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 CALENDAR

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CALENDAR

niained obligatory in the Austrian dominions. In France, under the Napoleonic regime, the pope was forced to consent to the reduction of the holidays of obligation to four only, Christmas Day, the Ascension, the Assumption, and All Saints. For the rest of Christendom other concessions were made by Leo XII, and still later by his successors. At the present day Rome numbers" eighteen holidays of obligation (al- ways, of course, exclusive of Sundays), but only nine of these are recognized as legal holidays by the Gov- ernment of Italy. The French rule of four festa prtr- cepti prevails also in Relgium and parts of Holland. In Spain, in Austria, and throughout the greater por- tion of the German Empire, some fifteen days are observed, though both the total number and the particular feasts selected vary greatly in the different provinces. In England the holidays of obligation are the Circumcision, the Epiphany, the Ascension, Cor- pus Christi. Sts. Peter ami Paul, the Assumption, All Saints, and Christmas Day. To these two other days are added in Ireland, the Annunciation and the feast of St. Patrick, and in Scotland one day, the feast of St. Andrew. In the United States six festivals are kept as of precept — Christmas, the New Year, the Ascension, the Assumption, All Saints, and the Im- maculate Conception.

For English-speaking Catholics in past centuries, while living under the penal laws, the situation must often have been a difficult one. Down to 1781, as the rare copies of the old "Laity's Directory" still bear witness, our forefathers were bound to keep every Friday of the year (except during Paschal time) as a fast -day. Besides this there was abstinence upon all Saturdays and a fair number of fasting vigils, for which last, in 1771, the Wednesdays and Fridays of Advent were substituted. The holidays of obligation amounted to thirty-four, but in 177S these were re- duced to eleven, the rest for the most part being treated as feasts of devotion. On the other hand the calendar grew by the restoration to full liturgical cul- t ii.-, of many of the old English saints. The first per- mission was given by Benedict XIV in 1749 at the request of His Royal Highness the Cardinal of York. This was limited to half a dozen saints, including St. Augustine of England and St. George, both to be kept as doubles of the first class; but in 1774 ampler concessions were made by Clement XIV. Again in 1884 the list was still further extended, and in 1887 the beatification of the English martyrs became the occasion for approving several other new offices and masses.

The Churches of The East. — With regard to the calendars of the various Eastern Churches it would be impossible here to enter into detail. For the most part they are subject, like that of the Western Church, to the complications caused by a system of feasts which are partly fixed and partly movable. Most of the more important festivals of the Roman calendar- On- example the Circumcision, the Epiphany, the Puri- fication, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, St. Peter and Paul, the Assumption, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, St. Andrew, and the Nativity of Our Lord — are kept on the days corresponding to those observed in Western ( Shristendom. But the correspondence, though recog- nizable in some few rases, is not quite exact. Forex- ample, the Greeks keep the feast of the Immaculate

Conception, under the title ri oiWnrf/it rr/s 0eoirpoM>JTopos

'Aii'ijs (amceptio Anna awe Dei), upon 9 Decem- ber, not 8 December: and while the Invention of the Cross is celebrated byuson 3 May. the Creeks

and Syrians have their corresponding feast on 7 May. Again, among Oriental Christians the octaves of fes- tivals are not kept in the same uniform way as by the Latins. Their celebrations, indeed, in many cases continue after the day of the feast, but not for exactly

a week; and it is peculiar to f liese rites I hat on the day

following the feast a sort of commemoration is made of the personages who are most closely connected with it. Thus on 3 February, the day after the feast of the Purification, the Greeks pay special honour to Holy Simeon and Anna, while on 9 September, the day after Our Lady's Nativity, St. Joachim and St. Anne are more particularly mentioned. Many other excep- tional features, some of them decidedly extravagant, are presented by the Syriac, Armenian, and Coptic Rites. It may be sufficient here, however, to call at- tention to the practice in the last-named Church of assigning a day each month for the special cultus of Our Blessed Lady.

As regards the movable feasts, the chief interest centres in the beginning of Lent. With the Greek and some of the other rites, the Lenten season may be said to begin the week before our Septuagesima, though this is only a time of preparation. Sexages- ima Sunday is known as ri Kvpiaxii Tijs atrtiKpeu (the Sunday of abstinence from flesh), not that they are forbidden meat on that day. but because it is the last day on which meat is allowed. Similarly, the next Sunday (Quinquagesima) is known as y /tupm/tr/ tjJs rvptvijt (cheese Sunday), because this is the last day upon which cheese and eggs can be eaten. The mov- able feasts of the Greek Church, moreover, include other festivals besides those strictly belonging to the Easter cycle. The most noteworthy example is the feast of All Saints (twv ayltov travTuiv), which is kept upon the Sunday which follows Pentecost, or in other words upon our I rinity Sunday.

General. — Nilles, Kalendarium Manual? I'triusque Ecclesice (2 vols., Innsbruck, 1897); Kellner, Heortologie (Freiburg, 1906). and also in an It. tr.. L'Anno Ecclesiastico, which has a better index than the original; Dcchesne, christian Worship (tr. London, 1903); Wordsworth, The Ministry of Grace ( Lon- don, 1904); Assemani, Kalendarial U Unit (Rome, 1750); Binterim. Denkw&rdigkeiten (.Main/. ls.;7 . \ I, Pt. I; Baumer, L'Hisloiredu Breriaire (Fr. tr., 2 vols. Paris. 1905); Batiffol, The Roman Breviary (tr. London, 1903 I ; Schrod, in Kirchenleri- kon. VII, 51; Gaudot, he Breviaire romain (Paris, 1907, 168- 181); BRADSHAW. in Diet. Christ. Antiq.. s. v. Calendar; Thal- hofer, Litirgik (Freiburg, 1896); Plunket, Ancient Calendars and Constellations (London, 1903).

On Martyrologies, see Duchesne and De Rossi, in the Acta Sanctorum, Nov., II; Achelis, Die Martyrologien (Berlin, 1900): Quentin, Les martyrologes historiqucs (Paris. 1908).

On English Calendars, Hampson, Medii .t'ci Calendarium (2 vols., London, 1S57); Imelmann, Das altcnglische Menolo- gium; Herzfeld, The Old English Martryologium (Early Eng. Text Sue, London, 1S9S); Piper, A. S. Kclendanen (Berlin, 1862) ; Morris, The Calendar and Rite used by English t 'alholics in Archirolnqia .London, 18921, LII, 113-12S; BlRT, An Early Catholic Almanac, in Downside Review (December, 1907).

As a Part of Diplomatics: — Girv, Manuel de diplomatique (Paris, 1S94); Grotefend. Zeitiechnung des d. M. A. (Han- over 1891-9S1, II; Grotefend, Tasrhenbueh der Zeitrechnung (Hanover, 1905); Bond, Handy Book of Dates (London, 1876).

Calendar Illustrations: — Rieol, Die M. A. Kalendcr-illustra- lion in Mitt. d. Inst. b. inter, Geschichlsjorschung (1889 \ 1-71, Fowler. Mediirial Representations of the Months and Seasons, in Archa?ologia (London). XXIV.

The editions of early calendars and the articles upon them are too numerous for special mention.

Herbert Thurston.

Calendar, Jewish. — The first element to be con- sidered with regard to the Hebrew calendar is the Jewish Day (DV, yom). From the remotest time to the present the Israelites have computed the day from sunsetto sunset, or rather from sunset to the appear- ance of the first three stars which marked the begin- ning of a new day [Cf. Lev., xxiii, 32; 11 Esd. (Nehi m, iv, 21; etc.]. Before the Babylonian Exile the time between sunrise and sunset was divided into "morn- ing", " middav". and •'evening" (Ps. liv, 18; lick. Iv, 17); but during the stay in Babylon the Hebrews adopted the division into twelve hours (Cf. John, xi, 9), whose duration varied with the Length o) the day.

On an average, the first hour corresponded to about

ti a. in.; the third hour to 9 a. m.; the end of the sixth

to noon; while at the eleventh the day was near its rinse. Earlier than this division of the day by hours was that of the night into three watches: the firs! till midnight; the second or middle watch (cock-cjow)