The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-04-03
EASTER Cus7O MS
HOW THE MOST GLORIOUS FEAST
OF THE CHURCH is CELE-
DRAFTED.

Easter, the most glorious feast oil
the Church, in that it commentaries
the resurrection of Christ from the
tomb, and His triumph over death, is
with us once again, and all the Chris
tian world rejoices.
According to some Of the authorities
the English word Easter relates tt
Eostre, Teutonic goddess Of the ris
ing light of day and spring. Easter
is the center of the ecclesiastical year
and there is moreover a real and idea
over and the Christian feast of Easter
It is real because Christ died on the
first Jewish Easter day; ideal because
Christ'S death and resurrection had its
types and figures in the Old Law, par
Eticularly in the paschal lamb which
was eaten on the evening of the 14th
Of Nissan. The connection between the
Jewish and the Christian Pasch eX
plains the movable character of this
feast Easter has no fixed date like
Christmas because the 18th of Nissan
of the Semitic calendar was shifting
from date to date on the Julian cal
endar Because the Sunday after
Nissan IA was the historical day of the
Resurrection, at Rome this Sunday
became the Christian feast of Easter
Easter was celebrated in Rome and
Alexandria on the first Sunday after
the first full moon after the spring
equinox, and the Roman Church
claimed for this observance the au'
thority of SIS. Peter and Paul. The
spring equinox fell in Rome on March
%, and in Alexandria on March 81
Ecclesiastical history sets forth nc
less than three great disputes among
the learned doctors of the Church con
corning this question of the date oil
Easter and the Resurrection of the
Saviour. The first took place in the
time of Pope Victor, about the year
100. The question debated at that
time was whether Easter should be
celebrated on Sunday, or any day OF
the week, the same as the Jewish
festival of Nisan The second great
debate took place at the time of the
Council of Nicaea, which was in the
year 1926 While it was at that time
agreed that the festival must be held
on Sunday new dispute arose as tC
the determination of the particular
Sunday on which it was to be held
The following is a synopsis of the
finding of that Council of the Church
authorities: That Easter must be
celebrated by all throughout the world
on the same Sunday, that this Sunday
must follow the fourteenth day of the
Paschal moon, that that fourteenth
day must follow the spring equinox
The third debate arose when the
Roman missionaries coming into the
British Isles, in the time of st. Greg
DRY the Great. found the British Chris
tians still adhering to an ancient sys
tenn of Easter computation, which
Rome itself had left aside. 1t was not
however, until the synod of Whitby
in 664, that the Christians of northern
Britain, who had derived their instruc'
tons in the Faith from the Irish mis-
sionaries, at last accepted the Roman
system and came into friendly rela
tons with the Bishops of the South
The universal rule as to the manner
of ascertaining the date, each year, OF
Easter, now being that Easter Sunday
shall be the first Sunday after the first
full moon following the 21st of March
or spring equinox, the earliest pos
sible date for Easter is March %, and
the latest, April %, between which
dates the feast must now be kept fol-
all time.
Easter Customs.