Question on priority of feasts and penance

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Laudatur Iesus Christus.

I have a question regarding penance on Fridays: If one sets aside the modifications made by the US bishops, and considers only the universal penance on Fridays, when is the penance displaced by a feast?

Canon 1251 says: Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

[Can. 1251 - Abstinentia a carnis comestione vel ab alio cibo iuxta conferentiae Episcoporum praescripta, servetur singulis anni sextis feriis, nisi cum aliquo die inter sollemnitates recensito occurrant; abstinentia vero et ieiunium, feria quarta Cinerum et feria sexta in Passione et Morte Domini Nostri Iesu Christi.]​

Is the word “sollemnitates” here used in a technical sense, referring to the ranking of feasts as “solemnities,” “feasts,” and “memorials,” or is it being used more generically?

In other words: is the Friday penance displaced by any “feast” or “solemnity” or is it displaced only by a “solemnity” and left in place on Fridays which are “feasts” or “memorials”?

Thoughts, arguments, and citations to authoritative documents would be welcome.

Pax Christi nobiscum.

John Hiner
 
*Solemnities *does indeed refer to the highest level of feats on the kalendar. So the solemnity of the Sacred Heart, which always falls on a Friday, is not a day of abstinence. Ditto for Easter Friday. Others solemnities, such as the Assumption, Immaculate Conception, Sts. Peter & Paul, All Saints, etc., when they fall on Fridays, are also not days of abstinence.
 
One may also include the solemnity of St. Joseph, which occurs March 19, often during Lent.
 
Chatter163 said:
*Solemnities *does indeed refer to the highest level of feats on the kalendar. So the solemnity of the Sacred Heart, which always falls on a Friday, is not a day of abstinence. Ditto for Easter Friday. Others solemnities, such as the Assumption, Immaculate Conception, Sts. Peter & Paul, All Saints, etc., when they fall on Fridays, are also not days of abstinence.
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Laudatur Iesus Christus.

Thank you for your response.

So, it is your understanding that “feast days” such as the Feast of St. Lawrence, which occurred last Friday, remain days of abstinence under the canon?

Pax Christi tecum.

John Hiner
 
John_Hiner said:
Laudatur Iesus Christus.

Thank you for your response.

So, it is your understanding that “feast days” such as the Feast of St. Lawrence, which occurred last Friday, remain days of abstinence under the canon?

Pax Christi tecum.

John Hiner
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That is correct. While we tend to colloquially refer to solemnities, feasts, memorials, and optional memorials (when celebrated) all as the “feast” of St. X, the dispensation from abstinence applies only to days ranked as solemnities.

In the new calendar, these are:
Jan 1 - octave of the nativity
Jan 6 - Epiphany (often transferred nowadays)
Mar 19 - Joseph, Husband of Mary
Mar 25 - Annunciation
Jun 24 - Nativity of John the Baptist
Jun 29 - Peter and Paul
(1st Sun after Pentecost - Holy Trinity)
(Thursday after Trinity - Corpus Christi)
Fri following 2nd Sun after Pentecost - Sacred Heart
Aug 15 - Assumption
Nov 1 - All Saints
Nov 2 - All Souls* - my quick search didn’t list its rank but did say it displaces a Sunday
(Last Sun in OT - Christ the King)
Dec 8 - Immaculate Conception
Dec 25 - Christmas

For the traditional calendar* (if we treat I class as equivalent to solemnity, but exclude vigils of the first class), add:
May 1 - Joseph the Worker
Jul 1 - Precious Blood
Sep 29 - Dedication of St. Michael the Archangel
 
Laudatur Iesus Christus.

This usage seems to introduce a tension in language. It seems dissonant, at least in English, to have “abstinence” and a “feast” coincide. One might have thought that the change of nomenclature to “solemnity”, “feast”, “memorial”, and “optional memorial” would have afforded an opportunity to avoid this tension.

This is similar to the tension introduced in the language of liturgical seasons by referring to the Easter Triduum as though it were a separate season.

Do these inconveniences of language cause anyone else consternation or difficulty?

Pax Christi nobiscum.

John Hiner
 
Laudatur Iesus Christus.

Is there an authoritative document interpreting the interplay of penance on Fridays and feasts?

Pax Christi nobiscum.

John Hiner
 
Andreas_Hofer said:
That is correct. While we tend to colloquially refer to solemnities, feasts, memorials, and optional memorials (when celebrated) all as the “feast” of St. X, the dispensation from abstinence applies only to days ranked as solemnities.

In the new calendar, these are:
Jan 1 - octave of the nativity
Jan 6 - Epiphany (often transferred nowadays)
Mar 19 - Joseph, Husband of Mary
Mar 25 - Annunciation
Jun 24 - Nativity of John the Baptist
Jun 29 - Peter and Paul
(1st Sun after Pentecost - Holy Trinity)
(Thursday after Trinity - Corpus Christi)
Fri following 2nd Sun after Pentecost - Sacred Heart
Aug 15 - Assumption
Nov 1 - All Saints
Nov 2 - All Souls* - my quick search didn’t list its rank but did say it displaces a Sunday
(Last Sun in OT - Christ the King)
Dec 8 - Immaculate Conception
Dec 25 - Christmas

For the traditional calendar* (if we treat I class as equivalent to solemnity, but exclude vigils of the first class), add:
May 1 - Joseph the Worker
Jul 1 - Precious Blood
Sep 29 - Dedication of St. Michael the Archangel
Click to expand...
I also read somewhere that the entire Octaves of Easter and Christmas are considered Solemnities are are not days of abstinence.
 
What about with regards to the religious? The feats day of founders of religious order are celebrated as a solemnity by the community of congregation. .
 
The feasts we have been talking about are according to the universal calendar, but groups that have their own proper calendar will of course run the possibility of having different ranks for their feasts. Even following the universal calendar we need to keep on our toes, because feasts can get shifted for various reasons. For instance, this year conflicts with Lent/Holy Week are pushing both St. Joseph and the Annunciation to different dates than normal.
 
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