Liturgical Week

Liturgical Week
Liturgical Week
    Liturgical Week
     Catholic_Encyclopedia Liturgical Week
    The week as a measure of time is a sufficiently obvious division of the lunar month, and the discussion carried on with much learning as to whether this seven days' period is ultimately of Babylonian origin has no great importance. In any case the week was regarded as a sacred institution among the Jews owing to the law of the Sabbath rest and its association with the first chapter of Genesis. The earliest Christian converts were no doubt tenacious of the usages (so far as they were compatible with the law of the Gospel) in which they had been brought up. The Sunday, "the first day of the week" (Acts, xx, 7; I Cor., xvi, 2; cf. Apoc., i, 10), soon replaced the Sabbath as the great day of religious observance, but the week itself remained as before. Indeed, there is much to recommend the idea that in the first and second centuries the only commemorations of the great Christian mysteries formed a weekly, not an annual, cycle. Sunday, according to the Epistle of Barnabas (xv), was "the beginning of another world", and the writer further says: "Wherefore also we keep the eighth day for rejoicing, in the which also Jesus rose from the dead and having been manifested ascended into the heavens". Again the Didache (viii) ordains: "Let not your fasts be with the hypocrites; for they fast on the second and fifth days of the week, but do ye fast on the foruth and on the Friday", while in c. xiv we are told "And on the Lord's day of the Lord come together and break bread and give thanks". Altogether it becomes clear from the language of Tertullian, the Apostolic Constitution, and other early writers that the Sunday in each week was regarded as commemorating the Resurrection, and the Wednesday and Friday the betrayal and Passion of Christ. Although this simple primitive conception gave place in time, as feasts were introduced and multiplied, to an annual calendar, the week always retained its importance; this is particularly seen in the Divine Office in the hebdomadal division of the Psalter for recitation. Amalarius preserves for us the particulars of the arrangement accepted in the chapel royal at Aachen in 802 by which the whole Psalter was recited in the course of each week. In its broader features the division was identical with that theoretically imposed by the Roman Breviary until the recent publication of the Apostolic Constitution "Divine afflatu" on 1 Nov., 1911. Moreover, it appears from Amalarius that the Carlovingian arrangement was in substance the same as that already accepted by the Roman Church. Already in the sixth century, St. Benedict had clearly laid down the principle that the entire Psalter was to be recited at least once in the week; indeed a similar arrangement was attributed to Pope St. Damasus. The consecration of particular days of the week to particular subjects of devotion is also officially recognized by the special Office of the Blessed Virgin on the Saturday, by the Friday Masses of the Passion during Lent and by the arrangement of Votive Offices for special week days approved by Pope Leo XIII. For a long time in the early Middle Ages Thursday in the West was regarded as a sort of lesser feast or Sunday, probably because it was the day of the week on which the Ascension fell (cf. Bede, "Hist. Eccl.", IV, 25). Again the Breviary approved after the Council of Trent left certain devotion accretions to the Office, e.g. the Office for the Dead, Gradual Psalms, etc, to be said once a week, particularly on the Mondays of Advent and Lent.
    BAUMER, Histoire du Breviare, Fr. tr. (Paris, 1905); BURTON and MYERS, The New Psalter and its Use (London, 1912); BAUDOT, The Roman Breviary, tr. (London, 1909).
    HERBERT THURSTON
    Transcribed by Michael T. Barrett Dedicated to Mary Barrett

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIII. — New York: Robert Appleton Company. . 1910.


Catholic encyclopedia.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Liturgical Books — • All the books, published by the authority of any church, that contain the text and directions for her official (liturgical) services Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Liturgical Books     Liturgical Books …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Liturgical colours — are those specific colours which are used for vestments and hangings within the context of Christian liturgy. The symbolism of violet, white, green, red, gold, black, rose, and other colours may serve to underline moods appropriate to a season of …   Wikipedia

  • Liturgical Colours —     Liturgical Colours     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► Liturgical Colours     By a law of her liturgy the Church directs that the vestments worn by her sacred ministers, and the drapery used in the decoration of the altar should correspond in… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Week, Liturgical — • The week was regarded as a sacred institution among the Jews owing to the law of the Sabbath rest and its association with the first chapter of Genesis Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006 …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Liturgical year — For Dom Guéranger s series of books, see The Liturgical Year. Christian year redirects here. For John Keble s series of poems, see The Christian Year. Part of a series on Christianity …   Wikipedia

  • Liturgical book — A liturgical book is a book published by the authority of a church, that contains the text and directions for the liturgy of its official religious services.Roman CatholicIn the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, the primary liturgical books are… …   Wikipedia

  • Liturgical books of the Roman Rite — The liturgical books of the Roman Rite at the beginning of the twentieth century, writings designed to specify the way the religious services of that liturgical rite of the Roman Catholic Church were then held, are described in this article. For… …   Wikipedia

  • Liturgical calendar (Lutheran) — The Lutheran liturgical calendar is a listing which details the primary annual festivals and events that are celebrated liturgically by various Lutheran churches. The calendars of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the… …   Wikipedia

  • Week — For more details on each day of the week, see Weekday names. For the TV station in the Peoria Bloomington, Illinois market, see WEEK TV. Weeks redirects here. For other uses, see Weeks (disambiguation). A week is a time unit equal to seven days.… …   Wikipedia

  • Liturgical Movement — The Liturgical Movement is a movement of scholarship and the reform of worship within the Roman Catholic Church that has taken place over the last century and a half and has affected many Protestant and Reformed Churches including the Church of… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”