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Church Seasons and Feasts

The Solemnity of Christ the King

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On the last Sunday of the liturgical year, Catholics celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King. A relative newcomer to the Church calendar — established in the 20th century —…

On the last Sunday of the liturgical year, Catholics celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King. A relative newcomer to the Church calendar — established in the 20th century — this feast is designed to give special recognition to the dominion Christ our Lord has over all aspects of our lives. But why and how did it come about? And why is it so important today?

When Cardinal Ambrogio Achille Ratti was elected pope and took the name Pope Pius XI, much of the world was in shambles. The year was 1922, and while the bloodletting of World War I (1914-1918) had ended, widespread peace and tranquility were not evident.

The war to end all wars had been especially devastating to England and the countries of continental Europe. Additionally, the overthrow of the Romanov tsars by the Russian Revolution had created great upheaval in Russia and brought immense suffering. Governments were in economic chaos, unemployment was rampant and people in many places were literally starving to death.

The stability of the old social and political orders that had embraced royal houses and crowned heads of state were crumbling. The victorious warring powers sought severe penalties and unreasonable reparations from the vanquished Germans through the Treaty of Versailles.

Pessimism, a sense of helplessness compounded by hatred among the nations, was overwhelming. The time was ripe for the rise of tyrants, and rise they did. The festering philosophies of fascism, National Socialism (the Nazis) and communism now spawned the likes of Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. Pope Pius XI’s predecessor, Pope Benedict XV, had warned about this prophetically in 1920 when he wrote, “There can be no stable peace or lasting treaties, though made after long and difficult negotiations and duly signed, unless there be a return of mutual charity to appease hate and banish enmity.”

In their distress, people clung to anyone who offered them hope, offered some kind of direction out of the chaos and promised to put food on their tables. They gravitated to the emerging dictators, and as they did they often sought to be self-sufficient to the exclusion of God from their everyday lives.

Many considered the basics of morality and the teachings of the Church to be out of date, no longer relevant in 20th-century society. Modern thinking allowed that, at most, Christ might be king in the private life of the individual, but certainly not in the public world.

Some political regimes advocated the banishment of Jesus altogether, not only from society, but from the family as well. As nations were reborn and governments restructured, their foundations, policies and laws were often being fashioned without regard to Christian principles.

Affirming Christ’s Kingship

In all these developments, the new Pope Pius XI saw that people were denying Christ in favor of a lifestyle dominated by secularism, material advantage and false hope created by the tyrants.

He realized that he had to ad- dress the political and economic forces that were crowding out the kingship of Jesus. As a start, he dedicated his reign as pope to “The Peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ” ( Pax Christi in Regno Christi ).

In 1925, the Church celebrated a jubilee year in honor of the 1,600th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. The council fathers taking part in that ancient gathering in A.D. 325 had affirmed the full divinity of Jesus Christ as God the Son, one in being with God the Father. Their pronouncement became a creed that was later expanded into what we now call the Nicene Creed, which we still profess at Mass every Sunday.

Throughout the anniversary year, Pope Pius constantly emphasized the kingship of Christ as declared in the Creed: “His kingdom will have no end.” He stressed that theme throughout the year as it repeatedly appeared in the Church’s celebrations of the Annunciation, the Epiphany, the Transfiguration and the Ascension. As part of the Holy Year, which was afforded great attention and pomp by the Vatican, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims flocked to Rome, demonstrating great fervor for their faith.

On Dec. 11 of the jubilee year, and in order to acknowledge perpetually the supremacy of Jesus Christ over all men, nations and earthly allegiances, the pope issued the encyclical Quas Primas, which added the feast of “Our Lord Jesus Christ the King” to the annual Church liturgical calendar.

Some at the time argued that such a celebration was unnecessary because the ancient feast of the Epiphany already acknowledged Christ as King. But more than 340 religious leaders, including cardinals and bishops, had called for the new celebration, and the pope was glad to grant their request.

The encyclical provided for the feast of Christ the King to be held each year on the last Sunday of October. This date, a week before All Saints’ Day and four weeks before Advent, was carefully chosen: It reminded the people that Jesus Christ is not only King of this world, reigning among nations today; He is also the eternal King, glorified by the saints in heaven, who will one day come to judge all humankind.

In his encyclical, the pope noted that the continuing disorder of that era, what he called “the plague of society,” had long been festering and was the result of nations rejecting Christ. Later in the encyclical the pontiff pointedly reminded national governments, “Christ, who has been cast out of public life, despised, neglected and ignored, will most severely avenge these insults; for His kingly dignity demands that the State should take account of the commandments of God and of Christian principles, both in making laws and in administering justice, and also in providing for the young a sound moral education” (No. 32).

Time for Consecration

The pope instructed the faithful to use this annual celebration as a time to consecrate themselves, or renew their consecration to, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, explicitly tying the celebration to devotion to the Sacred Heart and to the living Christ in the Eucharist. He also called for Catholics to make reparations for the widespread atheism being practiced in many countries.

In 1969, Pope Paul VI took several steps to enhance the witness of the feast day. To emphasize Christ’s universal reign, he changed the name of the celebration to the feast of “Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of All” ( Domini Nostri Iesu Christi universorum Regis ) He also changed the date to the last Sunday in the liturgical year, emphasizing even more strongly the connection between Christ’s kingship and His second advent (coming) to judge the world. In addition, the pope raised the feast to the highest rank of celebration on the Church calendar, that of a “solemnity.”

Today, peace still eludes us; social, political and economic orders are shaking; and the nations continue in many ways to reject the light of the Gospel. We can be grateful, then, for the chance to celebrate each year the Solemnity of Christ the King — for the world needs now, more than ever, our witness to His rule over all things.

On the kingship of Christ

The rebellion of individuals and states against the authority of Christ has produced deplorable consequences … the seeds of discord sown far and wide; those bitter enmities and rivalries between nations, which still hinder much the cause of peace; that insatiable greed which is so often hidden under a pretense of public spirit and patriotism, and gives rise to so many private quarrels; a blind and immoderate selfishness, making men seek nothing but their own comfort and advantage, and measure everything by these; no peace in the home, because men have forgotten or neglect their duty; the unity and stability of the family undermined; society, in a word, shaken to its foundations and on the way to ruin. We firmly hope, however, that the feast of the Kingship of Christ, which in the future will be yearly observed, may hasten the return of society to our loving Savior.

— Pope Pius XI, encyclical Quas Primas , no. 24

The “Power” of Jesus Christ

But in what does this “power” of Jesus Christ the King consist? It is not the power of the kings or the great people of this world; it is the divine power to give eternal life, to liberate from evil, to defeat the dominion of death. It is the power of Love that can draw good from evil, that can melt a hardened heart, bring peace amid the harshest conflict and kindle hope in the thickest darkness. This Kingdom of Grace is never imposed and always respects our freedom. Christ came “to bear witness to the truth” (Jn 18: 37), as he declared to Pilate: whoever accepts his witness serves beneath his “banner.” . . . Every conscience, therefore, must make a choice. Who do I want to follow? God or the Evil One? The truth or falsehood? Choosing Christ does not guarantee success according to the world’s criteria but assures the peace and joy that he alone can give us. This is demonstrated, in every epoch, by the experience of numerous men and women who, in Christ’s name, in the name of truth and justice, were able to oppose the enticements of earthly powers with their different masks, to the point that they sealed their fidelity with martyrdom.

— Pope Benedict XVI, on the feast of Christ the King, Nov. 22, 2009

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Church Seasons and Feasts

Understanding the Church Calendar

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Except for such widely known celebrations as Easter, Christmas and Pentecost, most lay Catholics lump all Church celebrations under the term feast or feast days. While the terminology is not…

Except for such widely known celebrations as Easter, Christmas and Pentecost, most lay Catholics lump all Church celebrations under the term feast or feast days.

While the terminology is not necessarily incorrect, feasts are only one of the three categories of such celebrations in the Church year; the other two are solemnities and memorials. But what’s the difference? The Church has always provided the faithful people of God with externally expressed devotions, festivals and celebrations through which they may pay homage to the Creator. These holy activities are not merely random events, but follow a seasonal, regulated schedule established by the Church’s liturgical calendar. The day-to-day events of the annual Church year are primarily catalogued as a solemnity, a feast or a memorial.

In the fourth century, Emperor Constantine ended the Roman persecution of all religious factions and claimed Christianity to be the state religion of the Roman Empire. As the Church and Christian faith expanded, the number of religious celebrations subsequently increased. Unfortunately, for centuries there was no centralized control over the observance of the many celebrations. Every diocese had its own calendar, therefore rituals differed, celebrations honoring the mysteries of sacred Scriptures competed with honoring a saint, feast days overlapped, and almost every Sunday liturgy was pre-empted by a special occasion. This all led to confusion and abuses that continued until the reforms of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) and the eventual development of a universal calendar.

A churchwide calendar prompted the need to effectively organize the numerous holidays in a manner applicable to every diocese. A most challenging aspect of this effort was the standardization of the rituals used during the different ceremonies and, further, the sorting out and assigning of common dates or time frames to each event. A well-organized liturgical calendar did not happen overnight, but has evolved over the past 450 years. While the methods of categorizing the various festivals have varied, the Church has been consistent in her effort to arrange the events according to importance. The birth of Jesus is considered more important than the birth of John the Baptist; the birth of the Baptist more important than the dedication of St. John Lateran church; the life of the Blessed Mother outranks that of St. Francis of Assisi; and so on. The hierarchal process used as recently as the 20th century rank, or order, Church celebrations by calling them doubles of the first class, doubles of the second class, greater doubles, lesser doubles, simples and commemorations. In 1962, they were called first class, second class, third class and commemorations. The Second Vatican Council simplified the classifications to solemnities, feasts and memorials.

Solemnities

A solemnity holds the highest rank among Church celebrations and there are 24 days so marked on the annual liturgical calendar. It is a day that recalls and glorifies an important event in the life of Jesus and the most significant mysteries of the Catholic Christian faith: Christmas, Epiphany, Easter (the Easter Octaves including Divine Mercy Sunday), Pentecost, Holy Trinity, Ascension, Corpus Christi, Sacred Heart, Christ the King. So, too, honored as a solemnity are the days associated with the Blessed Mother: the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, the Annunciation and Mary, Mother of God. Some saints are acknowledged with a solemnity: St. Joseph, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, Sts. Peter and Paul and All Saints Day.

In addition to every Sunday, the Catholic Church prescribes holy days of obligation, which include certain solemnities. In the United States there are six holy days of obligation: Mary, Mother of God, the Ascension, the Assumption, All Saints, the Immaculate Conception and Christmas. While all holy days of obligation are solemnities, not all solemnities are holy days of obligation. For example, the celebration of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a solemnity but not a holy day of obligation. The same is true of the solemnity of St. Joseph and the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul.

Some solemnities are always celebrated on the same calendar date and are known as “fixed” on the liturgical calendar — for example, Dec. 25 is always the date of Christmas, Nov. 1 is the date of All Saints and the Immaculate Conception is always on Dec. 8. Other solemnities are “moveable” — that is, their dates change or move based on the date of Easter. Pentecost is 50 days after Easter, Holy Trinity is the first Sunday after Pentecost, Corpus Christi is the second Sunday after Pentecost, the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the first Friday after Corpus Christi and so on.

So, just what distinguishes a solemnity? The celebration begins with evening prayers on the day before and some, if a holy day of obligation, have a vigil Mass. If the solemnity falls on a weekday, the daily Mass looks much like a Sunday liturgy, including three readings, the Gloria and the Creed. All the prayers of the Mass reflect on the event or person being celebrated. These added liturgical elements help to embellish the special attention given the event or person.

Feasts

Celebrations identified on the Church calendar as a feast typically honor a special saint, such as one of the apostles. Other saints assigned a specific feast day include Sts. Simon and Jude, St. Stephen, the Holy Angels. Important events in Christian history are likewise identified as feasts: the Baptism of the Lord, the Conversion of St. Paul, the Transfiguration, the Visitation, the Presentation of the Lord, the Holy Family, the Birth of Mary, the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome, the Holy Innocents, the Triumph of the Holy Cross, and the Chair of Peter. A feast that falls on a weekday is not preceded with a vigil Mass, the Creed is not obligatory and most feasts are fixed dates on the calendar.

Memorials

The third category of celebrations and those most representative of what we call “feast days” are properly known as memorials. Memorials are identified as either obligatory, those that must be celebrated universally on an assigned day, or optional, meaning it is up to the celebrant as to whether that particular saint is celebrated. All memorials are fixed on the annual calendar. Memorials most often honor and focus us on the pious life of a saint. If Scripture mentions the particular saint, then the Mass readings on that day are taken from the applicable Scripture, such as, on the obligatory memorial of St. Martha the readings are from John (chapter 11) or Luke (chapter 10). If the saint is not mentioned in Scripture, then the readings are the ordinary, or normal, readings assigned for that day.

Optional memorials often identify a saint special or familiar to a particular location or religious order, but are often those not necessarily well known throughout the worldwide Church. For example, Sept. 19 is the optional memorial to St. Januarius, the patron saint of Naples, Italy. While the people of Naples and the surrounding area may well remember and acknowledge Januarius, a parish in another part of the world may not. The local parish priest normally decides about recognizing optional memorials.

As every country honors her founding fathers, her national heroes, independence day, and other national events, so does the Church celebrate the great sacred mysteries — the life of Jesus, the Blessed Mother, the saints and the martyrs who died for the faith. The Church classifies each celebration according to its importance and ranks them on the annual liturgical calendar as a solemnity, a feast or a memorial.

D.D. Emmons writes from Mount Joy, Pa. 

Ferial Days

If we look carefully at the Church liturgical calendar, there are some days that have no celebration assigned; no solemnity, no feast, no memorial. Such days are known as a “ferial” days, from a Latin word meaning free. In ancient Rome the term referred to a holiday, especially for slaves.

On the liturgical calendar, a ferial day is always on a weekday, Monday through Friday, and occurs during Ordinary Time. On that day the priest has the option of celebrating the previous Sunday Mass, a votive Mass or a Mass acknowledging any saint he desires. The celebrant may select the readings or use those appointed in the Lectionary for that day.

Sunday

The documents of the Second Vatican Council reflect on the importance of Sunday: “The Lord’s Day is the original feast day.… Other celebrations, unless they be truly of greatest importance shall not take precedence over the Sunday which is the foundation and kernel of the whole liturgical year” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, No. 106).

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Church Seasons and Feasts

St. John Lateran Basilica

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St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome is considered the mother church of all the Catholic churches in the Western world; inscribed on the church facade for all to see are…

St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome is considered the mother church of all the Catholic churches in the Western world; inscribed on the church facade for all to see are the Latin words “omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput,” meaning, “The mother and head of all the churches of the city and of the world.”

But why is this particular church so important to our Catholic faith that it is designated as the “mother church,” and so prominent that it garners a feast day on the Church liturgical calendar?

In first-century Rome, a palace existed adjacent to the site where the basilica would eventually be built. The palace belonged to Plautius Lateranus, and through the centuries it became known as the Lateran Palace. The Roman Emperor Nero (r. 54-68) confiscated this property from Lateranus, and in the early fourth century it came into the possession of Emperor Constantine the Great when he became emperor of the Western Roman Empire. Constantine, convinced that all his military and political successes were gifts from the Christian God, was favorably disposed to Christianity and eventually ended the persecution of religious groups while extending special attention and support to the followers of Jesus. In 312, he gave the Lateran Palace to Pope Melchiades (also known as Militades), and it became the residence of the popes for the next 1,000 years.

St. John Lateran

After emerging as ruler of all the Roman Empire, Constantine began building places of worship for Christians throughout his vast empire, and the earliest Christian basilica in the West was the Lateran Basilica, which he located next to the pope’s palace. Around 324, at the urging, or perhaps insistence, of Constantine, it was dedicated to Our Most Holy Savior by Pope St. Sylvester.

The basilica was twice rededicated, first in the 10th century to St. John the Baptist, and again in the 12th century to St John the Evangelist. The official title of this church is the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior and of Sts. John the Baptist and the Evangelist at the Lateran. It is best known as St. John Lateran.

The building of the Lateran Basilica not only gave the Christians of Rome an exclusive place for worship, but architecturally equaled or exceeded any of the monuments previously raised to the pagan gods. This was a momentous period not only in Rome but in both the history of the world and the history of Christianity. The early historian Eusebius of Caesarea (263-340) wrote, “After this was seen the sight which had been desired and prayed for by us all; feasts of dedication in the cities and consecrations of the newly built houses of prayer took place, bishops assembled, foreigners came together from abroad, mutual love was exhibited between people and people, the members of Christ’s body were united in complete harmony” (“The History of the Church,” Book X, Chapter III).

The use of the Lateran Palace as a papal residence ended in 1309 when the popes moved to Avignon, France, and stayed there for nearly 70 years. The Holy See returned to Rome in 1377, but the Lateran facilities were in such a deteriorated state that the pope’s living quarters were relocated, eventually to Vatican Hill, where the pope still resides. The Lateran Basilica and Palace were mostly rebuilt in 1586, and despite the permanent relocation of the pope’s living quarters, the basilica has remained the primary church of the Roman pontiff.

A feast day

The feast day honoring the dedication of St. John Lateran was introduced in the 12th century and was initially celebrated only in the city of Rome. In 1726, Pope Benedict XIII ordered a worldwide commemoration of the basilica as a sign of universal Catholic unity. The feast is celebrated on Nov. 9 and is known today as “The Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica.”

The intent behind the annual feast day is to encourage Catholics to keep strong ties to our past and to the universal Catholic Church. The building of St. John Lateran was a mark of religious freedom. Christians could worship without fear and in a church of their own. Through the grace of God the followers of Jesus had persevered over sufferings and persecutions; Christianity had been granted both legal recognition and public security. What joy those early Christians must have experienced in this newfound freedom, what excitement in joining together in their own house of worship which some historians claim held 10,000 people. This feast day reminds us of our Catholic heritage, the significant role the dedication of the Lateran Basilica played in that heritage and the courage of those first followers of Christ and the importance of uniting ourselves to the Holy See. As the pope is our universal pastor, the Lateran is our universal church.

Lateran Treaty

From the eighth through the middle of the 19th century, the papacy had been gifted with many territories, including much of central Italy. That area, stretching from the Mediterranean to the Adriatic Sea, became known as the Papal States and geographically split Italy in two. In 1870, King Victor Emmanuel II, as part of his effort to unite all of Italy and establish a new government, annexed the Papal States and occupied the city of Rome in a movement called the Risorgimento. The new government essentially took the Papal States and Rome away from the pope. Pope Pius IX (r. 1846-1878) reacted by excommunicating everyone involved with the invasion.

The king attempted to treat the papacy diplomatically and offered Pius that the pope could keep Vatican City, the palaces and churches, the liberty to conduct religious activities, receive financial compensation for the Papal States and even have authority to conduct diplomatic relations. Pope Pius stated firmly that the state government had illegally seized Rome and the Papal States. Further, and most importantly, he claimed that he would not be put in a position of being subject to the Italian government as required by King Victor Emmanuel. He declared himself “a prisoner of the Vatican” and retreated into the Vatican palace from which he and the popes who followed refused to leave for the next 59 years. This situation, or standoff, became known as the Roman Question.

In early 1929, after many of the original principals associated with the Roman Question had died and the political situation had changed, the Vatican and the Italian government ended this problem. Pope Pius XI recognized the Kingdom of Italy with the city of Rome as the capital and officially ceded the Papal States to the government. In return, the government agreed to recognize the Vatican as a sovereign state with its own police force, post office, newspaper and radio station. The Vatican could exchange diplomatic emissaries as it deemed necessary. The papacy would possess Vatican City and all the palaces and churches including those extraterritorial possessions like St. John Lateran and the pope’s summer home, Castel Gandolfo. Other concessions included a financial payment to the Vatican for the annexation of the Papal States, and the government agreed that the Catholic Church would be identified as the state church of Italy. There was no mention of the pope being subject to the Italian government. Treaties reflecting these agreements were signed in the Lateran Palace on Feb. 11, 1929. The Holy See was now a national state, independent of Italy, with its own head of state (the pope), government and church. The Lateran Agreement was superseded by a new concordat between the Holy See and the Italian government in June 1985.

Dennis Emmons writes from Mount Joy, Pa. 

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Church Seasons and Feasts

All You Need to Know about All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days

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It seems unusual that our Church liturgical calendar schedules two major celebrations on days that are back to back. But that is precisely the situation with the solemnity of All…

It seems unusual that our Church liturgical calendar schedules two major celebrations on days that are back to back.

But that is precisely the situation with the solemnity of All Saints, a liturgical feast, and the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed (All Souls), a liturgical observance. All Saints is a churchwide holy day of obligation and normally celebrated on Nov. 1. If the first day of November falls on a Saturday or Monday, at least in the United States, the obligation to attend Mass is abrogated. All Souls’ Day takes place on Nov. 2, unless it falls on a Sunday, then the celebration is held Nov. 3.

During these early November celebrations, those of us still living (the Church militant) unite our hearts with, and in a special way remember, the faithful departed, whether they be in heaven (Church triumphant) or in purgatory (Church suffering).

All Saints’ Day

All Saints’ Day, which began most likely as All Martyrs’ Day, can be traced to the earliest Christians. By the third century, the followers of Christ were annually honoring their brothers and sisters who had given their lives (been martyred) while witnessing for and defending Jesus Christ. Typically, on the anniversary of a martyr’s death, those living would gather to remember and offer prayers at the tomb or place where the deceased had died. Tombs were sometimes decorated and altars built over the tomb. “From the third century the anniversary of a martyr’s death, called his ‘birthday,’ was commemorated at his grave by a celebration” (Henry Chadwick, “The Early Church,” p. 271; Penguin Books, 1993). The belief among the first Christians, which continues today, is that believers who died defending Christ were borne by angels to heaven and are face to face with the living God, in the presence of the beatific vision.

In those first centuries, especially during the savage reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian (r. 284-305), there were more and more Christians who accepted death at the hands of the Romans rather than deny Christ, rather than worship false gods or the personage of the emperor. Additionally, others who had publicly confessed their Christian faith (confessors) and somehow survived the Romans were also honored. Thus the number of martyrs and confessors became greater than the opportunities to give each one an anniversary celebration, and the need for a common feast day was recognized. By the fifth century there is evidence of locations, such as in Antioch, where the fledgling Church had set aside the first Sunday following Pentecost to collectively honor these holy and courageous people.

The Pantheon

In 609, during the reign of Pope Boniface IV (608-615), the Eastern Emperor Phocas (r. 602-610) gifted a temple in Rome to the Holy See. The temple, still standing today and still known as the Pantheon, was originally built in the first century. Destroyed by fire and rebuilt between 118 and 128, it was a public place to worship and honor all the Roman gods and goddesses — a spectacular monument to pagan Rome. Pope Boniface accepted this temple, removed all the pagan embellishments, all the statues of false gods and, according to legend, relocated and buried the remains of hundreds of Christian martyrs beneath the Pantheon. The pope then consecrated the Pantheon as a Christian church to the Blessed Mother and all the Holy Martyrs (Sanctae Mariae and Martyrs). The consecration took place on May 13, and that was the annual date of the feast of All Martyrs for the next 125 years.

On Nov. 1, 735, Pope Gregory III (731-741) dedicated an oratory in St. Peter’s Basilica to house the relics of the apostles, martyrs, saints and confessors. Thereafter, Nov. 1 became, at least for the churches in Rome, the feast of All Saints, and the May 13 date was suppressed. Other countries and cities began to celebrate the feast on the same day as the Rome churches, and soon a vigil of All Saints was added. Eventually, Pope Gregory IV (827-844) assigned Nov. 1 as the date of the feast of All Saints throughout the Latin Church and proclaimed it a holy day of obligation. In the 15th century, octave days were added by Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484) and the octaves of All Saints were part of the Church calendar until suppressed in 1954. In sum, there is ample historical evidence that Christians have annually, on some date or another, been acknowledging the collective lives of all martyrs and saints for over 1,200 years.

Today, All Saints’ Day is a solemnity and holy day of obligation on which the universal Church honors the martyrs, the saints and the confessors, including all known and unknown, all who have gained the reward of heaven.

All Souls’ Day

Offering prayers for those who have died is ancient in origin. In the Old Testament’s Second Book of Maccabees, written around 100 B.C., Judas Maccabeus orders his army to pray and offer sacrifices on behalf of their fallen comrades. Tombs found in the Roman catacombs are inscribed with prayer requests for the deceased. The second-century writer Tertullian wrote in an essay, “Monogamy,” about a woman praying for her deceased spouse: “Indeed she prays for his soul and asks that he may, while waiting, find rest; and that he may share in the first resurrection. And each year, on the anniversary of his death, she offers the sacrifice.”

The Commemoration of the Faithful Departed, or All Souls’ Day, evolved onto the Church calendar long after All Saints’ Day. Sometime between 998 and 1030, St. Odilo, the abbot at the Benedictine Monastery in Cluny, France, encouraged all the monks to pray for the souls of those who had died, those waiting the joys of heaven. He instituted this commemoration on the day after All Saints’ Day, and soon other religious orders and churches began, on that same date, to annually remember all who had died. Remembering and praying for the faithful departed is tied directly to our belief in purgatory.

On All Souls’ Day the universal Church prays for all those in purgatory, people who were much like us, whose offense may have been less than ours. By pleading for them, we are inspired to lead purer lives. On that day, and during the entire month of November, we remember our departed brethren as we go to the cemetery where they are buried, attain indulgences for them, give alms, do some good work, ask for Masses to be said in remembrance, all on behalf of those close to us and to others we may have neglected during the year.

We also light candles, and in some parishes the faithful display pictures of their deceased loved ones in the church. Church bells are sometimes rung to remind everyone to pray for the poor souls in purgatory. Priests are authorized to say three Masses on this holy, somber day.

“Eternal rest grant unto them , O Lord,

and let perpetual light shine upon them.

May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.”

D.D. Emmons writes from Mount Joy, Pa.

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Church Seasons and Feasts

Divine Mercy Sunday

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Since the year 2000, the universal Church has concluded the Octave of Easter by celebrating Divine Mercy Sunday. This great solemnity calls the faithful to rejoice in the merciful love…

Since the year 2000, the universal Church has concluded the Octave of Easter by celebrating Divine Mercy Sunday. This great solemnity calls the faithful to rejoice in the merciful love of God as it is most profoundly manifested in the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ.

But what exactly is the Divine Mercy? Where did this devotion to the Divine Mercy begin? Is this a new feast day in the Church?

A History of Mercy

In his 1980 encyclical Dives in Misericordia (“Rich in Mercy”), Pope John Paul II writes, “Believing in [God’s] love means believing in mercy. For mercy is an indispensible dimension of love; it is as it were love’s second name and, at the same time, the specific manner in which love is revealed” (No. 7).

Salvation history is rich with evidence of this truth. From the beginning, the Covenant that the Lord established with the people of Israel reflected the nature of His love. As He gives the Ten Commandments to Moses, He promises to show “mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Ex 20:6, RSV).

Later, again to Moses, God gives this description of himself: “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy and faithfulness, keeping merciful love for thousands” (Ex 34:6-7, RSV).

As the Old Testament narratives continue, we see the people of Israel habitually turning to God in their sin and misery as a child turns to his father, trusting in his merciful forgiveness.

King David sings of the Lord who is “merciful and gracious,” “slow to anger and abounding in mercy” and who does not deal with us according to our sins (see Psalms 103, 145). Even the prophets, who preach a message of destruction to Israel for its infidelity, speak also of the mercy that the Lord wishes to lavish upon it if only the people will return to Him (see Jer 3:12; Hos 14:3).

Although the reality of God’s great compassion is unmistakably established and confirmed in the history of the Old Testament, it is the coming of His Son that gives the world the actual incarnation of this love and mercy. Pope John Paul’s encyclical observes:

“Christ confers on the whole of the Old Testament tradition about God’s mercy a definitive meaning. Not only does he speak of it … but above all he himself makes it incarnate and personifies it. He himself, in a certain sense, is mercy” (No. 2).

Christ’s entire life can be seen as a testimony to the mercy of God.

At His conception, Our Lady sang her great hymn of thanksgiving: “His mercy is from age to age to those who fear Him” (Lk 1:50).

At the start of Christ’s public ministry, He proclaimed, “release to the captives” (Lk 4:18, RSV), and later, “blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Mt 5:7).

In the words of His last agony, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them” (Lk 23:34). Indeed, the presence of Jesus Christ in the world reveals to us the face of God, who is the “Father of mercies” (2 Cor 1:3, RSV).

Jesus, I Trust in You

Simply speaking, then, the “Divine Mercy” is another name for the revelation of this magnificent love of God, which culminates in the life, death and resurrection of Christ. Christians have long known and praised this abundant mercy. In this sense, devotion to the Divine Mercy is not new.

Less than a century ago, however, Christians were challenged by God himself to a renewed awareness and trust in His mercy, which has begun to fan the old flame of devotion into a more ardent veneration. Our Lord spoke to a young Polish nun, giving her a timeless reminder for all of humanity:

“Mankind will not have peace,” He said, “until it turns with trust to My mercy. … Proclaim that mercy is the greatest attribute of God.”

Sister Mary Faustina Kowalska, born in 1905, was a cloistered nun of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Poland. On Feb. 22, 1931, Jesus first appeared to Sister Faustina.

He was clothed in a white robe, with two rays of light emanating from His heart — one red and one white, representing the blood and water that came forth from His pierced side at His crucifixion. He requested that this image be painted with the signature, “Jesus, I trust in You,” and promised that even the most hardened sinners who would revere this image would be saved. Our Lord told Faustina of His great desire that the first Sunday after Easter be dedicated as the “Feast of Mercy,” and that this image of His mercy be known and venerated by the whole world.

Our Lord appeared to Sister Faustina — whom He called His “apostle of mercy” — many other times over the course of several years, each time speaking of His great mercy for all souls. At the direction of her confessor, Faustina documented all of her dialogues with Christ in what she called her “Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul” (which received ecclesiastical approval from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1979).

Within these pages we read the repeated and urgent plea of Our Lord’s love and the purpose of His conversations with Faustina: “My Heart overflows with great mercy for souls. … If only they could understand that I am the best of Fathers to them and that it is for them that the Blood and Water flowed from My Heart as from a fount overflowing with mercy” (Diary, p. 165).

The Feast of Mercy

Sister Faustina’s encounters with Jesus are considered private revelation — that is, a revelation outside of the deposit of faith, and one which the faithful are not obligated to believe. However, these mes-sages have been officially approved by the Church as containing nothing contrary to faith or morals.

In addition, Pope John Paul II recognized in Sister Faustina’s writings a message that was truly from Christ, and relevant to all mankind in every day and age. On April 30, 2000, the first Sunday following Easter, Pope John Paul both canonized Sister Faustina Kowalska and declared in his homily of that day his own desire that the “Second Sunday of Easter … from now on throughout the world will be called ‘Divine Mercy Sunday.’”

In conjunction with the Pope’s wishes, on May 5, 2000, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued a decree officially establishing the Second Sunday of Easter as “Divine Mercy Sunday.”

It is important to understand that this is not a new feast day in the Church. As explained in the congregation’s document, Divine Mercy Sunday gives an additional name — a new “appellation” — to the day that is already a solemnity of the liturgical year — that is, the Second Sunday of Easter. With regards to that day’s liturgy, nothing is to be changed in either the texts of the Divine Office or the Missal. In fact, the previously established liturgical readings for the day fit in perfectly with the theme of mercy. In the Gospel, the Lord imparts to the apostles His authority to bind and release the sins of men, thereby instituting the Sacrament of Penance.

The feast of Divine Mercy, then, is a continuation of the celebration of Easter; it is, as Pope John Paul once said, Christ’s “Easter gift” to the world.

“From the Heart of Christ Crucified”

The feast of Divine Mercy is not only a beautiful reminder of the love of God, but also a challenge to a deeper understanding of who He is, and who we are in relation to Him. St. Faustina recognized this truth and responded in her weakness to the power of Christ’s mercy.

At the Mass for Faustina’s canonization, Pope John Paul prayed for her intercession. We should join him in this prayer:

“Divine Mercy reaches human beings from the Heart of Christ crucified. … Today, fixing our gaze with you on the face of the Risen Christ, let us make our own your prayer of trusting abandonment and say with firm hope: ‘Jesus, I trust in You!’”

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy

Our Lord gave St. Faustina a set of prayers to invoke His mercy, called the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. On standard rosary beads, pray the following prayers:

First, on the crucifix, one Our Father, Hail Mary and the Apostles’ Creed.

On each Our Father bead, pray: “Eternal Father, I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins, and those of the whole world.”

On each Hail Mary bead, pray: “For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us, and on the whole world.”

Repeat for five decades. To conclude, pray three times: “Holy God, holy mighty One, holy immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”
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Church Seasons and Feasts

Why Celebrate Octaves?

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Each year during the Christmas and Easter seasons we hear references to “Octave Days.” We know, of course, that the term octave means “eight,” but just what exactly are Octave…

Each year during the Christmas and Easter seasons we hear references to “Octave Days.” We know, of course, that the term octave means “eight,” but just what exactly are Octave Days, and why are they part of the Church’s liturgical calendar?

The Church long ago realized that we need more than just a day to contemplate the sublime mysteries celebrated in the chief feasts of our faith, mysteries such as the Virgin Birth and the empty tomb. We must have time to reflect on and experience in our hearts what God is revealing on these holy days.

As a result, centuries ago the Church began the custom of prolonging the celebration of certain major feasts, including Easter and Christmas, across eight days. The feast day itself is the first day of the octave, and the eighth day is called the Octave Day. The term octave can thus refer both to the eighth day alone and to the entire period of eight days taken as a whole.

Roots and Early History

The length of these extended celebrations is thought to have come from the Old Testament. There we find that the Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths) celebrated by the ancient Jews (see Lv 23:36) lasted seven days but was followed by a solemn celebration on the eighth day. Circumcision was performed on the eighth day after a son’s birth (Lv 12:3), and certain sacrifices were prescribed for the eighth day (Lv 14:10,23; 15:14,29; Nm 6:10).

The feast of the dedication of the Temple under King Solomon (see 2 Chr 7:9), as well as the Temple’s purification under Hezekiah (2 Chr 29:17), lasted for eight days. In imitation of that ancient temple’s dedication, the first recorded instance of an octave in a Christian liturgical setting was the eight days of dedication celebrations of the fourth-century basilicas at Jerusalem and Tyre, under the Emperor Constantine (d. 337).

From the fourth century on, the mention of octave celebrations in historical records increases. Certain octaves were considered holidays, when work was forbidden and courts and theaters were closed. After Easter, Pentecost and Christmas had received octaves, nearly all the solemn feasts came to receive them as well, such as All Saints, Epiphany, Ascension, Corpus Christi and the feasts of our most honored and glorious saints, including St. John the Baptist and Sts. Peter and Paul.

A Crowded Calendar

At one time there were at least 15 Church celebrations that included octave days. The liturgical calendar became quite crowded, with many celebrations overlapping. By the 16th century, Pope Pius V found it necessary to reduce the number of octaves and to develop a complex system of classification and liturgical rubrics for the many octave celebrations that still remained. Additional reforms were enacted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries under Popes Leo XIII and Pius X.

In 1955, Pope Pius XII eliminated all octaves from the Church calendar except those for Easter, Pentecost and Christmas. In 1969, the Octave of Pentecost, a celebration that for centuries had ranked second only to Easter, was also suppressed.

The Octaves Today

Today, the Octave of Christmas contains several other holy days: the feasts of the Holy Family, St. Stephen, St. John the Evangelist, the Holy Innocents, St. Thomas Becket and Pope St. Sylvester. Each of these celebrations points us in its own distinctive way to the Nativity of Our Lord, helping us to ponder the implications of the Word made flesh who came to dwell among us.

The eighth day of the octave is the beautiful Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Though this feast had been celebrated on various dates in the Church calendar over the centuries, it was finally restored to its ancient place on Jan. 1 in the Roman calendar — a fitting time to venerate the mother of the Incarnate Word and to imitate her faith as we face a new year in the civil calendar.

Unlike the Christmas Octave, the first seven days of the Easter Octave include no other commemorations or feast days; all our attention is focused on the resurrected Lord. In fact, each of the days within the Octave of Easter is itself a solemnity, a “mini-Easter.”

During the Octave Days of Easter the Mass readings tell us the beautiful Resurrection story so that we can take time to ponder the reality that Calvary was not the end. Each of us can relate to the sadness, confusion and then elation of the disciples on the Emmaus road. Like Mary Magdalene we can encounter the risen Lord in the garden. In our hearts we can race with Peter and John to see the empty tomb.

The eighth and last day of the Octave of Easter was for centuries called “Low Sunday” to contrast it with the awesomeness of Easter Sunday. In April 2000, however, Pope John Paul II designated Low Sunday as Divine Mercy Sunday, in response to the private revelations received by St. Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938).

Though we no longer celebrate the many octaves once observed throughout the Church, the remaining octaves of Christmas and Easter provide us an unparalleled opportunity for celebration and reflection. By extending over eight days the observance of these two sacred solemnities, the Church calls us to enter more deeply into the two great mysteries that stand at the beginning and end of Our Lord’s earthly life.

D.D. Emmons writes from O’Fallon, Ill.

The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God: Christmas’ Octave Day

“The attention of all should be directed toward the … Solemnity of Mary the holy Mother of God. This celebration, placed on Jan. 1 in conformity with the ancient indication of the liturgy of the City of Rome, is meant to commemorate the part played by Mary in this mystery of salvation. It is meant also to exalt the singular dignity which this mystery brings to the “holy Mother … through whom we were found worthy to receive the Author of life.”

“It is likewise a fitting occasion for renewing adoration of the newborn Prince of Peace, for listening once more to the glad tidings of the angels (see Lk 2:14), and for imploring from God, through the Queen of Peace, the supreme gift of peace. It is for this reason that, in the happy concurrence of the Octave of Christmas and the first day of the year, we have instituted the World Day of Peace, an occasion that is gaining increasing support and already bringing forth fruits of peace in the hearts of many.”

— Pope Paul VI, apostolic exhortation Marialis Cultus (No. 6)

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