Here continueth EPIPHANYTIDE
12. The Baptism of the Lord, also called Theophany
Here beginneth the Latter Part of CHRISTMASTIDE
13. St. Hilary of Poitiers (310-367), Bishop and Doctor
17. St. Anthony of Egypt (251-356), father of monasticism
19. Second Sunday after Epiphany
20. St. Fabian (ca. 180s?-250), Pope and Martyr; St. Sebastian (ca. 255-ca.288), Martyr
21. St. Agnes (ca. 291-304), Virgin and Martyr, saint of the Roman canon
22. Day of Prayer for the Unborn [US]
24. St. François de Sales (1567-1622), Bishop and Doctor, Oratorian and Minim
25. Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle
26. Third Sunday after Epiphany
28. St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Priest and Doctor, Dominican
31. St. John Bosco (1815-1888), Priest
2 Feb. The Presentation of the Lord, also called the Purification of the Mother of God, or Candlemas
Here endeth the Forty Days of CHRISTMASTIDE, and continueth EPIPHANYTIDE
4. St. Gilbert of Sempringham (1085-1189), founder of the Gilbertines
5. St. Agatha (c. 231-251), Virgin and Martyr, saint of the Roman canon
6. St. Paul Miki (1562-1597) and Companions, Priest and Martyrs, pre-eminent martyrs of Japan
9. Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
10. St. Scholastica (480-543), sister of St. Benedict
14. SS. Cyril (826-869) and Methodius (815-885), Bishop, “Apostles to the Slavs”
Hereafter beginneth SHROVETIDE
NOTES ON THE CALENDAR
In General
This calendar follows the Ordinariate in the US, also called the Anglican Use: we are Catholics, in full communion with the Pope, but retain a heritage from the Church of England as the Anglican patrimony, i.e. a cultural expression of faith. Sundays, solemnities, and feasts are marked in boldface (solemnities are always stated to be such); distinctives of the Anglican patrimony are in blue; extra info is in italics.
Catholics normally must attend Mass on all Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.* Holy Days in the US are normally as follows:
– Immaculate Conception, Dec. 8th
– Christmas Day, Dec. 25th
– Solemnity of the Mother of God, Jan. 1st
– Ascension, ten days before Pentecost (widely transferred to the following Sunday)
– Assumption of Mary, Aug. 15th
– All Hallows, Nov. 1st
Catholics also normally must do some form of penance on all Fridays of the year.†Abstinence from meat (not including fish and shellfish) is the obligatory form of Friday penance in Lent (and, in the Ordinariate, on the Ember Fridays of September and Advent); outside Lent, the choice of penance is left to personal discretion, though abstinence is traditional.
*The duty to attend Mass is waived for those with a serious reason not fulfill it: e.g. lack of transport, not wanting to spread illness, etc. (Contrary to common belief, Ash Wednesday has never been a Holy Day of Obligation.)
†If a solemnity falls on a Friday, the duty of Friday penance is waived, even during Lent.
Christmastide: Twelvetide, Epiphanytide, and the Month of January
The last week of December is the first week of Christmastide, which lasts forty days (concluding with Candlemas on 2 February). This commemorates the period the Virgin spent ritually impure after giving birth: According to the laws set down in the Torah, women were impure for forty days after bearing a boy and eighty days after bearing a girl. Christmastide is divided into two unequal parts: the first originally ran from Christmas Day through 5 January inclusive invariably—the original “twelve days of Christmas,” known as Twelvetide. The Epiphany to the Gentiles (i.e. the visit of the Magi) was observed on 6 January, and was once treated as a feast just as important as the Nativity, if not more so. In the US, the Epiphany is now typically observed on the first Sunday after (but not including) New Year’s Day, so that the period of Twelvetide may in fact be as short as eight days (if 2 January is a Sunday) or as long as fourteen (if 1 and 8 January are Sundays).
In any case, from the celebration of the Epiphany through Candlemas, we have the Christmastide portion of Epiphanytide. Septuagesima Sunday (conceptually the seventieth day before Easter, though in fact it is about a week short) frequently falls on or earlier than 3 February, meaning there is no gap or overlap between post-Christmas and pre-Lent; however, if Easter is late enough, Epiphantide can go on a week or two after Candlemas. This matches the themes of Epiphany, which are about the revelation of Christ, especially to the Gentiles: the Epiphany, the Baptism, and the first miracle (that performed at the Canan wedding) are all different revelations of Jesus, with different relations to the Nativity. A thematically fitting feast falls exactly one month after Christmas Day on 25 January, namely the Conversion of St. Paul, who of course was the great apostle to the Gentiles.
Finally, the month of January is traditionally dedicated to the holy Name of Jesus and his childhood. Formerly, the first of the month was not the Solemnity of the Mother of God, but the Feast of the Circumcision, upon which Jesus would of course have been formally given the name appointed for him by St. Gabriel (in both Matthew and Luke).
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