Ascension Thursday/Sunday

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An anecdote.

I once attended a Maronite liturgy on Ascension Thursday. The pastor preached in English and made the following statement which I will paraphrase; “Brothers and Sisters, today is the feast of the Ascension. In the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, we hear that Jesus was with his disciples in his resurrected body for 40 days before he ascended into heaven. In the Latin Church, this feast day will be celebrated this Sunday. But we celebrate it today because, unlike our Latin brethren, we Maronites know how to count.”
 
GoGoDiego said:
No. The Vatican celebrates all 10 holydays as listed in canon 1246 (Holy Days of Obligation). So that means Vatican celebrates the Ascension on the Thursday of the 6th Week of Easter. Italy celebrates it on Sunday, according to the Italian Bishops Conference.

It reminded me of my talk with my traddie best friend last Thursday. I greeted him, “Oh, happy Solemnity of the Ascension to you!” (since here in the Philippines, it is celebrated on Sunday and in the EF form, on thursday.) He greeted me back and I said, “Nope, too early.”
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When did the Philippines transfer the feast to Sunday? :confused:
 
Joe_5859 said:
Yes, I should have mentioned that the calendar is different for the EF in this case.
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I might be wrong on this but it depends. In those places where there is no daily EF Mass, the priest celebrating according to the 62 liturgical books has the choice of following the Ascension readings (or any other major feasts for that matter) or the Sunday readings.
 
ProVobis said:
I might be wrong on this but it depends. In those places where there is no daily EF Mass, the priest celebrating according to the 62 liturgical books has the choice of following the Ascension readings (or any other major feasts for that matter) or the Sunday readings.
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I don’t think so. I checked the documents and there’s no provision for doing that.

The calendar is a part of the 1962 Roman Missal, so it constitutes the liturgical norms to be followed in the E.F. Since the calendar (as it was in 1962) did not allow for moving the Ascension, I do not think it can be done.

From what I can find, the '62 calendar must be followed as-is. If you found something about moving feast days, please share it.

Pope Benedict did make provision for new saints’ days to be added in the EF (so that does contradict the old calendar) but since doing so was specifically mentioned in his letter, it stands as an exception.
 
FrDavid96 said:
I don’t think so. I checked the documents and there’s no provision for doing that.

The calendar is a part of the 1962 Roman Missal, so it constitutes the liturgical norms to be followed in the E.F. Since the calendar (as it was in 1962) did not allow for moving the Ascension, I do not think it can be done.

From what I can find, the '62 calendar must be followed as-is. If you found something about moving feast days, please share it.

Pope Benedict did make provision for new saints’ days to be added in the EF (so that does contradict the old calendar) but since doing so was specifically mentioned in his letter, it stands as an exception.
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Fr, you’re probably right. What I heard was pretty vague as it didn’t directly address the feast of the Ascension. But again, if memory serves me well, it pertained to those places where the EF is celebrated only on Sundays.

But lacking any documentation, I can’t claim this as the truth.
 
ProVobis said:
Fr, you’re probably right. What I heard was pretty vague as it didn’t directly address the feast of the Ascension. But again, if memory serves me well, it pertained to those places where the EF is celebrated only on Sundays.
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Maybe that was the case under the indult granted by John Paul the Great?
 
FrDavid96 said:
I don’t think so. I checked the documents and there’s no provision for doing that.

The calendar is a part of the 1962 Roman Missal, so it constitutes the liturgical norms to be followed in the E.F. Since the calendar (as it was in 1962) did not allow for moving the Ascension, I do not think it can be done.

From what I can find, the '62 calendar must be followed as-is. If you found something about moving feast days, please share it.

Pope Benedict did make provision for new saints’ days to be added in the EF (so that does contradict the old calendar) but since doing so was specifically mentioned in his letter, it stands as an exception.
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Fr David, you may be interested in the following with regard to England and Wales, taken from the website of the Latin Mass Society: lms.org.uk/find-a-mass/ordo_2015_missal - if you scroll down to the second page, the sections on “Votive Mass of an External Solemnity”, and"External Solemnity of a Holyday of Obligation in England and Wales". These relate to situations in which a Holyday of Obligation is transferred to the Sunday in the Ordinary Form and how this is accommodated in England and Wales in the Extraordinary Form.
 
Mark,

That is indeed interesting. Thanks for passing down this information.
 
ProVobis said:
Mark,

That is indeed interesting. Thanks for passing down this information.
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It would be interesting to know if this solution to the situation has been applied in other countries e.g. the US when Holydays are transferred.
 
Mark1970 said:
Fr David, you may be interested in the following with regard to England and Wales, taken from the website of the Latin Mass Society: lms.org.uk/find-a-mass/ordo_2015_missal - if you scroll down to the second page, the sections on “Votive Mass of an External Solemnity”, and"External Solemnity of a Holyday of Obligation in England and Wales". These relate to situations in which a Holyday of Obligation is transferred to the Sunday in the Ordinary Form and how this is accommodated in England and Wales in the Extraordinary Form.
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Thanks. It answers the question.

It’s still the calendar norms as they were in 1962. It’s an explanation of how the Ascension (in this case) can be celebrated on Sunday and still fall within the liturgical norms of 1962.

In the Extraordinary Form, Ascension cannot be moved—it is still on Thursday, but a celebration of Ascension (essentially a Votive Mass) can be added on Sunday.

It’s good to know because the same norms would apply in the U.S.

What is very telling here is that (it seems to me) that the Holy See rejected the request to require the EF calendar to conform to the OF one (for major feasts at least)—even though the request was made (or proposed, if not formally submitted) by the conference of bishops. That does say a lot. I’m curious to see that dubium and the response.
 
Mark1970 said:
It would be interesting to know if this solution to the situation has been applied in other countries e.g. the US when Holydays are transferred.
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It is necessarily available (whether or not it’s being applied) because the norms themselves from the 1962 Missal are the same for the whole world.

As long as it’s not a 1st Class Sunday or Feast, it’s available.

My guess is that the priests who celebrate the EF are aware of it because learning how to interpret the calendar is such an integral part of learning the EF Mass.

This is all good information to know. Thanks everyone for posting. 👍
 
FrDavid96 said:
Thanks. It answers the question.

It’s still the calendar norms as they were in 1962. It’s an explanation of how the Ascension (in this case) can be celebrated on Sunday and still fall within the liturgical norms of 1962.

In the Extraordinary Form, Ascension cannot be moved—it is still on Thursday, but a celebration of Ascension (essentially a Votive Mass) can be added on Sunday.

It’s good to know because the same norms would apply in the U.S.

What is very telling here is that (it seems to me) that the Holy See rejected the request to require the EF calendar to conform to the OF one (for major feasts at least)—even though the request was made (or proposed, if not formally submitted) by the conference of bishops. That does say a lot. I’m curious to see that dubium and the response.
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I’m not sure whether the text is available online, but it may be possible to do an Internet search.

This also means that in the EF, it’s possible to attend Mass for the Ascension twice - on the day itself (the Thursday) for those who would prefer to observe it “on the day”, and also onj the following Sinday in conformity with the request of the bishops.
 
Mark1970 said:
I’m not sure whether the text is available online, but it may be possible to do an Internet search.

This also means that in the EF, it’s possible to attend Mass for the Ascension twice - on the day itself (the Thursday) for those who would prefer to observe it “on the day”, and also onj the following Sinday in conformity with the request of the bishops.
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Actually, this is not so very different from the rules of the current Roman Missal (OF).

If a feast day falls during the week, but it’s important to my parish, I can observe it on the previous/next Sunday (at least in Ordinal Time.) So even in the OF a person can attend one Mass on Thursday and again on Sunday for the same feast.

Example this year
June 12 (Friday) is the Feast of the Sacred Heart.
I can make that the parish celebration on Sunday, June 14 because that’s the 11th Sunday of OT.

It’s (almost) the same as what they are doing in England with the Ascension in the EF.
 
GoGoDiego said:
It has been celebrated on Sunday ever since.
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It wasn’t like that when my parents left the Philippines in the 1970’s and 1980s. To this day, they call it Ascension Thursday and I have to keep reminding them that in our diocese it’s transferred to Sunday.
 
I do not know, but it has been celebrated on Sunday before I was born in 1999.
 
babochka said:
Since we’re nitpicking…

I believe all of the Eastern Catholic Churches celebrate the Feast of the Ascension today, and I know with certainty that the Byzantine Catholic Church does.
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Well, those of us ECCs on the Julian or the revised Julian calendar celebrated the Feast yesterday, Thursday, May 21. 👍 😉 S’pradznikom!
 
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