The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1906-10-09
6 81 lIl.s On I5I.llI %
PoPE oREeoRls coFsEoTIoF 81
TtdE 1oLiApi "a LErl1sR.

:
Did you ever hear Of the flr1tIlIs
short month Of oet6ber. which ha6
rllly ty7enty-one dagsE Some three cln
turtles ago IN southern Europe Ilet
tTied to correct an error thar mao neen
growing continual ~ Tor more than 4
fhousand yearss and the result was
Il that fhey called the day after OCT &
15s2. Oct Is tteltt OF Oct 8
We set, our IDEAS and principles re
i lnrdfnG the calendar from two sources
Roman ana Jewish. Every one knows
that the names OF the months are
/ Latin, and In the histories we read how
the various Roman rulers changed the
distribution OF day within the month.
etc, 70 suit their pride or political
i schemes, much as modern politicians
hasten or postpone convention. end
brought things into great confusion
until julius Caesar deereed that the
coming year should consist OF 365 days
i and every fourth year Of 366 The ex-
i ira day was to be inserted between the
! 24th and 25th of February. In their
| way OF numbering the days OF the
month, which seems to Us 50 awkward
the 24th was Gexto calendns, or the
| sixth day before the calends Of
| March. When the extra day was In
serted It was called the second sixth,
or. IN Latin. bisSexto calOndas. whence
our bissextiIe.
From Jewish sources we get other
features The great Jewish festival Of
the passover was celebrated on the
very DAY OF the first full moon after
the spring equinox. The early Chris
dams. or many OF them, took the same
day, but this led to chafges OF heresy.
10 discussion, criticism and even con,
tempt: so it was decreed probably oy
Constantine the Great In 800 A. D., In
connection with the council OF Nicaea,
that the Christian festival Easter
should be observed on the Sunday fol-
lowing the passover. and the other
movable feasts of the church were
made dependent on this. So the ele-
naent OF a fixed day OF the week wag
brought into the calculation
In this year-325- the vernal equinox
fen on March 81, and, if Caesars work
in establishing the Julian calendar had
only been correct, this event would have
happened on this date forever. But na-
ture seems to abhor simple ratios as she
was said to abhor a vacuum. Unfortu-
nately for simplicity the year is not ex-
actIy 365 days 8 hours, but about ii
minutes Ia seconds less. So the inseE
ton of the extra day In four years was
overriding the correction, as was known
even in the dark ages, but after the re
VivaI of learning and the establishments
Of observatorIes It was commented on
In the council of Trent and was very
much discussed by mathematician.
And by the middle OF the sixteenth cen
tury the hundreds OF small errors had
accumulated to ten days, SO the verRal
equinox fell not on the 21st but on
the 18th, OF March.
This was the condition of things
when, IN 1872. Pope Gregory XIII. was
elected. He realized the glory that It
would be to his reign IL this confusing
matter was settled, and 50 set COM
pany of AUTHORIZATIONS to work out
the problem, not only of rectifying the
old errors, but of providing rules to
prevent errors In the future. The hard
est part Of the work was to fix the
movable church feasts without doing |
violence to the traditions. That a eood
deal eallId be said about the work e
evidenced by the book of 800 pagea
written by CIavius, one Of the compa-
ny. The result was that in 1881 pa
pal bull was issued declaring, among |
other things, that in 1852 the day fol |
lowing Oct. should be called Oct Is /
and that centuries should not be leap ]
years unless diyisible by 400.
Rulers and states that were then
Catholic responded to the pope's re-
quest for acceptance Of the reform. In |
France the ten days were dropped aft
er Dec 8. 1852; In Catholic Germany
the change was made in 1854. but the
Protestant stntes delayed until Feb.
10 March u, 1900. In Switzerland and /
Poland there was such resistance made
that the troops were necessary to sup
press it.
The change wns long delayed In Prot
Estant England, which would not will
ingly accept an alleged reform due to
a pope that had encouraged the ar.
unnda But the need OF the uniformity
among nelghboring states was too
great, and in 1851 Lord Chesterfield in
troduced into parliament bill for the
reform of the calendar. Some details
of the law may be quoted from maya
zine of September. 1852: Sept. r.
This day the Gregorian style took place
In all Europe, Asia, Africa and Amer
lea. This day, had not this act passed
would have been the Sd Of September
but It was now rsczoned the 18th, eleV-
en- nominal days being omitted Every
Fourth year VIII be a btssextile. OF leap
year, until 1900, which win be a com
mon year of 3eA days, but 1904 VIII be
q leap year. Easter and the movable
feagts thereon depending are 70 pe
feckoned according to the new tables
prehxed to the act OF parliament. AL
the fixed feast days are TO BE-
kept on the same nominal day as here
the attainment OF majority or explra'
ton of apprenticeship shall
not be accelerated hereby. u
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