| Calendar of the Saints Question from Rob Sheahan on 11-27-2002: |
| Is there a document which explains the reasons why most of the Feast days of Saints were moved to other days on the liturgical calendar? I believe this happened in the late 1960's. I would like to know what the reasons were in the particular instances, for instance, why St. Dominic was moved to just a couple of days away. Thank you. |
| Answer by Colin B. Donovan, STL on 12-04-2002: |
| There is no such document. The Church's practice is to put saints on the month and day of their death. If that is not possible, either because it is a greater feast or another saint occupies it already, then it is usually put as close as possible to that date. Sometimes another date is chosen, such as the date the relics were moved to a place of honor (called translation). By 1962 the calendar was very crowded, and many deviations from the date of death practice had entered in. Also, few places were available for notable saints of our times. The UNIVERSAL calendar was re-organized to correct the accidents of history and to winnow the field of saints no longer universally venerated. As the new Roman Martyrology shows, with its thousands of saints, each saint still has a feast day, but only a couple hundred are on the universal calendar of the Latin Rite. Many of the others still occupy days on the particular calendars of dioceses and religious comunities. There are also many saints little known to Latin Catholics on the calendars of the Eastern Churches, as well as other saints, such as the Patriarchs and Prophets, whom it has not been the Roman custom to place on the calendar, but who are nonetheless legitimately venerated as saints by Catholics, East and West. One of my favorites is Elijah the Tishbite (July 20th), the prophet of the Old Covenant. As for St. Dominic, he used to be celebrated on August 4th, and today is on August 8th. Since he died on August 6th, the Transfiguration, he clearly needed another day. I don't know why he was originally placed 2 days before, and moved to 2 days after. I'm sure he was not moved without consulting the Dominicans, however. Perhaps there is some significance to the 8th in the life of St. Dominic or of the Order, or it simply seemed better to celebrate after the date of death than before.
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BTTT on November 1, 2004.
BTTT on the Solemnity of All Saints, 11-01-05, a holy day of obligation!
BTTT!
Good stuff here.