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Thursday, December 19, 2019

DID YOU GET A CHRISTMAS CARD FROM YOUR PASTOR?



6 comments:

Marc said...

No, but I did get one from the SSPX US District Superior. And there's an open house at the District House this Sunday that we'll probably try to go to.

Fr Martin Fox said...

Dear Father:

"AD" properly goes before the numeral.

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

Fr. Fox you are right! My bad!

AD or A.D. is short for Anno Domini (which, in Latin, translates to in the year of Lord). It refers to the year in which Jesus was born. I personally prefer writing A.D. over AD.

There are two ways of using A.D. —

A.D. comes before a year : When you mention an exact year you use the A.D. before the year.

Siddharth is writing this answer in A.D. 2016.

Pigs flew in the year A.D. 2008.

2. A.D. comes after a century or a millennium : When you are referring to a century of a millennium, you use the A.D. after it.

We are currently in the 21st century A.D.

rcg said...

My bishop asked me to AD to the 1099.

Fr Martin Fox said...

Dear Father:

Thanks for the gracious response, I hope I do not seem ungracious if I offer further commentary.

I was taught not to use "A.D." in the second way you mention. Rather, when one speaks of a century, it is, "the 21st century of the Christian era." If that seems to politically incorrect, then "...in the common era" will work.

But in any case, "A.D." is not used in that fashion, precisely because of what it means: "in the year of our Lord." Using it that way obscures what the abbreviation means.

John Nolan said...

Actually, there is no need to qualify centuries of the Christian era. If I talk about the first century it refers to the years AD 1 to AD 100. If I meant to refer to the century before this, I would qualify this (and previous centuries) with the letters BC.