Honor the Forgotten (Former) 36 Holy Days of Obligation

The Land Without Holy Days

“…So also, from the earliest ages, the Christian Church instituted and religiously solemnized various feasts, differing in different countries, and varying according to times and circumstances, principally intended to keep in grateful and loving memory the chief mysteries of our Blessed Saviour's life, the glories and prerogatives of His Immaculate Mother, the example and heroic sanctity of the saints. . . . Blessed festivals, they are green, refreshing oases in the desert of our dreary, plodding life, and not a doubt, but they tend materially to keep alive the spirit of piety." 

With these words, Bishop Stephen Ryan of Buffalo addressed the bishops and theologians who had crowded into the former Cathedral in Baltimore. The occasion was the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, which began in late 1884. The Council Fathers set to address a number of issues affecting Catholic life in the United States which had reached its then-disjointed arrangement through the acquisition of various terrorities each with their own customs and ecceslestical laws. Unbeknowst to many, days of fasting and abstinence in addition to holy days of obligation varied widely in what constituted the United States of America due to these historical differences. Could uniformity be obtained even though prior attempts to do so had failed? And in hindsight, should uniformity – at least in the manner sought – have even been attempted?

The history of America’s holy days of obligation highlights a complex network of unique customs, varied cultural traditions, and an overarching lack of fervor over time. In an era with so few Holy Days of Obligation, what have we lost? And should this be remedied? And what can this teach modern Catholics?

Holy Days of Obligation Over Time

In 1911, Pope St. Pius X reduced the number of Holy Days of Obligation from 36 to 8, although which places observed the holy days were not uniform at all beforehand.  Shortly thereafter, the 1917 Code of Canon Law increased the number to 10 by adding back Corpus Christi and Ss. Joseph. Those ten on the Universal Calendar have remained the same ever since.

However, the Holy Days up until 1911 reveal something quite interesting as all of the feasts of the Apostles were Holy Days of Obligation on the Universal Calendar as were many other days like St. Anne, the May 3rd Feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross, and so many other days which are now forgotten. The feasts of the Apostles were raised to public holidays back in 932 AD as Father Weiser relates (p. 279), for instance.

The 36 Holy Days of Obligation on the Universal Calendar back in 1642 under Pope Urban VIII included:

1. Nativity of our Lord
2. Circumcision of our Lord
3. Epiphany of the Lord
4. Monday within the Octave of the Resurrection
5. Tuesday within the Octave of the Resurrection
6. Ascension
7. Monday within the Octave of Pentecost
8. Tuesday within the Octave of Pentecost
9. Most Holy Trinity
10. Most Holy Body of Christ
11. Finding of the Holy Cross
12. Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary
13. Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
14. Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
15. Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
16. Dedication of St. Michael
17. Nativity of St. John Baptist
18. Ss. Peter and Paul
19. St. Andrew
20. St. James
21. St. John (the December feastday)
22. St. Thomas
23. Ss. Philip and James
24. St. Bartholomew
25. St. Matthew
26. Ss. Simon and Jude
27. St. Matthias
28. St. Stephen (the December feastday)
29. The Holy Innocents
30. St. Lawrence
31. St. Sylvester
32. St. Joseph
33. St. Anne
34. All Saints Day
35. The Principle Patrons of One’s Country, City, etc.

The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary was added in 1708 so it not on 1642 list.

In times past there was also a distinction made of days of double versus single precept. Days of double precept required both hearing Mass and refraining from servile works, whereas days of single precept were working holy days permitting work but still requiring Mass attendance.

Consequently, the number of Holy Days of Obligation in the United States as of the Second Vatican Council had already been significantly reduced from their previous state. Holy Days of Obligation, which had remained the same in the United States since 1917, were further modified in the latter part of the 20th century.  On December 13, 1991, the United States Bishops issued a directive further abrogating New Years Day (the Circumcision of our Lord), the Assumption, or All Saints in years when the feast falls on a Saturday or a Monday. And on March 23, 1992, in another reduction, the Bishop of Honolulu obtained an indult from the Holy See and approval from the United States episcopal conference to reduce the Holy Days of Obligation to only Christmas and the Immaculate Conception. 

Holy Days of Obligation Before 1900

Published in 1886, the eleventh volume of the American Catholic Quarterly Review offers an insightful series of reflections on Holy Days with a call for us to observe these as our forefathers in the Faith gladly did:

"The Church by one of her positive commandments requires the faithful to sanctify certain holydays in the year by taking part in the offering of the great sacrifice of the Mass and by abstaining from servile works... In the days of faith and fervor not only were the great festivals prescribed by the Church, those associated with the life of our Lord and His Blessed Mother, those intimately connected with the work of redemption, and the feasts of the holy apostles by whose ministry the Church was established and the channels of grace led through the world - not only were these kept reverently but the patronal feast of each country, diocese, and church, the days of the most famous local saints were similarly honored. The devotion was general, and whoso refused to lay aside his implements of trade or traffic on their days was so condemned by public opinion that custom made the law.” 

Interestingly, because the Church enjoined on the Faithful both the obligation to hear Mass and the necessity to refrain from servile work, the number of holy days, which included Sundays, was significant. Some people began to revolt against the Church claiming that these practices only increased poverty. But as the Journal notes, an interesting phenomenon occurred:

"Protestantism therefore at once swept away all the holydays and Christmas remained almost alone to represent the Church calendar, and the Puritans even punished those who kept Christmas. With men working all the year round except on Sunday, wealth was to be general, the poor would thrive and prosper and be happy and contented, no longer lured from great and ennobling labor by being called away every week to idle some days in church and prayer. It was again unfortunate that this excellent theory did not work well. The poor seemed to grow actually poorer with all these days of labor than they had been before." 

The first catalog of Holy Days comes from the Decree of Gratian in c. 1150 AD, which shortly thereafter gave way to Decretals of Pope Gregory IX in 1234, which listed 45 Holy Days. As the Catholic Encyclopedia summarizes regarding this period:

“The Decree of Gratian (about 1150) mentions forty-one feasts besides the diocesan patronal celebrations; the Decretals of Gregory IX (about 1233) mention forty-five public feasts and Holy Days, which means eighty-five days when no work could be done and ninety-five days when no court sessions could be held. In many provinces eight days after Easter, in some also the week after Pentecost (or at least four days), had the sabbath rest. From the thirteenth to the eighteenth century there were dioceses in which the Holy Days and Sundays amounted to over one hundred, not counting the feasts of particular monasteries and churches. In the Byzantine empire there were sixty-six entire Holy Days (Constitution of Manuel Comnenus, in 1166), exclusive of Sundays, and twenty-seven half Holy Days. In the fifteenth century, Gerson, Nicolas de Clémanges and others protested against the multiplication of feasts, as an oppression of the poor, and proximate occasions of excesses. The long needed reduction of feast days was made by Urban VIII (Universa per orbem, 13 Sept., 1642).” 

In 1642, His Holiness Pope Urban VIII issued the papal bull Universa Per Orbem which mandated the required Holy Days of Obligation for the Universal Church to consist of 34 days as well as the principal patrons of one's one locality (e.g. city and country). Ultimately Universa Per Orbem helped bring more uniformity to the Church since some parts of the Catholic world observed even more holy days of double precept (i.e. mandatory attendance at Mass and rest from servile work). The previous list of Holy Days of Obligation found in the Decretals also included Holy Monday through Holy Saturday in addition to Easter Wednesday through Easter Saturday.  These days had ceased being Holy Days by 1642. 

Holy Days in Young America

After the American Revolution, the Catholics in the 13 colonies that constituted the new United States of America were under the jurisdiction of the Apostolic Vicariate of the London District until the Diocese of Baltimore was established on November 6, 1789. This included the area of Maine that previously had been part of Quebec.

The first major change to the holy days of Americans came about through the lands purchased in 1803 from France in the Louisiana Purchase. Owing to the persecution of Catholics in France after the French Revolution, Pope Pius VII on April 5, 1802, reduced the holy days of obligation for Catholics in France to only Christmas, Ascension, Assumption, and the Feast of All Saints. Spain, which was in possession of the Louisiana territory since 1763, agreed in 1801 to cede it back to Napoleon. Before even getting possession of the territory, he sold it to the United States in 1803. What is particularly interesting is that the Catholics of Louisiana – whose territory includes areas in modern-day Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, and Nebraska – adopted the reduced holy days granted to France in 1802.

A Divergence of Holy Days in the 1800s

As America expanded, there was a divergence in the days of precept. When Florida was purchased by the United States in 1821, its old holy days were maintained. And the same likewise occurred in the Texas territory when it was acquired by the United States in 1845. And this trend continued as America expanded westward as the American Catholic Quarterly Review observes:

"In the Second Plenary Council [of Baltimore] in 1866 the feast of the Immaculate Conception was made of obligation as it had been in Oregon, where the feast of St Peter and St Paul had retained its place with the Monday after Easter and Whit Sunday, St John the Baptist, Candlemas, and St Stephen. Pope Gregory XVI in 1837 dispensed all the dioceses then in the United States from the obligation as to Easter Monday and Whitsun Monday and in 1840 from that of the feast of St Peter and St Paul..." 

Uniformity of American Holy Days Established in 1885 

By the time of the Civil War, considerable changes had occurred to these holy days. It was not until the Third Plenary Council that uniformly was achieved, though at the cost of reducing the holy days observed by many Catholics in the New World as the Review laments:

"The effort to induce faithful to a more exact observance of holydays of obligation or least so far as hearing mass was concerned had not been successful. A general indifference prevailed. When zealous priests, to give servants and mechanics every opportunity to fulfil the obligation, had Mass celebrated at an early hour to permit them to attend it proceeding to their usual work, it was found that almost the persons to avail themselves of the opportunity would be a pious old women, while those of the very class for whose the Mass was thus offered were scarcely represented by a straggling individuals.

"The Fathers of the Council renewed their petition to the See and His Holiness Pope Leo XIII on the 31st of December 1885 transferred the solemnization of Corpus Christi to the Sunday following the feast and made the holydays of obligation in all of the United States to be thenceforward: The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, Christmas Day, the feast of Circumcision, Ascension Day, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, and the feast of All Saints. ” 

The Epiphany and Annunciation were no longer a Holy Day of Obligation in the United States – joining Easter Monday, Pentecost Monday, and St. Peter and Paul as working days. For even more history on how Holy Days of Obligation - and fasting days - changed in the New World before and after America's Foundation, see A History of Holy Days of Obligation & Fasting for American Catholics.

How Should Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation be Sanctified?

The Third Commandment commands us to “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” In its fulfillment under the New Law, this commandment obliges Catholics to sanctify Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation by participating in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and by refraining from servile work. The Catechism of the Council of Trent affirms that this is not merely a recommendation—it is a divine precept.

The Church further clarifies that all Sundays and all current Holy Days of Obligation are binding under pain of mortal sin. To deliberately skip Mass on such a day without a grave reason—such as serious illness or the inability to reasonably travel to Mass—is a mortal sin. And if a Catholic is unable to attend Mass for a legitimate reason, they should still sanctify the day as best they can: by reading the Missal, meditating on the day’s readings and prayers, and uniting themselves spiritually to the liturgy.

Sunday, moreover, is not only a day of rest and obligatory worship but a day for deeper immersion in the Faith. Traditionally, Catholics observed Sunday by attending Vespers or Benediction, praying the Rosary communally, engaging in spiritual reading, and avoiding unnecessary commerce or entertainment. It is a day to spend in quiet joy, family togetherness, and devotion. The faithful should use Sunday to read Catholic books, periodicals, and Scripture, to practice works of mercy, and to grow in virtue. See the article Top 10 Sunday Activities for Catholics for more.

Make a special effort to attend Mass on all of the former Holy Days of Obligation, if possible. While the current Holy Days of Obligation must still be observed under pain of sin, we should cultivate a desire to attend Mass frequently — even daily. The former Holy Days, though no longer obligatory, remain excellent occasions to rearrange your schedule and give special honor to God through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

With so many holy days reduced, and with priests largely not preaching on the necessity of attending Mass and of abstaining from servile works on them, the faithful have lost the sense of the sacred. Yet, as more Catholic seek to rediscover the Traditional Latin Mass and traditional fasting, voluntarily attending the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and abstaining from servile works on the former Holy Days of Obligation can help us sanctify time and hold dear to what our forefathers saw, in the words of Bishop Stephen Ryan, as “refreshing oases in the desert of our dreary, plodding life.”

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Is Friday Abstinence Required When All Saints Day Falls on a Friday?

All Saints As A Holy Day of Obligation

The first catalog of Holy Days comes from the Decree of Gratian in c. 1150 AD, which shortly thereafter gave way to Decretals of Pope Gregory IX in 1234, which listed 45 Holy Days.

In 1642, His Holiness Pope Urban VIII issued the papal bull Universa Per Orbem which mandated the required Holy Days of Obligation for the Universal Church to consist of 34 days as well as the principal patrons of one's one locality (e.g. city and country). Those days were the Nativity of Our Lord, the Circumcision of Our Lord, the Epiphany of Our Lord, Monday within the Octave of the Resurrection, Tuesday within the Octave of the Resurrection, Ascension Thursday, Monday within the Octave of Pentecost, Tuesday within the Octave of Pentecost, Most Holy Trinity, Corpus Christi, the Finding of the Holy Cross, the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Dedication of St. Michael, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, St. Andrew, St. James, St. John (the December feast day), St. Thomas, SS. Philip and James, St. Bartholomew, St. Matthew, SS. Simon and Jude, St. Matthias, St. Stephen the First Martyr (the December feast day), the Holy Innocents, St. Lawrence, St. Sylvester, St. Joseph, St. Anne, and All Saints.  

The Catholic Encyclopedia provides a short account of the history of All Saints Day:

In the early days the Christians were accustomed to solemnize the anniversary of a martyr's death for Christ at the place of martyrdom. In the fourth century, neighbouring dioceses began to interchange feasts, to transfer relics, to divide them, and to join in a common feast; as is shown by the invitation of St. Basil of Caesarea (379) to the bishops of the province of Pontus. Frequently groups of martyrs suffered on the same day, which naturally led to a joint commemoration. In the persecution of Diocletian the number of martyrs became so great that a separate day could not be assigned to each. But the Church, feeling that every martyr should be venerated, appointed a common day for all. The first trace of this we find in Antioch on the Sunday after Pentecost. We also find mention of a common day in a sermon of St. Ephrem the Syrian (373), and in the 74th homily of St. John Chrysostom (407). At first only martyrs and St. John the Baptist were honoured by a special day. Other saints were added gradually, and increased in number when a regular process of canonization was established; still, as early as 411 there is in the Chaldean Calendar a "Commemoratio Confessorum" for the Friday after Easter. In the West Boniface IV, 13 May, 609, or 610, consecrated the Pantheon in Rome to the Blessed Virgin and all the martyrs, ordering an anniversary. Gregory III (731-741) consecrated a chapel in the Basilica of St. Peter to all the saints and fixed the anniversary for 1 November. A basilica of the Apostles already existed in Rome, and its dedication was annually remembered on 1 May. Gregory IV (827-844) extended the celebration on 1 November to the entire Church. The vigil seems to have been held as early as the feast itself. The octave was added by Sixtus IV (1471-84).

Is Friday Abstinence Required When the All Saints Falls on a Friday?

Since November 1st this year falls on a Friday and is a Holy Day of Obligation, a question arises on whether abstinence is obligatory this Friday. The answer, as clearly stated in the 1917 Code, is as follows:

"On [Sundays] or feasts of precept, the law of abstinence or of abstinence and fast or of fast only ceases, except during Lent, nor is the vigil anticipated; likewise it ceases on Holy [Saturday] afternoon" (1917 Code, Canon 1252 § 4). [Translation taken from THE 1917 OR PIO-BENEDICTINE CODE OF CANON LAW in English Translation by Dr. Edward Peters]

As All Saints Day falls outside of Lent, tomorrow is not a day of mandatory abstinence. However, this was actually a change from the practice observed for well over 1,000 years.

Dispensations From Abstinence Were Previously Required Even for Holy Days of Obligation Outside of Lent

Even Christmas would in and of itself not dispense Friday abstinence in the Medieval Church, as Dom Gueranger writes in the Liturgical Year published in 1886:

"To encourage her children in their Christmas joy, the Church has dispensed with the law of abstinence, if this Feast fall on a Friday. This dispensation was granted by Pope Honorius III, who ascended the Papal Throne in 1216. It is true that we find it mentioned by Pope St Nicholas I, in the ninth century; but the dispensation was not universal; for the Pontiff is replying to the consultations of the Bulgarians, to whom he concedes this indulgence, in order to encourage them to celebrate these Feasts with solemnity and joy: Christmas Day, St Stephen, St John the Evangelist, the Epiphany, the Assumption of our Lady, St John the Baptist, and SS Peter and Paul. When the dispensation for Christmas Day was extended to the whole Church, these other Feasts were not mentioned."

Previously, a dispensation was required by the Holy Father even on Holy Days of Obligation that fell outside of Lent. Two examples indicating this are Pope Leo XIII's 1890 dispensation for Assumption Day and a 1907 dispensation issued for Canada for All Saints Day. All Saints Day was, at that time, a Holy Day of Obligation in Canada.

The Catholic Encyclopedia on St. Pius X's Supremi disciplinæ indicates that fasting was abolished eo ipso only starting in 1911 for all Holy Days of Obligation outside of Lent (which were at the same time reduced to only 8): "The present Motu Proprio institutes another important change in legislation. As feasting and fasting are incompatible, Pius X has abolished the obligation of fasting as well as that of abstinence for the Universal Church, should such obligation coincide with any of the eight feasts, as above." 

Thus, while eating meat this Friday is not a sin, it would be meritorious to continue to observe Friday abstinence in honor of the nearly 1,800 year-old tradition that preceded the 1917 Code. If we choose to do so, let us offer it up through our Lady's intercession for the conversion of sinners who violate the laws of the Church and do not attend Holy Mass on days of precept like All Saints Day.

Want to learn more about the history of fasting and abstinence? Check out the Definitive Guide to Catholic Fasting and Abstinence.

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A Catholic Life Podcast: Episode 11

In today’s episode, on the 3rd Sunday after Easter, I would like to go over a few things:

1. How the 1962 Calendar Is Not Traditional in the First Week of May: Honoring the Forgotten Feasts of St. John, Ss. Philip and James, and the Finding of the Holy Cross. 
2. Understanding the Forgotten Eastertide Feast of St. Joseph with its Octave, which preceded the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker
3. The Spirituality of May in Honor of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary

I would like to thank CatechismClass.com for sponsoring this episode.  CatechismClass.com, the leader in online Catholic catechism classes, has everything from online K-12 programs, RCIA classes, adult continuing education, marriage preparation, baptism preparation, confirmation prep, quince prep classes, catechist training courses, and much more. They have a wonderful 10-part course on Mariology available for only $29.95.

Subscribe to the podcast on Buzzsprout, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, I-tunes, and many other platforms!

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Fasting and Penance Is Not Prohibited in Pascaltide

The total length of Paschaltide (i.e., the Easter Season) from Easter Sunday to the end of Whitsuntide is 56 days inclusive. In this way, Holy Mother Church shows us the joy of Easter has eclipsed the time of penance of Lent. Yet even in this time of joy, some penance is obligatory and even mandatory by Church Law. Thus, even in times of joy, we can and should continue to offer up fasting and abstinence for the good of souls.

Year-Round Friday Abstinence Is Required (Not Just in Lent!)

As Catholics, we are still bound to either abstain from meat or rather to do some act of penance each Friday of the entire year. Abstinence should always be what we choose to do since this underscored Christian culture for nearly 2,000 years since mandatory Friday abstinence went back to the time of the Apostles. As such, the 1983 Code of Canon Law decrees:

Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Thus, even some penance is mandatory during the Easter Season.

Rogationtide Is A Time of Penance in Eastertide

Virtually forgotten by all Catholics is the important practice of Rogationtide, which falls during Pascaltide as well.

The Major Rogation Day is on April 25th, which is coincidentally the Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist. Should it happen that the feast of St. Mark the Evangelist is transferred to another day (e.g., when a day in the Octave of Easter falls on April 25th), the Rogation procession is held nevertheless on April 25th, unless the feast falls on Easter Sunday or Monday, in which case the procession is transferred to Easter Tuesday. The Minor Rogation Days are the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday preceding Ascension Thursday. Hence, the date of the Minor Rogation Days varies.

In 2020, Dom Alcuin Reid gave a monastic conference on the Minor Rogation Days where he said in part:

Their observance is now similar in format to the Greater Litanies of April 25th, but these three days have a different origin, having been instituted in Gaul in the fifth century as days of fasting, abstinence and abstention from servile work in which all took part in an extensive penitential procession, often barefoot. The procession and litanies only found a place in the Roman liturgy much later (around the beginning of the ninth century) and even then purely as days of rogation – of intercession – rather than as ones of fasting and penance; the latter being deemed incompatible with the nature of Eastertide.

He continued:

Indeed, this ancient tradition itself is now widely lost in the West. How many Catholics understand what is meant by the greater or lesser litanies, or by the expression “the Rogations” – clergy included? 

... 

Dom Guéranger himself lamented the lack of appreciation of the Rogations in his own day: “If we compare the indifference shown by the Catholics of the present age for the Rogation days, with the devotion wherewith our ancestors kept them, we cannot but acknowledge that there has been a great falling off in faith and piety. Knowing, as we do, the great importance attached to these processions by the Church, we cannot help wondering how it is that there are so few among the faithful who assist at them. Our surprise increases when we find persons preferring their own private devotions to these public prayers of the Church, which, to say nothing of the result of good example, merit far greater graces than any exercises of our own choosing.”

The Minor Rogation Days go back to 470 AD when Bishop Mamertus of Vienne in Gaul instituted an annual observance of penance on the three days immediately before the Feast of the Ascension. He prescribed litanies in the form of processions for all three days. Thereafter they spread to the Frankish part of France in 511, to Spain in the 6th century, and to the German part of the Frankish empire in 813.  In 816, Pope Leo III incorporated the lesser litanies into the Roman Liturgy, and during the subsequent centuries, the custom of holding these litanies was customary for each year.

Is Penance Unbefitting for the Pascal Season?

Dom Guéranger, the great liturgist and Church historian who lived around the end of the 1800s, answers this question which many liturgically-minded Catholics ask: 

The question naturally presents itself, why did St. Gregory choose the 25th of April for a Procession and Station, in which everything reminds us of compunction and penance, and which would seem so out of keeping with the joyous Season of Easter? 

The first to give a satisfactory answer to this difficulty, was Canon Moretti, a learned Liturgiologist of last century. In a dissertation of great erudition, he proves that in the 5th, and probably even in the 4th, century, the 25th of April was observed at Rome as a day of great solemnity. The Faithful went, on that day, to the Basilica of St. Peter, in order to celebrate the anniversary of the first entrance of the Prince of the Apostles into Rome, upon which he thus conferred the inalienable privilege of being the Capital of Christendom. It is from that day that we count the twenty-five years, two months and some days that St. Peter reigned as Bishop of Rome. The Sacramentary of St. Leo gives us the Mass of this Solemnity, which afterwards ceased to be kept. St. Gregory, to whom we are mainly indebted for the arrangement of the Roman Liturgy, was anxious to perpetuate the memory of a day, which gave to Rome her grandest glory. He, therefore, ordained that the Church of St. Peter should be the Station of the Great Litany, which was always to be celebrated on that auspicious day. The 25th of April comes so frequently during the Octave of Easter, that it could not be kept as a Feast, properly so called, in honor of St. Peter's entrance into Rome; St. Gregory, therefore, adopted the only means left of commemorating the great event.

Hence from ancient times the Church kept these days as days of supplication. And even if fasting, the hallmark of Lent, would be ill-suited for Pascaltide, abstinence is still permitted and even obligatory in the Pascal Season. In former times, Rome enjoined abstinence from meat on the faithful during Rogationtide. Other places, however, such as the Churches in Gaul where Rogation Days originated, required fasting. Dom Guéranger testifies unknown custom to this:

A day, then, like this, of reparation to God’s offended majesty, would naturally suggest the necessity of joining some exterior penance to the interior dispositions of contrition which filled the hearts of Christians. Abstinence from flesh meat has always been observed on this day at Rome; and when the Roman Liturgy was established in France by Pepin and Charlemagne, the Great Litany of April 25 was, of course, celebrated, and the abstinence kept by the faithful of that country. A Council of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 836, enjoined the additional obligation of resting from servile work on this day: the same enactment is found in the Capitularia of Charles the Bald. As regards fasting, properly so-called, being contrary to the spirit of Paschal Time, it would seem never to have been observed on this day, at least not generally. Amalarius, who lived in the ninth century, asserts that it was not then practiced even in Rome.

Fasting was championed as well by St. Charles Borromeo in Milan, although Rome has never obligated fasting during the Pascal Season. Fasting during the Pascal Season, though is not a sin, just as almsgiving and prayer, the other Lenten pillars, are certainly praiseworthy during Pascaltide.

May we continue to incorporate some of our Lenten practices going forward and offer them in joy for the conversion of sinners and the exaltation of Holy Mother Church. And chief among our weapons to conquer demons and concupiscence is fasting.

Want to learn more about the history of fasting and abstinence? Check out the Definitive Guide to Catholic Fasting and Abstinence.

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Abstinence Is Obligatory on Friday in the Octave of Christmas

As Catholics, we are still bound to abstain from meat each Friday of the entire year, not just in Lent. This is required during the season of Christmas - even on Friday in the Octave of Christmas.

The 1917 Code of Canon Law stipulated that the requirement to abstain from meat (i.e., Friday penance) was required each and every Friday of the year unless that particular Friday was a Holy Day of Obligation:

 "On [Sundays] or feasts of precept, the law of abstinence or of abstinence and fast or of fast only ceases, except during Lent, nor is the vigil anticipated; likewise it ceases on Holy [Saturday] afternoon" (1917 Code, Canon 1252 § 4). [Translation taken from THE 1917 OR PIO-BENEDICTINE CODE OF CANON LAW in English Translation by Dr. Edward Peters]

Friday in the Octave of Christmas is not a feast of precept (i.e., a Holy Day of Obligation), nor is any Friday in the Christmas Season. The 1917 Code of Canon Law outlined the rules of fasting and abstinence in Canons 1250-1254.

The 1983 Code and the myriad of weakening dispensations offered between 1917 and the present have led to a continual decline in penance and devotion. Due to the errors and ambiguities in the 1983 Code, it must be rejected, and the older Code must be used. One of these errors is the unprecedented novelty of solemnities like Easter Friday breaking the immemorial tradition of Friday abstinence. Yet even in the modernized 1983 Code, Friday in the Octave of Christmas is not a "Solemnity," and even by the 1983 standards, is thus still a required day of abstinence from meat.

Let us not be so keen to forget our Lord's sacrifice on the Cross. Pray and do penance on this and all Fridays.

Want to learn more about the history of fasting and abstinence? Check out the Definitive Guide to Catholic Fasting and Abstinence.

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Octave Day of the Ascension of our Lord

Today according to the pre-1955 changes under Pope Pius XII is the Octave Day of the Ascension.

Ascentiontide lasts for 10 days and is part of the Pascal Season. The first nine days of Ascensiontide include the traditional Octave of the Ascension. The last day of Ascentiontide is the Vigil of Pentecost. Pentecost Sunday, which has its own octave, follows. Trinity Sunday, the Sunday after Pentecost, officially begins the Season After Pentecost. The total length of Paschaltide, from Easter Sunday to the end of Whitsuntide is 56 days (inclusively). 

For this season of Ascensiontide, Catholics are welcomed and encouraged to immerse themselves in the devotions appropriate for the season.  For example, during this season, there are special prayers for the time between Ascension and Pentecost.

Before the changes of Pope Pius XII in 1955, there was a liturgical octave for the Ascension, and remnants of the octave can be found in the Office as it now stands.  The appropriate texts for the minor hours (except for the collects) are set out in the psalter. For the collects, Lauds and Vespers however, you need to keep your ribbon on the page for the Ordinary of Ascensiontide. The key points to note are set out via Saints will Arise.

The Mass Propers for this Octave of the Ascension are the same as on the Feast of the Ascension itself with White vestments, the Gloria, the Paschal Alleluia, the Credo, the Preface of the Ascension and the Proper Communicantes for the Ascension in the Canon. You may find them in a pre-1955 Missal such as the Saint Andrew Daily Missal and the Marian Missal from 1945.

History of Octaves

While the Novus Ordo calendar unfortunately only has 2 octaves, traditional Catholics will be familiar with the idea of multiple overlapping Octaves.  The practice of celebrating an Octave, while not only traced to the time spent by the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary awaiting the Paraclete, also has its origins in the Old Testament eight-day celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:36) and the Dedication of the Temple (2 Chronicles 7:9). Very truly, Christ did not come to abolish the Old Law but to fulfill it.

By the 8th century, Rome had developed liturgical octaves not only for Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas, but also for the Epiphany and the feast of the dedication of a church.

After 1568, when Pope Pius V reduced the number of octaves (since they had grown considerably), the number of Octaves was still plentiful.  Octaves were classified into several types. Easter and Pentecost had "specially privileged" octaves, during which no other feast whatsoever could be celebrated. Christmas, Epiphany, and Corpus Christi had "privileged" octaves, during which certain highly ranked feasts might be celebrated. The octaves of other feasts allowed even more feasts to be celebrated.

To reduce the repetition of the same liturgy for several days, Pope Leo XIII and Pope St. Pius X made further distinctions, classifying octaves into three primary types: privileged octaves, common octaves, and simple octaves. Privileged octaves were arranged in a hierarchy of first, second, and third orders. The Octave of the Ascension was a Privileged Octave of the Third Order.

Collect:

O Almighty God, we firmly believe that Your only-begotten Son, our Redeemer, ascended this day into heaven. May our minds dwell always on this heavenly home. Through Our Lord . . .

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Votive Mass of a Feast Formerly Celebrated on A Sunday

First, the general rubrics concerning when a Votive Mass may be offered in the Tridentine Mass are generally fairly well known. There are some changes that occurred in the 20th century up until 1962 so strictly speaking the 1962 rubrics will differ in some respects. The 1962 Rubrics may be viewed by clicking here. The Pre-1962 Rubrics may be viewed by clicking here.

In addition to these general rubrics, there is an interesting exception for certain feasts which were kept on Sundays up until the changes instituted under St. Pius X in 1911/1914. These Feasts were as follows:

• 2nd Sunday after Epiphany: Feast of the Holy Name (this had different Propers to the modern Feast)
• 3rd Sunday after Easter: Feast of St. Joseph
• 1st Sunday in July: The Most Precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ
• Sunday within the Octave of the Assumption: St. Joachim
• Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Feast of the Holy Name of Mary
• 3rd Sunday of September: Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• 1st Sunday of October: Feast of the Holy Rosary

In many places, the Feast of Corpus Christi, The Feast of the Sacred Heart, and The Feast of St. Peter and Paul were celebrated as an External Solemnity on the following Sunday. In fact, there was an obligation to do so in some places such as in the United States for the Sunday following Ss. Peter and Paul. Permissions to solemnize the Feast of Ss. Peter and Paul on the Sunday following June 29th were given to the United States on December 19, 1840, and that of Corpus Christi on November 25, 1885.

The Local calendars and those for religious orders give even more examples. After the reforms, the feasts formerly fixed on a Sunday were transferred to a date or to a number of days after the Sunday. But for the good of the faithful, the Mass could be celebrated on its former day.

Other Local Feasts would also be celebrated as External Solemnities and would include:

• Dedication of the Cathedral Church.
• Titular of the Cathedral.
• Patron of the Diocese.
• Dedication of the Chapel / Church.
• Titular of the Chapel / Church.
• Patronal feast of the place.
• A first or second Class Feast in your Diocese or Country.

While it is unusual for External Solemnities to be celebrated on a day other than a Sunday the Rubrics allow this. External Solemnities can also be celebrated for altars/shrines in a Church dedicated to particular Saints. So in short if the Celebrant accepts that this celebration is for the good of the faithful, have an External Solemnity.

Source: Musica Sacra

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Within the Octave of Our Lord's Nativity

We are now within the Octave of Christmas. This is one of only three Octaves retained in the 1962 Missal and one of only two kept in the Novus Ordo. This Octave, like the many in place up until 1955, is worth understanding so we can better enter into its mysteries and continue living and celebrating them throughout the Octave. 

The Octave of Christmas is unique since the Feasts of St. Stephen, St. John the Apostle, and the Holy Innocents which are celebrated on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th days respectively of the Christmas Octave used to be Holy Days of Obligation. The three are sometimes known as the “Comites Christi " (Companions of Christ). An article from a few years ago on liturgical notes for the Octave is worth reading at the New Liturgical Movement.

The Connection of the feasts around Christmas with the Octave is worth a special study. Canon Aaron B. Huberfeld, Rector of St. Mary’s Oratory in Wausau, Wisconsin shared the following reflection that was published on the New Liturgical Movement. He wrote in part:

No sooner do we conclude the office of Christmas Day than we celebrate the feast of the first Martyr. Why is this so? Does the feast of St Stephen just happen to fall on December 26? Why would the Church turn so quickly from the creche to consider the deacon who was stoned to death after Our Lord's Resurrection? And what about the feasts of the following days? What is their connection with Christmas?

The first three feasts of the Christmas Octave have been observed since antiquity. They were always devoutly referred to as the Three Companions. We begin with St Stephen, murdered at the direction of Saul of Tarsus, whose conversion we shall celebrate one month later. Stephen was a martyr loquendo et moriendo, by his words and by his death. The next day we return to white vestments, for St John is the only Apostle not celebrated in red. He was the only Apostle who did not abandon his Savior at Calvary, and so God decreed that he should be a martyr loquendo sed non moriendo, by his words but not by his death, for he would be miraculously preserved from his execution and end his life in peace on the island of Patmos. Then on December 28 we celebrate Childermas, the feast of the Holy Innocents, those little ones of Bethlehem who, as we pray in the collect of their Mass, bore witness to Christ non loquendo, sed moriendo, not by their words, but by their deaths, for they were killed by raging Herod on the chance that one of them might be the newborn King.

Herods are to be found in every age, for sinful rulers always view the kingdom of Christ as a threat to their earthly power. And so on December 29 we keep the feast of Thomas Becket, the holy bishop of Canterbury who upheld the freedom of the Church from the interference of the state and so was cut down by King Henry II’s men during Christmas Vespers.

On December 30 we take up again the Mass and Office of Christmas, like a beautiful refrain, and then remain in white vestments for the conclusion of the Octave. December 31 is the feast of St Sylvester, celebrated in white because he is the first pope who was not a martyr, bringing the age of martyrs to a close with the peace of Constantine. 

Brief History of Octaves:

By the 8th century, Rome had developed liturgical octaves not only for Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas but also for the Epiphany and the feast of the dedication of a church.

After 1568, when Pope Pius V reduced the number of octaves (since by then they had grown considerably), the number of Octaves was still plentiful.  Octaves were classified into several types. Easter and Pentecost had "specially privileged" octaves, during which no other feast whatsoever could be celebrated. Christmas, Epiphany, and Corpus Christi had "privileged" octaves, during which certain highly ranked feasts might be celebrated. The octaves of other feasts allowed even more feasts to be celebrated.

To reduce the repetition of the same liturgy for several days, Pope Leo XIII and Pope St. Pius X made further distinctions, classifying octaves into three primary types: privileged octaves, common octaves, and simple octaves. Privileged octaves were arranged in a hierarchy of first, second, and third orders. Christmas was a Privileged Octave of the Second Order along with the Octave of Epiphany. Only the Octaves of Easter and Pentecost ranked higher as Privileged Octaves of the First Order.

Collect:

Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that the new birth of Thine only-begotten Son in the flesh may set us free, who are held by the old bondage under the yoke of sin. Through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God . . .

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Within the Octave of the Immaculate Conception

We are now within the Common Octave of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Originally referred to as the "Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary," December 8th became a Holy Day of Obligation in 1708 under Pope Clement XI, nearly 150 years before Pope Pius IX dogmatically and infallibly defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Pope Innocent XII in 1693 raised it to the rank of “Double of the second class” with an octave for the universal Church.

Restore the 54 explains more regarding this Octave: "The Octave of the IC is a Common Octave. The days within (i.e. Days 2-7) are Semidouble and have precedence over Simple feasts/Advent Feriae, but yield way to any feast of nine lessons.  When a higher feast or Sunday occurs, the day within the octave is commemorated at Lauds, Mass, and Vespers unless the feast is a Double First or Second Class; in this latter case, days within common octaves are omitted. The Preces at Prime and Compline are omitted entirely during the Octave.  Except on the Advent Sunday occurring within the octave, the proper doxology of the Incarnation sung in the BVM Tone holds for all hymns of iambic metre throughout the octave. At Mass, when there is no saint to commemorate, after the Commemoration of the Advent Feria, there is a third set of orations of the Holy Ghost. The Credo is sung daily by reason of the Octave."

Brief History of Octaves:

By the 8th century, Rome had developed liturgical octaves not only for Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas but also for the Epiphany and the feast of the dedication of a church.

After 1568, when Pope Pius V reduced the number of octaves (since by then they had grown considerably), the number of Octaves was still plentiful.  Octaves were classified into several types. Easter and Pentecost had "specially privileged" octaves, during which no other feast whatsoever could be celebrated. Christmas, Epiphany, and Corpus Christi had "privileged" octaves, during which certain highly ranked feasts might be celebrated. The octaves of other feasts allowed even more feasts to be celebrated.

To reduce the repetition of the same liturgy for several days, Pope Leo XIII and Pope St. Pius X made further distinctions, classifying octaves into three primary types: privileged octaves, common octaves, and simple octaves. Privileged octaves were arranged in a hierarchy of first, second, and third orders. For the first half of the 20th century, octaves were ranked in the following manner, which affected holding other celebrations within their timeframes:

• Privileged Octaves
  
  • Privileged Octaves of the First Order
    
    • Octave of Easter
    • Octave of Pentecost
  • Privileged Octaves of the Second Order
    
    • Octave of Epiphany
    • Octave of Corpus Christi
  • Privileged Octaves of the Third Order
    
    • Octave of Christmas
    • Octave of the Ascension
    • Octave of the Sacred Heart

• Common Octaves
  
  • Octave of the Immaculate Conception of the BVM
  • Octave of the Solemnity of St. Joseph
  • Octave of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist
  • Octave of Saints Peter and Paul
  • Octave of All Saints
  • Octave of the Assumption of the BVM

• Simple Octaves
  
  • Octave of St. Stephen
  • Octave of St. John the Apostle
• Octave of the Holy Innocents 
• Octave of St. Lawrence
• Octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Traditional Catholics still attached to the pre-1955 Missal will be familiar with the above list of Octaves. We can live out this forgotten Octave by adding to our daily prayers the Collect from December 8th. We can also remember to pray the Pledge against Indecent and Immoral Motion Pictures, requested by the American Bishops in 1938 for the Sunday within the Octave of the Immaculate Conception. Say that together as a family.

Collect:

O God, Who, by the Immaculate Conception of the virgin, didst prepare for Thy Son a worthy habitation, we beseech Thee, that as Thou didst preserve her from every stain by the foreseen death of this Thy Son, so Thou wouldst grant that we also being cleansed from guilt by her intercession, may come to Thee. Through the same our Lord.

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Within the Octave of All Saints

We are currently in the Octave of All Saints, another casualty in 1955 that few people know of or spiritually celebrate anymore. This is a Common Octave meaning that the days within (i.e. Days 2-7 which are Semidouble) yield to all Double and Semidouble feasts but have precedence over Simple feasts. The Octave is commemorated daily at Lauds, Mass, and Vespers when a higher feast occurs except if the feast is a Double of the First or Second class in which case the Octave is not commemorated.

Brief History of Octaves:

By the 8th century, Rome had developed liturgical octaves not only for Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas but also for the Epiphany and the feast of the dedication of a church.

After 1568, when Pope Pius V reduced the number of octaves (since by then they had grown considerably), the number of Octaves was still plentiful.  Octaves were classified into several types. Easter and Pentecost had "specially privileged" octaves, during which no other feast whatsoever could be celebrated. Christmas, Epiphany, and Corpus Christi had "privileged" octaves, during which certain highly ranked feasts might be celebrated. The octaves of other feasts allowed even more feasts to be celebrated.

To reduce the repetition of the same liturgy for several days, Pope Leo XIII and Pope St. Pius X made further distinctions, classifying octaves into three primary types: privileged octaves, common octaves, and simple octaves. Privileged octaves were arranged in a hierarchy of first, second, and third orders. For the first half of the 20th century, octaves were ranked in the following manner, which affected holding other celebrations within their timeframes:

• Privileged Octaves
  
  • Privileged Octaves of the First Order
    
    • Octave of Easter
    • Octave of Pentecost
  • Privileged Octaves of the Second Order
    
    • Octave of Epiphany
    • Octave of Corpus Christi
  • Privileged Octaves of the Third Order
    
    • Octave of Christmas
    • Octave of the Ascension
    • Octave of the Sacred Heart

• Common Octaves
  
  • Octave of the Immaculate Conception of the BVM
  • Octave of the Solemnity of St. Joseph
  • Octave of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist
  • Octave of Saints Peter and Paul
  • Octave of All Saints
  • Octave of the Assumption of the BVM

• Simple Octaves
  
  • Octave of St. Stephen
  • Octave of St. John the Apostle
• Octave of the Holy Innocents 
• Octave of St. Lawrence
• Octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Traditional Catholics still attached to the pre-1955 Missal will be familiar with the above list of Octaves. We can live out this forgotten Octave by adding to our daily prayers the Collect from All Saints Day:

Collect:

Almighty and eternal God, through Your grace we honor the merits of all Your saints in the one solemn feast of today. Grant us the abundant mercy we ask of You through this army of heavenly intercessors. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ . . .

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St. Martin's Lent & the Fast of Advent

Martinmas - The Advent Equivalent of Mardi Gras

When November 11th arrives each year, we are accustomed to seeing civic displays of patriotism and honor for the nation's veterans. Originally known as Armistice Day, in honor of the ending of World War I, which concluded on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the United States in 1954 amended the holiday to include a remembrance of all the living and the dead of the nation's veterans. And the name was subsequently changed to Veteran's Day on June 1, 1954. 

However, to the Catholic, November 11th is more than a day to honor the nation's veterans and even more than a day to pray for the repose of the souls of all who have died in battle for the country's defense. November 11th is the Feast of St. Martin of Tours, the great worker of charity who is said to have raised three persons from the dead. Known as Martinmas, this day of celebration featured numerous festivities in honor of the life and charity of St. Martin of Tours, and it is still observed by some Catholics who keep the tradition alive of carrying lanterns and eating a traditional meal of goose on this day. Note: No goose allowed, of course, on years when November 11 falls on a Friday.

In fact, Father Francis Weiser, in the Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs, shows that Martinmas was the Thanksgiving Day of the Middle Ages. This is not a day we should forget:

The most common, and almost universal, harvest and thanksgiving celebration in medieval times was held on the Feast of Saint Martin of Tours (Martinmas) on November 11. It was a holiday in Germany, France, Holland, England and in central Europe. People first went to Mass and observed the rest of the day with games, dances, parades, and a festive dinner, the main feature of the meal being the traditional roast goose (Martin's goose). With the goose dinner they drank "Saint Martin's wine," which was the first lot of wine made from the grapes of the recent harvest. Martinmas was the festival commemorating filled barns and stocked larders, the actual Thanksgiving Day of the Middle Ages. Even today it is still kept in rural sections of Europe, and dinner on Martin's Day would be unthinkable without the golden brown, luscious Martin's goose.

But St. Martin's Day was more than just Thanksgiving as it also served as the "Mardi Gras" of Advent by ushering in the pre-Christmas fasting period known as St. Martin's Lent. St. Martin's Lent, a fasting period leading up to Christmas, originated as early as 480 AD. Dom Guéranger, in his unmatched, prodigious Liturgical Year, writes:

The oldest document in which we find the length and exercises of Advent mentioned with anything like clearness, is a passage in the second book of the History of the Franks by St. Gregory of Tours, where he says that St. Perpetuus, one of his predecessors, who held that see about the year 480, had decreed a fast three times a week, from the feast of St. Martin until Christmas…. Let us, however, note this interval of forty, or rather of forty-three days, so expressly mentioned, and consecrated to penance, as though it were a second Lent, though less strict and severe than that which precedes Easter. Later on, we find the ninth canon of the first Council of Mâcon, held in 582, ordaining that during the same interval between St. Martin’s day and Christmas, the Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, should be fasting days, and that the Sacrifice should be celebrated according to the lenten rite. Not many years before that, namely in 567, the second Council of Tours had enjoined the monks to fast from the beginning of December till Christmas. This practice of penance soon extended to the whole forty days, even for the laity: and it was commonly called St. Martin’s Lent….There were even special rejoicings made on St. Martin’s feast, just as we see them practised now at the approach of Lent and Easter. The obligation of observing this Lent, which, though introduced so imperceptibly, had by degrees acquired the force of a sacred law, began to be relaxed, and the forty days from St. Martin’s day to Christmas were reduced to four weeks.

The History of the Advent Fast

The Catechism of the Liturgy describes the fast leading up to Christmas: “In a passage of St. Gregory of Tours’ History of the Franks, we find that St. Perpetuus, one of his predecessors in the See, had decreed in 480 AD that the faithful should fast three times a week from the feast of St. Martin (November 11th) [up] to Christmas… This period was called St. Martin’s Lent, and his feast was kept with the same kind of rejoicing as Carnival.” In historical records stretching back to at least 1158 AM, Advent was called Quadragesima Sancti Martini (Forty Days Fast of St. Martin). Sacramentarium Ecclesiæ Catholicæ published in 1857, states how it was practiced strictly by those under vows since Regulars refer to religious who take vows:

About the end of the sixth century John the Faster, Patriarch of Constantinople, enforces daily abstinence from flesh during the forty days that precede the Nativity. Chrodegand, Bishop of Metz, A.D. 742 enjoins upon Regulars, daily abstinence and fast til the ninth hour from S. Martin's Day to the Nativity.

The Catechism of the Liturgy notes that this observance of fasting in some form likely lasted until the 12th century. Turning to the Catechism of Perseverance by Monsignor Gaume from 1882, we read the following historical account of the Advent fast taking the form of a fast on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from St. Martin's Day until Christmas: 

The institution of Advent would seem as old as that of the festival of Christmas, though the discipline of the Church on this point has not been always the same. For several centuries, Advent consisted of forty days, like Lent: it began on St. Martin's Day. Faithful to the old customs, the Church of Milan kept the six weeks of the primitive Advent, which had been adopted by the Church of Spain. At an early period the Church of Rome reduced the time to four weeks, that is, to four Sundays, with the part of the week remaining before Christmas. All the West followed this example.

Formerly, a fast was observed throughout Advent. In some countries this fast was of precept for every one; in others, of simple devotion. The obligation of fasting is attributed to St. Gregory the Great, who had not, however, the intention of making it a general law. In the middle of the fifth century - 462 - St. Perpetuus, Bishop of Tours, commanded that there should be three fastdays weekly in his diocese from the festival of St. Martin to Christmas. This rule became general in the Church of France til the seventh century, after the holding of the Council of Macon in 581. The holy assembly prescribed that a fast should be observed on the Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of each week, from the feria or festival of St. Martin to the Nativity of our Lord; and that the offices, especially the sacrifice of the Mass, should then be celebrated as in Lent. The use of flesh-meat was forbidden every day during Advent.

The same abstinence was observed in other Catholic regions as a pious donation proves for us. In 753, Astolphus, King of the Lombards, having granted the waters of Nonantula to an abbey of the same name, reserved forty pike to furnish his own table during St. Martin's Lent. We may infer that, in the eighth century, the Lombards observed the fast during the forty days before Christmas, or at least abstained from flesh meat.

By the 1100s, the fast had begun to be replaced by simple abstinence. As stated in Sacramentarium Ecclesiæ Catholicæ:

"Peter the Venerable, the ninth Abbat of Cluny, A.D. 1123, says, 'Since a more than ordinary abstinence is kept by nearly the whole Church on these days, in order to prepare for the Nativity of the Lord, let us consecrate these hallowed days with moderate fasts, which many others consecrate with greater fasts.'

The writer continues:

Although the period is forty days, there never were anywhere actually forty fast days, because fasting was prohibited on Sabbaths, except at Rome, and everywhere on Lord's Days. There could therefore be only twenty-eight, twenty-nine or third fast days within the period. And as the Roman Church allowed fasting on Sabbaths, the period was shortened by five or six days, according to the number of Sabbaths...

Some severe monastic orders, e.g. the friars minors, did actually observe forty fast days, and so began this Lent after the Octave of All Saints, which allows forty fast days exclusive of Sabbaths and Lord's Days...

Similarly, Rev. Antonine Villien mentions the decline of the Advent Fast in "A History of the Commandments of the Church":

Thus even before reaching full vogue, the Advent fast was on the decline. At the end of the twelfth century it was nearly abolished. The Council of Avranches AD 1172 made not only fasting but even abstinence in Advent a matter of simple counsel especially addressed to clerics and soldiers. In Rome, the observance still existed but in Portugal, it was not known whether it carried with it any obligation for the Archbishop of Braga questioned Pope Innocent III on this point and the Pope, instead of insisting that there is an obligation, simply states that in Rome the fast is observed. No very clear information is to be obtained from Durand de Mende if an Advent fast existed at his time. Durand does not speak of the way it was observed. In England, it was obligatory only for monks like the daily fast imposed by the Council of Tours for the month of December up to Christmas.

As indicated, in 1281, the Council of Salisbury held that only monks were expected to keep the fast; however, in a revival of the older practice, in 1362, Pope Urban V required abstinence for all members of the papal court during Advent. Yet this, too, did not last long. By the time of St. Charles Borromeo in the 16th century, the saint urged the faithful under his charge in Milan to observe fasting and abstinence on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays of Advent. Dom Guéranger similarly testifies to this in The Liturgical Year:

The discipline of the Churches of the west after having reduced the time of the Advent fast so far relented in a few years as to change the fast into a simple abstinence and we even find Councils of the twelfth century, for instance Selingstadt in 1122 and Avranches in 1172, which seem to require only the clergy to observe this abstinence. The Council of Salisbury held in 1281 would seem to expect none but monks to keep it. On the other hand for the whole subject is very confused owing no doubt to there never having been any uniformity of discipline regarding it in the western Church we find Pope Innocent III in his letter to the bishop of Braga mentioning the custom of fasting during the whole of Advent as being at that time observed in Rome, and Durandus in the same thirteenth century in his Rational on the Divine Offices tells us that in France fasting was uninterruptedly observed during the whole of that holy time. 

This much is certain that by degrees the custom of fasting so far fell into disuse that when in 1362 Pope Urban V endeavoured to prevent the total decay of the Advent penance all he insisted upon was that all the clerics of his court should keep abstinence during Advent without in any way including others either clergy orlaity in this law.

St. Charles Borromeo also strove to bring back his people of Milan to the spirit if not to the letter of ancient times. In his fourth Council, he enjoins the parish priests to exhort the faithful to go to Communion on the Sundays at least of Lent and Advent and afterwards addressed to the faithful themselves a pastoral letter in which, after having reminded them of the dispositions wherewith they ought to spend this holy time, he strongly urges them to fast on the Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at least of each week in Advent.

Even closer to our modern times, remnants of St. Martin's Lent remained in the Roman Rite through the 19th century when Wednesday and Friday fasting in Advent continued to be mandated in some countries. In the United States, fasting was kept on the Wednesdays and Fridays of Advent, as was the Universal practice of the Church, until 1840 when the fast on Wednesdays in Advent was abrogated for Americans. The fast on Fridays in Advent was abrogated in 1917 in America and abroad with the promulgation of the 1917 Code of Canon Law. 

The Code similarly removed the Wednesdays of Advent for any localities that continued to mandate them, as well as the Saturdays of Advent, which were kept elsewhere, such as in Italy, as evident by a 1906 decree which mandated the fast. Father Villien comments, "This discipline, which at the present day is observed by Italy alone among the nations of the West, is the last vestige of a very ancient fast, the fast of Advent."

But even the attempts to maintain elements of the Advent fast from the 17th through the 20th centuries were shadows of St. Martin's Lent. In fact, the Church still encouraged people to keep the venerable discipline of St. Martin's Lent, even if it was not obligatory under pain of sin. This fact is expressed with conviction in the Catechism of Perseverance:

The Church neglects no means of revisiting in her children the fervour of their ancestors. Is it not just? Is the little Babe whom we expect less beautiful, less holy, less worthy of our love now than formerly? Has He ceased to be the Friend of pure hearts? Is His coming into our souls less needed? Alas! perhaps we have raised there all the idols that, eighteen centuries ago, He came to overturn. Let us therefore be more wise. Let us enter into the views of the Church: let us consider how this tender mother redoubles her solicitude to form in us those dispositions of penance and charity which are necessary for a proper reception of the Babe of Bethlehem.

On this point, Father Villien concurs:

But it is only with regret that the Church permits her institutions to disappear. She wishes to retain at least a vestige of them as a witness to a former stage of devellopment. This is what she has done for Italy by the decree of September 7, 1906. 

The West Has Forgotten Its Advent Fast

The Advent fast, long observed in anticipation of our Lord's birth, had ceased, although the fast of the Advent Ember Days, the Vigil of the Immaculate Conception, and Christmas Eve remained. Yet by the time of Vatican II, even these venerable fasts were also removed. Despite being one of the holiest days in the year, Christmas had ceased to be prepared for with a fast of any kind. And soon after, the secular world insisting on materialism turned Advent into Christmastide. Christmas parties, gift exchanges, and consumer splurging have all taken place during the time that our forefathers were diligently preparing for the Redeemer's birth by observing a fast. How far we have fallen from the times of St. Martin.

St. Martin's Lent or St. Philips?

The observance of a period of fasting up to Christmas Day is not only observed by the Western Church.  This practice is observed in the Eastern Rites as well. Greek Catholics, for instance, observe this period known to them as St. Philip's Lent. Dom Guéranger writes of this practice in his 1910 volume on Advent:

The Greek Church still continues to observe the fast of Advent though with much less rigour than that of Lent. It consists of forty days beginning with November 14, the day on which this Church keeps the feast of the apostle St Philip. During this entire period the people abstain from flesh meat, butter, milk, and eggs, but they are allowed which they are not during Lent, fish oil and wine. Fasting, in its strict sense, is binding only on seven out of the forty days and the whole period goes under the name of St. Philip's Lent. The Greeks justify these relaxations by this distinction that the Lent before Christmas is so they say only an institution of the monks, whereas the Lent before Easter is of apostolic institution.

In an article on the Traditional Byzantine Rite Fast and Abstinence written by Fr. R. Janin in 1922, "Christmas Lent" is described as "the 40 days before Christmas. The same restrictions as for Great Lent but oil and fish are permitted except on Wednesdays and Fridays." Thus, the Nativity Fast of Advent forbids food cooked with fat, eggs, milk products, and wine -  with oil and fish are also forbidden only on Wednesdays and Fridays. Recently, a distinction was made for the observance of the fast from November 15 to December 12 compared to December 13 to Christmas Eve. In either case, the Nativity Fast - known in the East as St. Philip's Fast - more closely resembles St. Martin's Lent than the West's Advent season does.

Rediscover the True Spirit of Advent

Above all, this time of year, as we approach Advent and await the celebration of the Nativity of Christ, let us embrace some fasting. Fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays during this time is preferable to not fasting at all. But this mitigated fast is a remnant of the true Advent fast. Strive to keep at least Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from St. Martin's Day as days of fast. And, should you wish to do more, keep all forty days as days of fast. Indeed, as St. Frances de Sales noted: "If you’re able to fast, you will do well to observe some days beyond what is ordered by the Church." Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays would be appropriate to observe as days of abstinence without fasting. As a result, I suggest, as a minimum, the following schedule for St. Martin's Lent based on the Church's venerable tradition:

• Fasting and Abstinence: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
• Abstinence-only: Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday
• No discipline on Sunday

And remember, if you can keep a stricter time of preparation, keep all days as days of abstinence and all days except Sundays as days of fasting.

As we celebrate St. Martin's Day on November 11th, let us prepare for forty days of fasting, penance, and prayer in preparation for our Lord's Nativity. And when Christmas comes, let us celebrate it joyfully and festively throughout January and until Candlemas on February 2nd. While the world celebrates too early and ceases celebrating on the 2nd day of Christmas, let us not make that same grave mistake.

Want to learn more about the history of fasting and abstinence? Check out the Definitive Guide to Catholic Fasting and Abstinence.

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Within the Octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

We are currently in the midst of another octave - the Octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, another casualty in 1955 that few people know of or spiritually celebrate anymore. This was previously a Common Octave. In 1913, with the Divino Aflatu reforms, the Octave was downgraded to a simple octave, and the Octave Day itself, September 15th, was replaced by the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.

By the 20th century, the Octave of the Nativity of our Blessed Mother had all but vanished as higher-ranking feasts were added to the calendar. The entire octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was impeded, but The Most Holy Name of Mary was celebrated during the octave and The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary was celebrated on the former octave day.

Brief History of Octaves:

By the 8th century, Rome had developed liturgical octaves not only for Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas but also for the Epiphany and the feast of the dedication of a church.

After 1568, when Pope Pius V reduced the number of octaves (since by then they had grown considerably), the number of Octaves was still plentiful.  Octaves were classified into several types. Easter and Pentecost had "specially privileged" octaves, during which no other feast whatsoever could be celebrated. Christmas, Epiphany, and Corpus Christi had "privileged" octaves, during which certain highly ranked feasts might be celebrated. The octaves of other feasts allowed even more feasts to be celebrated.

To reduce the repetition of the same liturgy for several days, Pope Leo XIII and Pope St. Pius X made further distinctions, classifying octaves into three primary types: privileged octaves, common octaves, and simple octaves. Privileged octaves were arranged in a hierarchy of first, second, and third orders. For the first half of the 20th century, octaves were ranked in the following manner, which affected holding other celebrations within their timeframes:

• Privileged Octaves
  
  • Privileged Octaves of the First Order
    
    • Octave of Easter
    • Octave of Pentecost
  • Privileged Octaves of the Second Order
    
    • Octave of Epiphany
    • Octave of Corpus Christi
  • Privileged Octaves of the Third Order
    
    • Octave of Christmas
    • Octave of the Ascension
    • Octave of the Sacred Heart

• Common Octaves
  
  • Octave of the Immaculate Conception of the BVM
  • Octave of the Solemnity of St. Joseph
  • Octave of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist
  • Octave of Saints Peter and Paul
  • Octave of All Saints
  • Octave of the Assumption of the BVM

• Simple Octaves
  
  • Octave of St. Stephen
  • Octave of St. John the Apostle
• Octave of the Holy Innocents 
• Octave of St. Lawrence
• Octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Crown of Twelve Stars

All praise and thanksgiving; be to the ever-blessed Trinity, Who hath shown unto us Mary, ever-Virgin, clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and on her head a mystic crown of twelve stars.

R. For ever and ever. Amen.

Let us praise and give thanks to God the Father, Who elected her for his daughter.

R. Amen. Pater noster.

Praise be to God the Father, Who predestined her to be the Mother of His Son.

R. Amen. Ave Maria.

Praise be to God the Father, Who preserved her from all stain in her conception.

R. Amen. Ave Maria.

Praise be to God the Father, Who on her birthday adorned her with His choicest gifts.

R. Amen. Ave Maria

Praise be to God the Father, Who gave her Joseph for her pure spouse and companion.

R. Amen. Ave Maria

Let us praise and give thanks to God the Son, Who chose her for His Mother.

R. Amen. Pater noster.

Praise be to God the Son, Who became Incarnate in her womb, and abode there nine months.

R. Amen. Ave Maria

Praise be to God the Son, Who was born of her and was nourished at her breast.

R. Amen. Ave Maria.

Praise be to God the Son, Who in His childhood willed that Mary should teach Him.

R. Amen. Ave Maria

Praise is to God the Son, Who revealed to her the mysteries of the redemption of the world.

R. Amen. Ave Maria and Gloria Patri.

Let us praise and give thanks to God the Holy Ghost who made her His spouse.

R. Amen. Pater noster.

Praise be to God the Holy Ghost, Who revealed to her first His name of Holy Ghost.

R. Amen. Ave Maria

Praise be to God the Holy Ghost, through whose operation she became at once Virgin and Mother.

R. Amen. Ave Maria

Praise be to God the Holy Ghost, through whom she became the living temple of the Most Holy Trinity.

R. Amen. Ave Maria.

Praise be to God the Holy Ghost, by whom she was exalted in Heaven high above all creatures.

R. Amen. Ave Maria and Gloria Patri.

For the Holy Catholic Church, for the propagation of the faith, for peace among Christian princes, and for the uprooting of heresies, let us say Salve Regina.

Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, Hail our Life, our Sweetness, and our Hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears. Turn, then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us; and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed Fruit of thy womb, Jesus, O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

V. Make me worthy to praise thee, O Holy Virgin.

R. Give me strength against thine enemies.

V. Blessed be God in his saints.

R. Amen

(100 days Indulgence)

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