PRAYER BOOK STUDIES XVI THE CALENDAR AND THE COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS FOR THE LESSER FEASTS AND FASTS Prayer Book Studies XVI THE CALENDAR AND THE COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS FOR THE LESSER FEASTS AND FASTS A Supplementary Revision of Prayer Book Studies IX and XII THE STANDING LITURGICAL COMMISSION OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE CHURCH PENSION FUND Copyright, 1963, by THE CHURCH PENSION FUND Preface In issuing this Study the Commission has not considered it necessary to repeat either the substance or the arguments of its earlier work on the Calendar and the Propers, as they are pre­ supposed in all that is contained in this volume. One may find them in Prayer Book Studies IX (1957) and XII (1958) and in the Supplement to Study XII (1960) . We present here only new or amended materials now published for the first time, with some notice of recent developments in Calendar revision that have taken place since 1958 in other provinces of the Church. Several of the tables and indices of the earlier Studies have necessarily been revised to bring them into accord with new information received or with the changes that we our­ selves have made. To our Study is appended a supplementary volume, with all the propers written out in full, comparable to the Supplement to Study XII. We wish to express our profound gratitude to all the clergy and laity who have given generously of their time and knowl­ edge to help us improve our work by sending us so many helpful comments and suggestions. Their names are too numer­ ous to list here. But we feel a special obligation to mention the careful report sent us by a committee appointed to study our proposals by the diocesan Convention of Louisiana in 1960; a study submitted to us in 1962 by the Liturgical Committee of the American Church Union; an extensive corpus of suggested propers by the Rev. Bonnell Spencer, O.H.C.; and a mono­ graph, with many original translations of Collects, sent to us by Mr. C. T. Ruddick, Jr. of the Hill School, Pottstown, Penn­ sylvania. All members of the Commission have been engaged in the preparation of this Study, including those whose term ended with the triennium 1958-61, and also the Rev. Dr. John W. iii Preface Suter, Jr., who resigned as Custodian and hence as ex officio member of the Commission during the past year. Special charge in the preparation of this Study for the press has been in the hands of Dr. Shepherd; and much assistance has been given by Dr. Smith in the consideration of alterations of Scriptural trans­ lations taken from the Authorized Version for the proper lections. A list of these appears in the indices of the supple­ mentary volume. THE STANDING LITURGICAL COMMISSION ALBERT R. STUART, Chairman W. R. CHILTON POWELL MASSEY H. SHEPHERD, JR., Vice-Chairman CHARLES W. F. SMITH LOUIS B. K EITER H. BOONE PORTER CHARLES M. GUILBERT, Custodian JOHN W. A SHTON FRANK S. CELLIER, Secretary DuPUY BATEMAN, JR. iv Contents 1. A REVIEW OF RECENT PROPOSALS I. The Studies of the Commission 2. Recent Anglican Revisions of the Calendar (With a Note on Calendar Revision in the Roman Catholic Church) 6 II. ALTERATIONS AND ADDITIONS TO THE PROPER OF SAINTS I I I. Names and Dates 12 2. New Collects 16 3. Additional Epistles and Gospels 18 III. ADDITIONAL PROPERS FOR CERTAIN OCCASIONS 20 Appendices I. Biographical and Bibliographical Notes on the Newly Proposed Black Letter Days 30 2. A Comparative Table of Calendars 54 v I. A REVIEW OF RECENT PROPOSALS I. The Studies of the Commission For almost two decades the Standing Liturgical Commission has been engaged in study and publication with respect to an enrichment of the Calendar and the Propers of the Holy Com­ munion. Our aim has been a more extensive and varied pro­ vision of commemoration and teaching in the corporate prayer and devotion of the Church, with particular concern for the needs created by the notable increase in weekday celebrations of the sacrament. With the exception of a relatively few holy days, the Prayer Book at present provides for these occasions only the repetition of the Sunday propers. An impressive fact of liturgical renewal throughout the Church has been this steady growth of mid-week, or even daily, attendance upon and participation in the Holy Com­ munion, not only in Lent but at all seasons of the year. In in­ numerable parish churches, mission and school chapels, one or more celebrations of the Eucharist, in addition to those custom­ ary on Sundays and holy days, are regularly scheduled every week. Many celebrations are common in connection with meet­ ings of voluntary devotional or study groups; and in recent years frequent celebrations have been characteristic of the numerous conferences of church people held for intensive periods of worship, study, and discussion that normally range in length from several days to two or more weeks. The rich texture and variety of Scriptural psalmody and lesson contained in the Daily Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer continue, of course, to have their due and appreciated place in the on-going day-to-day corporate worship of the Church. Their unique value in this respect has undoubtedly contributed to the widespread demand for a similar enrichment of the Scriptural propers of the Eucharist, and more particu­ larly for a larger use of Old Testament materials in thelection- I Prayer Book Studies ary of the Communion rite. Such interest is one of the most welcome fruits of the revival of Bible study and its accompany­ ing emphasis on Biblical theology that are so important a part of the contemporary liturgical renewal. Another encouraging development has been the increasing appreciation of the heritage the whole Church enjoys in the abiding influence of its heroes and saints who have been " the lights of the world in their several generations." The more objective, and less polemic, study of Church history and the more friendly and sympathetic encounters of ecumenical dis­ cussion during the past generation have enlarged our under­ standing and admiration for the wealth of example and achieve­ ment that are ours in the one communion of saints. Along with this enlargement of our sense of the depth and breadth of " the wonderful grace and virtue" that God has bestowed upon us by the witnesses of all times and places, there has come a wide­ spread desire to give acknowledgment and recognition of this heritage in our common worship, both as a thanksgiving to God and as a means of our edification. As a first step in meeting these new needs and interests, the Commission published in 1957 its Study (No. IX) on the Calen­ dar, in which some ninety-four commemorations of persons and events were proposed to the Church's consideration as suitable " Black Letter Days" for optional observance. This Study con­ tained an· historical survey of the development of saints' days from ancient times to the present, with particular consideration of their recent enlargement in the revisions of the Prayer Book in several of our fellow provinces of the Anglican Communion. The principles and criteria of selection of these proposed minor holy days were carefully expounded; and illustrative notes and tables, with select bibliographies, were provided to assist those who were interested in acquainting themselves with the life and achievements of the worthies proposed in our suggested Calen­ dar. The following year, the Commission issued a second Study (No. XII) on the Propers for the Minor Holy Days. In this z A Review of Recent Proposals volume suggestions were offered for suitable Collects for the saints' days of the proposed Calendar, and appropriate Epistles and Gospels were outlined for certain of the more important ones. In addition, the Commission sought to balance this exten­ sion of the" Proper of Saints" with a comparable provision for enriching the" Proper of Time," in particular those days and seasons when celebrations of the Holy Communion are more frequent in many of our churches: namely, the Ember and Rogation days, the weekdays of Lent, and the" vacant" days in the Octaves of Easter and \Vhitsunday. The proposals for the weekdays of Lent (Wednesdays and Fridays specifically) were part of a more far-reaching scheme that looked ultimately to an overall review of the Lenten propers for Sundays as well, in some future revision of the Prayer Book as a whole. In 1960 A Supplement to Prayer Book Studies XII printed in full the text of the Calendar and proper Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, exactly as they would appear in an authorized Book for optional use, supplementary to the Prayer Book in the same way as The Book of Offices for special occasions (Third Edi­ tion, 1960), which is authorized by General Convention. Pre­ paratory to the Convention of 1961, the Commission outlined its convictions with regard to "The Problem and Method of Prayer Book Revision" in Prayer Book Studies XV. Though concerned with Prayer Book revision as a whole, this Study was particularly addressed to the more immediate problem of how the Church might secure, to best advantage, an adequate evaluation of the materials proposed in Studies IX and XII. To this end, an amendment to Article X of the Church's Constitu­ tion was proposed, so that the General Convention could auth­ orize for trial use, under conditions of its own choosing, legal experiment and testing of new observances and forms before admitting them as changes and enrichments of the Book of Common Prayer itself.