Another "Marian" feast that was consigned to the "memory hole" Feast of the Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary — December 18

[IanM]

I recently found this reference to a Catholic feast day that I was completely unaware of. It certainly suggests that reformers were certainly active in undermining the Liturgical Year early on in the mid 20th century, though what rationale can justify removal of a feast that (according to the linked article) includes "special prayers and novenas to “Our Lady of Expectation ”available for women who cannot conceive or bear a child. " escapes me!

Feast of the Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary — December 18

 

[TomH1]

Why do you believe the liturgical year was undermined. I understood the changes made to the calendar after the Second Vatican Council was to restore the liturgical year and reduce the number of occasions on which it was interrupted by feast days. Many feasts were left to episcopal conferences and dioceses to put on their particular calendars to match any local cult for that feast.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

While it’s true that the changes to the Liturgical Calendar reduced the number of Marian feasts from 21 to 14 and three of the feasts were dropped, the Feast of the Expectation wasn’t affected by that. Here’s a list of the feasts before and after the changes in support of my statement. Feast of the Expectation isn’t even mentioned in either list.

https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/l/liturgical-history-of-marian-feasts.php

It’s my understanding that the Feast of the Expectation was only ever observed in some European countries. It started in Toledo, Spain in the 600s, and spread to a number of countries in Europe. It appears to have always been a local calendar feast and is still observed in Spain, Portugal, Poland and some other places.

You can certainly observe the feast yourself by praying the Collect, which Liturgia Latina has provided:

Liturgia Latina: 18th December, The Expectation of the Blessed Virgin

I do this for a lot of feasts that aren’t in the current US calendar or that are optional memorials and the priest chooses to say the regular Mass for the day instead.

Also, those prayers to Our Lady of Expectation are often said outside of the feast day itself. I have seen that icon you posted as a prayer card with the prayers on the back, it’s in a lot of churches.

Unfortunately there is going to always be some tension between those of us who think that Marian feasts are great and others who think that it’s too much emphasis on Mary, or even have some other problem such as it complicates the chant for the day (we just had a person on another thread complaining about Marian feast days because of that reason).

 

[1ke]

It certainly suggests that reformers were certainly active in undermining the Liturgical Year early on in the mid 20th century, though what rationale can justify removal of a feast that (according to the linked article) includes "special prayers and novenas to “Our Lady of Expectation ”available for women who cannot conceive or bear a child. " escapes me!

It doesn’t appear that you did any research on this.

See this article for how a feast developed on both March 25 and December 18 and how the December 18 feast was a local feast in only a very few places.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05712a.htm

I recently found this reference

I suggest being careful of your sources.

 

[poche]

In the Mozarabic rite December 18 is the feast of the Annunciation. They moved it to this time because tehy felt that a feast of joy such as the Annunciation was innapropriate for the penitential spirit of Lent.

 

[Limoncello4021]

Interesting feast, but I predate Vatican II and never heard of it.

 

[OldCAFMember]

It was a minor local feast, observed in some places, but was never on the universal kalendar. It can be found in some, but not all, people’s pre-V2 missals, in the Masses Celebrated in Some Places section.

 

[Bill_B_NY]

It certainly suggests that reformers were certainly active in undermining the Liturgical Year early on in the mid 20th century, though what rationale can justify removal of a feast that (according to the linked article) includes "special prayers and novenas to “Our Lady of Expectation ”available for women who cannot conceive or bear a child. " escapes me!

There was a reduction in devotional focus on Our Blessed Lady by the reformers and that is a sad thing to recognize. They were affected by Protestantism and Modernism (secularism), so the results follow predictably from that. Expressions of love and outward devotion dropped radically and is sorely lacking among most Catholic parishes today.

 

[1ke]

There was a reduction in devotional focus on Our Blessed Lady by the reformers and that is a sad thing to recognize. They were affected by Protestantism and Modernism (secularism), so the results follow predictably from that. Expressions of love and outward devotion dropped radically and is sorely lacking among most Catholic parishes today.

Oh yes, blame “the reformers”, Protestants, and Modernism for the non-existent removal of a feast from the universal calendar.

 

[Bill_B_NY]

Oh yes, blame “the reformers”, Protestants, and Modernism for the non-existent removal of a feast from the universal calendar.

Well no, I’d certainly blame them for a lot more and much worse than that, of course.

 

[1ke]

Well no,

You obviously missed the point— there was no removal of this feast from the calendar. It was never on the universal calendar.

So quick to blame for something that didn’t even happen— seems to be par for the course with those who just want to blame blame blame without any facts.

 

[Bill_B_NY]

You obviously missed the point— there was no removal of this feast from the calendar. It was never on the universal calendar.

It was a local custom destroyed (lost, forgotten, ignored, dismissed) by the reformers - following what they’ve done for decades.
That’s what they’re all about.