C
Chatter163
Guest
As a child under the old system, I was taught that both the Purification and the Annunciation were actually feasts of both Our Lord AND Our Lady, given the events that they commemorated, since they both involved the Incarnation of Our Lord, as well as Our Lady’s role in this. Historically they had come to be celebrated as feasts of Our Lady, but the post-V2 Church wanted to emphasize them more as feasts of Our Lord (for ecumenical reasons?).
Another such case ends in a different way. January first was traditionally the feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord, which, among other things, recalled the first time that His Precious Blood was spilled, in obedience to to Jewish law. In 1960, Blessed John XXIII changed it it to simply the Octave Day of the Nativity (which had always been a secondary title). His reasons were apparently ecumenical, as they were the result of his dialogue with Jewish leaders. (Perfidious was dropped from Good Friday prayer that same year.) But when 1 January was either the Circumcision or the Octave Day, it was a holy day of obligation in some countries (U.S. included), and if one looks at the collects for the day, they were/are very Marian, suggesting the original orientation of the day. The 1970 kalendar recognized this and changed the name to the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, commemorating her maternity and her role in the incarnation. This was the origin of the day in the East.
Another such case ends in a different way. January first was traditionally the feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord, which, among other things, recalled the first time that His Precious Blood was spilled, in obedience to to Jewish law. In 1960, Blessed John XXIII changed it it to simply the Octave Day of the Nativity (which had always been a secondary title). His reasons were apparently ecumenical, as they were the result of his dialogue with Jewish leaders. (Perfidious was dropped from Good Friday prayer that same year.) But when 1 January was either the Circumcision or the Octave Day, it was a holy day of obligation in some countries (U.S. included), and if one looks at the collects for the day, they were/are very Marian, suggesting the original orientation of the day. The 1970 kalendar recognized this and changed the name to the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, commemorating her maternity and her role in the incarnation. This was the origin of the day in the East.