Posted: Jan 06 2007 at 1:34pm | IP Logged

(a) Solemnities
A solemnity corresponds to the 'first class' of previous terminology [i.e., old calendar]. Over and above the moveable solemnities--the Blessed Trinity, Corpus Christi, the Sacred Heart, Christ the King--there are ten fixed solemnities.

(b) Feasts

A feast corresponds to the 'second class' of previous terminology. Apart from the movable feasts--the Holy Family and the Baptism of Our Lord--there are twenty-three fixed feasts.

(c) Obligatory Memorials

The word 'memorial' comes from the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy: 'The Church has also included in the annual cycle memorial days of the martyrs and other saints.' (art. 104). The Constitution itself took the wood from tradition. The Fathers and liturgical books use it frequently from the time of St. Cyprian. In the year 1915 the word was introduced in the monastic calendar to indicate a lesser class of saints' feast.

While solemnities and feasts, which occur less frequently than memorials, are fully festive days, a memorial is celebrated as the mere calling to mind of a saint on the anniversary of his death. Solemnities and feasts are exceptional days. A memorial, however, is inserted into daily liturgical life: it is a simple evocation of a great servant of God, but it becomes a source of grace because of its association with the celebration of the divine office and eucharistic sacrifice: 'that we may make progress and follow in the footsteps of the believers whose memory we recall by sharing in the sacrament' (Sangal. Sacramentary, 1032).

Memorials are either obligatory or optional. There are sixty-three obligatory memorials [as of this writing, 1969].

Solemnities, feasts, and obligatory memorials constitute that group of days which, in accordance with the prescription of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 'commemorate saints which are truly of universal importance' (art. 111).

(d) Optional Memorials

There are 95 optional memorials [as of 1973]. Since a celebrant is permitted, outside of Advent and Lent, to celebrate, in a festive way, the Mass of any saint whose name is mentioned in the Martyrology on that day...it may be asked what is the point of optional memorials. It can certainly be answered that their importance is not to be underestimated. Optional and obligatory memorials offer to the faithful's veneration some from among the multitude of saints who are proposed as examples. They added to the life of the Church and found favor with the people before others, even if this admiration sometimes arose from extrinsic factors or from what was written about them. Not a few of the optional memorials were introduced into the calendar in order to make it clear that sanctity is not confined to certain times and places. This shows the didactic and pastoral aspect of this calendar.

Optional memorials offer the chance of celebrating a a saint's day in the divine office as well as at Mass. Every memorial in the calendar is assigned a special prayer in the missal and a hagiographical reading in the breviary.

To avoid the permanent omission of the celebration of certain popular saints--such as St. Frances of Rome, St. Patrick, St. Silvester, whose days occur during Lent, permission is granted for the celebration of optional memorials even in those seasons.

Posted: Jan 06 2007 at 1:48pm | IP Logged

Can. 229 §1. Lay persons are bound by the obligation and possess the right to acquire knowledge of Christian doctrine appropriate to the capacity and condition of each in order for them to be able to live according to this doctrine, announce it themselves, defend it if necessary, and take their part in exercising the apostolate.

§2. They also possess the right to acquire that fuller knowledge of the sacred sciences which are taught in ecclesiastical universities and faculties or in institutes of religious sciences, by attending classes there and pursuing academic degrees.

§3. If the prescripts regarding the requisite suitability have been observed, they are also qualified to receive from legitimate ecclesiastical authority a mandate to teach the sacred sciences.

107. The liturgical year is to be revised so that the traditional customs and discipline of the sacred seasons shall be preserved or restored to suit the conditions of modern times. Their specific character is to be retained so that they duly nourish the piety of the faithful who celebrate the mysteries of the Christian redemption and, above all, the paschal mystery. If certain adaptations are necessary because of local conditions, they are to be made in accordance with the provisions of Articles 39 and 40.

108. The minds of the faithful should be directed primarily toward the feasts of the Lord whereby the mysteries of salvation are celebrated throughout the year. For this reason, the Proper of the Time shall be given due preference over the feasts of the saints so that the entire cycle of the mysteries of salvation may be suitably recalled.

Celebration of the paschal mystery is of supreme importance in Christian worship and the cycle of days, weeks, and the whole year unfold its meaning: this is the teaching so clearly given us by Vatican Council II. Consequently, as to both the plan of the Proper of Seasons and of Saints and the revision of the Roman Calendar it is essential that Christ's paschal mystery receive greater prominence in the reform of the liturgical year, for which the Council has given the norms.

We do not see a conflict with this theme the splendor of feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary, "who is joined by an inseparable bond to the saving work of her Son,"[10] and of memorials of the saints, which are rightly considered as the birthdays of "the martyrs and victors who lead us."[11] Indeed "the feasts of the saints proclaim the wonderful work of Christ in his servants, and display to the faithful fitting examples for their imitation."[12] Further, the Catholic Church has always firmly and securely held that the feasts of the saints proclaim and renew Christ's paschal mystery.[13]

Undeniably, however, over the course of the centuries more feasts of the saints were introduced than was necessary; therefore the Council pointed out: "Lest the feasts of the saints take precedence over the feasts commemorating the very mysteries of salvation, many of them should be left to be celebrated by a particular Church or nation or religious family; those only should be extended to the universal Church that commemorate saints of truly universal significance."[14] [Highlight in bold mine]

To put these decrees of the Council into effect, the names of some saints have been deleted from the General Calendar and permission was granted to restore the memorials and veneration of other saints in those areas with which they have been traditionally associated. The removal of certain lesser-known saints from the Roman Calendar has allowed the addition of the names of martyrs from regions where the Gospel spread later in history. In consequence, the single catalogue displays in equal dignity as representatives of all peoples those who either shed their blood for Christ or were outstanding in the heroic virtues.

Can. 1246 §1. Sunday, on which by apostolic tradition the paschal mystery is celebrated, must be observed in the universal Church as the primordial holy day of obligation. The following days must also be observed: the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Epiphany, the Ascension, the Body and Blood of Christ, Holy Mary the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her Assumption, Saint Joseph, Saint Peter and Saint Paul the Apostles, and All Saints.

§2. With the prior approval of the Apostolic See, however, the conference of bishops can suppress some of the holy days of obligation or transfer them to a Sunday.

Can. 1247 On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass.

Moreover, they are to abstain from those works and affairs which hinder the worship to be rendered to God, the joy proper to the Lord’s day, or the suitable relaxation of mind and body.

The Liturgical Year

1168 Beginning with the Easter Triduum as its source of light, the new age of the Resurrection fills the whole liturgical year with its brilliance. Gradually, on either side of this source, the year is transfigured by the liturgy. It really is a "year of the Lord's favor." 42 The economy of salvation is at work within the framework of time, but since its fulfillment in the Passover of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the culmination of history is anticipated "as a foretaste," and the kingdom of God enters into our time.

1169 Therefore Easter is not simply one feast among others, but the "Feast of feasts," the "Solemnity of solemnities," just as the Eucharist is the "Sacrament of sacraments" (the Great Sacrament). St. Athanasius calls Easter "the Great Sunday" 43 and the Eastern Churches call Holy Week "the Great Week." The mystery of the Resurrection, in which Christ crushed death, permeates with its powerful energy our old time, until all is subjected to him.

1171 In the liturgical year the various aspects of the one Paschal mystery unfold. This is also the case with the cycle of feasts surrounding the mystery of the incarnation (Annunciation, Christmas, Epiphany). They commemorate the beginning of our salvation and communicate to us the first fruits of the Paschal mystery.

The sanctoral in the liturgical year

1172 "In celebrating this annual cycle of the mysteries of Christ, Holy Church honors the Blessed Mary, Mother of God, with a special love. She is inseparably linked with the saving work of her Son. In her the Church admires and exalts the most excellent fruit of redemption and joyfully contemplates, as in a faultless image, that which she herself desires and hopes wholly to be."

1173 When the Church keeps the memorials of martyrs and other saints during the annual cycle, she proclaims the Paschal mystery in those "who have suffered and have been glorified with Christ. She proposes them to the faithful as examples who draw all men to the Father through Christ, and through their merits she begs for God's favors."

• Use Ordinary Time for more research and study of the saints, focusing more on the liturgical seasons during Advent, Christmas, Lent, Holy Week and Easter.
  
  
• If you use Halloween for dress-up as saints, have the children read lives of the saints to find a new saint to be and emulate. As a child I did this. We did "Who Am I?" so it was a challenge for us to find new saints that we could stump our family and friends.



• At the beginning of the Church year, map out what saints you are going to find out. Perhaps pick one or two saints to read biographies on through the year as a family, or personally. Besides the saints to the General Roman Calendar, plus American calendar, add the patron saints of the family, names, patrons of professions, states in life, and favorite saints of devotion, and perhaps pick a few unknown saints to study more for the year. Maria Von Trapp suggests drawing names and have devotion to the saint for the year, also choosing a saint's biography to read as spiritual reading for the year/month.



• Don't get overwhelmed with too many saints per day, particularly if it is a liturgical season or feast day that would override those saints. The Church wants us to follow her liturgically. That is the main emphasis.



• As in Popular Piety the best way to celebrate saints is with the Universal Church -- go to Mass, receive Communion. Read the readings and Collect of the day, pray the Office of Readings and Liturgy of the Hours for the next step.



• Challenge your children to be familiar with the liturgical year. It should be like you knowing everyone's birthdays and anniversaries. The saints and Christ and Mary are family members, so we remember their "Birthday" (the day they died and went to heaven is usually their feast day, known as their birthday). Have the kids know the feast days, the rankings, what to expect on these days (solemnities we pray the Gloria and Creed at Mass), the readings, the lives of the saint, symbols and patron, etc.