'+''i'-0","absolute","date")
$ exit
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU