Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018
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Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018 Conforming to General Convention 2018 1 Preface Christians have since ancient times honored men and women whose lives represent heroic commitment to Christ and who have borne witness to their faith even at the cost of their lives. Such witnesses, by the grace of God, live in every age. The criteria used in the selection of those to be commemorated in the Episcopal Church are set out below and represent a growing consensus among provinces of the Anglican Communion also engaged in enriching their calendars. What we celebrate in the lives of the saints is the presence of Christ expressing itself in and through particular lives lived in the midst of specific historical circumstances. In the saints we are not dealing primarily with absolutes of perfection but human lives, in all their diversity, open to the motions of the Holy Spirit. Many a holy life, when carefully examined, will reveal flaws or the bias of a particular moment in history or ecclesial perspective. It should encourage us to realize that the saints, like us, are first and foremost redeemed sinners in whom the risen Christ’s words to St. Paul come to fulfillment, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” The “lesser feasts” provide opportunities for optional observance. They are not intended to replace the fundamental celebration of Sunday and major Holy Days. As the Standing Liturgical Commission and the General Convention add or delete names from the calendar, successive editions of this volume will be published, each edition bearing in the title the date of the General Convention to which it is a response. This latest edition of Lesser Feasts and Fasts is intended to reflect a balance of women and men, orders of ministry, races and ethnicities, and historical time periods. It has been designed so that it can stand alone, but can also be used in conjunction with the additional optional resource A Great Cloud of Witnesses, which includes an even broader list of names and a more expansive set of criteria for 2 inclusion. This use of two books recognizes that there is a diversity of understandings in the Episcopal Church about what it means for someone to appear on the calendar and a range of practices in how the calendar is used. 3 The Calendar of the Church Year The Church Year consists of two cycles of feasts and holy days: one is dependent upon the movable date of the Sunday of the Resurrection or Easter Day; the other, upon the fixed date of December 25, the Feast of our Lord’s Nativity or Christmas Day. Easter Day is always the first Sunday after the full moon that falls on or after March 21. It cannot occur before March 22 or after April 25. The sequence of all Sundays of the Church Year depends upon the date of Easter Day. But the Sundays of Advent are always the four Sundays before Christmas Day, whether it occurs on a Sunday or a weekday. The date of Easter also determines the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday, and the feast of the Ascension on a Thursday forty days after Easter Day. 1. Principal Feasts The Principal Feasts observed in this Church are the following: Easter Day Ascension Day The Day of Pentecost Trinity Sunday All Saints’ Day, November 1 Christmas Day, December 25 The Epiphany, January 6 These feasts take precedence of any other day or observance. All Saints’ Day may always be observed on the Sunday following November 1, in addition to its observance on the fixed date. 2. Sundays 4 All Sundays of the year are feasts of our Lord Jesus Christ. In addition to the dated days listed above, only the following feasts, appointed on fixed days, take precedence of a Sunday: The Holy Name The Presentation The Transfiguration The feast of the Dedication of a Church, and the feast of its patron or title, may be observed on, or be transferred to, a Sunday, except in the seasons of Advent, Lent, and Easter. All other Feasts of our Lord, and all other Major Feasts appointed on fixed days in the Calendar, when they occur on a Sunday, are normally transferred to the first convenient open day within the week. When desired, however, the Collect, Preface, and one or more of the Lessons appointed for the Feast may be substituted for those of the Sunday, but not from the Last Sunday after Pentecost through the First Sunday after the Epiphany, or from the Last Sunday after the Epiphany through Trinity Sunday. With the express permission of the bishop, and for urgent and sufficient reason, some other special occasion may be observed on a Sunday. 3. Holy Days The following Holy Days are regularly observed throughout the year. Unless otherwise ordered in the preceding rules concerning Sundays, they have precedence over all other days of commemoration or of special observance: Other Feasts of our Lord: The Holy Name The Presentation The Annunciation The Visitation Saint John the Baptist 5 The Transfiguration Holy Cross Day Other Major Feasts: All feasts of Apostles All feasts of Evangelists Saint Stephen The Holy Innocents Saint Joseph Saint Mary Magdalene Saint Mary the Virgin Saint Michael and All Angels Saint James of Jerusalem Independence Day Thanksgiving Day Fasts: Ash Wednesday Good Friday Feasts appointed on fixed days in the Calendar are not observed on the days of Holy Week or of Easter Week. Major Feasts falling in these weeks are transferred to the week following the Second Sunday of Easter, in the order of their occurrence. Feasts appointed on fixed days in the Calendar do not take precedence over Ash Wednesday. Feasts of our Lord and other Major Feasts appointed on fixed days, which fall upon or are transferred to a weekday, may be observed on any open day within the week. This provision does not apply to Christmas Day, the Epiphany, and All Saints’ Day. 4. Days of Special Devotion The following days are observed by special acts of discipline and self- denial: 6 Ash Wednesday and the other weekdays of Lent and of Holy Week, except the feast of the Annunciation. Good Friday and all other Fridays of the year, in commemoration of the Lord’s crucifixion, except for Fridays in the Christmas and Easter seasons, and any Feasts of our Lord which occur on a Friday. 5. Days of Optional Observance Subject to the rules of precedence governing Principal Feasts, Sundays, and Holy Days, the following may be observed with the Collects, Psalms, and Lessons duly authorized by this Church: Commemorations listed in the Calendar Other Commemorations, using the Common of Saints The Ember Days, traditionally observed on the Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays after the First Sunday in Lent, the Day of Pentecost, Holy Cross Day, and Saint Lucy’s Day The Rogation Days, traditionally observed on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension Day Various Occasions Provided that there is no celebration of the Eucharist for any such occasion on Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday; and provided further, that none of the Propers appointed for Various Occasions is used as a substitute for, or as an addition to, the Proper appointed for the Principal Feasts. 7 JANUARY 1 THE HOLY NAME OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST 2 Gregory of Nazianzus, Bishop and Theologian, 389 3 4 Elizabeth Ann Seton, Monastic and Educator, 1821 5 Sarah, Theodora, and Syncletica of Egypt, Desert Mothers, 4th-5th century 6 THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST 7 8 Harriet Bedell, Deaconess and Missionary, 1969 9 Julia Chester Emery, Lay Leader and Missionary, 1922 10 William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1645 11 12 Aelred of Rievaulx, Abbot and Theologian, 1167 13 14 Richard Meux Benson, Priest, and Charles Gore, Bishop, 1915 and 1932 15 16 8 17 Antony of Egypt, Monastic, 356 18 THE CONFESSION OF SAINT PETER THE APOSTLE 19 Richard Rolle, Walter Hilton, and Margery Kempe, Mystics, 1349, 1396, and c. 1440 20 21 Agnes and Cecilia of Rome, Martyrs, 304 and c.230 22 Vincent of Saragossa, Deacon and Martyr, 304 23 24 [Florence Li Tim-Oi, Priest, 1992] 25 THE CONVERSION OF SAINT PAUL THE APOSTLE 26 Titus and Timothy, Companions of Saint Paul 27 John Chrysostom, Bishop and Theologian, 407 28 Thomas Aquinas, Friar and Theologian, 1274 29 30 31 Marcella of Rome, Monastic and Scholar, 410 FEBRUARY 1 Brigid of Kildare, Monastic, c.523 9 2 THE PRESENTATION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE 3 4 Manche Masemola, Martyr, 1928 5 Agatha of Sicily, Martyr, c.251 6 The Martyrs of Japan, 1597 7 8 Bakhita (Josephine Margaret Bakhita), Monastic and Prophetic Witness, 1947 9 10 Scholastica, Monastic, 543 11 Theodora, Empress, c.867 12 13 Absalom Jones, Priest, 1818 14 Cyril and Methodius, Missionaries, 869 and 885 15 Thomas Bray, Priest and Missionary, 1730 16 17 Janani Luwum, Archbishop and Martyr, 1977 18 Martin Luther, Pastor and Church Reformer, 1546 10 19 Agnes Tsao Kou Ying, Agatha Lin Zhao, and Lucy Yi Zhenmei, Catechists and Martyrs, 1856, 1858, and 1862 20 Frederick Douglass, Social Reformer, 1895 21 22 Margaret of Cortona, Monastic, 1297 23 Polycarp of Smyrna, Bishop and Martyr, 156 24 SAINT MATTHIAS THE APOSTLE 25 26 Photini, The Samaritan Woman, c.67 27 George Herbert, Priest and Poet, 1633 28 Anna Julia Haywood Cooper, Educator, 1964 29 MARCH 1 David of Wales, Bishop, c. 544 2 Chad of Lichfield, Bishop, 672 3 John and Charles Wesley, Priests, 1791, 1988 4 5 11 6 7 Perpetua and Felicity, Martyrs, 202 8 9 Gregory of Nyssa, Bishop and Theologian, c.