The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1906-05-14
THE SNARLS OF TIME
POPE eReeoRYs CORRECTION or
THs JULIAN CALENDAR.

TweBty-one Days Ia ISS2-Conmo-
tiOn the Change Made In England.
Did you ever hear Of the famous
short month Of October. which had
only twenty-one daysf some three cen
turtles ago In southern Europe men
tried % correct an error that had been
growing continually for more than a
thousand years and the Jesuit was
that they called the day after oct 4.
iJS2. oct. Is instead Of oct ..
We get our ideas and principles re
Earding the calendar from two sources
Roman and 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 days within the month.
etc. q suit their pride or political
schemes. much as modern politicians
hasten or postpone a convention. and
brought things into great confusion
until Julius Caesar decreed that the
coming wear should consist Of 3Gj days
aud every fourth year Of 3GG. The ex.
ira day was 90 be inserted between the
Gath and 2jth of February. In their
way Of numbering the days OF the
month which seems TO rs 50 awkward,
the oath was sexto calendas or the
sixth day before the caiends OF
March when the extra day was in
serted Il was called the second sixth,
or in Latin. blsseXto calendas, whence
our b.ssextile
From Jewish sources we got 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
tlans. or many Of them. took the same
day. but this lei 90 charges Of heresy,
20 discussion. criticism and even con
tempt; 50 Il was decreed probably by
Constantine the Great IN 325 a. D.. In
connection with the council OF Nicaen,
that the Christian festival Easter
should be- observed on the Sunday fol-
lowing the passover. aud the other
movable feasts Of the church We're
made dependent on this. So the cle-
ment Of a fixed day Of the week was
brought into the calculation.
In this -32J-thc vcrnal equinox
fell on March q. and, II Caesars work
In establishing the Julian calendar had
only been correct, this event would have
happened on this date forever. But ma
ture seems 90 nbhor simple ratios as she
was said 20 nbhor vacuum. Unfortu-
natcly for simplicity the year Is not ex-
actly 3G5 days @ hours, but about IL
minutes II seconds less. SO the inser-
tion OF the extra day In four years was
OVERRIDING the correction, as was known
even IN the dark ages. but after the re-
vlval Of learning and the establishment
OF observatories II was commented on
In the council OF Trent and was very
much discussed by mathematlcians.
And by the middle Of the sixteenth cen
| tury the hundreds OF small errors had
accumulated TO ten days, so the vernal
equinox fell not on the 21st, but on
the lith, Of March.
Tbs was the condition OF things
when. In 1872, Pope Gregory XIII. was
elected. lie realized the glory that II
matter was settled. and so set com
pany OF mathematlclans TO work out
the problem. not only Of rectifying the
old errors. but OF providing rules 70
prevent errors In the future. The hard
est part OF the work was 10 fix the
movable church foasts without doing
violence 10 the traditions. That n good
deal could be said about the work is
| evidenced by the book OF 800 pages
written by Clavius, one OF the compa-
ny. The result was that In 1881 n pa
| pal bull was Issued declaring. among
other things, that In 1852 the day fol-
lowing Oct ! should be called oct. 10
and that centuries should not be leap
| years unless dlyisible by 100.
Rulers and states tIat were then
| Catholic responded 10 the pope's re-
quest for acceptance OF the reform. In
France the ten days were dropped aft
or Dec. o. 1852; in Catholic Germany
the change was made In 1854 but the
Protestant states delayed until Feb.
| 10 March u. 1900. In Switzerland and
| Poland there was such resistance made
that the troops were necessary 10 sup
| press II.
] AN 'AHAA-' was ihAA- AhAHs W ~ 4 ANA
| estant England. which would not will
ingly accept an alleged reform due TO
a pope that had encouraged the ar
mada. But the need OF the uniformity
among neighborlng states was too
great, ana In 1901 Lord Chesterfield in
troduced into parliament bin for the
reform of the calendar. Some details
of the law may be quoted from n maya
zine of September, 1852: sept. IL
This day the Gregoran style took place
In all Europe, Asia, Africa ana Amer
lea. This day, had not this act passed,
would have been tho 81 OF September,
but II was now reckoned the nth, elev-
en- nominal days being omitted. Every