This is our annual posting on one of the discrepancies between the traditional arrangement of the Roman Breviary and the new rubrics of 1960; the first such discrepancy appears at Vespers on Saturday evening. This year, there is also a discrepancy between the traditional placement of the September Ember Days, and their placement according to the new rubrics.
One of the changes made to the Breviary in the revision of 1960 regards the arrangement of the months from August to November.
The first Sunday of each of these months is the day on which the Church begins to read a new set of Scriptural books at Matins, with their accompanying responsories, and Magnificat antiphons at Saturday Vespers. These readings are part of a system which goes back to the sixth century: in August, the books of Wisdom are read; in September, Job, Tobias, Judith and Esther; in October the books of the Macchabees; in November, Ezechiel, Daniel, and the twelve minor Prophets. (September is actually divided into two sets of readings, Job having a different set of responsories from the other three books.)
The “first Sunday” of each of these months is traditionally that which occurs closest to the first calendar day of the month, even if that day occurs within the end of the previous month. This year, for example, the first Sunday “of September” is actually August 29th, the Sunday closest to the first day of September.
In the 1960 revision, however, the first Sunday of the months from August to November is always that which occurs first within the calendar month. According to this system, the first Sunday of September is the 5th this year.
This change also accounts for one of the peculiarities of the 1960 Breviary, the fact that November has four weeks, which are called the First, Third, Fourth and Fifth. According to the older calculation, November has five weeks when the 5th of the month is a Sunday. (This is also the arrangement that has the shortest possible Advent of three weeks and one day.) According to the newer calculation, November may have three or four weeks, but never five. In order to accommodate the new system, one of the weeks had to be removed; the second week of November was chosen, to maintain the tradition that at least a bit of each of the Prophets would continue to be read in the Breviary.
The Sundays for the rest of the liturgical year, according to the traditional system:
August 29 – the 1st Sunday of September (XIV after Pentecost)
September 5 – the 2nd Sunday of September (XV after Pentecost)
September 12 – the 3rd Sunday of September (XVI after Pentecost; Ember week)
September 19 – the 4th Sunday of September (XVII after Pentecost)
September 26 – the 5th Sunday of September (XVIII after Pentecost)
October 3 – the 1st Sunday of October (XIX after Pentecost)
October 10 – the 2nd Sunday of October (XX after Pentecost)
October 17 – the 3rd Sunday of October (XXI after Pentecost)
October 24 – the 4th Sunday of October (XXII after Pentecost)
October 31 – the 1st Sunday of November (XXIII after Pentecost, commemorated on the feast of Christ the King)The first Sunday of each of these months is the day on which the Church begins to read a new set of Scriptural books at Matins, with their accompanying responsories, and Magnificat antiphons at Saturday Vespers. These readings are part of a system which goes back to the sixth century: in August, the books of Wisdom are read; in September, Job, Tobias, Judith and Esther; in October the books of the Macchabees; in November, Ezechiel, Daniel, and the twelve minor Prophets. (September is actually divided into two sets of readings, Job having a different set of responsories from the other three books.)
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| Folio 98v of the antiphonary of Compiègne, 860-77 AD. At the top of the page are three antiphons taken from the book of Job for Saturday Vespers, the first and second of which (Cum audisset Job and In omnibus his) are found in the Breviary of St Pius V and subsequent revisions thereof. These are followed by responsories and antiphons from the book of Tobias, and responsories from the book of Judith. (Bibliothèque nationale de France. Département des Manuscrits. Latin 17436) |
In the 1960 revision, however, the first Sunday of the months from August to November is always that which occurs first within the calendar month. According to this system, the first Sunday of September is the 5th this year.
This change also accounts for one of the peculiarities of the 1960 Breviary, the fact that November has four weeks, which are called the First, Third, Fourth and Fifth. According to the older calculation, November has five weeks when the 5th of the month is a Sunday. (This is also the arrangement that has the shortest possible Advent of three weeks and one day.) According to the newer calculation, November may have three or four weeks, but never five. In order to accommodate the new system, one of the weeks had to be removed; the second week of November was chosen, to maintain the tradition that at least a bit of each of the Prophets would continue to be read in the Breviary.
The Sundays for the rest of the liturgical year, according to the traditional system:
August 29 – the 1st Sunday of September (XIV after Pentecost)
September 5 – the 2nd Sunday of September (XV after Pentecost)
September 12 – the 3rd Sunday of September (XVI after Pentecost; Ember week)
September 19 – the 4th Sunday of September (XVII after Pentecost)
September 26 – the 5th Sunday of September (XVIII after Pentecost)
October 3 – the 1st Sunday of October (XIX after Pentecost)
October 10 – the 2nd Sunday of October (XX after Pentecost)
October 17 – the 3rd Sunday of October (XXI after Pentecost)
October 24 – the 4th Sunday of October (XXII after Pentecost)
November 7 – the 3rd Sunday of November (V after Epiphany, resumed) November 14 – the 4th Sunday of November (VI after Epiphany, resumed)
November 21 – the 5th Sunday of November (XXIV and last after Pentecost)
The Sundays for the rest of the liturgical year, according to the 1960 system:
August 29 – the 5th Sunday of August (XIV after Pentecost)
September 5 – the 1st Sunday of September (XV after Pentecost)
September 12 – the 2nd Sunday of September (XVI after Pentecost)
September 19 – the 3rd Sunday of September (XVII after Pentecost; Ember week)
September 26 – the 4th Sunday of September (XVIII after Pentecost)
October 3 – the 1st Sunday of October (XIX after Pentecost)
October 10 – the 2nd Sunday of October (XX after Pentecost)
October 17 – the 3rd Sunday of October (XXI after Pentecost)
October 24 – the 4th Sunday of October (XXII after Pentecost)October 31– the 5th Sunday of October (XXIII after Pentecost, omitted on the feast of Christ the King)
November 7 – the 1st Sunday of November (V after Epiphany, resumed)
November 14 – the 4th Sunday of November (VI after Epiphany, resumed)
November 21 – the 5th Sunday of November (XXIV and last after Pentecost)
The calculation of the Sundays after Pentecost also calls for a note here. (The discrepancies between the Missals of St Pius V and St John XXIII are very slight in this regard, and have no bearing on the end of this year.)
The number of Sundays “after Pentecost” assigned to the Missal is 24, but the actual number varies between 23 and 28. The “24th” is always celebrated on the last Sunday before Advent. If there are more than 24, the gap between the 23rd and 24th is filled with the Sundays after Epiphany that had no place at the beginning of the year. The prayers and readings of those Sundays are inserted into the Mass of the 23rd Sunday (i.e., the set of Gregorian propers.) The Breviary homily on the Sunday Gospel and the concomitant antiphons of the Benedictus and Magnificat also carry over in the Office. This year, therefore, on November 7th, the Mass is that of the V Sunday after Epiphany resumed, and on November 14th, that of the VI Sunday after Epiphany resumed.
If this all seems a little complicated, bear in mind that the oldest arrangement of the Mass lectionary that we know of was even more so. The oldest lectionary of the Roman Rite, a manuscript now in Wurzburg, Germany, dates to ca. 700, and represents the system used at Rome about 50 years earlier. It has a very disorganized and incomplete set of readings for the period after Pentecost; the Sundays are counted as 2 after Pentecost, 7 after Ss Peter and Paul, 5 after St Lawrence, and 6 after St Cyprian, a total of only 20. There are also ten Sundays after Epiphany, even though Septuagesima is also noted in the manuscript, and the largest number of Sundays that can occur between Epiphany and Septuagesima is only six.
