The yearly Ordinary Form Calendar Conundrum continues. Is the Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord the beginning of Ordinary Time or the Conclusion of Christmastide?
This is what our Book of the Gospel says:
WHAT SAY YOU?
This is what our Book of the Gospel says:
WHAT SAY YOU?
8 comments:
Let just say the such and such Sunday after Epiphany, or later in the year, like late spring and summer, the such and such Sunday after Pentecost or Trinity---"ordinary time" sounds too secular, even thought it is not meant to be.
"Shimmer: it's a floor wax -- and a dessert topping!" (Cultural reference...)
Here's why there is confusion: The calendar presupposes that Epiphany is celebrated on January 6, no matter what day that falls on and the following Sunday is the Baptism of the Lord (and the Missal says, "On the first Sunday in Ordinary Time there occurs the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord". But the UNIVERSAL NORMS ON THE LITURGICAL YEAR AND THE CALENDAR found in the front of the Missal says, "44: Ordinary Time begins on the Monday which follows the Sunday occurring after January 6 and extends up to and including the Tuesday before the beginning of Lent; it begins again on the Monday after Pentecost Sunday and ends before First Vespers (Evening Prayer I) of the First Sunday of Advent. (...)"
But, the Vatican also directed: "In places where the solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord is transferred to Sunday and it falls on the 7th or 8th of January (coinciding with the normal day for celebrating the Baptism of the Lord), in those years, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord is observed on the following Monday" (Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship, Decree Celebratio Baptismatis Domini, on the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord, 7 October 1977).
So, take your pick.
“The liturgical season of Christmas begins with the vigil Masses on Christmas Eve and concludes on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord."
The Baptism of the Lord is the conclusion (and within) the Christmas season. For liturgical chronology reasons, it is counted, but not celebrated, as the First Sunday in Ordinary Time.
This is not difficult.
The Liturgia Horarum states: “Post festum Baptismatis Domini incipit tempus per annum: vol. III”
ORDO says, "Ordinary Time begins on Monday, 13 January, and continues through Tuesday, 25 February, the day before Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of the Lenten season."
The vigil Mass of The Baptism of the Lord is the last Mass of the Christmas Season, and the morning Mass is the first mass of Ordinary Time ?
The Baptism of the Lord is a new feast, or to be accurate one that has been restored. Its importance in the Christmastide cycle of the Novus Ordo is emphasized by its celebration on a Sunday. That is, until bishops the world over started mucking about with the date of Epiphany which could see it displaced.
In 2007 the Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge held a chant weekend at Girton College (5-7 January). The liturgical focus was on the Epiphany (Sung Mass and 2nd Vespers on Saturday the 6th) and the Baptism of the Lord (Sung Mass on Sunday the 7th). Mass on both days was according to the 2002 MR, in Latin of course.
That the bishops had transferred Epiphany to the Sunday did not concern Mary Berry, the Schola's redoubtable foundress and then in her ninetieth year. 'We follow Solemnes' was her spirited riposte.
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